@wendypalmer@mastodon.au
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

wendypalmer

@wendypalmer@mastodon.au

I write fantasy ebooks & family-friendly puzzle walk trails while enjoying farm life with goats, alpacas & bees in the South West Boojarah region of Western Australia.

I follow & boost writing, reading, books, knitting, science, history, linguistics, environment, art & Stoicism.

She/her. Avatar AltText: silhouette of a woman in profile, with glasses & bobbed hair; header is my book covers (alt texts on website).

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girlonthenet, to random
@girlonthenet@mastodon.social avatar

I have workmen in my house at the moment and I am so over the moon with the guy I picked. He has not patronised me one single time, listens to me when I explain the things I know about my (ancient) pipework and wiring, and genuinely consults me on decisions. At no point has he asked me where my husband is or told me 'what you wanna do is...'

This guy could burn my fucking house down and I'd still give him an exceptional review.

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@girlonthenet I had a tradie tell me “I know it’s hard for you to understand” while explaining flooring to me.

He also repeatedly yelled “ow” when I walked past the room he was working in until I gave in and asked him he was OK (he was fine, he just needed his boo-boo acknowledged).

Needless to say, I wasn’t a repeat customer.

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@bookstodon my kid’s listening to the complete Mr Gum stories on audiobook, read by the author, and we two adults are giggling along with him 😊

#kidLit

wendypalmer, to random
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

I heard a quick mention in a podcast that Romans considered long sleeves on men to be degenerate/slutty.

Well, well, well. Look who happens to show up wearing long sleeves in my WiP's Roman-esque town...how very serendipitous.

#WritingCommunity

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

I wish ebook retailers let you choose your cover eg if I wanted to buy a copy of Boy Swallows Universe today, I’d be stuck with the Netflix cover. It doesn’t have to be like that.

#bookstodon @bookstodon

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Hey @bookstodon what is the name of the literary convention/technique/trope where chapters names are very descriptive — see photo example from India Holton’s The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

Or, in a different, probably more common format, the chapter title is a long descriptive sentence beginning “In which…”

I mostly see it these days in the intersections of historical fantasy romance comedy. I feel like it’s got something to do with the comedy of manners genre or a certain era of writing that some historicals are drawing on.

SuperWendy, to romancelandia
@SuperWendy@romancelandia.club avatar

#TBRChallenge: Once More With Feeling https://smutreport.com/2024/01/17/tbr-challenge-once-more-with-feeling/ via @smutreport (2 reviews - a graphic novel and a KJ Charles) #RomBkBlog @romancelandia

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@SuperWendy @smutreport @romancelandia good reviews, thanks 😊 I came to Proper English after reading Think of England so was quite interested in the characters regardless…but it it’s not one of the KJ Charles books I’ve felt the need to re-read

wendypalmer, to boardgames
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Which Monopoly token did you fight your siblings to the death over when you were a kid?

In our household, it was, weirdly, the boot.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say the iron was no one’s favourite.

#retro #BoardGames

wendypalmer, to writing
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

#WritersCoffeeClub #Writing 25 How do you feel about writers who write outside of their gender/sexuality/race etc?

I have lots of complicated feelings on this one, I could write an essay…

All right, I’m going to write an essay.

Firstly, as many other responders have said, it’d be pretty dull if I only wrote characters that reflected my cisgender straight(ish) white abled female self. I think representation is essential, and the more books get banned, the more bannable characters I want to put in my books. My MC for my current WIP is trans for exactly that reason, because Fuck You Moms For Liberty.

But!

🧵

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

As many have said, it’s important to at least try to get it right. Just representation isn’t enough, if the representation isn’t realistic or gets it wrong.

eg Stranger Things – I read a Black person say they stopped watching because they found it so unrealistic that the two Black siblings had the freedom of movement they did – 80s parents might have been notoriously slack about watching over their kids, but not Black parents (that said, another Black person said they accepted it as otherwise there wouldn’t have been Black characters at all – flawed representation is better than none for them).

Or consider the recent flak Rebecca Yarros got for mangling the Gaelic in Fourth Wing, where it was basically just thrown in there for flavour without thought (and I do have to feel for the Irish, because if ever there was people whose heritage is seen as fair game for any old writer 😊)

I wrote a non-POV deaf character in one of my books, and I did research for that – Auslan for six months (stupid adult brain, only about three signs stuck), articles about the linguistics of sign language, movies that were given a pass by the Deaf community, quite a few memoirs and personal accounts etc. Doesn’t mean I got it right, but I did try. Same with my trans characters. I do try.

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

And then there’s this whole other side of this debate.
Since the recent Hugo debacle has highlighted this, let’s go with a Chinese-based example. It’s fantastic to see so many Chinese or Chinese-heritage writers having success right now (shout-out to Shelley Parker-Chan who also did great work in gender in her debut duology).

But there’s a whole bunch of things they’ll have experienced – being told there’s no market for their work; being told there IS a market for their work, but the publisher already contracted a mainstream white author who’s writing on the same topic, so bad luck; being asked why they’re not dealing with “Asian issues” in their book etc.

And I would be remiss not to mention the moment when an experienced white interviewer asked Toni Morrison, after a serious discussion of racism, “You don't think you will ever change and write books that incorporate white, white lives into them substantially,” which, even twenty-five years later, is not a question that would be asked of a white author about Black lives. (These days, a white author might be questioned for only have white characters, depending on context, but not questioned over not centring a Black character.)

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

I think I’m just trying to say, it’s easy to answer the question from a superficial, if not privileged, perspective. But it’s also important to, I don’t know, carefully and respectfully consider what stories you’re choosing to tell, with which characters, and what that might take away from others... That’s all.

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@gocu54 Yes! I can only speak to this as a woman, but God it would get old if every time a woman came on camera in a male-dominated movie, it was like "wow, look how inspiring she is, making it in a man's world!" It must be much more frustrating with the current swathe of superhero themes.

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@gocu54 Excellent! I always liked his portrayal, but I never knew if it was realistic. It rang true, but that's easy for a sighted person to say, isn't it...

And that "just so happens to be" aspect -- that's what I would like to achieve in my own writing, kick-ass people who just happen to also be...whatever else they happen to be, which doesn't have to be the main plot point.

wendypalmer, to random
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

So…

If I was married to a Viking and I was really annoyed with him and wanted to burn his turf-roofed longhouse to the ground…can I?

I know Vikings set fire to each other’s longhouses quite commonly, but that’s a lot of men on the attack. Could one person do it efficiently, perhaps from the inside, fast enough to not get caught at it? (I ask because damp green grass and sod doesn’t seem overly flammable for arson)

(And if there’s a saga which covers a one-woman rampage, please tell me which one?)

#vikings #histodon #historian

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@mrundkvist @llewelly thanks Martin — I was more thinking she’d burn it down as a show of anger when he’s not it in, but it’s very unlikely for it to ever be truly empty of people, is that right?

golgaloth, to writing
@golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

Your character believes they have communicated effectively. They have not. Hijinks ensue.

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@golgaloth I guess the classic example of this is Romeo and Juliet (if “hijinks” can translate as unnecessary and overdramatic multiple deaths…)

Miscommunication is a big trope in the romance genre. Some readers hate it…

#WritingDiscussion

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@golgaloth that reminds me of the opening of Good Omens, with the wink-based communication where, yep, both characters thought they were communicating successful.

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
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@bookstodon Natasha Pulley fans, or those would like give her a try, The Half Life of Valery K is on sale at Kobo (and maybe other places) right now.

https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/the-half-life-of-valery-k-1

#bookstodon #HistoricalFiction

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@bookstodon the struggle is real

Chigaze, to fantasy
@Chigaze@mstdn.ca avatar

Just finished T. Kingfishers’s “Nettle & Bone”, winner of the best novel Hugo this year, and it was wonderful. Of the nominees I have read two of the others, which were also wonderful, but “Nettle & Bone” stands out in many ways. It takes familiar patterns and turns them in interesting and relevant ways.

@bookstodon

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@Chigaze @msroest @bookstodon I love all of T Kingfisher’s works, I’m reading her fourth paladin book right now :)

wendypalmer, to fantasy
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

My first favourite book of 2024 is Ink Blood Sister Scribe. Loved the writing, the magic system, the characters and the plot.

#bookstodon #fantasy #MagicRealism @bookstodon

wendypalmer, to Podcasts
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Listening to this Betwixt the Sheets podcast episode on Victorian era abortion and birth control, and it’s just miserable what women faced back then, and it’s extra miserable because…well, you all know why.

200 years, and we’re having the same old fight, and if anything there’s even less compassion now.

https://play.acast.com/s/betwixt-the-sheets/victorian-abortion-birth-control

#podcasts #abortion #ReproductiveRights

wendypalmer, to Dogs
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

Photo hunt: summer dam edition

Level 1: spot the goat
Level 2: spot the duck
Level impossible: spot the dog

#spotto #CountryLife #goats #ducks #dogs

seanbala, (edited ) to books
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

Looking start a new series in the coming year. Can you help me out #Bookstodon? Because you can only have four poll topics on Mastodon, I'll be posting a second polls with a few more options below. I'll take the top two from both rounds and make final four poll! Go to the comments for a link to the second poll.

Feel free to comment on your choice below.

Thanks - happy reading in 2024!

#Books @bookstodon #scifi #UrsulaKLeGuin #OctaviaEButler #MargaretAtwood #SpeculativeFiction #Poll

wendypalmer,
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@seanbala @bookstodon voted for Broken Earth here because I loved it, and the Expanse in the other one because my partner loved that one (he’s on his third read through right now).

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@bookstodon Oh my God, I’ve done it. It’s the end of 2023 and I’ve read all the books I’ve bought or borrowed this year, in paper, ebook, and audiobook, and am down to only seven reserves total at my physical library and across my library apps.

(Of course, I still have 20 zillion books on my TBR list, but let’s ignore those.)

Also: ooh, both Kobo and Smashwords have sales on.

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