#WordWeavers 2405.18 — What kind of dragon (behavior or looks) would your MC be?
In one WiP, this question makes as much sense as asking a typical Irish person what kind of Tahitian they would be (body type). In the other, dragons also exist but seem to be (it's not totally defined) the result of some kind of contagious magic. We've already seen a wyvern, wbo is a monstrous fire breathing bat, and will soon realize there is a monitor lizard version (a wyrm?), but by this token there could also be a cat dragon. Thus, this question makes no sense in the other WiP, either.
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 9 Nbr 18 — Have you written sections where the action occurs against the clock? How did you do it?
My current story segment in serialization takes place over a very short time period, after the last third of the previous story taking place between dusk and dawn. The other story I am working on is a three act story, each act taking place over very few hours.
Writing stories in compressed time isn't much different than writing stories that take place more episodically over longer periods of time. In both cases, I write about what is important for the character and how they deal with events. An example may help.
In the serialization (obviously spoilers if you know which story I'm referring to), the MC realizes that though the leader has left on a military adventure to handle a "guerrilla insurgency," she sees evidence that same foe may attack the capital city. In theory, she's politically second in command. In practice, she has no real power. How she spends that day scheming and conniving with only a title to get a single frigate on patrol drives the story and the clock. It starts with a PTSD episode where she realizes she may be responsible again for innumerable deaths without the power to prevent them, then her working every contact she knows, butting heads with the generals who discount her experience running a crime syndicate (briefly), convincing a discriminated against officer who wants to accept discharge to instead command a museum-piece frigate, getting into a bloody fight with the XO, avoiding what the reader will see as assassination attempts, and it just gets worse with her love interests (plural!) pulling at her heart.
All in 12 hours. Tick-tock! That's one day of three days of escalating existential threats. The fourth day's events take place over one hour, which is about the time it would take to read.
"Were my trust misplaced, I'd learn something about myself. But, then again, that seemed to be my method of operation: win—or get hurt, pick myself up, make different mistakes." HRH CPE S. G. Regina A. M.
Any set of readers who appreciate all the characters working (whatever that means) to the best of their ability. The above quote is how my MC views getting things done. Plot advancement by stupidity is verboten. They should probably like fantasy or soft / social SF, too.
A TALE OF LOVE AND MONSTERS is a heart-stopping, action-packed fantasy adventure, a unique romance, and a deep, wise parable about self-sacrifice and family stories. Beautifully crafted kaleidoscope of distinctively new and classic legends. A MINUS
The original game Fantasy Wargaming: The Highest Level of All (or just Fantasy Wargaming in some editions) was a 1981 book by Bruce Galloway, a clear variation on Dungeons and Dragons, based on Galloway’s home rules. Unlike it’s competition it was not afraid of using actual historical concepts like astrology and occultism in it’s descriptions, although it also was written so densely it was hard to make sense of it in any shape or form by someone not already familiar with roleplaying games. And, well, it was called Fantasy Wargaming.
Which made this a problem, as the game was published both in the UK and the US by mainstream publishers obviously trying to break into the nascent TTRPG market. The most available version was most likely the one published by the Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club, which made the game available to many people who did not have any experience with roleplaying games before.
Unfortunately one has to say, as the game’s size (300pgs) and conceptual denseness made parsing the book quite a feat, meaning if people used this as an introduction to roleplaying, it might not have been very successful.
The Story of Fantasy Wargaming goes into this, and into the development of the game. It could have been a bit more thorough and a bit more critical, but for what it is it’s a nice look into the environment that created it. And well, it’s free.
(I learned about this book from an episode of the Vintage RPG Podcast which had the author on and talked about this project. Well worth a listen)
#WordWeavers 2405.17 — Have you ever written for other age groups? (MG, YA, A)
My publisher pegged me as a YA writer. Lately, I've been pushing the envelope to adult in general, and in particular writing an erotic fantasy as one of the WiPs. It can all change in revision, of course...
#PennedPossibilities 317 — What clothing materials or outfits feel the most comfortable to your villain?
She was arguably a villain, and she got a thuggish prizefighter to try to kill the MC. She also tried to help a coup d'etat in the mob, which failed. The MC meet her in an alley when the MC dissed her gang boyfriend and she tried to slit her throat. The MC took away her ivory handled jackknife, which becomes a character by itself in later stories. She goes by the moniker of Mustang, maybe because like the car she's unsteerable?
She's described as
"The women looked overly girly in garish reds or pinks, with matching makeup and bracelets, except for a buzzed-cut blonde tanned woman [Mustang] who wore brass stud piercings. (Didn't brass have lead in it...? Poisonous... Oh, never mind.) It worked; she looked tough, more so maybe than her gold chain-wearing boyfriend in a white tee shirt."
We're talking cotton here. Cheap. She's wearing something tight and black around her hips.
Zapominając o tym, co wypada, a co nie, Anna złapała za ramię przechodnia i od niego dowiedziała się tego samego. Kapitulacja. Senat złoży hołd temu wypierdkowi demona, Kentemu, zgodzi się na wszystkie warunki, zapłaci trybut. Miasto otworzy bramy, a jutro urządzą ucztę dla wrogich dowódców. Po siedemnastu latach ziemię w Kjumorei znowu będą plugawić stopy magów i bezbożników.
Anna ze zdumieniem stwierdziła, że jest podekscytowana.
Magowie, a więc i wróżeczki. Wróżeczki! Zobaczy je znowu! Będą latały po mieście, bawiąc się wśród gałęzi drzew, przysiadając na oknach, a ludzi będzie brała cholera, będą krzyczeć i tylko bezsilnie płakać ze złości. "I dobrze", pomyślała zachwycona. "Tak! Dobrze! Dobrze im tak!"
"Spokojnie, panno de Lontrain". Absolutnie-nie-czarownica Anna nie może się cieszyć tak straszną klęską jedynej prawdziwej wiary. Co powinna zrobić wierna i lojalna, pobożna Anna?
— To straszne — wyjąkała i przytuliła rozpłakaną Radunię. — To okropne! Musimy natychmiast pójść do świątyni Jos’helia, pomodlić się i złożyć ofiarę!
"A jutro, gdy pojawią się magowie i wróżeczki… Jos’helio pewnie będzie palce gryzł ze złości", pomyślała z radością.
Dawno nie miała tak znakomitego humoru.
Fantasy prochowe „Sztandary Imperium” do zgarnięcia... w swoim czasie 😉
Wspólnie z Witold Dworakowski
Wydawnictwo Alegoria @wydawnictwo_alegoria
#WordWeavers 2405.16 — If your characters were in a museum, how would they act?
It would depend on how they ended up in the museum. If the devil-girl were put on display, it would end badly for whomever put her there. Were she a patron, she'd be indistinguishable from the crowd. Once she got herself into a sealed vault without breaking in or using the vault door; the interior turned out to be somewhat of a museum (it had family pictures), but she didn't steal anything. It did help her solve a kidnapping, however.
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 9 Nbr 15 — Have you ever attended a writer's fair / festival to promote your work? Would you?
I haven't.
I consider it if it were for the trade, that is for writers, publishers, and booksellers. If it were for the general public, considering that I feel knowing my gender could add a subtext to my stories I don't want, I'd have to think long and hard of the benefits of attending.
#WordWeavers 2405.15 — Who are your most and least gullible characters?
Of the MC's in the two current WiPs, it's exactly the opposite of what you might think.
The devil-girl had been very successful in most all her endeavors, but she'd never gotten to where she was if she wasn't used by someone every... single... time. Mind you, it doesn't always end well for those who gulled her!
Wintereyes comes across as an ingénue and innocent enough that you'll fear she'll get used like a tissue and thrown away dirtied. Not the case. She mediated between a dragon and a farmer whose silo got burnt down. The dragon apologized! (So did the farmer.) She's observant, quiet. Around people she's shy, but says what she sees and sets misunderstandings straight. Kind and helpful, everyone—humans, dragons, wolves, even cats—ends up doing what she sees is best for them and they like it, despite plans they might have had for her. Because she understands what she doesn't know, her skepticism and guilelessness plays havoc on those trying to use her.
#PennedPossibilities 316 — Does your MC or SC have a hard time connecting with others?
Both MCs in the current two WiPs have a hard time connecting with others for different reasons. They could be summed up for one they're people and for the other they're not animals.
If you've followed my posts, you're welcome to guess which is which.
Gift article from my Washington Post account: “…a lot of science fiction novels are exploring a scary post-climate-change future. Meanwhile, the best recent fantasy books have abandoned George R.R. Martin-style darkness, embracing a gentle sweetness instead. This month’s books provide some outstanding examples of each trend.”
Really enjoyed The Bone Harp by Victoria Goddard. It diverges a bit from The Lays of the Hearth-Fire series in that it's more abstract and set in a different world. The language is lyrical and free, with a lot of alliteration, pleasant, like a lullaby -- it's definitely a slow burn, if you like that (I do).
I really enjoyed the sprawling sense of imagination and the thoughtful details woven throughout the story.
"There were weavers who learned to capture the sky into impossible fabrics, so the people went garbed in sunsets and moonrises, in the blue of a mountain morning, the starry field of a winter midnight. There were glassblowers who created bells and bellflowers as delicate as Klara’s hoarfrost, gardens of glittering jewels where there had never been aught before but stone."
"Someone caught the winds in jewelled nets, and created symphonies of storms over the mountains. Someone sang the city into hills and towers, plunging pools and hanging gardens, and then spun bridges at dizzying heights between them."
Victoria Goddard has become one of my favorite fantasy authors. The Hands of the Emperor is one of my favorite books (it is about found family, empathy, kindness, being a foreigner/outsider). Her writing is a balm for troubled times and worth returning to time and again for solace.