#WritersCoffeeClub 25/5: Do you use a cover artist or design your own covers? Share your cover art.
My non-fiction covers have been done by the publishers, often using my photos.
For my novels, I’ve done my own, again based on my own photos, using Lightroom and Photoshop. Below is the potential cover for Book 4, due in August. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WordWeavers 23/5: Are your MCs picky about where they sleep?
Both Jerya and Rodal grew up in a village where they slept on platforms carved from solid rock with only a thin pad stuffed with goat-hair for a mattress. And crossing the mountains they (and Railu) slept under a tarpaulin on whatever bit of vaguely smooth and level ground they could find. so, no, they’re not picky. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#wordweavers 22/5: Is your antagonist more a dragon or a dragon rider?
Once you’ve explained what a dragon is…
Ask Perriad and she’ll probably see herself as a dragon rider (or else as a slayer of dragons!).
Ask Jerya, or anyone else who‘s butted heads with Perriad, and they’ll see her as a dragon—and they won’t mean it as a compliment. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 21/5: Format as you write or at the end?
I format my WIP solely to suit myself—preferred font, spacing, etc. It looks nothing like Standard Manuscript Format, or like my finished books, but that’s cool. The one trick is to make consistent use of Paragraph Styles so that when needed I can change all the parameters in a few clicks.
My other essential for happy writing is never to use Word. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 11/4: How effective are your newsletters in creating sales?
Not as much as I would like. I really need to do more on the promotional side, but I’m alway being drawn back to actual writing/editing and other creative stuff.
But here’s a link (with a free short story) if anyone’s interested:
#WordWeavers 11. How much power does your antagonist have?
In the timeframe of Three Kinds of North, Perriad is Senior Tutor of the Guild of Dawnsingers, which is already a position of real power, but she isn’t satisfied. If you’ve read Vows and Watersheds, you’ll know how far she rises… and for how long she stays at the top. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WordWeavers 10. How much power does your MC have?
Depends where in the timeline you find her. At the opening of Three kinds of North, the answer is essentially none. By Book 4 she’ll be in a position which, if not actually powerful, is at least influential. But she’s still figuring out what to do with it. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 4/4: Do you feature real-world political and social issues in your work?
Yes and no. None of what I’m currently working on is contemporary, so I’m not referencing current issues directly. However, the main premise is post-apocalyptic, and the Guild of Dawnsingers basically exists, in a 21st century phrase, to ‘build back better’. The issues are there, but viewed obliquely. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 29/3: Grammar rules to live by and grammar rules to break?
Grammar is important, not for ‘correctness’ but for clarity. If a rule doesn’t serve that purpose, I’m fairly relaxed about it. We’re past fretting about split infinitives, aren’t we? And then there’s ‘don’t start a sentence with a conjunction’. I do this all the time.
But ‘would of’ instead of ‘would have’? Cringe. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WordWeavers 21/3: How do characters stay clean? Does plumbing exist?
At the very beginning of #ThreeKindsofNorth, Jerya bathes in a tarn in the forest. There’s no plumbing as such in Delven, but there are natural hot pools deep in the caves so these are the main way people stay clean. In more ‘civilised’ settings there is running water, but it still needs to be heated on a stove for washing, head-shaving, etc. #writingCommunity#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WordWeavers 18/3: Does your MC have a food they associate with home? What?
There are really two tastes that Jerya associates with her childhood home: honey, and goats’ milk/cheese. She loves both, and she remembers tending the hives and milking goats. Combining the two is a treat to this day.
If you’ve never had cheese with honey, and you’re not a fan of goats’ cheese, try it with feta. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 11/3: Do you ever imagine scenes in your work as if they were scenes in a movie or TV show?
Only in the sense that I’m quite a visual thinker. But I don’t see a frame around the scene, or do jump-cuts or fades. Beyond that, I don’t even know what ‘as if they were on movie or TV’ would mean. A writer’s currency is words. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 6/3 What 5 things do you need to be a writer?
To be a writer… it’s in you already. To express it you need a certain facility with language, and access to certain tools. And probably time to yourself. But not all of us are lucky enough to have our own quiet places. I bet there are people in Gaza right now writing furiously (in every sense of the word). #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 4/3 Environmental concerns?
The Guild of Dawnsingers is well aware that the Age Before ended badly: the shattered moons are a constant reminder. The Guild’s reason for existence is to forestall any repetition, but they have very limited knowledge of what actually happened and run the risk of repeating various environmental mistakes. This may be a bigger theme in future books. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WordWeavers 4/3 If your SC had to describe their world to an alien who knew nothing about it, what would they say?
Jossena: “We only know about five percent of the Earth’s surface ourselves. It’s probably frozen at the poles and may be unliveable in the tropics. Are there other people somewhere whose ancestors survived the ending of the Age Before? We just don’t know, do you?” #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books
#WordWeavers March 2/3 Do you prefer writing series or stand-alone books? Why?
I’m currently heavily engaged in my series, as I’m very involved with the characters and need to find out what happens to them and their world. But I also have a standalone novel that I wrote a few years ago and am now revising. I don’t think this will ever turn into a series.
So on this question I’m agnostic. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#VowsAndWatersheds#writing#books