#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
When people tell me they read one of my books and found it “quite good”, I like to assume they’re from the US where “quite” apparently means “very” 😊
As opposed to the UK/Aus, where “quite good” is just damning with faint praise.
Unless you say it was “really quite good”. That’s when you mean “very good”.
If you say “quite good, really”, that means you’re surprised it was any good.
And if you say “Oh, I say, that is quite, quite remarkable”, you’re an 18th-century Earl confronted by a tempestuous highland beauty who is tossing her raven-black locks and flashing her sapphire-blue eyes at you because you’re enclosing her commons 😉
SLOW RENGA Respond with #haiku using the suggested first lines & start each haiku with the same first lines below: DISSONANCE… or LISTENING TO RAIN… Post haiku in comments, enjoy mulling over the first line and considering your options at different points during your day. Look forward to reading your haiku and seeing where these lines take you. #Writing#poetry#creativity#wellbeing#write#writingcommunity#amwriting#poem#writer
#WordWeavers 5/21. Do you consider how your MC’s appearance may contribute to stereotypes?
I worry about that, yes.
However, I believe it cannot be helped, really. People will have their impressions and will stereotype. Still, I try to stay away from them.
For example, Sun won't have red hair, even though he is a fire mage. In fact, I'm not even sure what Laisal looks like, to be honest. I'm bad at imagining faces.
#Wordweavers Day 21: Do you consider how your MC's appearance may contribute to stereotypes?
Sometimes. There are many stereotypes of female characters (the femme fatale, the 'evil' witch, etc). I like to subvert stereotypes and turn them on their head. Each character is unique with their own personality. I show that through their dialogue and actions.
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/20 -- When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I can almost give you an exact date: Jan 30th, 2000.
That's when I started writing down the first intense scene of a story that wasn't fan fiction. It grew and grew in my mind, into three years of hyperfocus and three completed novels with four more started.
Those prompted me to sign up with an agent. (Contract long dissolved.) I've been self-publishing since 2013.
My #SanFrancisco story “Volcanid” was accepted today by Persimmon Lit for its “menagerie” edition. It encounters a coyote in McLaren Park and a dog in the back of Muni’s 14-Mission bus - thus its claim to “menagerie - and has brunch in the Mission District and contemplates Quito, Ecuador and the Volcán Pichincha, which I trod decades ago. I’ll post a link here when it comes out online. Meanwhile my thanks to Editor-in-Chief Amanda Sun. #Writing#WritingCommunity
Went to #Continuum16#c16Reboot and spent so much time around writers and ideas that I wrote an entire 6,000 word short story over the course of the weekend.
Worth it just for that.
Also, many lovely people and interesting presentations.
I have less of a point or argument here than a musing. But I wrote about my fascination with fairy-tale time, its unpinnability, and how I keep wondering what relation that might have to the pseudo-contemporary non-time we find in many realistic stories.
Someone is either selling pirated copies of my book, or they're trying to scam people using my name and book. They even uploaded it under the name "River Hopkins" instead of "River J. Hopkins."
Can y'all please report the seller? This is the link. They're selling it for $14.99, and there's absolutely no way they have new copies for that price.
Yes, I'm just as addicted as before. Mostly, I've been constructing a new base for the main game, and since we played together yesterday (yay!), I could tackle the construction of a new kitchen/bedroom hall/tower today. Even survived two Events (draugr / trolls).
It's not an architectural marvel, but I am rather proud of it.
And now I'll give Sun some much deserved attention.
Our weather is a yo-yo. After temperatures far above average, we’ve turned cold. It’ll reach 52°F/11.1°C, but it’ll take all day to get there.
It won’t be much over freezing when I walk, & with possible showers.
My writer self finds comfort in this weather.
Today’s targeted editing chapter is the moment when my MC, after a heartfelt journey seeking details about her past, cracks open the door to the unexpected...
#WordWeavers 2405.19 — How did you settle on your MC’s appearance?
Historically, I wrote my characters such that I found them attractive. I don't do that anymore.
Sometimes I don't have control, except for hair styles and clothes, or the lack thereof. The story or character may have certain in-the-moment requirement, like when the MC needed to train in an almost all-male fight gym as a prizefighter (she'd later win a championship). Of course she had tailored pink and black gym wear made of technical fabric that outlined every curve—which proved interesting.
These days I do the best not to assign an appearance at all, instead keeping things vague and sticking to describing only what's absolutely necessary. My experiences with publishers is that'll they'll ignore your descriptions for cover art and promotion anyway. In any case, doing this allows the reader to imagine someone they would find attractive(†). The MC in the current WiP is described physically only as tall, shy, so beautiful that both sexes fall for her, and that she has "winter eyes," whatever that is. In the other story, the only thing I'm settled on is described by the devil-girl something like this:
"Take two finger length pieces of rusty rebar, sharpen one end, bend it ninety degree, and stick one above each temple, pointing backwards. Makes wearing hats problematic. Yeah. Gets messy when they try to grab you by the head in a fight, especially if it sticks in..."
She's also describes her very olive complexion; she's mentioned green eyes in a mirror and red hair everywhere. It could easily change in revision.
(†) A recent writer's prompt asked about my target audience. Can I say "imaginative?"