mike_ie

@mike_ie@mastodon.online

Writer. One novel published way back when.
30 years later, writing my second.

Photographer, mainly weddings, but also retoucher for product/food photographers.

Have also been: a creative director and copywriter in an ad agency; graphic designer; co-founder of a web development company with 15 employees that damn near broke my heart and did a good number on my headspace; farm-hand.

Live on a farm in Ireland with her and the boy, and 3 cats.

Swears, a fuckload.

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mike_ie, to fantasy


Greatest writing-related fear?

That procrastination wins!

or

That I'm too old to finish what I started.

or

That I'll end up like Grr! Martin and take decades to write overstuffed books, filled with dull asides and plot-pointless diversions, and not care enough about the readers to finish the damned series of books I'm best known for - secretly because I'm way past bored with them myself.



mike_ie, to random


Writers' politics.

Every interaction is political, an act of individuals' governance of themselves in the presence of others.

It's just a matter of scale, and how much attention you want to bring down upon yourself.

Chatting amongst friends about the ails of the world is one thing, standing naked under the spotlight of a publicity machine having your opinions dissected by clickbait mob mentality is an entirely different beast.

Each to their own.

anderlandbooks, to random German
@anderlandbooks@bookstodon.com avatar

Oct 15. Is there anything that makes your writing distinctive/you’re proud of?

I have a really hard time answering this, as self-praise was something I was told not to do.
I personally like the banter most. But is that unique? I don't know.
My characters are relatable. That much I do know.

mike_ie,

@anderlandbooks

Distinctive doesn't necessarily mean you have to praise yourself, you could be contentedly shit at writing and delusionally happy about it. Like me. ;)

mike_ie, (edited ) to random


A-POV: a perfect day.

[KZ]
A perfect day — One where this damned world has no need of me and I am no longer burdened by its sins. I would step out of the darkness and drown myself in immaculate light. And, by setting myself free, those who bear witness to my risen transformation shall come to revere me. The word of my name shall become most Holy, exalted until the end of all days. This world would be my dominion, and I shall be its humble servant.

mike_ie, to random

Swapping places with MC, who gets it easy?

Things are coming together for the final act.

[E] - part of a refugee migration under attack from soldiers

[T] - being coerced into spying on an antagonist's target while her sons are in danger

[B] - desperately trying to hitch a lift with rebels after surviving an attack

[H] - leaving everything and everyone she ever loved behind

[C] - About to escape a near death event

[Me] - Having a cuppa, watching rain

mike_ie, to random

11: Sounds when you're writing?

The sound of my wife trying not to make a sound by interacting with anything that makes a sound and finding new ways for it to sound louder.

My son standing behind me, breathing, waiting impatiently for the right moment to ask another variation on the 'have you seen my...?'

The head cat, Raven, oblivious to everything. Snoring!

Rain. It's Ireland. We have 40 different kinds of rain.

Movie soundtracks via not so NC buds.

mike_ie, to random

How do you convey your characters’ emotions?

My way of looking at it is that emotions are a response to an internal or external set of variables by an individual.

Context matters.

If I can successfully create a scene and adequately describe the situation the character is in, then that should help prime the reader to empathise with whatever emotion follows - the character's body language, facial expression, and voice should do the rest.

mike_ie, to random


Antagonist's take on the MC

What do you mean I'm not the MC!!!


mike_ie, to writing

For anyone in the - or - there are three tags worth following which will nudge you along with daily prompts to exercise your : , and

New monthly sets of questions posted in advance for WW and WCC, so you've no excuse 😜

Thanks to @BranwenOShea & @AlinaLeonova for Word Weavers, and @johnhowesauthor for the Writers Coffee Club
@floofpaldi for Penned Possibilities

Writers Coffee Club prompts for October

mike_ie, to random


Dumb things do people say?

I don't tell people I'm a writer.

I wrote one half-decent novel 30 years ago and am in a first draft now after taking up writing again, so identifying as a writer ... really, I can't be arsed.

If I ever make a living from it then it may become a thing, but I doubt it.

I find people IRL tiresome, energy-sapping. If small talk about work starts up, I make my excuses and find a quiet corner to die quietly in until it's time to leave/kill everyone.

mike_ie, to writing

Old and Young characters.

None under 2, but there are 3 or 4 kids — one of whom is an MC.

Plenty of older characters in MC and SC roles.

I've a good mix of ages, hopefully showing different experiences of the world they inhabit.



mike_ie, to random

Day 25: What keeps you striving concerning your writing goals?

Nothing except my own desire to see what happens next.

The best advice I've ever heard about writing when I was younger is to write the book/article you'd like to read, and that still stands true today.

I have no need to write. I don't crave the approval of others for what I write. I have no desire for any unwanted attention.

I just like my characters and their adventures. That's enough.

NaraMoore, to random
@NaraMoore@sakurajima.moe avatar

17. How do you promote your writing?

I promote each chapter release and a quote on Friday via on multiple social media platforms (Four currently). (I keep putting off Bluesky for obvious reasons and have no intention of using Threads unless it really takes off.) This amounts to two posts per week. Then there are posts to appropriate Discord servers. I often skip that since I don't think it nets me much.

mike_ie,

@NaraMoore

I managed a couple of days on Bluesky before I dipped. It's exactly like I feared it might be, a vacuous echo chamber of attention seeking mal mots. Ugh!

mike_ie, to random


intended audience

No.

Not aiming at any target specifically which, I guess, means I'm writing primarily for me: the kind of story I'd like to read.

Obviously, I'd like others to read and enjoy the story too. It's set in a fantasy world (think: 1750s - 1850s frontier colonianism; pirates, peacekeepers, and prophets; wealth, war, and witchery), so there's that audience that it could appeal to

Any takers?

Anyone?

Hello!

ello!

llo!

lo!

o!

oh!

oh no!!!

just me then

mike_ie, to USpolitics

Is it just me or does Jack Smith look just like Vincent Price in Witchfinder General?

#JackSmith #VincentPrice #DonTrump #WitchHunt #WitchFinder #USPolitics #Politics #BeAfraid

mike_ie,

@slcw

I'd say both are batting zero on the witch front, but Smith's way ahead on finding loudmouth treasonous fucknuts.

mike_ie, to random

#writingWonders does the media or public opinion play a role in your story?

Judging by others' answers i read this question wrong: meant as an internal aspect of the story rather than a current external influence on me as a writer.

So, no :(

But, yes ;)

Today's news and opinions shape the antagonist's populist-baiting climb to power, and the disregard for the consequences of their own, and their enablers', callous ambition on the lives of ordinary people.

All of it background, hinted at.

mike_ie,

@garykruse

Tourism's an interesting take, and very current. I'm sure locals in many tourist hot-spots could relate.

They're not making new areas of natural beauty at the same rate as they are making existing ones more accessible to increasing numbers of people who all only seem to have the same few weeks in the year to do their tourist thing.

Would love to visit Cornwall, but the idea of being there with the Summer hordes fills me with dread.

mike_ie, to random

D:22 Do you prefer writing first or last chapters?

Last. I can't imagine writing anything without knowing where I'm hoping to get to.

The last chapter is the most important:

  • Everything I write builds towards it, so it better be strong; too many stories just fizzle out.

  • Just because I know where to go, doesn't mean I have a plan on how to get there.

  • Knowing the who, when, where, and how things end is just the start of discovering the why.

mike_ie, to random

how much humor is there in your story?

1.618%

Anything more would make the whole undertaking a rampaging animal house of debauched frivolity bordering on the indecent and profane, readers lost forever to the suffocating weightlessness of cheap laughter.

Anything less and the work becomes a moribund snore of soullessness from which a guileless reader might not fully recover, their very souls enraptured by a mindfuck of a bleak and humourless seriosity.

nillyrobot, to random

In the course of Writing Wonders, I refer to one MC as a few different names: Christopher, 'the Effigy,' 8...

These are and are not the same character.

What we have is three guys that are actually two guys fighting over the fact that they're really one guy having a very literal existential crisis in the middle of an evil mind-altering broadcast.

Anyway, I just wanted to post character art. 😁

cw: insect monster, blood, ec

#MastoArt #DigitalArt #HorrorArt #horror

mike_ie,

@nillyrobot

Sounds fun!

I'm working my way towards something like that, I think - hard to explain as I haven't figured out the meta of it yet.

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