Firlefanz

Firlefanz, 2 days ago to fantasy

#WritersCoffeeClub 6/9: How do you select ideas from all the ones floating around?

I used to go for the shiny one.

Still do that (I often take time out to write a new shiny), but now I also look at what is selling.

It's easy to add a book to my Wolves. And I have so many shifter ideas...

I'll also finish the Winds and Pillars, of course.

Then there's Penumbra, the Twin Worlds (YA Portal Shifters), then another spicy shifter series, an epic fantasy series...

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#Fantasy

Firlefanz, 2 days ago to random

Back from casting my vote in the EU elections. It was good to see quite a few people on the same errand.

Also passed a neighborhood flea market on the way home and bought a Schleich horse and a Playmobil dragon. That was fun.

Mostly evaded the rain.

#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 2 days ago to random German

#PhantastikPrompts am 08.06.:
Was ist das größte Problem deiner Hauptfigur(en) am Anfang der Geschichte? Und was am Ende?

Am Anfang muss Connor sein Rudel neu organisieren - und Nick treffen. Er fühlt sich dabei sehr schuldig, denn er hätte Nick noch mehr helfen sollen.

Am Ende möchte Connor Nick überreden, das Rudel mit ihm zusammen zu führen, denn es wächst und braucht neue Aufgaben.

A Wolf's Fury, Wolves of the South 4

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#WolfShifter

Firlefanz, 2 days ago to random

Btw, my friends, "A Wolf's Fury" is still on sale on Amazon COM.

(Yes, I'll get full royalties, even if you buy at a reduced price. It's an Amazon thing.)

Grab it now, even if you only want to read the series later. Price will go up eventually - and I don't know when. Amazon does not tell authors these things.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FH24HJT

(Please boost.)

#WritingCommunity
#WolfShifters
#BookSale

Firlefanz, 3 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 5.7 — What do you do first when you start a new writing project?

I... err... write.

That's usually what I do. The world tends to grow as I write, the characters begin to show themselves, and eventually, the full plot is revealed.

I don't plan.

I know a few things (for the Wolves, I started with the three McMullen siblings), but with Connor? I just knew he took over bodyguard jobs, as told in Book 3.

A Wolf's Fury, Wolves of the South 4

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#WolfShifter

Firlefanz, 3 days ago to random

#PennedPossibilities 339 — Does your MC learn from their past, or are they prone to repeating the same mistakes?

Connor does try to learn from his past. He certainly won't listen to any wannabe-alpha again.

Instead, he works with Nick to turn his pack into a better place, he brings in good new Wolves - and starts to listen to his heart.

Which leads him onto a new path and into a dangerous adventure.

A Wolf's Fury, Wolves of the South 4

#WritingCommunity
#WolfShifter

Firlefanz, 4 days ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

600 words for Sun this morning - a random conversation with some foreshadowing. Fun to write.

Survived the office, grabbed groceries, felt quite shaky on my way home but made it. All good now.

Played a LOT of Valheim. Twink is expanding an old tower into a base for Mountain exploring. She also grabbed her first dragon egg. Annoying things can't be 'ported.

Sold quite a few Wolf books. Yay!

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife
#Valheim

Firlefanz, 5 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 6/6 Have you queried agents for traditional publishing? How did it go?

I actually did, way back when I was writing fantasy in German. Scored a contract. Dreamed of signing with a German publishing house.

It never happened. Agent didn't know how to market fantasy. Never was willing to communicate what they had done.

Contract dissolved five years later when I realized they were only holding me back.

Went into self-publishing, never regretted it.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 5 days ago to random

You know, I've been talking about Connor and Ashley and their adventures.

Turns out that Amazon COM is running a little sale on the ebook right now, you'll save $1 if you buy fast.

No idea how long it lasts. It's an algorithm thing, I assume, since I never get a notification, either.

Let's hope it'll be up there for a day or so.

Grab it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FH24HJT

#WritingCommunity
#Bookstodon
#WolfShifter

Firlefanz, 5 days ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

Early bedtime tonight because I'm wiped (didn't get a nap this afternoon).

Very good day.

Wrote 500 words for Sun this morning, survived the office, and met with my mastermind buddy to set up our very own BookFunnel Promos. (Will post about that more in the next few days, looking for authors.)

And then I played Valheim, and my Twink killed Bonemass easily. A joke, really, with frost arrows and shooting from a tower. Very anticlimactic.

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 6 days ago to random

#WordWeavers 5.5 — Do you have fans / people who enjoy your writing? What’s your relationship to them?

I believe I have a handful of fans. I love them. Seriously, love them.

I try to give them some goodies in every newsletter, deals on my books.

Without fans, there is no chance of selling any decent number of books. These days, recommendations are more important than ever, since search algos are getting much less reliable.

So yeah. Love you guys. ❤️

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 6 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 5.5 — Have you ever dreamed about characters in your work?

Not in the narrow sense of the word, no. I don't often remember my dreams, but they are usually about my family or friends.

However, I daydream a lot about my characters, I talk to them, I listen, I watch what they do.

And then I write it down.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 6 days ago to random German

#PhantastikPrompts 17.5. Wie bist du auf den Titel deiner Geschichte gekommen?

Alle Bücher in meiner Wolf-Serie fangen mit "A Wolf's..." an, daher brauchte ich nur ein weiteres Wort für Connors Geschichte.

Und "Fury" ist genau das, was er fühlt, nachdem Sam Beechcroft seine wahre Natur zeigt.

Dabei ist Connor eigentlich ein friedlicher Wolf, aber was zu weit geht...

A Wolf's Fury, Wolves of the South 4

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#WolfShifter

Firlefanz, 6 days ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

No writing today. Early morning Zoom, Valheim, a nice, long nap.

I cooked a meal, read a comfort book and when I was getting ready to write, I noticed something strange on my Amazon reports.

Got it sorted with support (would have been a great promo, sadly, it went away just minutes later), and that killed my writing time.

Ah, well. There's always tomorrow.

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 6 days ago to random German

#PhantastikPrompts 4.6. Beschreibe ein Vorurteil (fiktiv oder nicht), das innerhalb deiner Geschichte herausgefordert wird & wie das geschieht.

Ashleys Nachbarin ist eine alte Dame, die etwas wirr und konfus erscheint. Es ist ja nichts besonderes, dass Leute im Alter ein bisschen seltsam werden.

Aber Missy ist schlau und weiß genau, was sie tut - und sie gibt Connor den entscheidenden Hinweis, wie er Ashley retten kann.

A Wolf's Fury, Wolves of the South 4

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#WolfShifter

Firlefanz, 7 days ago to random

#WordWeavers 5.4 — Antagonist POV: is it easy for you to apologize? Can you apologize to someone right now?

Sam Beechcroft: "Apologize? Whatever for? If anyone needs to apologize, it's my daughter and her despicable lover.

"They ran away, they set up a kidnapping with a ransom demand, they tried to undermine all my plans. They got everything coming to them - and it will be my pleasure to make their lives miserable."

A Wolf's Fury, Wolves of the South 4

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#WolfShifter

raemariz, 7 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 1. Intro update.

I signed with a new agent and spent the last 5 months on a major restructure of a maximalist ecofiction novel imperfectly disguised as a contemporary workplace comedy. #WIP Hollywood has taken over casting for a televised mission to Mars. It’s back up to over 400 pages and my agent is going to be so mad when I finally turn in this draft. Just need to untangle the final 50 pages, which is why I’m playing here. Procrastination is part of the process.

Firlefanz, 7 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 5.4 — How do you handle highly intimate scenes?

Well.

They used to scare me. Most of my books do the fade-to-black thing.

And then I got adventurous (after reading a lot of Romance) and wrote an SF series with a LOT of bed scenes. Explicit ones. Yes, it was a challenge. And yes, since I had a male MC, I asked a friend to check those scenes. cue blushing

Because I have friends who will not read spicy, those books are published under Joanna Steenen.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 7 days ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

A good day.

I wrote 400 words for Sun.
Played Valheim.
Took a nap.

And a friend came over and did some repairs in my apartment. Most of all, he made sure I have good light in the kitchen again.

I'm delighted and much relieved and very happy. I also fed him cake and Earl Grey tea.

And tomorrow, there will be more writing.

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 8 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 6/3: Should books include a content warning?

I'm divided about this.

I do not think that trigger warnings actually help much.

On the other hand, readers should know about certain tropes that happen in a book, so they can avoid it if they do not like those.

I suppose it's up to each author, and I would certainly not want to impose them.

There's already too much book banning going on. (And lets not even talk about erotica and how they are handled.)

#WritingCommunity

GeePawHill, 8 days ago to random

Of all the things I miss from pre-COVID times, I think I mostly just miss American bar culture.

Strangers, on barstools, at the bar.

Watching a game, or Jeopardy, or a classic movie. Chatting with each other. Sometimes, in my case, just reading quietly, or maybe with my laptop playing a game.

But just, hangin' out, really.

Becoming, for a month here, a month there, once a whole year over there, a "regular".

Firlefanz, 8 days ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

No writing. It happens.

Today was Sunday and I basically lazed around, read some romance and played Valheim.

Still in clean-up mode after the boss fight. Scraping more iron ore out of the Swamp, because we need gear for the Mountains.

And yes, an iron pickaxe is so much better than a bronze one.

Back into the fray tomorrow. (I wish I could retire with the income I have now, that would be bliss.)

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 8 days ago to random

#WordWeavers 2/6: If your MC listened to your favourite music, what would their reaction be?

Connor would laugh and recognize all the series and game music I love to listen to. (Some of it is my power music, from Boba Fett or Valheim.)

Ashley would ask where it came from.

Both would also be surprised by my love of classical music.

A Wolf's Fury, Wolves of the South 4

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#WolfShifter

jeridansky, 9 days ago to climate

"On a tiny island off Panama’s Caribbean coast, about 300 families are packing their belongings in preparation for a dramatic change. Generations of Gunas who have grown up on Gardi Sugdub in a life dedicated to the sea and tourism will trade that next week for the mainland’s solid ground."

One of the photos that grabbed my attention: The rows of identical concrete houses they'll be moving to.

https://apnews.com/article/panama-island-guna-climate-change-f368711649ff6986ea25a79534405a84

h/t @knittingknots2
#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis