Orion (he/him)

Writer of SFF, with some other experiments on the side. Currently working on a novel about magic teenage assassins in space. You’re welcome.

#AmWriting #AmWritingSFF #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingSF #AmWritingSciFi #AmWritingScienceFiction #AmWritingSpaceOpera #WritingCommunity #Writerdons #Writing #SFF #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SpaceOpera

Public Key

npub15n24hah9vw8lnjhn0n0e5amn976fdpmsrjt996xfw43eue23a5vs5ehlsh

NIP-05 Address

orionkidder_at_writing.exchange@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs2f42m7mjk8rleetehehu6waejldyksacpe9jjaryh2cu7v4g76xgy2uvry

Author Public Key

npub15n24hah9vw8lnjhn0n0e5amn976fdpmsrjt996xfw43eue23a5vs5ehlsh

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Last Notes

2024-08-17 23:41:24

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@npub10d5…vvxa You mean you visualize them, well, visually? Fascinating. I'm all about the voice. If I can hear them, then I know them. If I lose a sense of their voice, then I've lost them entirely.

2024-08-07 17:58:19

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@npub1ek8…t2en That's a very good reminder. Thank you.

2024-08-04 15:14:53

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@npub1ek8…t2en Thank you! What you're doing is very valuable. I get a lot out of it. Your work is appreciated.

2024-08-02 19:15:25

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@npub1k74…dmux Here we go:
https://www.vulture.com/2012/11/improvs-babel-defining-the-game-of-the-scene.html

2024-08-01 23:26:00

#WritersCoffeeClub Aug 1: Can you foresee any circumstance where you might use AI to compose part of a story?
Only if I'm trying to demonstrate how shit they are at creating stories!
#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #AmWritingSF #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingSFF #Scriberspace

2024-07-28 16:38:13

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@npub1k4q…4nh2 This is a non sequitur. Nobody is talking about that in this thread.

2024-07-10 03:52:17

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@npub1ek8…t2en thank you for your service

2024-06-21 02:20:19

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@npub1aum…5jx0 Why are you assuming it's unoriginal to begin with? What prompted this post? Is this a trope?

2024-06-08 01:05:05

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@npub1d62…tshf The theme of these author quotes is: context.

2024-06-04 21:40:08

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@npub1dzj…4cun It is very nearly the least disruptive thing, and yet they HATE it because they're image-obsessed. It's like a pie in the face.

2024-06-03 20:53:34

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 I feel the same way about my WIP. There's some action movie violence--I'm riffing on Star Wars--but the way these kids are treated is that really disturbing part.

2024-06-03 15:40:01

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 Great way of describing it.

2024-05-06 16:20:19

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@npub18es…mjyx Sounds like my kids.

2024-04-25 14:13:38

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@npub19fc…ay3c The fact that "expert witnesses" are an industry is best fot me. They constructed these areas of expeditors so they could sell them. It doesn't inspire confidence.

2024-04-23 04:34:06

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@npub1aum…5jx0 What the fuck.

2024-04-22 01:37:37

Hey, I need a strong word for "nonsense" that's also not ableist (ie, synonym for learning disability or neuroatypical). "Bullshit" is good, but I want something with real *gusto*. Any suggestions? Asking for a me.
#nonsense #bullshit #MastodonBrain

2024-04-12 01:30:50

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@npub1d62…tshf I'm very late to this but: frame it?

2024-03-29 18:17:37

Today's #WordWeavers has me thinking about what it would be like to write a POV character like Donald Trump. Not the wealth and power, but the incoherent rage and grievance and cowardice and bigotry. Like, how chaotic and self-contradictory must his thought processes be? How short must his attention span be? I don't think I could maintain it for more than a few pages. It would be really hard to fight the urge to make sense of his senselessness.

2024-03-24 19:26:37

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@npub1yse…jaay This is a good point. Mastodon is pretty central to my workflow now. :)

2024-03-24 05:41:12

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@npub1zvp…zx0e I sympathize. I really do, but also (from bluesky):
This article is so close to seeing the problem. The right wants to seem like omnipotent underdogs. It's their thing. If you want to make a political song (movie, video game, etc) so that they can't take it then you're going to have to make the lyrics explicitly political. Sorry.

2024-03-23 05:54:28

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 @npub1d62…tshf I sense two things going on, there. One is the idealized story that they imagine could be woven from something you've said—no doubt helped by your skill in telling it in person—but also the gap between what they (imagine they) would enjoy hearing and what you would enjoy telling.
I've had people express the kinds of stories they'd be interested in hearing *from me* specifically, but they're not the ones I want to tell.

2024-03-17 04:16:42

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 I have one like that right now. We're all very supportive, just helping each other make our work better. No competition. No egos. I'm so grateful for them.

2024-03-09 05:44:11

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@npub1d62…tshf @npub166l…e2wz I would go further and argue that we're teaching people that the function of corporations is to make as much money as possible, and anything that impedes that goal is to be defeated, captured, routed around, etc. Profit = virtue. Thus, it's unvirtuous to lower profits. They've been taught this in econ classes, business school, and by word of mouth, like any other ideological system.

2024-03-08 22:32:37

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@npub166l…e2wz @npub1d62…tshf Capitalists are too stupefied by their ideology to be able to perceive that problem.

2024-03-08 16:23:20

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@npub15wt…7rek Pretends you're writing it as a story and make it fun.

2024-03-07 18:46:45

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@npub1d62…tshf Cool! I will try this. Good workaround.

2024-03-07 16:56:46

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@npub1d62…tshf They (hashtags) don't show up on your "following" list, so there's way to add them to a custom list. Very frustrating.

2024-03-07 16:45:34

Does anyone know if there's a way to make a list on mastodon that follows hashtags? I want to keep up with all these writing tags but not on my main feed. Suggestions welcome.

2024-03-06 03:33:10

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@npub1mmf…eknq @npub1f9x…h75q @npub1ena…yyv4 Yes, absolutely. Every victory is a morale booster and keeps people in the fight.

2024-02-27 22:39:30

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@npub1lyr…k7hs That's the *only* reason I'm here! Long ago, we'd exchange actual text, but now we talk craft, and I'm delighted.
Granted, I'm on writing.exchange not wandering.shop, but I think of us a sibling instances. :)

2024-02-27 20:29:11

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@npub1psd…9sr7 This makes me wonder if it's just the first of many to back away. Either they have to admit it's not going to work—going from 4 to 2+tech is admitting defeat—or they already made their real money through investors and tax breaks, so they're getting out while they can, or both, in which case MANY people who believed the hype will be left holding the bag: investors and taxpayers. Not to mention, the murder machines on our streets. The people died for NOTHING.

2024-02-27 14:46:54

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@npub1lyr…k7hs @npub1cz0…wk5s Yes! My god. When you *find* the story, as if it has been there the whole time.

2024-02-27 14:46:11

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@npub1lyr…k7hs @npub1cz0…wk5s I agree with all that. At base, my method is create a situation and see how my characters react. I'm doing that at the outline stage, but the outline for 20,000 words is like a page, and then I do it at the writing stage.
My original question was more "is that what people mean by pantser?" because that hadn't been my impression.

2024-02-27 14:43:44

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@npub1lyr…k7hs @npub1cz0…wk5s I don't know what position you're in, but until someone does pay me to write, I'm going to write whatever I goodman we'll want to write.

2024-02-27 14:32:24

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@npub1lyr…k7hs @npub1cz0…wk5s I can do that for short pieces, but for anything longer than 1000 words, I write a quick outline and then ignore it. I guess that's a hybrid approach.

2024-02-27 14:24:27

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@npub1cz0…wk5s @npub1lyr…k7hs So does (sigh) "pantser" usually mean no outlining at all?

2024-02-26 15:57:10

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@npub1k74…dmux "Oh, not everyone was wearing patchy old crap from the Sally-Anne and tie-dye? Huh. Yeah, I can't help you.

2024-02-26 15:28:13

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@npub1k74…dmux I feel you.

2024-02-26 05:49:15

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@npub1k74…dmux I couldn't figure out what they meant. It was pretty confusing.

2024-02-22 16:37:35

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@npub14fs…qegk @npub1gfd…7gg6 Open protocol, for-profit. Not my preference, but for-profit social media can, to use Doctorow's terms, be disciplined by interoperability.

2024-02-21 19:32:50

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@npub1ggh…ykhp This is why I don't go to my local pen shop. I know I can't trust myself.

2024-02-21 18:15:23

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@npub1ggh…ykhp What kind of pen? I'm basic. I use a Lamy with a little cartridge that sucks up the ink.

2024-02-19 17:56:25

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@npub1fgl…4jl4 Nobody's saying you can't say "anything," just that you should take a moment and reassess the review. Focus, my man.

2024-02-19 17:47:56

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@npub1fgl…4jl4 Dude. We can see you.

2024-02-19 02:42:42

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@npub1dzj…4cun Con. Text?

2024-02-16 23:17:37

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@npub1fgl…4jl4 They fade in any skin that rubs against other stuff a lot, so I think the sides of your fingers would fade. Depends on what part of the tattoo you want to be visible.

2024-02-13 15:27:58

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@npub15wt…7rek That's a good plan. I'm going to start doing that!

2024-02-11 04:55:09

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@npub1zvp…zx0e Conservatism seems to be rooted in claiming that all the stuff we learned as kids--sharing, politeness, fairness, kindness, waiting your turn--was a lie, and you're the stupid one for continuing to practice it.

2024-02-09 16:05:20

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@npub1fxu…amx3 Fuck yes!

2024-02-01 17:19:48

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 1: Tell us about yourself, published work, WIP or anything else people should know
I'm a hobbyist, have only published very short pieces for no money (yet). I've written a full-length short story I'm shopping around. I've written a novella I'm shopping around. I'm three-quarters of the way through a solid first draft of a novel.
I'm very into the conscious application of craft. I work intuitively a lot, but I want to know what it is my brain is doing.

2024-01-25 16:49:02

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@npub1psd…9sr7 @npub1ecd…pq6n People are taking the question of the day as an implication that nobody should ever write outside their demographic. I would caution everyone that if your gut reaction to that question is to think somebody is telling you that you "can't" write anybody outside your demographic, that is a response programmed into all of us by literal decades of right-wing propaganda. It starts with "the coddling of the American mind," and it's continued through anti-PC and anti-narratives.

2024-01-25 16:42:59

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@npub1psd…9sr7 @npub1ecd…pq6n I adore your work. You're still deflecting.

2024-01-25 16:38:01

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@npub1psd…9sr7 @npub1ecd…pq6n I love your work, and you know more about writing than I likely ever will, so please know I say this with deep respect:
What's that got to do with what I said?

2024-01-25 16:24:09

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@npub1ecd…pq6n @npub1psd…9sr7 I mean, yeah. No one. Ever. Do why assume that's what the question was asking?
If you wrote a Black character, wouldn't you do some research to make sure it rings true? This is what people are asking for. Not less representation but better representation.

2024-01-22 16:10:40

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@npub1ggh…ykhp That's really methodical! I just heard an interview with a stand up comedian who said he watched a specific comedy show for several months, and took note of everything he saw so that he'd never repeat a common bit that other comedians do. Your description sounds similar, finding holes but also using that process to identify ideas that appeal to you, right?

2024-01-21 18:53:28

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I'll start.
I mostly get my ideas from other people's stories. I think, "This doesn't make sense, but I can make it make sense," or "That's an opportunity missed!" or "That was ethically horrific, but I can fix it." Some might call that reactive, but the most influential literature in history is deeply reactive and derivative—Shakespeare, anyone?—so I'm okay with it.
Your turn.

2024-01-21 18:51:47

Okay, here goes:
Where do you get your ideas? It's a real question!
Some get them from dreams. Some believe in supernatural inspiration. Some (famously) combine ideas to make something new. Some start with character. Some start with setting.
Where do yours come from?
#AmWriting #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fiction

2024-01-20 23:53:25

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 Jackson et al's cuts make more and more sense when you read the text. My god. Get to the point, Ronald.

2024-01-20 23:30:47

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 Yikes. Sounds awful. I don't know why they'd want to know all that in the abstract when they could just read the first five pages. I could describe the cast of Lord of the Rings, but that doesn't tell you how those books feel to read.
(Boring. They feel boring. I'm so sorry. I reread them a couple of years ago. My god, the dozens of pages of nothing happening at all.)

2024-01-20 19:49:20

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 Sure. The first time I had to put together a query took me a week. They didn't even email me back, but now I know the process.

2024-01-01 20:39:19

Okay, January 1st, and I just sent out samples of my novella to two agents and a query letter to an indie publisher describing that same novella.
That's three in rapid succession, largely thanks to QueryTracker, to be fair.
I'm doing, right? Am I doing it?
#AmWriting #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fiction #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

2023-12-30 15:02:16

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@npub15wt…7rek Sure. Writers dream of getting published. I do too. There are similar scams in acting and music, I think. It's taking advantage of people are their most sincere (with many exceptions of course).

2023-12-30 14:09:43

I'm seeing a lot of people *selling* advice for writers--plot structure, how to get published, how to self publish, etc--and it mostly looks like a huge scam, a way to get you to give them money that will not put you one inch closer to your goal.
Truth is, it's an industry that might decide it can make money off you, and talent/skill =\= success.
Just, you know, beware.
#AmWriting #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing

2023-12-30 02:32:06

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@npub15wa…ezxc Thanks for letting us know. I think that's a decent enough plan.

2023-12-27 21:49:39

#WritersCoffeeClub Dec 27: If you write in more than one genre, which is your go-to?
I think I'd rather it were science fiction, but I have deep, deep grooves in my brain from playing D&D my whole life. Fantasy is the genre I'm most comfortable in. You can do so much symbolism just with how magic works. Plus, you get to play in (pseudo) historical periods.
#AmWriting #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fiction #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

2023-12-20 01:59:27

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@npub1d62…tshf @npub1p39…0ysz I like "theydies and gentlethems."

2023-12-19 20:54:54

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@npub1d62…tshf Y'all is wonderful, and I love it. It's still somewhat regional and gets weird in my white, west-coast Canadian mouth. I'm getting there, but it's not universal yet. Fingers crossed. Also, "you" doesn't become singular just because we adopt "y'all."
I dare you to use "one" and not sound like a smug prick. I tried, and it didn't work out well. Tell me how if you manage to pull it off!

2023-12-19 20:48:42

#WritersCoffeeClub Dec 19: If you could remove one rule of grammar, which would you choose?
First, "you" means three different things: second-person plural, second-person singular, and any given person. It gives writers way too much rope. Sever those. We need thee/thou and "one" as separate words/concepts.

2023-12-18 07:48:25

Hey, @npub15wa…ezxc, do you have any thoughts about Threads federating? Any plans to defederate them under X or Y circumstances? This is my primary home in mastodon, and I really like it here, so I'd love to know if you have plans.

2023-12-14 08:47:02

#WordWeavers Dec 14. Do you write characters with different sexual orientations and gender identities from your own? What guides your writing?
I have tried to do this s couple of times, but even i can sense that I’m missing a core chunk of what it means to be queer. So far, I’ve been able to write women so that they’re passable to women readers, and i have characters of colour that i think work, but in haven’t pulled off queerness.

2023-12-13 20:07:37

#WritersCoffeeClub 12/13 Do you have a specific word count, or do you let the story determine the length?
I work to word counts for my job. You gotta pay me to do that. For fiction, i write until the story is done. It determines itself, thank you very much.
#AmWriting #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fiction #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

2023-12-07 00:25:37

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@npub15wt…7rek I think it took me a while to realize that certain decisions I made a long time ago no longer fit the book I'm now writing. I thought it was going to be a book about this one main character, but then she made a bunch of friends, and i have to give them arcs, too.

2023-12-04 03:18:59

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@npub1ek8…t2en No stress! Enjoy the post-wedding high. Weddings are amazing. You party like you're 20 well into your 90s.

2023-12-04 03:10:45

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@npub1aum…5jx0 Depending on where and when she dies, either her family will bury her ethically, so that her body returns to the soil and feeds the plants, or her body will be left where it is, to rot all on its own. Either way, dead's dead.

2023-11-23 07:28:23

#WordWeavers Nov 23. Do your characters ever express gratitude to each other?
They don't. They should!
#AmWriting #Writerdons #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fiction #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

2023-11-23 07:27:01

#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 23. Do you have any profanity in your work?
Fuck yeah, in my novella. The lead character is a foul-mouthed commoner of a distinctly faux-English variety, although it's coding. She's the daughter of a goat herd in prehistoric Greece.
In my novel, none at all. I wanted to challenge myself, and also I fell ass backwards into writing YA portal fic, and while HORRIBLE things happen in that genre, they don't swear. It's fuckin' weird.
#AmWriting #Writers #Writing #Fiction

2023-11-20 21:42:08

#WordWeavers 20: What's your antagonist's soft spot?
She's willing to overlook a LOT of my protagonist's unwillingness to participate in mass murder because said protagonist is a REALLY good fighter. If she'd been willing to take on a less talented student, well, certain things would not have happened in the way that they happened.
#AmWriting #Writerdons #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fiction #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

2023-11-18 19:08:23

How long are your #scenes
and why?
How do you give each scene an arc without making it seem completely separate from what's around it?
(I have ways of doing this, so I'm looking for discussion not advice.)
#AmWriting #Writerdons #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fiction

2023-11-17 02:58:06

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@npub1k74…dmux Yes. Good method!

2023-11-11 06:11:38

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@npub1ek8…t2en Married Remembrance Day!?
Wow. That day really doesn't mean anything to Americans, eh?

2023-11-11 06:09:59

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@npub1d62…tshf Oh yeah. Scriv does not play nice in the clouds. Absolute nightmare. You learn that the hard way, and you just hope you only have to learn it once.

2023-11-07 03:32:09

#PennedPossibilities 124 — MC or SC POV: What is standing in your way right now?
An air lock door and 630,000 km of empty space.
#AmWriting #Writerdons #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

2023-11-04 20:49:54

#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 4: Have you ever seen a movie which was better than the book?
Jackson et al's LORD OF THE RINGS isn't objectively "better," but I agree with almost all their choices in terms of cutting the story down to something watchable. It's easy to forget it takes SEVEN CHAPTERS to leave the friggin' Shire!
#AmWriting #Writerdons #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #Fantasy #SF #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

2023-11-03 23:35:42

#PennedPossibilities 122 — When a new WIP is started, do you go into the project with a particular theme in mind or does one develop along the way?
Definitely along the way. My initial ideas are rarely didactic. Now, the way my brain works, usually I'm reacting against something I think is unjust or something, and I don't build worlds where conservative, colonialist, capitalist nonsense actually *works*, so the diegesis is always representing about real-world politics that offends me.

2023-11-02 14:21:18

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@npub1ek8…t2en Yes, I realized that too late. It might have been me that did that by accident! So sorry.

2023-10-31 16:17:00

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@npub1yyx…qa5g They're not networked?! What the absolute fuck, United Kingdom?

2023-10-19 22:49:44

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@npub1k74…dmux @npub1rnz…076x That's useful information! Thank you!

2023-10-18 16:51:05

#PennedPossibilities 105 — What does perfect happiness look like to your MC or SC?
Home. Getting to be a kid again. Being in a space that's not demanding violence of them or doing violence to them. Being warm and comfortable. Walls made of something other than dull steel. Soft sounds instead of hard noise. Going back in time and getting to have those years back. That's what they all want. So much that it hurts.
#AmWriting #Writerdons #Writers #WritingCommunity #Writing #SF #ScienceFiction

2023-10-17 16:43:57

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@npub1dzj…4cun Does voice to text software help at all?
(I don't know what your health issue is, and I don't want to be presumptuous (and it's none of my business if you don't feel like sharing), and I assume you know about VtoT, but I was curious.)

2023-10-17 03:37:39

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@npub1dzj…4cun Oh no. Oh that's rough.

2023-10-09 20:04:24

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@npub1ek8…t2en Fantastic! I'm so glad for you.
The more we figure out treatments, the closer we are to cures!

2023-10-09 19:57:04

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@npub1ek8…t2en The advancements in MS therapy of the last 20 years are gobsmacking. People can live basically symptom free for decades. It's so great. (There's a lot of MS in Canada, so I track the news.)

2023-10-09 18:56:36

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@npub1ek8…t2en Ah yes, the "I know your body better than you do" crowd. I remember being scolded for not eating gluten, the thing that gives me searing abdominal pain. (Not that that's comparable to MS, of course!)

2023-10-05 16:44:15

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@npub1ek8…t2en Wow. That's so heartening. That's going to get me through the section I'm on. Thank you so much!

2023-10-05 16:26:33

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@npub1ek8…t2en Aw, thank you. That's really encouraging.

2023-10-05 16:15:49

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@npub1ek8…t2en I'm doing *well*. I'm creeping up on completed drafts of three chapters at once, which will complete Part 2 of a three-part novel, so I'm really happy to see it come together. Thanks for asking. I'm excessively proud of myself. :)

2023-10-03 16:51:46

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@npub19fc…ay3c It's the slow outbreath that really helps. That's good stuff.

2023-10-02 14:50:18

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@npub1cz0…wk5s @npub1gx6…xcqu Right, that's a key question. I wonder if you can just put them in rooms together and see what happens? You might get usable material. Even if you don't, you'll get to know them.

2023-10-01 21:27:40

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@npub1cz0…wk5s @npub1gx6…xcqu Yes, you will need to know! But now I'm wondering how much you can set up the murder in your head and then "pants" the reveal? Like, have the characters just interact naturally and see what they reveal? Interesting problem.

2023-10-01 21:20:20

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@npub1cz0…wk5s @npub1gx6…xcqu True.