Sax Brightwell

Sax Brightwell has been writing self-indulgent smut about men who are ride-or-die for each other since 2014. They were delighted when one reviewer described their brand as "absolutely filthy but also very sweet." They were as surprised as anyone in 2023 when an idea took the bit in its teeth and turned into the novel 'Low Dawn.' Sax has a background in biology, and a foreground in nursing. They agreed suspiciously quickly when their youngest child asked to start an aquarium.

Public Key

npub1am5vaehtuss5j8rq6a9ujrktmhd02yp30zc3f3nx3ckkcnd9wn4s0j6f3v

NIP-05 Address

saxbrightwell_at_indieauthors.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswa6xwum47gg2fr3sdwj7fpm9amkh4zqch3vg5cenguttvfkjhf6c82uhjh

Author Public Key

npub1am5vaehtuss5j8rq6a9ujrktmhd02yp30zc3f3nx3ckkcnd9wn4s0j6f3v

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Last Notes

2024-10-13 01:06:38

#writerscoffeeclub 13. Has anything you've written made you cry, either when writing it or on a re-read?
Yes! One time I wrote a scene of basically a mind-meld between two characters who were together for 82 years, and they got to feel that lifetime of love slam into each other all at once, and writing out what that felt like made me cry. So did writing a reunion between a long-parted surrogate parent and child.

2024-10-12 17:06:36

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@npub1psd…9sr7 Electric kettles are one thing I never got into, for two reasons: 1. conserving counter space and electrical outlets, and 2. I'm distractible enough that the screaming of a stovetop kettle when it boils is very helpful.

2024-10-10 00:38:52

#wordweavers 10. SC POV: What was the last thing you celebrated?
Most recently: a trading feast... but my celebratory mood was as fake as my future brother-in-law’s ‘intoxication.’ We had to pretend we didn’t know about an attempt to poison half our coalition’s cavalry.
In truth: the concert that same future brother-in-law threw together at the beginning of our coalition's journey. What a wild night. What a perfect symbol for the joining of cultures I hope for with my betrothed <3

2024-10-04 01:11:39

#writerscoffeeclub 4. What was the first book you read that enormously impacted you?
Probably one of the books by my grandmother, a children’s author. One book is dedicated specifically to me. A whole series stars a character very obviously based on my mother. I think I was always emboldened in my writing by knowing it was a thing Grandma also did; I grew up thinking of writing books as something always within reach.

2024-09-20 20:25:42

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@npub1ek8…t2en A STFU button would improve quality of life and preserve the battery life that is already limited in that situation

2024-09-19 01:05:41

#wordweavers 19. What stories are told in your story's world?
On Sleipnir I like to picture storytelling as, to reference C.S. Lewis, a skill kids learn in school like we learn essay-writing except people enjoy hearing the stories. There’s a major tradition of keeping as much Old Earth science knowledge alive as possible, and that which is most useful has been incorporated into stories. Of course there's thriving localized fiction as well.

2024-09-18 01:30:11

#wordweavers 18. What characters do you like to read? Are they the same you like to write?
My absolute favorite characters to read and write about are men who are completely over-the-top with their mutual devotion.
Other character types I am reliably weak for:
-character arcs that start at “I got what I wanted and it wasn’t what I wanted,” especially for a woman
-people who confound their friends by being unable to perceive their own excellence
-fuckboy with a heart of gold

2024-09-06 03:21:29

#writerscoffeeclub 6. Where is your book listed? All 17 platforms served by Draft2Digital, and also Google Play (which has the digital audiobooks as well)! Right here: https://books2read.com/ap/RD62br/Sax-Brightwell

2024-09-06 03:20:28

#wordweavers 6. If you could write a story in any fictional world, what would you choose?
Mine! Sleipnir, the ringed moon orbiting the ice giant Mama Loki. The tech level is low but the climate is delightful. There are tameable alien megafauna and 6 extra hours in the day. The exploration network that got people there is so perfect for repeated iterations of some of my most bulletproof favorite tropes that it's almost like someone designed it that way 😉

2024-09-01 15:12:31

#wordweavers 1. Introduce your MC as if they were a superhero. If they are a superhero, introduce them as if they were an ordinary person.
Look to the horizon! It’s a shadow! It’s an animal! No, it’s a dude coming toward us at a brisk walking pace - with a backpack full of mail!

2024-08-28 01:35:10

#wordweavers 28. What’s your MC’s everyday fear (not worst fear)?
Getting trampled to death by frenzied horses. It almost happened once and he’s harbored a deep distrust of horses ever since.

2024-08-18 03:03:56

#wordweavers 18. Have you ever been the basis for a character in someone else's story?
Once that I know of.
In school, 4 friends and I wrote a round-robin fanfic starring 5 self-insert OCs, one for each of us. It was on looseleaf in duotangs. I really hope those duotangs burned. They probably did, because talk about mutually-assured destruction. I’m deeply grateful it was pre-internet, and yet in hoping the story is safely lost I also remember it fondly.

2024-08-13 01:55:20

#wordweavers 13. Use three verbs to describe your MC.
Ambulate, communicate, fornicate 😉

2024-08-11 02:41:44

#wordweavers 11. What makes your setting unique?
My Rule of Cool approach: I wanted rings, and I always thought Earth-sized habitable moons were neat, and I looked into why our ocean is salty and worked out a reason for an ocean to be fresh instead, and then I named the whole setup after an ancient Norse bestiality joke.

2024-08-08 02:03:25

#writerscoffeeclub 8. Authors love to show off a book stack. Post an image of your stack or a collage of your digital work.
My 3 books (+1 omnibus) still fit on a single carousel:
And here it is again, more interactive! https://books2read.com/ap/RD62br/Sax-Brightwell
https://storage.googleapis.com/indieauthors/media_attachments/files/112/923/934/400/307/949/original/ea2f0931ba7a4562.jpg

2024-08-07 00:20:22

#wordweavers 7. Tell us about an influential group from your story. How do they affect the plot?
The single-clone-family-owned Samaw Corporation brought colonists to Sleipnir 1000 years ago, and came back just once 500 years after that. The ship they arrived in the second time never left.

2024-07-27 01:09:52

#wordweavers 27. Do your MC’s dreams change during the story?
Fiyeli’s and Evret’s do, in a big way. Fiyeli achieves a dream he’d almost forgotten about, and now aspires to a life with Evret. Evret is dreaming proportionally bigger: having a life at all, when all he used to hope for was dying well.

2024-07-24 17:31:40

This is the final week to get every book in my Secrets of Sleipnir series 25% off at Smashwords! (The omnibus is permanently an additional US$1 savings over the first three books individually.)
https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/96863
#Bookstodon
https://storage.googleapis.com/indieauthors/media_attachments/files/112/842/642/473/735/101/original/54af9fafcf7560f2.jpg

2024-07-10 02:39:47

#WritersCoffeeClub 10. Chapter 1: Characters> Do we meet any significant primary or secondary characters in the first chapter of your WIP. Who are they? Share a snippet.
He might not be in the *first* chapter but Maunat will be meeting Bhimmi's grandfather, and the guy is A Lot:
“Helloooo, jiejie!” Maunat tried not to stare. The man looked exactly like Bhimmi, but sixty years older and nearly twice as wide.
“Grandfatherrrr,” Bhimmi groaned, “you can’t *call* her that! *I* call her that!”

2024-07-08 02:28:29

#wordweavers 8. Is there a person you’d love to show your writing to but are afraid to do it? Why?
My mother. My writing is too horny; we would both be very uncomfortable. It’s better if I just tell her I’m writing and having fun without showing her my work or telling her my pseudonym. But it also feels weird because I’ve always shown her everything I’m proud of.

2024-07-01 12:16:00

Now is your best chance to get my entire Secrets of Sleipnir ebook series for 25% off, at @Smashwords as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! Find my books and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/ all month! #SWSale2024 #Smashwords #Bookstodon
https://storage.googleapis.com/indieauthors/media_attachments/files/112/711/168/222/324/129/original/15917246913dfef8.png

2024-06-26 20:30:55

I have a masterpost of my Secrets of Sleipnir book series here:
https://saxbrightwell.dreamwidth.org/7897.html
#ScienceFiction #queer #Romance #Bookstodon #saxbrightwell #secretsofsleipnir
https://storage.googleapis.com/indieauthors/media_attachments/files/112/684/849/530/675/163/original/db1ca5d9391a8530.jpg

2024-06-20 00:45:43

#writerscoffeeclub 20. Do you ever write in a cafe or bar? Give a shout out to your favourites.
My favorite is actually the library. Makes me feel like a uni student again. So do funky cafés/tea shops that will feed me things I’ve never tried before. Last week I had blue matcha for the first time! Gorgeous color but not much flavor.

2024-06-19 00:18:59

#wordweavers 19. Do your MCs or antagonists have characteristics you’re uncomfortable writing?
Fiyeli has a kink that grosses me out a little, but this is not my first rodeo and I consider it a healthy sign of a character taking on a life of their own. I focus on how much *he* likes it and it’s fine.
OTOH, *most* of Rossolay's characteristics make me uncomfortable. I tend to allude to the shit he pulled rather than depict it outright.

2024-06-18 01:58:03

#wordweavers 18. If your book came with a small toy, what would it be?
Native Sleipnirian fauna! Plushies of fat six-legged salamander babies and kakapoesque 'donkeys,' steppe crabs with stained glass shells and flexible tentacles, cattle-worms with velcro wool-trilobites, 'horse' scrunchies, moss pig marbles, poodle moth dogs, fist-sized canopy crown bumblebees and thumb-sized fuzzbirds... the list goes on.

2024-06-14 02:07:37

#writerscoffeeclub 14. Describe a bit of ask-an-expert research you've done presenting yourself as an author.
Well, I went to the worldbuilding stackexchange to ask if it was at all feasible for a ringed planet with low axial tilt and a 19-year year to have a slow-migrating 'Tropic of Ice' under the rings' shadow just north/south of the equator. They said no, as expected, so it's the Tropic of Shadow now instead. (I was smart enough not to specify it's a ringed *moon* orbiting a hot Neptune.)

2024-06-12 23:42:41

#wordweavers 13. If you weren’t a writer, what other creative avenues would you pursue?
I do pursue other creative avenues, but “writing” isn’t precisely like the others. It just sort of… comes out of me. Centering it, honoring it, making time for it and honing discipline to get better at it - those parts are the same as any other artistic craft, yes, but Tell Story is not quite, not entirely, the same activity for me as Make Thing.

2024-06-10 01:27:43

#wordweavers 10. MC POV: if you could wipe something from your memory, would you do it?
Fiyeli: No, I'd be afraid of forgetting what I learned from those experiences.

2024-06-09 01:59:26

#wordweavers 9. Who has the best meals in your story?
Offscreen: probably residents of either Ehlark village or Gibarra City. Onscreen: the main 4 get to eat some pretty great meals together, plus they spend much of their time camping which always makes everything taste fucking amazing.

2024-06-07 00:21:25

#writerscoffeeclub 7. What do you do first when you start a new writing project?
Sometimes I do some brainstorming about where the story is starting and where I want it to go, any kernels for scenes I want to include (ie. in my notes for book 3 I have “THE DRAG SMUT AT LAST” referencing a scene I’ve wanted to inset into a plot for 13 years), etc. Other times I just jump in. I’m very linear once I start; the majority of a story reveals itself to me as I tell it.

2024-06-06 23:02:08

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@npub1aum…5jx0 Duckduckgo has been fine for me and is already built in as an option in Firefox.

2024-06-03 01:18:38

#writerscoffeeclub 3. Should books include a content warning?
It’s not required but it is considerate. My roots are in fandom and tagging is standard there - as much advertisement as warning, shouldering the sort of role commercial platforms use BISACs for.

2024-06-01 01:45:52

#wordweavers 1. Introduce your cast as if they were a famous music band coming to your town.
Put your hands together for The Uncles and The Kids! Don't stop clapping, because I'm not sure any of them could carry a tune in a bucket.

2024-05-26 16:36:59

IMHO, if you're encouraging people to hire you for art commissions, you should include some pricing information with your portfolio so prospective buyers know whether or not their budget would be an insult. Because if they can't tell and can't guess they might be too shy to ask.

2024-05-26 02:04:53

#writerscoffeeclub 26. Would you consider writing a guide to your work, e.g. for aspiring writers?
A guide to how I write? Ha, no. I do so many things everyone says not to do, and often I can absolutely see why they say that but I do them anyway. Pretty sure any writing guide by me would mostly be a cautionary tale.
A guide to my writings themselves? Mmaayybe. "If you try hard and believe in yourself, you too can achieve smut so niche people are still DMing you about it ten years later."

2024-05-25 02:36:10

#writerscoffeeclub 25. Do you use a cover artist or design your own covers? Share your cover art.
I design my own covers! I use clip art, stock photos, Microsoft Paint and Canva to produce composite monstrosities that make me very happy, especially at the $0 price point. 2 out so far:
https://storage.googleapis.com/indieauthors/media_attachments/files/112/499/386/907/385/024/original/2bb879ebd45b0cbe.png
https://storage.googleapis.com/indieauthors/media_attachments/files/112/499/387/446/917/323/original/eafdf5ea9036e1f0.png

2024-05-23 23:42:54

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@npub19fc…ay3c I swear the evil preserves them

2024-05-21 02:05:32

#wordweavers 21. Do you consider how your MC's appearance may contribute to stereotypes?
Well, Fiyeli’s a POC, but so is everyone else in the cast (aside from a single token white guy). Doing relational calculus to figure out which interactions are Problematique is a game I refuse to play. At some point, you either paralyze yourself with doubt, or let it go and let characters be people, knowing some readers will hate you for it.

2024-05-21 01:51:32

#writerscoffeeclub 21. Do you format as you write or do that at the end?
I like to format as I write as much as I can. Google Docs used to make that easy, but I've heard from >1 smut writer who got arbitrarily locked out with no recourse, which makes knowing every word I type goes down Gemini's gullet extra galling. So I'm seeking a workable Android alternative.
I'm finishing book 3 in Collabora Office but CO freezes and crashes a lot on my phone; I won't be sticking with it for drafting. 1/2

2024-05-11 23:33:47

#writerscoffeeclub 12. How do you market your work?
Poorly! This site has been great for reaching other writers but not readers.
I have a few friends reading who give me that shot of attention I crave, so my interest in learning about how to promote my books more effectively is pretty low.
One thing I have heard is that the best promotion, by the numbers, is just writing more books, which is conveniently the only method I *want* to do anyway!

2024-05-10 00:15:13

#writerscoffeeclub . Do you know any good sources for publishing information?
I know I sound like a corporate shill but Draft2Digital has been really good to me, as a gormless infant in the ways of simply Making Books Exist For Sale In The First Place. They have more articles than I’ve bothered to read about different aspects of the craft and the business but the ones I have read seemed quite good. 1/2

2024-05-10 00:13:55

#wordweavers 10. Antagonist POV: What do you like the most about yourself?
Rossolay: You would not believe how many gene patches it took to turn my hair and eyes the exact same perfect shade of gold. *I* can’t believe some eldersister before me didn’t want the same thing for herself and master it already!

2024-05-06 16:08:34

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@npub1dzj…4cun Oh man yeah, that's really blatant. I would bet even odds the text is AI too; "after having sex she realizes he wants her for his sexual partner"? NO SHIT SHERLOCK

2024-05-03 01:05:28

#writerscoffeeclub 3. Does your work include pictures, maps or other custom graphics? Share your pics.
Not in the ebooks themselves, but I did draw an orbital diagram of Sleipnir’s times of day. Yes, I’ve posted it a couple of times before but I'm very proud of it!
https://storage.googleapis.com/indieauthors/media_attachments/files/112/374/464/674/941/590/original/f17111ef911f0757.jpg

2024-05-01 17:34:59

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@npub1gvl…8ag7
Good for them!
"Yes, a man will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works." - James 2:18

2024-04-29 18:55:10

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@npub19fc…ay3c "The lupine men were there to embrace me." TITLE OF YOUR EBOOK ohgodimsorry.

2024-04-26 02:26:23

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@npub1gvl…8ag7 Mine almost never trots - instead he paces, moving both legs on the same side at once.

2024-04-24 01:16:14

#writerscoffeeclub 24. When older novels use outdated or racist language, should they be edited for the modern world or left alone and viewed in context?
Oh my god, leave them and add a content warning at the beginning discussing the context. Once you get on the euphemism treadmill you never get off, and retcon censorship sets a precedent even more insidious than book bans.

2024-04-23 03:27:50

#writerscoffeeclub 23. What's your strangest source of writing inspiration?
My invertebrate zoology degree. Sleipnir’s native fauna are so vivid in my mind.

2024-04-21 13:01:06

It's one of those mornings where it feels deeply unfair that in order to have more of my own story to read, *I must write it.*

2024-04-10 04:30:15

#writerscoffeeclub 10. Do you have favourite words you like to use? What are they?
I have a terrible weakness for soft modifiers like “actually,” “pretty [adjective]", “kind of/sort of,” “a bit,” etc. A big part of editing-as-I-go is scraping most of these away like barnacles to get back some semblance of conviction.

2024-03-22 01:17:26

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@npub1r4h…u0jf It's at the discretion of individual authors, although I suppose the store might be slapping DRM on after the fact
But Tor.com books are all DRM-free, as is Smashwords as I understand it. Ebooks.com has a DRM-free section, and anything bought through a humblebundle. And for older books the Myne app has access to download anything on Project Gutenberg.

2024-03-22 01:00:25

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@npub1r4h…u0jf many ebooks are DRM-free even through the big retailers - my aggregator Draft2Digital recommends toggling DRM off

2024-03-10 03:02:41

#WritersCoffeeClub 10. Do you want to write full time or are you happy for it to be a hobby/side hustle?
I was influenced at an early age by an essay by Clive Cussler, of all people, who held the firm opinion that a writer should seek other paths in order to have things to write *about.* Without that advice in my heart, I might not have studied biology or ended up working in healthcare, I'd be spiritually (and financially!) poorer for it, and my writing would be missing many things I love. 1/2

2024-03-09 19:02:08

The last day of the Smashwords sale is today. Making my books free for the week has resulted in so many extra downloads that I have to conclude (gulp) *strangers* are reading them. Scary but exciting!
If you like free stuff, go here before [presumably] midnight tonight:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1462381
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1523954
#Bookstodon #freebooks #ebookweek24 #Smashwords

2024-02-23 12:31:13

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@npub10n9…tjug I don't think it's necessary that they be short. Others have mentioned wanting to keep them roughly *consistent* for those readers who break their reading into sessions by chapters, which was not an angle I'd considered before but makes sense.