#WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 1: Intro: Shameless Self Promotion.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 17: Do you agree with Somerset Maugham, who said, "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."
No. I think huge numbers of people "know" what the rules of writing are... and they disagree with each other on most of the particulars.
Luckily, there are lots of other people who realize that guidelines beat the heck out of rules.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 18: Do you believe the magic happens in the edit, or do you have a different approach?
I think it can happen at many stages of the process.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 18: Do you believe the magic happens in the edit, or do you have a different approach?
I think it can happen at many stages of the process.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 19: Do you include bodily functions in your stories (do your characters poo)?
If they're relevant, sure. Otherwise? Skip 'em, just like you'd skip anything else that's extraneous.
(In most of what I'm writing, they're really not relevant. But I can imagine situations where they might be.)
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 19: Do you include bodily functions in your stories (do your characters poo)?
If they're relevant, sure. Otherwise? Skip 'em, just like you'd skip anything else that's extraneous.
(In most of what I'm writing, they're really not relevant. But I can imagine situations where they might be.)
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 20: how do you commemorate hitting a milestone?
I haven't yet hit any milestone that I felt was worth commemorating with more than just taking a moment or two to go, "Okay, cool, *that's* off my plate... now what?"
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 20: how do you commemorate hitting a milestone?
I haven't yet hit any milestone that I felt was worth commemorating with more than just taking a moment or two to go, "Okay, cool, *that's* off my plate... now what?"
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 21: Do you ever get inspiration from dreams?
I rarely remember my dreams, except when they're particularly bizarre. I do sometimes think about my WIP and world in my sleep, though, and ISTR that I've once or twice made a little bit of progress that way.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 21: Do you ever get inspiration from dreams?
I rarely remember my dreams, except when they're particularly bizarre. I do sometimes think about my WIP and world in my sleep, though, and ISTR that I've once or twice made a little bit of progress that way.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 22: Would you ever pay for a review? Or have you? Do you feel it's worth it?
Is this a thing that can be done in a way that isn't, for lack of a better term, sketchy or dubious? Is paying for reviews an accepted practice?
Maybe I'm betraying my lack of knowledge of the publishing field, but my initial thought was that that sounds incredibly unethical. But the matter-of-fact phrasing of the question suggests that it's standard. So, what am I missing here?
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 22: Would you ever pay for a review? Or have you? Do you feel it's worth it?
Is this a thing that can be done in a way that isn't, for lack of a better term, sketchy or dubious? Is paying for reviews an accepted practice?
Maybe I'm betraying my lack of knowledge of the publishing field, but my initial thought was that that sounds incredibly unethical. But the matter-of-fact phrasing of the question suggests that it's standard. So, what am I missing here?
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 23: Ursula K Le Guin said that Earthsea began when she drew a map. What's your starting point?
For my WIP, it was loving cities and feeling them as alive, and wanting to do something with that.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 23: Ursula K Le Guin said that Earthsea began when she drew a map. What's your starting point?
For my WIP, it was loving cities and feeling them as alive, and wanting to do something with that.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 24: How do you feel about fan fiction?
About reading it? About writing it? About other people writing it about other people's works? Or about other people writing it about *my* works?
I'm not too interested in writing it myself. I have hardly enough time to write "my own" stuff, in my own worlds; I can't spare any to write stuff set in other people's worlds. 1/3
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 24: How do you feel about fan fiction?
About reading it? About writing it? About other people writing it about other people's works? Or about other people writing it about *my* works?
I'm not too interested in writing it myself. I have hardly enough time to write "my own" stuff, in my own worlds; I can't spare any to write stuff set in other people's worlds. 1/3
I'm rarely interested in reading it, either; again, my TBR list is far larger than I'll ever get through (insert that comic about the ghost whose tsundoku pile is still growing even after death) — though there are occasional exceptions!
I 100% support people who want to write fanfic doing so! It can be good practice before writing one's own worlds, or it can just be *fun for its own sake*, and I support both! Anyone trying to shame fanfic can just bugger off. 2/3
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I'm rarely interested in reading it, either; again, my TBR list is far larger than I'll ever get through (insert that comic about the ghost whose tsundoku pile is still growing even after death) — though there are occasional exceptions!
I 100% support people who want to write fanfic doing so! It can be good practice before writing one's own worlds, or it can just be *fun for its own sake*, and I support both! Anyone trying to shame fanfic can just bugger off. 2/3
As for people writing fanfic set in my world(s)? Wow, I would love to have fans! I'd love to have fans want to play in the worlds I'm creating!
I understand why every IP lawyer ever advises authors to never ever read fanfic set in their worlds, and it makes me sad. I would so want to read fanfic of my works! (Okay, some of it would suck. That's the nature of *everything*; see Sturgeon's Law. But some would make my heart sing.) 3/3
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As for people writing fanfic set in my world(s)? Wow, I would love to have fans! I'd love to have fans want to play in the worlds I'm creating!
I understand why every IP lawyer ever advises authors to never ever read fanfic set in their worlds, and it makes me sad. I would so want to read fanfic of my works! (Okay, some of it would suck. That's the nature of *everything*; see Sturgeon's Law. But some would make my heart sing.) 3/3
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 25: Are there any celebrations or festivals in your writing?
Definitely! I'm just not sure which ones.
Frex, Jessie loves sakura matsuri (the cherry blossom festival). Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can wrangle the narration in such a way as to be able to depict her attending it. It's a whole thing, about who's the POV character at what time, and while I *may* be able to make it work, I may not. 1/2
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 25: Are there any celebrations or festivals in your writing?
Definitely! I'm just not sure which ones.
Frex, Jessie loves sakura matsuri (the cherry blossom festival). Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can wrangle the narration in such a way as to be able to depict her attending it. It's a whole thing, about who's the POV character at what time, and while I *may* be able to make it work, I may not. 1/2
But there's Pride, and Folsom, and I absolutely *MUST* work in the annual commemoration of the Great Quake and Fire (okay, maybe that's not a "celebration or festival", but it's a *super-important* observance for San Francisco city shamans). There's probably at least 1 or 2 things I'm forgetting. It's just a question of which ones will make it onto the page, and how.
(Lunar New Year will not; the action begins in mid-March and extends until early November.) 2/2
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But there's Pride, and Folsom, and I absolutely *MUST* work in the annual commemoration of the Great Quake and Fire (okay, maybe that's not a "celebration or festival", but it's a *super-important* observance for San Francisco city shamans). There's probably at least 1 or 2 things I'm forgetting. It's just a question of which ones will make it onto the page, and how.
(Lunar New Year will not; the action begins in mid-March and extends until early November.) 2/2
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 26: Did you come to writing from an avenue other than reading?
Mostly reading, but I have to admit, there is a definite strain of TTRPG in my WIP. Not so much in the written product; it is *nothing* like a LitRPG¹. I just mean that the initial world-building sprang from some stuff I recall from an RPG I used to play.
1. I have only read a little bit of LitRPG, and I'm not fond of it. I don't feel like reading any more, and I definitely don't want to write any.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 26: Did you come to writing from an avenue other than reading?
Mostly reading, but I have to admit, there is a definite strain of TTRPG in my WIP. Not so much in the written product; it is *nothing* like a LitRPG¹. I just mean that the initial world-building sprang from some stuff I recall from an RPG I used to play.
1. I have only read a little bit of LitRPG, and I'm not fond of it. I don't feel like reading any more, and I definitely don't want to write any.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 27: What's the elevator pitch for your current WIP?
It needs a lot of honing; it's not a very good one. But it's what I've got so far:
It's an urban fantasy about people who can hear the voice of the City, and it teaches them to do magic.
(See? I need to learn how to write elevator pitches, honestly. My forte is spec-fic, not sales copy, and the latter is what elevator pitches really are.)
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 27: What's the elevator pitch for your current WIP?
It needs a lot of honing; it's not a very good one. But it's what I've got so far:
It's an urban fantasy about people who can hear the voice of the City, and it teaches them to do magic.
(See? I need to learn how to write elevator pitches, honestly. My forte is spec-fic, not sales copy, and the latter is what elevator pitches really are.)
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 28: When beginning a story, which do you have a clearer idea of first, the characters or the plot? Both?
With this one, the first idea was the world and the setting. I started getting ideas about plot and characters at roughly the same pace, and then deliberately focused on characters more.
I'm not sure how it will go with other stories.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 28: When beginning a story, which do you have a clearer idea of first, the characters or the plot? Both?
With this one, the first idea was the world and the setting. I started getting ideas about plot and characters at roughly the same pace, and then deliberately focused on characters more.
I'm not sure how it will go with other stories.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 29: Tell us about a writer's block you worked through. How did you pull it off?
I'm not sure that I've yet had "writer's block" in the usual sense. I've had a few times where a particular thing was giving me some trouble — like, I wasn't sure how to proceed, or I was just feeling a little burnt out on that particular thing for a bit — but I just shifted focus and worked on another thing for a bit, and then came back fresh to the original one. 1/2
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 29: Tell us about a writer's block you worked through. How did you pull it off?
I'm not sure that I've yet had "writer's block" in the usual sense. I've had a few times where a particular thing was giving me some trouble — like, I wasn't sure how to proceed, or I was just feeling a little burnt out on that particular thing for a bit — but I just shifted focus and worked on another thing for a bit, and then came back fresh to the original one. 1/2
So far, I've been doing world-building, character creation, and now a bunch of vignettes, so it's always been easy to shift from one thing to another. Once I'm in the thick of it, writing actual text, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that anymore. So that'll be interesting to find out. 2/2
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So far, I've been doing world-building, character creation, and now a bunch of vignettes, so it's always been easy to shift from one thing to another. Once I'm in the thick of it, writing actual text, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that anymore. So that'll be interesting to find out. 2/2
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 30: What have you achieved in your writing this month? Or were you too busy eating cake?
Wrote roughly 18,600 words' worth of vignette material. Completed 3 vignettes. Got feedback from my alpha reader about 2 of those vignettes, and did a bunch of editing.
Curiously, I *did* also have cake; my partner, their other partner, and I celebrated their themaversary (anniversary of coming out as non-binary), and I baked a cake for them. Everyone said it was delicious!
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 30: What have you achieved in your writing this month? Or were you too busy eating cake?
Wrote roughly 18,600 words' worth of vignette material. Completed 3 vignettes. Got feedback from my alpha reader about 2 of those vignettes, and did a bunch of editing.
Curiously, I *did* also have cake; my partner, their other partner, and I celebrated their themaversary (anniversary of coming out as non-binary), and I baked a cake for them. Everyone said it was delicious!
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 1: What makes your WIP (or most recent work) stand out from the crowd? Don't be shy.
It's an urban fantasy with a unique magic system that _requires_ being set in a city; it has no other supernatural races (just humans, and the living City itself); and it has an ensemble cast instead of the usual single MC.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 1: What makes your WIP (or most recent work) stand out from the crowd? Don't be shy.
It's an urban fantasy with a unique magic system that _requires_ being set in a city; it has no other supernatural races (just humans, and the living City itself); and it has an ensemble cast instead of the usual single MC.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 2: Trauma? Can you write a traumatic, disturbing scene?
I suspect so and devoutly hope so, although I'm not sure if I plan to put any into my current WIP. But I'm sure that *someday* I'll want or even need to write a scene that disturbs the crap out of my readers.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 2: Trauma? Can you write a traumatic, disturbing scene?
I suspect so and devoutly hope so, although I'm not sure if I plan to put any into my current WIP. But I'm sure that *someday* I'll want or even need to write a scene that disturbs the crap out of my readers.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 3: Do you agree with Isaac Bashevis Singer, who said, "A good writer is basically a storyteller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind."
I feel like I should check to see what the context for the quote is, but...
Well, assuming Singer was talking only about fiction writers (which, y'know, non-fiction is completely legit), then I guess he's mostly right. The story is the important thing, sure.
Mostly. 1/3