#WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 1: Intro: Shameless Self Promotion.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 22: Do you write your characters’ thoughts, or let their actions speak for themselves? Why?

I definitely write my characters' thoughts, because not all thoughts lead to actions. Everyone has thoughts that result in, at the very most, a tiny flicker of expression, and maybe not even that — but which would reveal a great deal about our character to anyone who could read that thought. 1/3

[kagan@wandering.shop]

Here's one of the more innocent examples. This is from a vignette I wrote, just a day in the life of Angel Castillo. They've just done a major presentation for a client at work, which they were pretty nervous about. When it's done, their boss, Maxine, takes them and their co-worker who also helped present into a conference room to debrief: 2/3

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[kagan@wandering.shop]

Not an earth-shaking revelation about their deepest inner workings, sure. But I couldn't have shown their nervousness (and relief!) in their actions — not without making them unprofessional. Instead, by showing their thoughts, I get to have them be professional on the outside, but let the reader share their emotions.

That's a pretty nice tool. It'd be a shame not to use it. 3/3

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[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 23: Share a description you're proud of.

I don't have any yet that I'm _proud of_. Just ones that I think are serviceable. I'm still trying to get better at them.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 24: Have you ever written stream of consciousness?

No, definitely not. I mean, what even is stream of consciousness? Does it count if I just dive into a character's thoughts for a bit? Heck, when they learn things about magic, I have some bits where I go *very* internal, and very much follow along with the POV character's inner sensations.

I want to give some of the sensation of what it really *feels like* to do magic, you know? And I think I'm going to...1/3

[kagan@wandering.shop]

...a reasonable depth, there. It's not the same as the scenes where the mentor characters are teaching the learners; in those, I think I maybe go too hard on just what the parameters of magic are, and what a given spell can and can't do. I want to avoid going too Brandon Sanderson, there, but I also want to make sure that I lay out the dramatic rules well enough that readers can get a sense of what people can and can't do, and not have anyone feel like...2/3

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[kagan@wandering.shop]

...I've surprised them later on. Or done a rug-pull, or anything like that. Does that make sense?

Anyway, you can probably see how those things are in tension with, in opposition to each other... oh. Shit.

Fine, I guess *now* I've written some stream of consciousness, huh?

😏

3/3

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[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 25: Do you ever hinge plots on a misunderstanding?

I haven't yet, and I have no plans to do so.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 27: How does your social class influence what you write?

Well, I'm middle-class, and so are all of my protagonists...

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 28: How do you write sensory experiences that fall beyond the the usual five? Give an example.

I'm routinely describing how it feels to deal with magical energy. How to raise it, absorb it, store and then access it, focus it, and fire it... as well as just sensing it.

I use metaphors, and loaded language like "sizzling", "ecstatic", "crackling", "sparkling", and so on, that give the impression of energy and also some amount of beauty and delight.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 29: How happy or bittersweet are your endings?

I haven't written any endings yet. I want to make my endings happy, but the WIP focuses on liberal and progressive people in the US, and the story ends right before Election Day 2024, so... that ending is going to turn out bittersweet, even if the events between the covers look like a 100% happy ending. I'm not super happy with that, but... 🤷🏻 it is what it is. Might as well learn to work with it.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 30: What single book had the greatest impact on your writing?

There's no single book that stands out in my mind for this.

And I'm not sure there should be, either. That sounds like taking too much inspiration from just one source, instead of from a diversity of them. Even if that source is a book on how to write, I still think one should learn from *many* of those.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 31: What is your greatest strength as a writer?

I haven't the foggiest clue.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 1: Why are you writing your current work?

Because I want to. Because I have things I want to say, people and ideas I want the world to get to know.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 2: What's plentiful in your writing?

Characters, and relationships between them. Hell, even my *setting* is literally a character. (It speaks its first line of dialogue around page 2 or 3, depending on layout and pagination.)

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 3: How heroic are your protagonists?

Fairly so. TBH, I haven't yet figured out all the things they're going to (have to) do, but I get the impression it will involve some amount of combat (both physical and magical) and some high-speed motor-vehicle stuff, but probably *not* any hanging by their fingertips from high things or swinging from ropes or whatnot. Definitely no crossing jungles, deserts, or other hostile terrain; the setting is 100% urban.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 4: How violent is your work?

Moderately. There is both physical and magical combat, although it's not the central focus of the story. There will probably be little, if any, gun violence, but hand-to-hand combat can get pretty bloody, and magical combat can do serious pain and damage. I plan to have at least one fight that leaves the combatants utterly wrecked and near death.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 5: How much misdirection is unreasonable?

I think that's really something the *reader*, not the writer, gets to decide. If the reader thinks the writer's gone too far, they can DNF, and the writer's SOL. 1/3

[kagan@wandering.shop]

So if I answer the question with my reader hat on... well, some is okay. Red herrings are a normal, accepted part of plotting, especially in mysteries, but audiences know they can happen in other genres, too. Frex, romances often have at least one potential suitor who the MC does *not* end up with. 2/3

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[kagan@wandering.shop]

I think the line, for me, is: does it feel like the writer is spicing things up to make the story more interesting, more fun for the audience? Or does it feel like the writer is just playing with us, deliberately making it impossible to predict where they're going, making it so they can say, "Ha! Fooled you!"?

In other words, is the writer _on the audience's side_, or are they in an adversarial relationship with us? 3/3

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