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

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 27: How traditional is your writing? Which tradition?

I guess it's pretty squarely within the mainstream of modern urban fantasy. Is that "a tradition"? Or just a genre? Would you say that genre is situated with the "tradition" of 21st-Century Anglophonic speculative fiction?

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 28: What's the highest praise you've received as a writer?

My partner, who's the only person I've shown any of my writing to, has said they love it.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 29: Talk about an experience you've had with plagiarism.

I haven't had any. I was taught not to plagiarize at an early age, and so I don't. Nobody's tried to plagiarize my work.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 30: Have you ever written as a commission? If not, would you?

I haven't, and I can't see myself having the spare time and monetary need to take commissions; I have enough writing of my own to do (and enough money to support it as a hobby).

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 31: How was this month for you, writing-wise?

Okay, I guess. I had four days (two consecutive, two non-) when I didn't write at all, and I don't feel great about that. But I've produced a total of 16,564 words so far this month, and the day's not over yet. 1/2

[kagan@wandering.shop]

I'm closing in on "done with the first five chapters", which will be something of a milestone for me: it'll mean I've used up all the outline I wrote before starting, and am now _entirely_ in terra incognita. Which, while it is an achievement, also means my pace is likely to bog down more than a bit, as I try to figure out what the hell's going on. 2/2

#WritersCoffeeClub

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 1: What’s the most number of revisions you’ve gone through for a work?

So far? Zero. I need to finish this draft before I can start revisions.

(Okay, technically, I've caught errors and fixed things up already anyway, because I occasionally re-read to make sure to keep consistency with the prior material. But that's not a full revision round. Just incidental stuff.)

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 2: Describe your aesthetic.

Like, as a writer? I'm not sure I have any idea how to answer this.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 3: Have you ever based a character on yourself? If not, would you?

Not in the full "based on me" sense, no. And I don't think I would, unless the entire point were to write myself into a story — which is not something I have any real interest in doing.

Many — most, maybe even all — of my characters have 1 or 2 aspects that are based on me (and also on other people I've known). But I think that's just drawing from life as part of creation.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 4: How do you handle nudity or sex in your writing? Subtly, graphically, not at all?

Neither one has come up yet. Either or both might, eventually, and in that case, I'm pretty sure I'll just go with "what would make a stronger story?"

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 5: How much should a writer read?

Enough to have a good understanding of what's going on in their genre(s), and enough outside it/them to not be canalized, and then maybe just a bit more for good measure. Also, enough to keep them engaged with reading, and for their own enjoyment.

Yes, that's purposely a very vague amount.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 6: Do you write daily? Why or why not?

I try to, yes. Three main reasons:

1️⃣ Building a habit is good. That doesn't have to be daily; "M-W-F" or weekly, or whatever, would also work fine. But...
2️⃣ If I don't write it, it'll never get done. I'm acutely aware of time passing me by. I want it *done*, before anything happens.
3️⃣ If I skip a day, I get a nasty break in my progress graph lines. I see that gap for the next two months, until it scrolls off. And it *irks* me. 😅

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 7: How much does your writing occupy your thoughts away from the keyboard?

A fair amount. It's not all-consuming (even leaving aside things like work (which, actually, might not count as "away from the keyboard", since my job is web development 🤔)), but it's one among a group of common things for me to think about.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 8: What about the current writing milieu do you wish were different?

Well, obviously, I wish "AI" weren't a thing. I could go on at great length about that, but I'll try to keep it short by just saying that "AI writing" (people passing off computer-generated text as their own) isn't the only problem; there's also the trend of people accusing actual, human-written text of being "AI"-generated, and the follow-on problem… 1/3

[kagan@wandering.shop]

…of people trying to change their own writing styles in a (probably futile) attempt to pre-empt such accusations.

So "AI" is having bad effects even on people who don't use it. That really sucks.

(For the record, I recommend people just keep writing like themselves, em dashes and all. People who will jump on such basic stylistic standards and yell, "AI!" are fools, and there's no need to distort your writing just to cater to fools.) 2/3

#WritersCoffeeClub

[kagan@wandering.shop]

I also wish there were more diversity and competition in both publishing houses and in distribution channels. (I.e., I wish the Big Four and Amazon didn't have such a chokehold on the industry.) 3/3

#WritersCoffeeClub

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 9: What incorrect assumptions might a reader make about you?

That I still live in San Francisco.

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 10: What encouragement would you give writers younger than yourself?

Not sure why it needs to be ones younger than myself. Is that supposed to indicate ones who are "less experienced"? Because if so, it's hard to even *find* writers less experienced than myself. I'm a beginner. 1/2

[kagan@wandering.shop]

Encouragement that I'd give any writers, then, would simply be: Don't write what you think you're "supposed to", or what you think will sell. Write what *you want*, write as often and as genuinely as you can. 2/2

#WritersCoffeeClub

[kagan@wandering.shop]

#WritersCoffeeClub day 11: If you could banish one trope for a century, which would you choose?

Women in Refrigerators. I'd like to see writers forced to come up with other ways to motivate their (male) characters.

I nearly chose Forced Pregnancy, because I *HATE* that one, but I think WIR is more prevalent, and banishing it would have a greater effect on the next century's stories. (Sexy Lamp was another close runner-up: give us more fully-featured female characters!)