#WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 1: Intro: Shameless Self Promotion.
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Even the places that some might consider "natural", such as Golden Gate Park or the top of Corona Heights, aren't actually natural: GGP was painstakingly built by humans on what used to be sand dunes, and the current top of Corona Heights is many feet lower than it once was before being extensively quarried to make bricks. 2/2
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 13: Are you mindful of your readers’ expectations? How so?
Hard to say. I am trying to be mindful of the idea that if you set up something, if you make a promise to the reader, you must keep it. (Well, okay, you are well advised to keep it, or else your readers will be annoyed.) 1/2
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 13: Are you mindful of your readers’ expectations? How so?
Hard to say. I am trying to be mindful of the idea that if you set up something, if you make a promise to the reader, you must keep it. (Well, okay, you are well advised to keep it, or else your readers will be annoyed.) 1/2
And, I guess there are a couple of things I'm planning on that are based on my assumption that readers may expect certain things based on the conventions of urban fantasy, and I want to make it clear whether I'm going with or against those tropes. 2/2
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And, I guess there are a couple of things I'm planning on that are based on my assumption that readers may expect certain things based on the conventions of urban fantasy, and I want to make it clear whether I'm going with or against those tropes. 2/2
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 14: What new themes are you currently exploring?
This is my first writing project. Everything I'm exploring is new.
Okay, okay, themes I'm exploring in my WIP (new or not): cities; magic; learning and growth; urban planning; what makes someone evil; friendship and found family, and also how friends can become not-friends-anymore; proper and improper uses of power.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 14: What new themes are you currently exploring?
This is my first writing project. Everything I'm exploring is new.
Okay, okay, themes I'm exploring in my WIP (new or not): cities; magic; learning and growth; urban planning; what makes someone evil; friendship and found family, and also how friends can become not-friends-anymore; proper and improper uses of power.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 15: Are you aware of any fanfiction about your work?
Haha, no, that's impossible at this time. I haven't even written the first draft yet; there's nothing there for people to even be fans *of*, never mind write fanfic about! 🤣
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 15: Are you aware of any fanfiction about your work?
Haha, no, that's impossible at this time. I haven't even written the first draft yet; there's nothing there for people to even be fans *of*, never mind write fanfic about! 🤣
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 16: What word or phrase do you tend to overuse?
I actually tend to overuse words like honestly, actually, and really. I am actually making a strong effort to really be careful about those, but I'm honestly not sure how well it's really going.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 16: What word or phrase do you tend to overuse?
I actually tend to overuse words like honestly, actually, and really. I am actually making a strong effort to really be careful about those, but I'm honestly not sure how well it's really going.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 17: Does alcohol intake influence your writing?
Yeah, it helps me loosen up and get a flow going.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 17: Does alcohol intake influence your writing?
Yeah, it helps me loosen up and get a flow going.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 18: Happy Awkward Moments Day! What’s the most awkward moment you’ve ever written?
That's definitely got to be one of the vignettes I've written about Jessie Nakamura's past. I'm just not sure if her first kiss, or the time she came out to her parents, was more awkward. I think it's probably her first kiss.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 18: Happy Awkward Moments Day! What’s the most awkward moment you’ve ever written?
That's definitely got to be one of the vignettes I've written about Jessie Nakamura's past. I'm just not sure if her first kiss, or the time she came out to her parents, was more awkward. I think it's probably her first kiss.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 19: What’s your narrator’s sense of humor like?
This question appears to assume a 1st-person POV, and apparently one restricted to a single character, but I'm writing close 3rd, bouncing around through multiple people. My *narrator* has no sense of humor; that's not the place for it. As I get further into various characters' thoughts, their senses of humor range from dry to good-natured to strongly self-deprecating.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 19: What’s your narrator’s sense of humor like?
This question appears to assume a 1st-person POV, and apparently one restricted to a single character, but I'm writing close 3rd, bouncing around through multiple people. My *narrator* has no sense of humor; that's not the place for it. As I get further into various characters' thoughts, their senses of humor range from dry to good-natured to strongly self-deprecating.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 20: What was the most writing-related fun you’ve had?
I'm not sure what counts as "writing-related fun" except for the fun of actually writing. So, I guess, any of the times I've gone out to bars and just sat there for a few hours, cranking away and occasionally asking for another drink.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 20: What was the most writing-related fun you’ve had?
I'm not sure what counts as "writing-related fun" except for the fun of actually writing. So, I guess, any of the times I've gone out to bars and just sat there for a few hours, cranking away and occasionally asking for another drink.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 21: Happy World Poetry Day! Share your most poetic line.
Gonna have to be a paragraph, sorry. And you'll need context: this is from a few hours after Jessie Nakamura, who rides a motorcycle, has awoken as a magician. Now the City is teaching her how to absorb magical energy by staring at skyscrapers along straight roads.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 21: Happy World Poetry Day! Share your most poetic line.
Gonna have to be a paragraph, sorry. And you'll need context: this is from a few hours after Jessie Nakamura, who rides a motorcycle, has awoken as a magician. Now the City is teaching her how to absorb magical energy by staring at skyscrapers along straight roads.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 22: What distracts you the most from writing? How do you deal?
In terms of _distraction_, not just "life"? Gotta be playing games on my phone. It's just so easy to pick it up and start playing.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 22: What distracts you the most from writing? How do you deal?
In terms of _distraction_, not just "life"? Gotta be playing games on my phone. It's just so easy to pick it up and start playing.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 23: What’s the most memorable encounter you’ve had with a reader?
I can't really answer this yet, not being published in any way. The only "reader" I have so far is my partner, and I don't really "have encounters with" them in the sense this question is asking.
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 23: What’s the most memorable encounter you’ve had with a reader?
I can't really answer this yet, not being published in any way. The only "reader" I have so far is my partner, and I don't really "have encounters with" them in the sense this question is asking.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 24: Is there a particular reader you keep in mind when you write?
No. I try to write for a hypothetical "aggregate reader" of my stories — basically, just a vague notion of "the kind of person, or people, who will like my stuff."
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 24: Is there a particular reader you keep in mind when you write?
No. I try to write for a hypothetical "aggregate reader" of my stories — basically, just a vague notion of "the kind of person, or people, who will like my stuff."
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 25: Describe your workflow if it had to be 100% analog.
It wouldn't. If I had to write by hand, I just wouldn't. The hand-cramps after only a few minutes would be too much of a barrier.
[Edit: Oh yeah, typewriters. I guess they're analog too. I think it'd still be too onerous for me, though; the mere idea of having to retype *everything* for each new draft, not just the changed stuff, makes me want to cry. I *hate* repeating work I've... 1/2
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 25: Describe your workflow if it had to be 100% analog.
It wouldn't. If I had to write by hand, I just wouldn't. The hand-cramps after only a few minutes would be too much of a barrier.
[Edit: Oh yeah, typewriters. I guess they're analog too. I think it'd still be too onerous for me, though; the mere idea of having to retype *everything* for each new draft, not just the changed stuff, makes me want to cry. I *hate* repeating work I've... 1/2
...already done; in fact, it's what got me into programming: the ability to make the computer re-do something so that I didn't have to.
So, "analog only" means "no writing for Kagan". 2/2]
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...already done; in fact, it's what got me into programming: the ability to make the computer re-do something so that I didn't have to.
So, "analog only" means "no writing for Kagan". 2/2]
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 26: About which format or style choices are you the most uncertain?
Not sure which one is top, but one that's on my mind right now: my decision to only italicize non-English text when it's a second or unfamiliar language to the person speaking it. 1/6
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#WritersCoffeeClub Day 26: About which format or style choices are you the most uncertain?
Not sure which one is top, but one that's on my mind right now: my decision to only italicize non-English text when it's a second or unfamiliar language to the person speaking it. 1/6
I'm pretty solid about wanting to do it, because it ties into the mechanics of my magical system: the extra effort of speaking a spell in a language you aren't fluent in can give a boost in energy to the spell itself. Having that reflected in the typography is a subtle way of underscoring it. 2/6
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I'm pretty solid about wanting to do it, because it ties into the mechanics of my magical system: the extra effort of speaking a spell in a language you aren't fluent in can give a boost in energy to the spell itself. Having that reflected in the typography is a subtle way of underscoring it. 2/6
So, for example, in one vignette, I have Kevin Wingard decide he needs a little extra "oomph" for a spell he's not quite confident in yet. (The vignette is set in the past, only about a year and a half after he awoke; he's still learning things.) So he uses some of his high school Spanish for his incantation, and I put it italics like you're supposed to. 3/6
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So, for example, in one vignette, I have Kevin Wingard decide he needs a little extra "oomph" for a spell he's not quite confident in yet. (The vignette is set in the past, only about a year and a half after he awoke; he's still learning things.) So he uses some of his high school Spanish for his incantation, and I put it italics like you're supposed to. 3/6
OTOH, Carlos Velázquez and his wife, Raquel, are both bilingual from childhood in English and Spanish. When they exchange Spanish endearments, or just say various things in Spanish like "I'm about to get into an elevator, so I'll call you back soon", I'm leaving those in roman, not italic. 4/6
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OTOH, Carlos Velázquez and his wife, Raquel, are both bilingual from childhood in English and Spanish. When they exchange Spanish endearments, or just say various things in Spanish like "I'm about to get into an elevator, so I'll call you back soon", I'm leaving those in roman, not italic. 4/6
But it gets even wilder, because Carlos and Raquel are both polyglots, who speak a few other languages! However, they learned those later. So when either of them say or think things in German, Latin, or Arabic, those *do* get italicized like one would normally expect. 5/6