#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 7 Nbr 3 — How much of your worlds are invented versus real? Give examples. I taking this as meaning places in my stories being set in the real world versus invented. Most every setting in my stories are invented. Spaceship interiors and alien worlds do not exist. Real life settings would require me to convince the people who actually live there that it's real; I'm pretty sure I'd fail. That said, I do short cut describing places by basing them I'm places I've visited, using real maps to define how truly crazy cities can be, combined memories of places I've visited. I stayed in underdeveloped counties, lived in a few interesting places like Bali, and explored odd places in cities in North America and Europe. My worlds are not only invented, but also pastiche of places in the real world. #BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSdiscussion

#WordWeavers 2403.02 — Do you prefer writing series or stand-alone books? Why? When I began authoring books, I didn't want to write sequels—even as the publisher asked for one. When I wrote a trilogy, I thought of it as a single entity. I even split a novel into two parts, but thought of it as one story. The reason: T second book in a series never seemed as good as the first. Best to avoid the issue, I decided. Returning to being an author after burning out, I've realized that many of the books I've read since I began writer /are/ series. Not all books are as great as the one before—I accept that—but realize how I've grow attached to the characters. They become like friends. The end of a book is like a little death. They'll never breath again. I know everything I'll ever know. Series solve this problem. For me, it's a chance to explore new territory and develop character's and their world further. Now, I am developing story ideas from the get go as series. I think they'll make me more productive. #BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSdiscussion

#PennedPossibilities 242 — MC POV: If you could relive one day of your life and CHANGE its course of events, which day would you choose? [Spoilers for fiction under another alias.] CW: Violence. Yeah, you know I've been pardoned, got my entire team and those associated with me pardoned. I understand why I've been put in the position to run things, given trust nobody like me should have. My talents are my curse, but that doesn't mean I'm not also a criminal. I was the bodyguard for one of the most notorious of bad actors. At times I was a messenger between her lieutenants. I was often assigned to act like her second in command—because I'm good at acting in control. People decided I had a death wish. Silly. I'm just good at walking a knife edge. Come the day of the assassination, I'd planned the routes. I'd put eyes where needed. I'd randomized the departure time and direction. Yet... I hadn't thought of everything. I might be extremely good at what I did, but I was still a teenager. Experience might make a difference? Actually, in retrospect. No. My opponent was a master in her profession. I acted reflexively, and my reflexes are good. My employer bounced off a brick wall as I jumped into her spot, taking the brunt of the knife attack. Steel sliced open my arm, not her neck. I fought a losing battle that day, but I saved my employer's life. My leg splintered, artery nicked and bone exposed, I hemorrhaged as I took our assailant down. Though flatlined twice, I later learned, the medtechs revived me. Took me weeks to leave the hospital. Half a year in therapy to get back into fighting shape, after being told I might never walk well. This despite no longer feeling the bottom of my foot or the rear of my calf. I saved my employer's life. My rep soared. Problem is? She ran the biggest eastern syndicate. I'd known the Doña did /things./ I'd yet to realize she was also a terrorist, even sponsored national enemies. She was evil. She was working to make me evil, or to blackmail me, so she could force me do her bidding, to do things I might refuse. I could have reacted slower. I could have jumped aside. She'd have died instantly. Those who died the days and months afterward—their deaths are blood stains I can never wash away. Would I relive that day and change the outcome? Without hesitation. [Author retains copyright (c)2024 RS.] #BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSdiscussion #RSstory

#WordWeavers 2402.19 — Which of your MCs would try online dating? None of them. Even in the two SF and one fantasy novel I'm thinking of that could support the idea of an online, the characters aren't interested in dating. Others, novels and novellas, spanning SF and fantasy genres, protagonists are actively trying to avoid arranged marriage, or marriage, or sex altogether. They don't want to be trapped "barefoot and pregnant" or to lose the ability to determine their own fate. In another one of my universes, where finding and having liaisons is no big deal, there's no such thing as an online. Were something like it to exist, it might only be useful if boredom were to set in. In the rest, the whole concept of creating a marketplace to offer oneself as a potential mate is just so incredibly foreign and bizarre, skepticism would easily overrule curiosity; that is if the religion or society did squash it and its purveyors like a cockroach! [Author retains copyright (c)2024 RS.] #BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 6 Nbr 19 — Do you give your characters mannerisms? How do you do this? Yes, but I don't plan it. As the characters live their lives, certain things click. It's entirely accidental. For example, Wintereyes speaks the local human tongue, but is more or less fluent in the communication styles of a number of beasts she lived constantly amongst. Her "Human" is rusty, thus her manner of speech is slightly clunky. The best example is she drops logically unneeded words, as in this dialogue: "Do you like it?" "Yes! I like." [Author retains copyright (c)2024 RS.] #BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSdiscussion #RSInklingsStory