[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 7: In your writing, what is the best thing you've done (or might do) to a reader's state of mind?
Open their mind to new ways of thinking, give them joy and hope, and lift their spirits.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 8: Authors love to show off a book stack. Post an image of your stack or a collage of your digital work.
I haven't completed anything yet. 😢
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 9: In your work, do you include short sections in languages other than the primary language?
Some of my characters are multilingual, and sometimes speak in languages other than English.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 10: What's your favourite summer read for a getaway/holiday/vacation?
I've got to be honest, when I go on vacation, I'm generally scheduled up to my eyeballs. I don't have any time left over for reading. So, after a bunch of trips where I came home and said, "Wow, those books were a waste of luggage space and weight allowance," I don't bring them anymore.
(Fallback answer: whatever's already in my Kindle account and hence accessible on my phone.)
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 11: Do you consider any of your work to be unfilmable?
Not really. I'm trying to keep it kind of filmable, actually. That may or may not be the best idea; I've pondered on it occasionally and considered that I certainly could lean into the ability of the written word to convey non-visual ideas. But it's hard for me not to try to picture everything in my mind's eye, which makes it a little more filmable.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 12: Someone asks permission to use AI to write a book in your style outside your usual genre. Do you allow it?
When I first wrote my answer, back at the end of last month when the questions came out, I just said, "I don't think I would, no."
After seeing so many other people's excellent replies, though, I think I have to rewrite that to: Holy flaming fuckballs, absolutely not!
(Also, I think I've gotta stop being so kind and mild about these AI questions.)
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 13: Would you ever serialize your work? Have you done it?
I have no strong objection to it, and might be open to trying it. I'd want to research what other authors think about it, if there are any pitfalls or challenges I should be aware of.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 14: Have you helped other writers on their journey, or is it every person for themselves?
I'm a newbie myself, so there's a limit to what I could possibly have done to help others. I have answered a few things on r/writers and r/writing, which I hope helped some people. That's about it.
I definitely don't feel that it's "everyone for themselves"; I do want to help other writers when I'm better situated to do so.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 15: Have you used any form of AI to help in creating your work? Do you have a red line? Where is it?
I have not, I do not plan to, and I actively plan not to. My red line is that I won't use it, and am not interested in doing so.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 16: In a maximum of 500 characters, can you write us a short story, poem, or words of wisdom?
Afternoon rain
doesn't break the heat —
but leaves drip.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 17: What was your motivation for choosing past or present tense?
Past tense is more standard, and there was nothing about this story that seemed like it would gain from breaking that convention. (I'm already doing enough other non-standard stuff, so I figure it's good to stick to standards and defaults where possible.)
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 18: Coolness, humour, strict necessity. How do you balance them in your work?
By paying attention to how much of each one is present, and whether it needs to be increased or decreased. And then doing so.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 19: What are the top five things you've learned on your writing journey?
I don't feel like I've learned that much in any big, important sense. Okay, I've done research on lots of things, but that's just to get details right; I'd be hard-pressed to consider things like "Thai names are really quite diverse and each one is nearly if not completely unique" or "the SFPD's 'inspector' rank is basically obsolete" to be "top" or anything like that.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 20: How would you react if a fan had a tattoo of one of your characters?
I would be very impressed that I'd touched someone so deeply. I'd be honored. And I would try very, very hard not to be at all bothered by the fact that their image of the character would probably not quite match my own.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 21: To what extent does politics play a role in your work?
A fair bit! My book is about (among various things) the way that San Francisco is at a crossroads, and about people trying to influence its future. That necessarily gets into politics.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 22: Hollywood wants to turn one of your stories into an animation/anime. How do you feel about this?
Dubious. Hollywood has a history of making weird decisions in adaptations. I would want to write certain things into the contract, just to keep them from de-queering or whitening any of the characters, or injecting copaganda, etc.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 23: Would you ever collaborate on a book or other literary work? How do you feel about sharing the limelight?
I'd be open to a collaboration. It would depend on the collaborator and the project, of course.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 24: In your writing, what is the worst thing you've done (or might do) to a reader's state of mind?
Bore them.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 25: Do you format all your writing similarly or use special formatting for specific sections?
The only thing that comes to mind is that I'll probably include occasional text messages, group chats, and emails. Those should be indented for clarity. Other than that? No, I don't foresee any kind of special formatting.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 26: Where do you think the line exists between homage and plagiarism?
Honestly, "plagiarism" is pretty hard to do in fiction writing; it's a concept that applies more in academic writing. In academic writing, you're supposed to cite your sources absolutely always, whereas in fiction, it's assumed that you're leaning on the work of others, and the major thing you're supposed to do is come up with new variations on them. 1/3
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So outright "plagiarism" in fiction would just be "literally copying someone else's work and trying to claim you wrote it". This hardly ever happens.
What's more of an issue would be "writing something that's very obviously based on someone else's work, and not even doing anything new and different with it". Which we'd generally call "a ripoff" rather than "plagiarism". 2/3
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As an example, I understand that Terry Brooks's The Sword of Shannara is generally considered a ripoff of Lord of the Rings (though I haven't read it myself and so can't confirm that).
Anyway, given all that, I've already said where I think the borderline is: how much you do new and different things with the material you reference.
(This is important to me because I have an homage to a major fantasy writer in my WIP.) 3/3
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 27: To what extent does technology impact your story? (Bearing in mind that technology is just "a set of methods and practices to do something")
Given that clarification, it impacts it a lot. At various times, magicians analyze certain spells or charms — magical "technology" in the meaning of this prompt — to see what they do. Other wizards are trying to come up with spells to do certain things, or trying to obtain certain items.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 28: Do you incorporate poems, songs or letters in your work? How do you format them?
There are various times when my characters sing special songs for magical (or more like ritual/quasi-religious) purposes, and there's a standard chant that gets used in certain types of spellcasting. Those, like the emails (i.e., modern-day "letters") and text messages that I mentioned on day 25 (https://wandering.shop/@kagan/113025058725586049), will get indented in the style of block quotes.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 29: What's your favourite story structure? Three-act, four-act, eight-sequence (8-reel), or what?
"The one that works best for the story I'm telling." That said, the story I'm currently telling works well as a three-act... and it may turn out that most of the stories I ever decide to tell will be three-act ones. That's something I'm going to have to find out by doing it.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 30: Would you consider using AI for a book cover design or an audiobook?
No. I am more than happy to pay human artists for their work, and I think they'd do a better job anyway. Furthermore, I refuse to contribute to devaluing human artistic work.
Even furthermore, I refuse to contribute to any demand for the large-scale plagiarism machines that power AI "art".
Even still furthermore, I refuse to burn down half a rainforest just for one book cover.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 31: What would you pick if you were forced to write in a genre outside of your speciality?
It's hard to say what "my specialty" is when I haven't produced anything yet. Is it urban fantasy, because that's the thing I'm working on first? Or is it SFF, because the various ideas I have in mind are all either fantasy or sci-fi?
Let's go with the latter. Then I'd love to try my hand at either romance or mystery (which has gotta be Fair Play! https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FairplayWhodunnit).
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 1: What have been your writing-related achievements in the last year?
I've developed a ton of world-building material, character backgrounds, etc.
I've written over 60,000 words of vignette material to practice my craft, find my characters, and get myself ready for the first draft.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 2: What is your favourite part of the writing process?
So far, what I've enjoyed most has been writing first drafts.
A lot of other stuff has been fun as well. I know I've complained about building background material, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it, just that I'd done an awful lot of it and wanted some variety.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 3: Do writers read differently from non-writers?
I think this is sort of like, is same-sex attraction different from opposite-sex attraction? And I think the answer is yes, because:
If I'm looking at an attractive woman, I just think she's attractive. She's someone I want to be with. But an attractive man can be someone I want to be (as well as wanting to be with). I've also heard it phrased as, "Do I want to do him, or be him?" 1/2
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Not always, of course; there are guys I look at who I'd never want to be, but who I want to jump in bed with anyway. But it's possible to add that extra layer of attraction, in a way that doesn't make sense when I'm attracted to a woman.
Similarly, when a non-writer reads something, they're just reading it for itself. But when a writer reads something, they at least have the option to compare it to their own work, and to potentially learn from it (by imitation or avoidance!). 2/2
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 4: Do you have specific goals when creating a scene?
Any scene should serve some purpose in the story: to introduce a character or plot device; to have characters relate to each other somehow (whether in conflict or in cooperation); to set up or resolve some conflict; etc. [Edit: folks have mentioned fun, lifting mood after/between heavy scenes, etc., and yes! That too!]
My purpose in a scene is to make it fulfill that purpose as well as possible.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 5: What kind of birthday cake would your MCs enjoy?
I don't think any of them have particularly strong birthday cake preferences. Chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, whatever.
Maybe David kinda likes German Chocolate cake, but I'm not solid on that yet, and he wouldn't turn his nose up at a vanilla one or even a funfetti cake.
Maybe Ángel kinda likes lemon cake, or vanilla with lemon frosting, but doesn't expect anyone else to like it. Again, just a vague idea, not sure.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 6: Where is your book listed?
Nowehere, the first draft isn't written yet.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 7: What genre are you least likely to write? Why?
Westerns and military sci-fi both bore me to tears. Ergo, I wouldn't want to write either of them.
[Edited to Add: I have been reminded that there is at least one, and maybe multiple, genres of Christian... I dunno, stuff? Anyway, I'd be far less inclined to write that, having never been Christian.]
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 8: The Hero's Journey is garbage. Discuss.
Nah, not the Hero's Journey itself. But the idea that it's the best or only way to structure a story? Yeah, that's garbage. So is the attempt to hammer stories that clearly don't fit it into that mold anyway (whether that be while writing, or while analyzing an existing work).
The HJ itself is kinda mid. Its fan club, though... they're the reason I generally hate the thing (and am restraining myself from an anti-HJ rant rn). 1/3
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New addition: Having seen some posts with more info on the Hero's Journey that I didn't previously know... never mind, both the Hero's Journey and the idea that it's the best/only way to structure a story are garbage. Wow. It's just garbage all the way down. Hot garbage.
(Why is there no "flaming dumpster" emoji? We need one!) 2/3
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Something I just read points out that "On the very first page of the prologue of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell explicitly claims that all stories from all cultures follow the exact same outline", so I'll stop blaming HJ/Campbell fanboys, and just blame Joseph Campbell himself.
Fuck this garbage. 3/3
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 9: Do you go to book festivals?
No. (Not yet? Maybe I will when I'm published? What happens at them, anyway?)
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 10: Do your characters have birthdays or anniversaries during your story?"
One of my MCs, Jessie, has her 30th birthday near the end of the book. Her dread of it as it approaches is an important part of her plotline.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 11: Do you write old-school or digital? A mix?
Digital. My handwriting sucks, and writing by hand makes my hand cramp within 5 minutes.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 12: How do you visualise a scene when writing it?
By using my imagination?
A mix of "from the character's POV" and "as if it were a movie"?
I'm not sure I understand what this question is asking.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 13: Do you reuse characters?
I haven't had the opportunity to yet.
If my WIP becomes a trilogy, does having a few characters from book 1 show up in book 3 count as "reuse", or is that just a completely expected thing?
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 14: Do you read non-fiction, and if so, for pleasure, research or both?
Not really.
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 15: Name-check any Writers' Coffee Club members who've inspired you or helped you in the last year.
@orionkidder gave me some good advice a few weeks back.
[Edited to add: I swear, I wrote this when I first saw the prompt, before I saw him name-checking me!]
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[#]WritersCoffeeClub Day 16: Name-check your cover artist, even if it's yourself. Share your best cover.
I don't have a cover yet, that's way premature.
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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?"
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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
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@kagan Yeah, that's an odd question for sure. Your answer fits my experience as well.
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@kagan You aren’t missing anything. Your gut is correct. The question was matter-of-fact concerning a serious topic, and it’s unethical.
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@CA_Hawthorne Thank you, it's good to have that cleared up.
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