#Tag
#WritersCoffeeClub October 31: In terms of writing, how did this month go for you?
Mostly badly. Lots of wheel-spinning. Productive strategy meeting with my agent, and a subsequent edit letter, but the WIP I'm trying to pick up again after a 6 month hiatus is being stubbornly recalcitrant and I brought home some sort of virus from a convention that I think cost me about two weeks' effective time.
About to dive back into the WIP instead of tackling the edit letter ...
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 30. Do you tend to include epilogues?
Not usually. I had one novel that had an explicit epilogue, and The Last Lady of Luna has a quasi epilogue.
I can't think of any other stories I've used an epilogue for.
Do you have a writing, publishing, book-related question for an author/publisher with over 20+ years' experience? Published in romance, sf, fantasy, women's lit.
Would love to feature YOUR question on Moment of Muse. (Launching soon!)
kitauthor.com/momuse/
#WritersCoffeeClub 30Oct—Do you tend to include epilogues?
A piece of fiction needs to deliver *closure* at the end—to answer the questions it raises, emotional as well as plot-related ("did they live happily ever after" vs. "did the good guys win"). Needing an epilogue often implies poor planning by the author, because the natural end of the story failed to deliver this pay-off. (Rarely: the epilogue is there to settle a question that wasn't explicit in the story but implied, adding depth.)
#WritersCoffeeClub Footnote: next year's "The Regicide Report", which ends the Laundry Files main series, *does* have an epilogue. But it's there as part of the frame around an 11-book series (and a hook in case I ever want to go back and write more in that setting).
#WritersCoffeeClub 30Oct—Do you tend to include epilogues?
A piece of fiction needs to deliver *closure* at the end—to answer the questions it raises, emotional as well as plot-related ("did they live happily ever after" vs. "did the good guys win"). Needing an epilogue often implies poor planning by the author, because the natural end of the story failed to deliver this pay-off. (Rarely: the epilogue is there to settle a question that wasn't explicit in the story but implied, adding depth.)
Do you have a writing, publishing, book-related question for an author/publisher with over 20+ years' experience? Published in romance, sf, fantasy, women's lit.
Would love to feature YOUR question on Moment of Muse. (Launching soon!)
kitauthor.com/momuse/
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 29
Do you include elements of the horror genre in your (non-horror) work?
No, I have a great deal of respect for horror, but I'm not really a fan. The only times I've done horror-type stuff is when I've been doing, like, Halloween writing challenges and such.
#WritersCoffeeClub 29: Do you include elements of the horror genre in your (non-horror) work?
(Side-eyes Laundry Files) yes, that too.
(If I say I consider Iain Banks to be an object of emulation, will that clarify things?)
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 27: Recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
I am not joking.
#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 27: Recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
I am not joking.
#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 28: Have you ever edited another's work? Was it harder than editing your own?
No, not really. The closest I've gotten is workshopping with my group, which really isn't editing, so I think perhaps I don't even want to base an educated guess on it. I have nothing but admiration for people who are good at editing and find it fulfilling.
#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 27: Recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
I am not joking.
#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace
#WritersCoffeeClub 28: Have you ever edited another's work? Was it harder than editing your own?
I just edited an entire short story anthology, and it was the most fun I've had fully clothed in a very long time.
It's hard for me to make dramatic edits to my own work, because I rarely feel like it needs it until someone I trust points things out to me.
Other people's work is a delightful puzzle of figuring out what they meant to say & finding ways they can say it better with minimal changes.
#WritersCoffeeClub 28: Have you ever edited another's work? Was it harder than editing your own?
I just edited an entire short story anthology, and it was the most fun I've had fully clothed in a very long time.
It's hard for me to make dramatic edits to my own work, because I rarely feel like it needs it until someone I trust points things out to me.
Other people's work is a delightful puzzle of figuring out what they meant to say & finding ways they can say it better with minimal changes.
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 28
Have you ever edited another's work? Was it harder than editing your own?
Yes, though it has been a while.
I found it easier than editing my own work, because I was coming to it with fresh eyes.
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 28 - Have you ever edited another's work? Was it harder than editing your own?
Not in an editorial role, only when working as a collaborator on a multi-author text. In which case it feels like rewriting/redrafting.
#writersCoffeeClub 27th of October: recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain
I know I've recommended this book before.
There also was an older Writer's Digest Guide on Plot (I believe). I knew the author from Buffy fandom boards and the book was amazing. (The book was called just "plot" but of course a 'zon search didn't bring it up because it's vintage)
#writersCoffeeClub 27th of October: recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain
I know I've recommended this book before.
There also was an older Writer's Digest Guide on Plot (I believe). I knew the author from Buffy fandom boards and the book was amazing. (The book was called just "plot" but of course a 'zon search didn't bring it up because it's vintage)
#WritersCoffeeClub 10/27. Recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
Catseye by Andre Norton (and a lot of her other stuff, but it was Catseye and the Dipple series that slammed it home)
Norton has a very non-standard writing voice that is (especially in Dipple stories) incredibly light on visual description while still managing some intense world building.
It helped me realize that I don't need to fit 'mainstream' writing expectations to be a good writer. I can use my natural voice and it will still be good.
#WritersCoffeeClub 10/27. Recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
"Schismatrix" by @bruces —which I encountered aged 22 and which peeled my eyes open and forced me to see how much *bigger* SF could be than I'd previously imagined: in retrospect, that short novel marked the start of the New Space Opera, so it wasn't trivial, but still, journeyman work that spoke to someone barely more than a kid who was still on the starting blocks.
("Catch 22" would be a close second.)
#WritersCoffeeClub 26: How culturally diverse do your casts tend to be?
I write pretty diverse stories across multiple axes, but cultural diversity hasn't been a huge thing in my writing yet. Most of what I write is fantasy, dealing with completely made up worlds and cultures. Then in something like Non-Player Character, though the cast is diverse, the cultural differences are small. They're all British geeks who like video games and TTRPGs. There's variation within that, but still.
#WritersCoffeeClub 27: Recommend a book that had an impact on your prose.
This is a tough one, because while many books have impacted me personally, or the kinds of stories I want to tell, I don't think I've read much where I looked at the prose and went 'I'm going to emulate that.'
Closest thing I can think of is Terry Pratchett. The cleverness of his prose encouraged me to play around with jokier lines. But that's not really my style, and he had more of an effect in other ways.
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