To #writers of fiction set in more historical times, do you use words from that time period that may have more recently taken on different or negative connotations or do you substitute a more modern word that is anachronistic? I try to avoid words that sound too modern or appeared in English usage long after the time I'm writing about, but how strictly do others adhere to that rule?

Specifically, I'm puzzling right now about using a word like "buddies," which first appears in the 1800s, in a story set in the 1600s. At the earlier date "comrades" or "confederates" might have been used, but the modern reader might add unwanted baggage to those words. It seems as though "pals" might not have appeared until the 1700s. "Brothers" might imply a family connection.

Am I over thinking this?

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To #writers of fiction set in more historical times, do you use words from that time period that may have more recently taken on different or negative connotations or do you substitute a more modern word that is anachronistic? I try to avoid words that sound too modern or appeared in English usage long after the time I'm writing about, but how strictly do others adhere to that rule?

Specifically, I'm puzzling right now about using a word like "buddies," which first appears in the 1800s, in a story set in the 1600s. At the earlier date "comrades" or "confederates" might have been used, but the modern reader might add unwanted baggage to those words. It seems as though "pals" might not have appeared until the 1700s. "Brothers" might imply a family connection.

Am I over thinking this?

#writing #WritersCoffeeClub #WordWeavers

#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 12: How can writers ensure the focus is on the work & not the writer? Or should they?

I have no idea how to ensure anything when it comes to writing, and writers have to build themselves into "brands" in order to survive, so unless they're already financially supported, they probably shouldn't. I suppose you could tamp it down if you never write a series, only standalones?

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#PennedPossibilities 842: Which POV(s) do you prefer to write?

I used to think close-third was such a clever way to narrate, where the narrator is inside the protagonist's head, but now I'm so utterly bored with it because it's so ubiquitous that we seem to have forgotten how to write any other way. I need to construct a story that uses omniscient narration...

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#ScribesAndMakers Nov 12 If your creativity had a mascot or symbol?

A tiny little pile of fluffy kittens inside my head, plaintively mewling to escape and gouging my skull with their needle-sharp claws. (The kittens are the stories.)

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#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 12: How can writers ensure the focus is on the work & not the writer? Or should they?

I have no idea how to ensure anything when it comes to writing, and writers have to build themselves into "brands" in order to survive, so unless they're already financially supported, they probably shouldn't. I suppose you could tamp it down if you never write a series, only standalones?

#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace

#PennedPossibilities 842: Which POV(s) do you prefer to write?

I used to think close-third was such a clever way to narrate, where the narrator is inside the protagonist's head, but now I'm so utterly bored with it because it's so ubiquitous that we seem to have forgotten how to write any other way. I need to construct a story that uses omniscient narration...

#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace

#ScribesAndMakers Nov 12 If your creativity had a mascot or symbol?

A tiny little pile of fluffy kittens inside my head, plaintively mewling to escape and gouging my skull with their needle-sharp claws. (The kittens are the stories.)

#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #Scriberspace

@monotonehell

how do you avoid the I I I I I I problem?

If you tell a story about something that happened to you, how do you avoid saying I did, I heard, I said? Don't use the constructions until you need them, as in The bell ran loudly, versus "I heard a loud bell.*. Attribution is necessary, but the narrator can simply declare events or talk about what others do without specificity relating it back to themselves. Take a look at the sample stories pinned to my profile.

Btw: I've written this as first person narrative. Where's the I? Is it repetitive?

#BoostingIsSharing

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#PennedPossibilities 841: Reveal a source of joy for your SC.

Pulling weeds. They're just plants that need to be moved somewhere else.

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#PennedPossibilities 840: Tell us about a source of misery for your protagonist.

She spends half the booked trapped in the antagonist's paramilitary murder cult.

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#PennedPossibilities 839: What type of antagonist are you writing?

An authoritarian cult leader who uses violence to create more violence to justify her use of violence.

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#ScribesAndMakers Nov 10: Has your art/craft/writing changed over the years?

Of course. I'd be sad if it hadn't.

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#ScribesAndMakers Nov 9: Which sound in your environment sparks the most creativity?

A little bit of white noise is good. I used to write to music, but I cannot do it any more. Too many inputs.

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#ScribesAndMakers Nov 8. Tell us about the book you no longer enjoy, and why you no longer enjoy it.

Sandman.

That piece of shit.

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#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 11: How accessible is your work?

I would have said that you have to be a sci-fi person, but a colleague/friend read bits of it, and she's a serious poet who writes about very grounded events, but she was *in* from the start, so maybe it's really accessible?

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#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 9: How does the means of publication change a work? print? digital? audiobook? something else?

Of course. They're materially different. A physical book's page-turning is a different tactile experience than tapping a screen, is different again from scrolling down a continuous page. In an audiobook, you're inevitably affected by the performance of the reader. They read at *their* speed, and they say all the words, including the ones your eye skim by.

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#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 8: How do you keep yourself motivated?

I'm not done until it's done. I don't how else to say it.

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#PennedPossibilities 838 — MC POV: You’re on your death bed. Who do you want by your side?

"I think I might have loved Brant." [croaks]

[gets up again]

"But Sim was pretty great, too." [croaks]

[for real]

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#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 7. Talk about a character from another's work that's stuck with you.

Gideon, from Gideon the 9th, might be the most entertaining character I've ever read, and I'm a literature professor. I've read a LOT of stories!

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