#WordWeavers 11/20 Has the Covid pademic affected how or where you write?

I kinda owe the pandemic and the FB cesspit for giving me the impetus to write.

During the shutdowns, a cartoon popped up on my FB feed of a man stranded in a life boat saying "At least I have time to finish my novel". FB said it was recommended for me! WTF?

I railed about it jokingly but my shitpost actually got attention from close friends who encouraged me to finish my book. I published within the year.

#WordWeavers 11/20 Has the Covid pandemic affected how or where you write?

The Pandemic didn't change the how or where, but in 2021, I was able to work from home 100% - and that's when I wrote my first six Wolf books and published them.

Best year ever in terms of written words and published books.

It meant I could live according to my own best structure, I was happy, safely ensconced at home. My brain loved it.

I want it back. (Without the virus.)

#WritingCommunity
#ActuallyAutistic

#WordWeavers 11/20 Has the Covid pademic affected how or where you write?

I kinda owe the pandemic and the FB cesspit for giving me the impetus to write.

During the shutdowns, a cartoon popped up on my FB feed of a man stranded in a life boat saying "At least I have time to finish my novel". FB said it was recommended for me! WTF?

I railed about it jokingly but my shitpost actually got attention from close friends who encouraged me to finish my book. I published within the year.

#WordWeavers 11/20 Has the Covid pandemic affected how or where you write?

The Pandemic didn't change the how or where, but in 2021, I was able to work from home 100% - and that's when I wrote my first six Wolf books and published them.

Best year ever in terms of written words and published books.

It meant I could live according to my own best structure, I was happy, safely ensconced at home. My brain loved it.

I want it back. (Without the virus.)

#WritingCommunity
#ActuallyAutistic

#WordWeavers Nov 19
Are there any emotions that are hard for you to write?

I have mild alexithymia which most strongly affects me in the passion-related emotions, especially romantic love and anger.

Since I don't experience those normally (or at all, in the case of romantic love), it is very hard for me to write about them.

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

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

#WordWeavers 18. What do your MC and SC disagree on?

I like to think that Aswathi is a decent enough guy that if he knew how werewolves really work, and how harmful Elisabeti suppressing her wolf-sister is, he would be really unhappy with her decision to cripple herself and her son in order to hide among humans.

But he doesn't know about it and she's never going to tell him, so we'll never know for sure.

@DangerousSafe
There are a number of writers who follow various writing hashtags such as #pennedpossibilities #scribesandmakers #wordweavers etc. I'm sure you can find some great inspiration by following those hashtags.

Also while not common, there are occasional calls for collaboration from various artists on here, especially in the areas animation and stop-motion photography.

#WordWeavers Nov 17
How athletic are your characters?

Not at all, in the modern sense.

Elisabeti is a tailor. She spends most of her days sitting, bent over the clothes she is making.

Aswathi is strong and generally fit because he is a carter. He spends his days loading and unloading his cart, and occasionally digging his cart and mule out of the mud, helping the mule pull the cart past some bad ruts in the road and hopefully not repairing the cart when a wheel or axle break. But he doesn't have the time (or give a damn) for athletics as-such.

#WordWeavers 15 Describe the setting of your last writing session (where, what time, sounds, smells, etc.). How did it go?

My desk in the living room, kids doing their own thing and making noise, heater running, early afternoon, no smells that particularly stood out.

Lots of interruptions initially, so slow start, but once I got going I made good progress on summary/outline for Price of Survival: Elisabeti.

#WordWeavers Nov 14: Does your SC have any insecurities?

Until recently, Aswathi would have said no. He's fairly self aware, comfortable and confident in himself and his life. He knows his limits and they don't bother him, everyone has limits, right? He does good, necessary work that helps people, and he does it with a friend, what more can a man ask for?

He never seriously considered marriage, figured himself for a life long bachelor and was alright with that.

Now he's getting married. To a wolf. With a new infant to care for.

Suddenly, he has ALL the insecurities.

#WordWeavers Nov 10: MC POV: Name one thing you’ve never done but really want to.

Elisabeti: I... well, I always wanted to be a hunter. I could never get anyone to take me as an apprentice, though, because of how clumsy I am. I ended up becoming a tailor, which I like well enough.

#WordWeavers Nov 6. How is the antagonist’s community/group perceived by the people in your world?

Again, not sure if there will be an antagonist as-such, but if there is, they will be human and therefore 'normal', default, and generally not perceived or thought of beyond a general notice that they exist.

As for Elisabeti and her people, they don't view humans as 'normal' per se, especially after a decade of war, but they don't hold personal animus against humans, just against human soldiers.

#WordWeavers Nov 5
What community or group does your antagonist belong to?

It's too early in the planning phases to say for sure, but I'm 97% convinced that this is going to be another book without an antagonist.

If there is one, they will be a human member of the community Elisabeti is hiding in.

#WordWeavers Nov 4
Are you working on one or several projects? What's your preference?

Several, always.

I usually have three projects I'm actively working on. I try to keep it in in writing, one in editing, and one in publication stages, but it doesn't always work out.

Then I have a bunch that are backburnered that I'll give or a stir now and again to see if they are ready to move to the active list.

I've got a post describing my current active projects here:
https://indiepocalypse.social/@JessMahler/115028535317429006

(Contd.)

Tabitha: at 16 I poisoned my third governess in a year (what can I say? I was bored) so pater sent me to Countess Vulch's finishing school to straighten me out. I was good: I didn't poison any of the other girls, or even steal from them (much). Then at 18 I ran away and joined a down-on-their-luck crime family rather than let the inquisition crucify me with the rest of my family. But I had the last laugh: by 24 I was running the business—bespoke bioweapons for the gentry.

#WordWeavers

#WordWeavers Nov 3: What was your MC’s childhood like?

Jum: the usual—on my 6th birthday daddy built me a village with robot unicorns and hired in an entire orphanage to fill it. (Let's not get into the mass crucifixion of burning clowns that ended *that* happy occasion.) For my 12th he introduced me to my bride-to-be (a beautiful serial killer), then shipped me off to Space Eton. And for my 18th he gave me a starship and a wedding breakfast.

Nothing particularly unusual for a young viscount!

#WordWeavers Nov 3
What was your MC’s childhood like?

Elisabeti had a fairly normal childhood for a cub of the Long Valley Pack. She was born human, so she didn't have any littermates, unlike her two older siblings who had been born together as wolves.

She mastered shifting by the time she was three and she and her wolf, whose name was the sound of rustling leaves and the scent of fresh cut grass, had the run of their small village under her siblings supervision while her father worked the mines her mother grew a small kitchen garden and hunted for food.

#PriceOfSurvival #Werewolf