@5862bfff Command-Shift-C opens the color palette on my Mac. I have 3.3.2 installed, but the app is now asking to install 3.3.3, so I will try again after. There is this in the change log for 3.3.3:
Removed Apple’s nonfunctional options from the PDF view contextual menu and ensured that pop-up notes in PDF documents appear as read-only.
@5862bfff
There's a way to fix this, however, according to the #Scrivener manual.
Go to theHelp menu
Select Scrivener Manual
Type short into the search box top left.
The first item will be the table of contents; click link to section named "Menus and Keyboard Shortcuts"
This section claims to tell you how to change shortcuts using built-in Mac method. Tell me if it worked!
Some days are better than others when you have #Fibromyalgia. Sometimes you just hurt. Gotta keep moving, even though every five or my body says, go to bed. Some movement is better than none, that's what I'm telling myself as I take a walk around the block.
#WordWeavers 9.28 — Side character POV: Describe the MC's sense of humor.
I learned the first day I met her on a transporter job that her sense of humor is so subtle that you almost never notice it. Almost. I think she has a sarcastic dialogue going on in her head, which may be one of the reasons she often has a fleeting subtly sly smug smile. These may be one of the reasons I ended up with a crush on her.
When you're good at what you do—my devil-girl is—you sometimes step on toes. Somebody decided to use her as the fall girl to steal some very expensive product, and to take out some of the boss' top lieutenants in the process. I won't get into the particulars, but my devil-girl caught wind of a setup that might end up with her and us, her team, killed. She substituted out the product, which we moved around the city all night with targets on our back. When the coppers cornered us—someone got tipped off on our route—and the detective (on the take, it turns out) tore open the package despite my devil-girl's heart-felt warnings....
Well... [coughs]
It /was/ shampoo. Very fancy. Imported. Worse and importantly, it was in a skinny tall bottle that was fleshy pink with a darker dome-shaped top. Yeah. It looked like what you think, and my devil-girl acted embarrassed.
Of course, she had to say to the copper in a sing-song voice, "/I warned you!/"
[This is the same side character as in my #PennedPossiblities 85 post here https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/111141074732083413 and see externally here https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/111140078966088014. ]
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
@ae1a0ada@da5013b0
...That is three new things I was trying all at once...
As my favorite MC is fond of saying, "If I don't win, I will have learned something about myself."
@ae1a0ada@da5013b0
It was a far too ambitious experiment and in my opinion one of the worst things I ever put out in public.
Bravery in writing will eventually serve you well. IMHO. Getting it out isn't necessarily bad, especially if you can make people understand through meta channels.
I have a story that's a sequel to something well received, but all I've come up with is a very good first chapter. I really want to publish that first chapter because, tho open-ended, it also stands alone as letting the readers project where the story might have gone in I think a satisfying manner. Keep not pulling the trigger on publishing it though. Worried about how it would be received...
@ae1a0ada@da5013b0
The characters I have the most trouble with are one's who['re] terse.
Yeah. Especially if you rely heavily on dialog. In these two POV pieces, they two people see the same scene totally differently, and they could describe about them and what they thought of them with a different perspective. I had to watch their diction and humor didn't intersect. I'm not sure really about reusing "long story" for both. Not sure about making him a bit of a "bimbo" either (and I use that word very advisedly), but it makes the point of how he perceives himself in his society. It's fun to write, tho.
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 1 #28 — Do you practice "kill your darlings" in your work?
Had to look this up, and I misunderstood it. Do I ever excise a superfluous subplot from the main story line, even when I like it a lot? I've done that, rarely. My story composition is generally lean, despite my being rather loquacious. Words, lots and lots of words, usually get cut in revision, not plot lines. I usually understand when I'm going off on a tangent. My "darlings" often become side stories, though.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
@da5013b0 Writing different POVs for the same scene, besides being fun, gave me lots of insight into the "kid." I'm not going to call him fluff, or an airhead, despite him being one is some aspects, because when he's business he's business and thinks on his feet. In his personal time, he's a bit of an ingénue and as earnest as he gawky-attractive. His back story is that he supports his parents (who the prior mob boss made unemployable to secure his rare pyro talents). Until getting his Praetorian guard gig, he was a live-at-home type. He's sharp enough to have figured out what folks 😉 want most from him, though. 😇
@58606072
This describe exactly how I was growing up. An observer. A pleaser. Practicing mentally every conversation and predicting the behavior... of... EVERYONE. Walter Mitty in my head. And I became an author. Go figure.
[/Oops! I wrote an main character version earlier today when it was supposed to be a secondary character version, so now you must read the same scene from the other perspective! BTW, this is a female-run society. —RS/]
The sky didn't brighten properly: Those /little/ weirdnesses that remind you that you're working for the greatest thaumaturge ever to live! That and that when I arrived in the botanical garden, the surprise the Director of Home had coquettishly told me she'd gotten for me turned out to be the second strongest thaumaturge in the world—the only woman I'd had a crush on, whom I'd fallen in love with the night we'd met, when we'd still been newbies in the mob. I'd ascended the ranks, always her dependable lieutenant, always too in awe of her capabilities and perfect lean-and-muscular devil-girl looks to /not/ stutter or blush any time the idea or opportunity arose to ask if we might hook up.
There she stood. Confident. Dangerous. Adorable.
In the year since I sacrificed myself in hopes she could escape the dragon, I'd grown up. I'd practiced, got rid of the stutter, made sure I'd be ready to please were we to ever meet again. I'd become a Praetorian guard (in training), at Rainy Day's insistence.
The Director of Home had tricked me. Used me as bait.
Seeing my crush didn't disappoint. Breathtaking. /Sexy./ I walked up to her where she stood, stunned as if seeing a ghost. I took her chin in hand. She let me, so I kissed her deeply.
She approved so viscerally, I had to steady her with a hand. When she took the time to breathe, she gave Rainy Days the full elbow dis and kissed me right back. I'd have trouble walking afterwards.
My devil-girl told me to attack Rainy Days. I can set anything on fire—my only salable miracle—and instantly set the grasses and trees ablaze before Her Highness could flinch. That battle, that day the sky broke, was one for the records. Dunno how we survived, but then that's my devil-girl for you. If there's a solution, she's all over it.
We now work for Director Rainy Days, however. Loooonnnngggg story.
That evening, after all the healing, dress-up, press conferences, pomp and puffery, we snuck off to her roommate's place, an ivory tower. Talk about having hid under your enemy's nose; her roomy was the Director's adoptive daughter! Another devil-girl. Plumper. Subjectively a lot more feminine. Mopey, depressed, taking medicine to suppress withdrawals.
My devil-girl told me to take care of her friend. She was "giving me" to her.
Not entirely surprising to me, since my devil-girl had made no bones about bedding the mob boss' lieutenants (male and female, day angels and saints, too), when she'd had to tame them. She'd found her own teacher when she'd decided she needed to learn how her body worked, and reputedly tamed him, too. Her roomy understood this. Definitely. Unmistakably. One way to work through one's depression was to take control of a guy, to tame him.
Me? Okay with me. All night. Proved I could take care of my devil-girl's friend in a way that'd make her proud.
Um...
Apparently this freaked out my devil-girl. She left before I could cook breakfast, and I'd not see her for days, except at "business" events where I was employed as one of her bodyguards.
It's not that she turned cold, or started to hate me. That's not it. It's just that she gets this confused look on her face, even when she's around a diplomat she's taken a fancy to. It's like... dunno... like maybe she imagines me in her head together with her roomy when she sees me?
[Author retains copyright.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders #PennedPossibilities 85
@da5013b0 Hey. I remember my cough first time, with my spouse as it turns out. Not sayin' I modeled that on our, ahem, performance then, nope, not sayin' that, however I think the blue pill was just a twinkle in a pharmaceutical magnate's eye back in them that days. 😇
#PennedPossibilities 85 — SC POV: Tell us a quick love story. The story must end badly. CW: Um, frank talk?
I thought he was dead. The only guy who'd ever had a crush on me. My lieutenant from my days in the mob. He'd been bleeding when I'd shoved him through the /Interstellar/ apparition a year ago. When I'd escaped through the same working ten minutes later, the street it was anchored to in Home City was abandoned—but for Praetorian guard to frantic to notice me because Director Rainy Days had roared through only half a minute before, in full battle mode, without any of her guards.
A year later, Rainy Days cornered me. To convince me to stay, she'd baited her trap with him. She'd made him a cadet in her Praetorian guard, and oh my—my—my, did he look good in that uniform. He stepped up to me, no longer blushing or stuttering, not able to say those words that he liked me. No, he stepped up to be, cupped my chin, and kissed me deeply.
My knees nearly gave out, despite my worst enemy standing less than a dozen standards away from me. My heart racing, I returned the kiss, warming up, and letting him put a hand behind my back.
Rainy Days said something like, "She should get a room."
I stepped back, a hand on my lieutenant's chest. I looked at her in complete shock, but I couldn't think of anything sufficiently sarcastic. I flashed her a hand-gesture instead, then grabbed his head and kissed him back until he moaned. I expected that evening would be sweet.
He fought alongside me against Rainy Days, the strongest thaumaturge to ever live. We nearly died.
That night, after lots of events too numerous to enumerate, and me agreeing to work with Rainy Days as her minion (long story), I had to deal with my roommate. She was the first person I'd acknowledged as a friend since childhood. I had used her in a sting operation to catch a crime boss and for various reasons—including that she had never even gotten laid because of who her mom is—was bummed out.
I "gave" her my boyfriend to cheer her up.
They took me literally. Loudly, I might add. You'd think an ivory tower would have better sound insulation, but you'd be wrong. I left as soon as I could the morning after as they were still at it.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#PSA: 🚨 Major #fail for #Apple #iPhone15ProMax #Apple #Music migration. My On The Go playlist did not migrate between phones when I activated the new device.
Instead, I got a very much truncated and corrupted OnTheGo1 playlist. I nearly lost my lunch! I've hundreds and hundreds of songs curated over many many years, many of which titles I don't remember but enjoy all the time. Turns out it is on the old device, and I haven't wiped the old device.
Solution: Share the playlist from the old device to the new device via airdrop.
Important: Don't erase or reset your device until you are sure your playlists migrated properly!
@3608c5e5
Used to be the answer was ask mom (an RN) although she'd always ask "what'd you do now?" first. (This was after a "hey what happens if someone gets shot in the lung with an arrow?")
This says something about your personality, doesn't it? ROTFLOL. Thank you for that line. 😋
The problem with on-line #ads is not that for all your efforts to block them you can't completely avoid them.
No.
It's that sometimes after you've left a page you think, "Well, that was interesting!" Then, when you go back, a whole new set of ads show.
That's the definition of #irony if ever there was one.
#writer #writing #writingcommunity #writersofmastodon
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 1 #25 — What keeps you striving concerning your writing goals?
/The lights are on, but you're not home
Your will is not your own (it's the MC's)
Your heart sweats, your teeth grind
Another few paragraphs and the chapter'll be done
Whoa, you'd like to think you're immune to a good turn of phrase, oh yeah
It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough
You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to writing/
Chorus: /Might as well face it, you're addicted to writing.../
I'm addicted. I can't stop writing.
[I'm hoping this counts as satire or reasonable use. A riff off of /Addicted to Love/ a
song by Robert Palmer. A great song, btw.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WordWeavers 9.27 — Do any children under two or older people factor into your story?
I can't remember a story with children under two, though if one MC turns out to be pregnant, she may be fighting against the end of the world with a baby in tow.
Older people show up as the story requires them. The ages of the main players in the SFF WiP are 17, 18, 26, 35, 71, and 135. Different humans have different lifespans. The 71 year-old looks grey and somewhat wrinkled, and is the butt of agist humor, but he's the bad guy's muscle and a force to contend with. The 135 year old is, well, let's say, /unique and special?/ Read an interaction with him here: Ms George and the Dragon https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/110603595653290409
I also have a character who's hundreds and hundreds of years old. I don't know her actual age because it hasn't come up as important enough in any story. But... she's always 24 years old. If she takes a fancy to your guy, she's not shy at seducing him away, either. Interestingly enough, the age of majority is 25 where she lives.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
Someone today opined on whether short stories are worth the effort vs writing and selling long forms. If I recall correctly, they said they found they'd wished they'd stuck with the long forms after years of experience.
Generally, I'd agree (I'm a novelist myself). But then I thought: /If I had not spent the last five years writing lots of shorts, and recently very short stories, I'd not have gotten the experience starting and completing stories the way I have./
Writing novelette length, short, and super-short has gone a long way to vanquishing my recurring writer's block. It's given me the repeated experience of starting and finishing stories, building my confidence that there's always more to write. (I burnt out in '01 and didn't start writing again until '15, so I'm recovering.)
One of the hardest things for me to get over, which plagued my early career, was my inflated opinion that my ideas were somehow special and unique (they're not), and that I would never come up with more than a few worth writing. Writing lots of little stories cured me of that delusion.
My little stories might never sell, but they could act as regular content to convince people to return to my author website. I use shorts to introduce people to my writing style and to explore ideas I might incorporate in longer forms. I've definitely used it to work out character backstory, even stuff that might contradict canon. It keeps me from fearing the experimental stuff; at least it gives me a chance to get the nonsense out of my bloodstream. Some of this might go into an anthology one day (as if, but I can hope.) In any case, they're the practice equivalent of tossing nickels and dimes into the wishing well compared to burning C-notes attempting a sketchy novel.
This isn't writing advice, nor am I advocating one way or another. I'm simply reporting what I've observed for myself.
#writing #author #writer #writers #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon
#PennedPossibilities 84 — Did your SC fit in with the family they grew up with? If not, why?
If your mother is the ruler of the world, she pawns you off on her physician to raise, and you've got more "magical" ability in your pinkie than any of your high school teachers, you're going to find it difficult to fit into any family. She became a bully, made sure everybody knew she'd succeed her mother (wrong), did a lot of teenage drinking and later intelligence-enhancing drugs, and couldn't get laid for trying (the worst!).
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WritingAndRobots 3.2 — Do you have any opening lines that you’re proud of? What’s the line, and why do you like it?
I'd seen t-shirt and chain-wearing ruffians much like these specimens before, loitering around Baltimore and harassing people.
I reviewed a few dozen stories to come up with this one. I'm dancing in the street if I can come up with a good opening paragraph, let alone a first line. This one really sets the stage. It of course brings up the question why not concentrate on a slam-bang opening line?
For me, spending too much time working on getting a perfect start prevents me from starting. I think I'm going to try a strategy of coming back to the beginning after writing chapters and see if I can come up with that line, being inspired by other events later.
Here's a two others that I like. The first could be written with semicolons and said in one breath, so I say it counts.
“Gah! Mark, you’re doing it again! Get out of my bed!"
It's hard to reminisce about the naïve events of your childhood when you can't help but remember seeing the princess of your adopted homeland murdered.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 1 #27 — What's the strangest research you've done for your writing?
Well... I studied folklore and mythology and got a degree specializing in it. My day job ended up being a programmer, not a curator, though my background served me well as an SF & F author. One of the best parts of attending university was the university library. They had a Lesser Key of Solomon there (I think it was the lesser). An original edition from the 1700s—old books rock! The contents creeped me out as I imagined how to make it work. I never succeeded in summoning demons. I'm a lot less credulous these days. Studied a lot of real life magic, voodoo, and Sámi and native American shamanism. I learned lucid dreaming and tried to do soul travel (but failed, though I have a great treatment for an SF soul travel story). I often use technical terms in my writing, like "contagious magic," when describing particular spells or magical apparitions because I understand why. Sorry I can't be more specific, but school was decades (millennia) ago...
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
@2a9a6bfb
Are you irritated by mistakes in diction when you read a published book?
I'll spot an author a faux pax, especially a diffy. Maybe two in a long work, same with typos. Depends on how egregious it is. However, if it's typical mistakes repeated regularly, or just sloppy writing, it'll throw me out of the story. I do read fan fiction, and I might be more tolerant there. Published books should have professional editors. I've had editor miss hard diction words in my own writing. I will admit that I've slogged through bad writing for the sake of a compelling story. I'm a sucker for good stories.
Hmm... That makes me think of /The Hunger Games/. The author didn't understand how to write the past tense, and it only got worse when something was written in the future in the past or the past in the past. It made me want to scream. But. I read the story. I read the sequels. Maybe I'm a masochist?
#author #writer #writingCommunity #writersOfMastdon #writing #writingLife
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 1 #26 — Have you used a MacGuffin in your writing? Be honest.
Often.
It's pretty inescapable since everything I write is complete confabulation anyway.
If you read my Definition of Miracle, a 350-word microfic (https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/111122888641242687), the demon is a MacGuffin designed to let Mina hold in her feelings for the main character and sets up what's so miraculous.
I have a character in serialization who for chapters has been a MacGuffin, existing as a depressed girlfriend to whom the POV "gives" her boyfriend, only to have them... well... you know, loudly, which sets the POV off on her various adventures, keeps her finding new people to sleep with each night so she doesn't have to return home, and finding her own lovers.
In my current SFF work, the whole story revolves around a dangerous MacGuffin, which if found and used will spark an Interstellar war. In the end, the POV character never actually sees the result of the MacGuffin actually used because she's tricked everyone and is escaping the conflagration with her friend.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
@ae1a0ada I saw the last anime title; a lot better than I expected, in the end. So you write light novels and that's the title. Nice. Nice cosplay, too. I gave your profile links a quick looksee. I write some fanfic, too. It's great practice getting form and characters right, and ramping up production, so you're ready for when your own characters take over.
#WordWeavers 9.26 — Is your antagonist or protagonist more fashionable?
My protagonist only cares what she wears, or if, fits the moment. She'd rather blend in or not be bothered with trifles.
For my antagonist, everything is free—so why not be fashionable?
My antagonist is an absolute ruler. That's over everywhere humanity lives, including the other worlds and nations. She allows everyone their illusion of autonomy and self-government, even those who succeed in making war against her. She abhors her genocides, so she puts up with inconveniences until they cease to fit her purposes. Technically, she employs everyone (with BASIC income for any who ask for it). All property rights flow through her, so everything's free.
Being fashionable, especially at tea parties, is a great hobby.
[Author retains copyright.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
@ae1a0ada
"You can usually spot her by her characteristic ..."
This almost feels like a park ranger telling us how to spot what we need to identify a type of duck on a pond. 😋
Thank you for posting this. I remember when I was in Tokyo in 2007 and I saw my first cosplayers. I'm much more into anime these days, and can better appreciate the effort that goes into the outfits. I can only imagine if people dressed like they do in anime IRL...!
#WordWeavers 9.25 — Your antagonist gives a spontaneous speech. What is it about? CW: Frank language. (MC POV)
Bolt rolled me through the hall toward the Residency, the wheelchair clicking on the regular tiles. She said, "And ya think ya know what she'll harangue you on, a?"
"Do I? She's pissed I forced her to recognize him as an ambassador to his people, people who've been our enemies for centuries, making him a citizen. She'll say," and I waved my leaden hands, flinging my blue blanket toward my knees with little energy, "'You're so weak-minded that you went and believed the first man who sticks his—'"
"Language!" Bolt said, then began cackling to herself.
I didn't often swear, but I did love to cut off people who did by interrupting with that word...
My face warmed as I realized what I was about to say, and that he had. That I might (and I mean /might/) be pregnant didn't make the situation better, either. And, he wasn't my first. Best maybe. "I demonstrated breaking his team leader's programming right in front of her eyes. Originally breaking his was accidental—" because I'd discovered I loved him "—the other two I accomplished because I understood what I'd done."
"Why migh' I doubt ya?" The day angel's right wing extended out before me, and a different primary feather warped upward as she ticked off, "His people invaded the week before? I fought em, remember? They infiltrated us? She can't believe you can deprogram in bulk? Might get yourself killed?"
I whispered, "Or that the deprogramming won't stick?" I sighed. "Nobody can read minds, tell if it worked... I get it, alright? This is why I made you captain of my guard."
"Not 'cause I'm cute? Or that I'm fast like lightning?" Bolt asked, stopping before the Director's door.
The Director started as rudely as I predicted, by the way.
[Author retains copyright.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#PennedPossibilities 74 — What does your Side Character want more out of life: happiness or success?
This teenage "kid" is slightly older the main character, but he's had a crush on her from the moment the MC "ran an op" he was assigned to. She'd chosen him for her team from that day onward. He protected her back while she protected the "principal" all the way to the very end when she ghosted the organization. He'd later unwittingly get used as bait to reel in the MC, but this time he kissed her and she enthusiastically returned the favor. [He discusses the kiss here: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/111056174081407071 ] That night after the subsequent battle looked promising indeed.
You can see his definition of happiness /and/ success are tied together, right?
Sadly, though she likes him, the sequel mystery romance has her collide with a more mature lover and an especially attentive one, as well as her friend from childhood now all grown up and way more attractive than she'd ever imagined.
His talent is setting things on fire. Not sure if this is going to become a problem for the MC going forward.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WordWeavers 9.17 — Do you mention makeup, hair[, feather, or] beard styles in your work?
As for makeup, it depends on the story. In the SF WiP, both men and women wear makeup, specifically eyeliner and eyeshadow for the reasons you'd think. The MC uses tinted powder to hide facial and body bruises. Makeup is more likely worn in cities were clothes and position in society matter more than managing the constant swelter of the climate. Day angels use feather makeup. My MC, tutored in many things, is surprisingly /not/ an expert in facial makeup, though she was made-up regularly before she ran away from home. She considers wearing facial makeup a waste time. She used body dyes while she was a prizefighter, and it's not uncommon. She /is/ an expert in body designs using makeup and has her own formulation for lacquering the patterns in place so they don't run easily when she sweats. I shan't mention why this is important because this post is already full of spoilers.
As for body hair, some types humans have some and others don't. If they have it, they style it. Body hair is mentioned by my MC (1st person POV); she would describe it only if uncommon or distinguishing, but not as a specific style, per se—and again I shan't say why. Tolerance of the constant heat is a big determiner of whether a person shaves or trims. Frankly, everyone stinks to one degree or another, which is why public baths are so common. As far as the MC is concerned, so long as facial hair doesn't get in the way of a good kiss, she doesn't care.
The MC knows much more about hair styles and does name them as she changes them often.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 1 #17 — How do you promote your writing?
This is the reason I am on Mastodon. I hope that didn't sound callus or self-serving, but it is a first step for me going from traditional commercial agent-mediated publishing to publishing commercially myself.
By being here, I am making an effort to help others with my experience as a published author and am encouraging writers who are feeling the less fun side of writing. As always, I am open to questions either as public comments because #commentingIsCool or via private mention toots.
I'm also getting samples of my writing out there, and preparing to go with a website in the near future. In the background, I'm revising unpublished manuscripts and publishing some non-commercial novel-length works on another site under different alias.
I also feel I'm networking. I connecting with other authors and hopeful I'm find some of my Clarion buddies one day.
I am very much looking forward to other answers to this prompt! I really need ideas.
#BoostingIsSharing
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
@da5013b0
I looked at your website on neocities and again ROTFLOL with best viewed in OS/2 Warp. I actually had to use that for work, and porting to NT worked as about as well as you might think.
The blog spot saddened me. Last updated in 2022. I look forward to your little My Hero and the Hag bits here on Mastodon. You've a unique style and voice in English, and once I got it, I've enjoyed most everything those two channeled through you. I'm looking forward to more.
#WordWeavers 9.16 — How are people like your antagonist viewed in your world?
Switching to another story I'm getting ready to revise for publication.
Rolanda, the antagonist in this story is a very bad person fixated sexually on the main character's girlfriend's mother (also the MC's mother's lover). Rolanda can "spit blood," which means she could have become a healer but instead became a mercenary. The ability to "spit blood" is /acquired/ and even men can catch it. Society treats it like a contagious disease. It masculinizes those afflicted without changing their gender. Rolanda's brown-red color skin would stand-out in any crowd, if her sinister features or brawn didn't give her away. The antagonist is all kinds of bad news attitudinally, but even where she simply a healer she'd be considered "unclean" in the Hindu class sense.
When she attacks the MC and passes on the trait, the MC's life and love implodes.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 1 #16 — Do you have prologues in any of your writing? How do you feel about them?
It's only a tool
Something for the beginning
It is not a rule
I write more than few and less than many. When I read them, I assume the author had a meta-purpose for them.
I use them:
In a sequel to briefly bring the reader up to date, in which case it is the author speaking.
For introductory narration by an authoritative character, usually as a quote, setting up the mystery or intrigue. This is often bad-mouthing the main character or making it seem like the main character is doomed but redeeming herself for trying.
To describe a necessary event outside of POV that ends with a POV tag line that couldn't be said in the story: /A dirty red mushroom cloud consumed the old post office and shattered windows in the ten block radius. Little did I know I'd be tricked into helping set that bomb, or that I'd get to save the life of hundreds that might otherwise have died.../
As a brief initial pre-first chapter in POV, which is distinguished by setting up the story. An epilogue always book-ends this prologue. In the case of the current story, the love interest is first mentioned as an enigma in the prologue. Whilst all the information to solve that mystery—which isn't central to the story but intriguing—is peppered throughout the story, it is explicitly resolved in the epilogue.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
So you think you are an #author or a #writer. Prove it! Name one incredibly specific word that you couldn't remember for days or longer and were super pleased when you learned it.
Mine was "catenary" as in the overhead wire for busses and trains.
What's yours?
Boost if you answer so our fun is doubled.
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writers #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#PennedPossibilities 73 — SC (Side Character) POV: Describe the way a friend supported you when you needed it most.
[/RS speaking: I had to research the difference between a side, secondary, and background character. For the purposes of SC prompts, it turns out Bolt is a side character not a secondary character. She's someone who has an interesting role to play but no real subplot in the story. This realization makes me sad. I may have to change that./]
Unexpected Support
Look here, ya got me wiping way tears... you just mentioning! Not that the situation matters now that we got us pardons, us being nefarious but forgiven, but in da moment. A?
Can't say we was declared friends, me being the boss' feathered sky-runner and all, and her getting run into the ground by him, him trying to make her perp'trate one of tha unforgivable acts such he'd get airtight blackmail on her, like he done on me. But, we was become sister-like, after we recognized we both did things for him neither of us-unforced might do. That one time on the street, after the boss had issued his ultimatum that he was 'bout to trigger her blackmail on her if-ing she didn't comply and reel in the special buyer. I remember how we stood there—staring at the News Building reflecting the late afternoon light off its black glass—sighing together.
She, ah course, turned da sit-you on it's head, signaling in the constables once she'd got da boss to admit aloud he'd been trafficking. I'd been der to lead dem, her and the buyer, to the meet up at the deli. Caught between the coppers and the boss' goons, I wuz. Daemon-fire erupted. In the fire fight, I got shot, the skin of legs burnt bloody.
Down, I witnessed what happened: the miracle she worked that so shocked the boss that he spasmed, knocking himself out against the wall; his foul miracles made to unravel; the diss pickable constable reneging on his deal and arresting her.
Trying, least-wise.
But my friend, she could work the impossible miracle. Constable Two-face, he didn't know. She could have disappeared, but she appeared right in the face of the copper bout to cuff me—me down and charred there on da the street—her using them big muscles of hers to flip the featherbrain up and over. She disappeared us both.
/She saved my life/. She saved me becoming known to the constables, and she healed my wounds, and she gave me the half-year BASIC the boss had thrown her, payment for the buyer she'd brung, before she betrayed im. Nuf gold to start the business I'd told her I was blackmailed from starting cuz of the boss knew stuff.
She need not ah done none of that. The constables knew who she was now; she was ruined. She'd never go back to the precious school she'd endured his blackmailed to continue to attend.
Yet, she'd done did that. Saved me. She's the type uh devil-girl that teaches ya lessons in being human jus' by be round her.
May haps that be why I used my wings to help her 'scape the city.
Tried, anyway.
[Author retains copyright.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#EntertainOrDie
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch1 #15 — Which conjunctions do you use the most? Does it matter?
By far it's "and." And—and it does matter.
I write as if I'm speaking a loud, and I give all my stories a dramatic reading. Dialoguing is my style—I'm am a first person author, after all—but too many "ands" slow the pace of a story, transforming an emphasis cue or an uh-huh pause into a transliterated verbal stutter. That's rarely good. Often deletable. If I see an "and," it's always a primary target during revision. And... /and/ that's enough said about that.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WordWeavers 9.15 — Is your MC neat or messy?
My devil-girl is an ascetic by practice. Her possessions are a messenger bag containing her notebook and a 500 year old "magic" text. If she's traveling, she'll have a pack, sleeping mat, and tarp. Little to be physically messy about. Public baths are as common as groceries, so she can take care of appearances.
Physically, she's as average looking as they come, if you ignore her muscles, but with green-tinted skin that suggests she's the chameleon she is. She can do a silly mid-teen or a elegant woman hitting thirty, out sophisticating most society people. (She was well tutored.) She even designs clothes—that she can fight in. The upshot is she can be a messy vagrant or a high society snob, or in-between as her job requires.
So... either neat or messy?
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#PennedPossibilities 72 — MC POV: Describe a recent dream.
I woke feeling claustrophobic. I flailed my hands, found them gloved, clinked the fishbowl surrounding my head. I blinked. Hadn't I just read a newspaper article of the 200th anniversary of profound discovery?
I focused—and saw them: Plates of glass... No /crystal/ floating, gliding, maintaining position. Bright searchlights gleamed, each a minor star. Fuzzy lights: Nebulae. Two-hundreds standards away, I saw an egg-shaped crystal-scaph. White with black-orientation lines and the words HOME-SPACE. It got smaller as I watched.
A daemon had lifted the vehicle on a wish and a miracle. A night angel maneuvered it once in space.
Space.
Space! I was...
My tether flapped around, spewing frost. Snapped.
I jerked, starting rotating, A blue marble rotated into view and I screamed.
[Author retains copyright. From a current SF WiP]
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#EntertainOrDie
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#WritersCoffeeClub 14 — Have you ever written about an ex-partner and changed their name in your story? CW: RS being uncharacteristically sacrilegious.
No.
But I absolutely based the horrible stepmother character in my first novel on my stepfather. The woman made my MC's life as a girl in her society a living hell. Classy around others, like her husband, but petty around those she had power over, like her stepdaughter. Authoritarian. Lacking empathy. Willing to lie and manipulate others to get her way, or resort to violence.
My first sale. Major publishing house. I'm pretty sure he read the book; never saw his reflection in the mirror.
While I'm not religious, I hope he spins in his grave with me having admitted this.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#PennedPossibilities 71 — Was your MC ever bullied as a child? If so, why?
Not sure if it is bullying or simply abuse. From the standpoint of the MC, she experienced "an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour" that "cause[d her] physical, social and/or psychological harm." She was raised by a guardian who systematically got rid of her only friend (a very supportive one) and got her to quit school in favor of regimented 7-day-a-week tutoring augmented with military training. She never really got to be a kid. She ran away as soon as she perceived she looked adult enough to pass as an adult. Because of her "training", she succeeded very well at the masquerade, except when she didn't.
Quotes are from: https://www.ncab.org.au/bullying-advice/bullying-for-parents/definition-of-bullying/
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
#PennedPossibilities 71 Deuxième Partie — The why part of why my MC was an "bullied."
The antagonist needed a miracle worker she could us as a tool. She connived to take control of the girl's life to hone her to be sharp as a razor. That involved pushing her way beyond her limits and denying what she really wanted, and making her feel bad or inadequate when she could live up to the ideals.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders
@3dab8084
To be clear, greedy sampling is according to presenters at the conference I'm attending is used a lot in business applications. Profitable versus probable seems like semantics. Are you perhaps describing the role of prompt tuning to provide better answers? My little definition was intended as the simplest definition that describes the process for writers, and how it was described to me by IBMers building the company's AI tech, but keep in mind it was introductory.
@9f39971d@17cb16ac
You've described is an AI hallucination. The one's a presenter describing the phenomenon demonstrated was asking an artwork generative AI to make an infographic on a topic. Yours and Hawk Wolf's examples are the textual equivalent.
It could also be an artifact of not stating in the prompt, "If you find no results state 'I found no results."
That doesn't guarantee it won't fabulate! A group of University of Toronto grad students actually presented a study on gender inference (I know, they knew, the implications) using chatGPT and other engines. After prompt tuning that was exhaustively tuned, they still had to curate all the results that came out the bot. It's just that stupid (or stubborn).
@17cb16ac
[#generativeAI is] emitting text that looks like what you want.
That exactly the point. You get it.
Nobody who can be liable for copyright infringement or needs to know the origin of each fact in a statement that will be published or used in decisions can use something like #chatGPT. It is transparent as lead as to where it got any fact.
What I understand is that people or entities that can be liable use is curated and cleared models that give a good illusion of understanding the language so it can parse intent and sentiment into statistics.
Since the generative AI will try to emit text that looks like what you want, there's the concept of "prompt tuning" going hand and hand with the "curated data" it can access. Prompts that provide correct answers most of the time are "canned." Programs that follow these rule will only use the canned prompts.
This is a generalization of the process presenters talked about.
Practically everyone thinks #chatGPT is a monster, but many point out it will spur lawmakers to get copyright law and regulation updated quicker, lest the courts decide such things haphazardly and unfairly.
What is a #generativeAI like #chatGPT doing?
/It is finding the most statistically probable word in a string of words that answers the prompt you've provided/. Rinse repeat.
AI doesn't understand anything. AI hallucination is a thing (that's a topic by itself). There's no guaranteeing output is factual without curating the data, or restricting source documents the AI is trained on.
I'm attending a tech conference (TechXchange). As a SF novelist by avocation, I'm interested in what #AI is and isn't—at the present time. I'm learning #ai isn't going to go Forbin Project, HAL 9000, or #Skynet any time soon. As Jessica Rabbit would say, "I'm not drawn that way."
#AI it is being built into things. It's a MAJOR focus at IBM. One could assume #AI is built into military drones.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#LLM #LargeLanguageModels #ai
@9f39971d
Just reporting what I hear, and you are right (it's what I thought when I heard this revelatory idea.) If people can make money with it, they will find a way to do it legally so they can make that money. Wouldn't be good if they're the first violator they pop. This looks like it could be big business.
#ai #chatGPT #LLM #LargeLanguageModels #writing #writingcommunity
I'm attending a tech conference (TechXchange). As a novelist by avocation, I'm finding the discussion where it reflects on our copyrights pretty fascinating.
Major Takeaway: Do not use AI that have been trained on material (like chatGPT) that /contains copyrighted text or other data that has not been cleared for use/ by the copyright owner.
There are LLMs that are curated to contain only cleared material. Can't do business if you can be sued, naturally.
What I am hearing is as regulation catches up, copyright law is pretty clear. Using AI-generated text or content cannot be copyrighted, particularly because of the origin of the data cannot be verified legally.
If you use something like chatGPT to help you build text—and its influence can be inferred later—/you could lose your copyright/. This includes things like using content in podcastS, images, or video.
Presenters are reporting that there are companies that are working on programs that can infer (using AI) that something is influenced or contains AI content.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#WritersCoffeeClub 13 — Do you derive joy from writing? In what way?
I am going to focus solely on the act of writing, of generating story, ignoring revision and all business aspects.
I cannot characterize the feeling as joy. For me, writing asymptotically approaches a zen experience.
Writing something diverting like answering this prompt allows me to drive all the other noise from my head and concentrate on meaning and intention. Out of the quiet meditative part of my mind comes words that flow thru my fingers.
When I writing in storytime, though, it goes beyond that. I get to forget that I exist. I become the character and experience their world directly for minutes, sometimes hours, at a time. I've described it to others as channeling the character, living through their eyes. I once wrote a 15,000 word novella in 15 hours in this mode, though I'm pretty sure I did stop to eat and drink. (It did take some editing afterwards!)
It's pretty weird to read what I've written. Sometimes I'm surprised I'd written it all, or embarrassed by how uncensored it is, not at all like person you might meet or the person I think I am.
I usually like what I write, which I suppose is good.
An acquaintance who has multiple personalities once described coming back from an alter and discovering what happened as feeling the same type of surprise and wonder (or horror).
For me, it feels real good. I'm sticking with zen.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #WritingWonders #zen #meditation #writingLife
@9f39971d
I think I might also figure a way back into the story, since all the characters have strong agendas and that make them antagonists to one another despite eventually having to work together against a greater antagonist. The scope is just so great that it's daunting. It consumes energy I'd like to put into commercial writing, so I'm releasing the chapter as a novelette, possibly with an apology.
@e71f94ed
This is a great idea. There's no guarantee you'll get feedback, but it will stretch your mind to new dimensions.
/Shy/ is difficult for writers, and not uncommon. I am also horribly shy... in person. It prevented me from networking when I got an agent, sold, and could get in to all those fabulous parties and meetups at Worldcon and other SF conventions. It's difficult, and crippling. But now you are on the Internet. You can have blogs, you can have webpages, and you have a Mastodon account. You can write to prompts, practice, and get things out there. Like I am.
I recommend following these hashtags and participating. Remember this about feedback you may get: It is the only opinion of the person providing the feedback (advice, etc.), and it is up to you to decide if it is relevant in anyway to accept or ignore at your whim.
#wordweavers
#PennedPossibilites
#writerscoffeeclub
#writever
#writingwonders (defunct, but a very good read.)
These will give you a sense of community:
#writer #writers #author #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon #sf #sff #fiction #scifi #ScienceFiction
Good luck!
@30700d9a Yep. What worries me about going indie. You've got to make people aware through connections in places like Mastodon, other social media, websites, podcasts, by providing content that attracts people regularly to build awareness. Finding people willing to talk about your work seems to be essential. I know people do it though, so it is possible. Making a living at it though...?
@markgrieveson@mindly.socia
...I wear an N95 mask out in public, people always ask, "are you sick?"
That's sad to hear, but it's not hostile, so that's actually a great result. We all get to be healthy, nobody's made to feel bad.
I've not had people ask if I'm sick. People not wearing masks have been very supportive, not crowding, keeping distance, and doing their best not to notice something's different (though they do, like pretending there's not a pimple at the end of one's nose). I, of course, wear a stylish Darth Vader black KN95. Probably matters where you live.
#Covid #Covid19
@ae1a0ada@da5013b0
You have to know your characters very well and have their unique voice in mind.
Is it ever! Voice in 1st person POV is difficult, and I'm still working on my awareness when writing. I spent three decades writing in 3rd, so I know this still challenges me. I plan to convert an old work written in 3rd person with labeled POV character chapters to 1st person, which I think I can write better. It will be a total rewrite, of course, and since I think that means about ten POVs over three books, this will be a challenge.
@01d5c050
I started reading SF as a Tween. Before that it was science and more science. It wasn't until I was 17 that I started toying with the idea of writing something. When I'd studied maniacally for what I presumed would be a difficult for me AP analytical geometry final, and it turned out to be open book, I overflowed with creativity. I spent a two week Christmas vacation and wrote my first 25,000 word novella. That lead to five angst filled years until I sold. Except for a 14 year long burn-out in 2001, I've been writing and demonstrating my neuroses publicly since.
Oddbean new post about login | logout
Notes by RS, Author, Novelist | export