#WritersCoffeeClub 11/4: What's your most effective method for connecting with readers?
I have yet to find a good equivalent to the AO3 comments section. Discord comes close but only for certain intrepid souls connecting with ME.
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Sax Brightwell 🇨🇦
@saxbrightwell@indieauthors.social
mastodon 4.7.3Writer of romantic science fiction series "Secrets of Sleipnir." Biology nerd, healthcare worker, fish butler.
I filter US politics, and unfollow/mute if you post too much of it untagged.
172 Followers
138 Following
50 Posts
Joined October 16, 2023
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#WritersCoffeeClub 16/4: Must writing always [be] in complete sentences?
When it's not, it should be on purpose and for a reason. The effect thus created should be worth the loss of clarity. For example, some POV narration dips into the sentence fragments used in real speech, creating informality.
#WritersCoffeeClub April 13: What do you borrow from other fiction (or nonfiction!) genres?
I go through phases of reading a lot of danmei and manhua, and some of the clothing and food elements definitely find their way in, especially when I add details to Gibarra City.
#WritersCoffeeClub 12/4: How does being a writer influence your life outside of the work?
I have Opinions about keyboards.
#WritersCoffeeClub 10/4: What's something other writers swear by that you just don't get?
Full raw-dog drafting with no edits until the first draft is complete. I can't do it. I need the current bit to feel right before I can move on to the next; often that's how I discover what the next bit IS.
#WritersCoffeeClub 7/3: What have you given up to write?
Reading time - and sometimes reading puts its foot down and confiscates my writing time anyway. Even then there are works I avoid because I worry they'll crowd out my own ideas for a long time after. That's a loss of a sort as well.
#WordWeavers 13/4: Does your MC have a particular scent they love or hate due to their past?
The smell of baking bread takes Fiyeli right back to his mother's house, a love memory for sure no matter how complicated it became to live there as he got older.
#WordWeavers 11/4: What would be the most unappreciated social event a character of yours could be invited to?
Probably a solely religious rite, not associated with any births or deaths or marriages, that didn't even have decent food after.
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/3: How do you make sure you don’t leave plot holes?
There can't be holes in something that's just one string!
(Runner-up joke: Ah, but lace is nothing BUT holes and it gets love anyway.)
#WordWeavers 15/4: Is your antagonist more optimistic or pessimistic? Why?
Neither! She has had her expectations ripped out from under her so completely and suddenly that she hasn't yet had a chance to form new hopes, fears, or plans. Life is just happening to her right now.
#WritersCoffeeClub 14/4: Do you consciously work with syllabic stress to create rhythm?
Sometimes, a little. It can be part of why a line sounds ugly to me until I tweak it. But not all the time.
#WritersCoffeeClub 6/3: Is there a local writing community near you? Do you participate in it?
There might be, but no. It takes more than a coincidence of geography for me to give up my pseudonymity.
#WordWeavers 1/3: What is your greatest fear about your characters?
That I blow up, don't scramble fast enough to find a good enough agent, and have to see them played by white actors.
The prequisite of blowing up means it's not exactly a fear realistic enough to keep me up at night!
#WritersCoffeeClub 8/3: Do the seasons influence your writing?
Sleipnir's climate (very warm, 19-year year with little axial tilt) is definitely winter wish-fulfilment on my part.
#WordWeavers 14/4: Do your MCs tend to run more optimistic or pessimistic about life? Why?
Optimistic, because I would get bored writing a little guy who was just a downer about everything all the time.
#WritersCoffeeClub 2/3:
Does your overall goal differ from project to project?
The specific beats I have in mind for each story differ, but they're all advancing a single continuous arc - in my original work so far, anyway.
#WordWeavers 27/2: Which of your characters do you find especially interesting? Why?
Ilqun, the druid who became the linchpin judge for the Abolition Coalition. He is currently my most miserable 'good guy,' and I know how to get him to a happy ending but it will take a whole book of his own.
#WordWeavers 6/3: If you have several stories, which one should a new reader start with?
That would be book 1, Low Dawn. You can get it free for 2 more days!
#WritersCoffeeClub 4/3: Share a recent experience where something just 'clicked’.
I was badly stuck on the next step of the conflict in my WIP until I realized that my protagonists needed to fail at this step. Just totally eat shit. With that the story ran on rails for a good few chapters.
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/3: On what are you unwilling to compromise?
I'm self-published, so any answer would be untested bragging - but I also went directly to selfpub without querying because I figured tradpub would want me to make my books less horny, less nerdy, and less queer.
#WritersCoffeeClub 1/3: What is the fundamental goal you seek to achieve with your current WIP?
Grapple with the end of a war and the uncertain shuffle into peace, and also (as always) get my blorbos laid ☺️
Replying to
The most common use case you encounter is "readerfic," fanfiction where your blorbo is interested in you personally, to such an extent that instead of a character name or Reader, the other characters address you as [Y/N], for "Your Name." Which 1. makes your skin want to crawl off your body, the streams should NOT cross; and 2. you can't stop reading as "Yes/No?"
This experience is universal, you're sure 😆
#WordWeavers 16/4: If your MC lived in our world, would they have good financial credit?
Depends how bad his case of wandering feet was here, and if he still turned it into a career or not. It's very expensive to not have a real home base, so he might well have debt problems.
#WordWeavers 12/4: Your MC has 2½ days of spare time, time to...
Show Evret a good time ;-D
#WritersCoffeeClub 26/2: Does your current WIP have an antagonist? Why or why not?
Yep! Most stories are more fun to read and write if you have a little guy (gender neutral) causing problems on purpose, and mine are no exception.
#WordWeavers 8/3: How do you approach stereotypes while creating characters?
Worrying too much about avoiding stereotypes is paralysing. I've done some sensitivity check-ins at points I can tell are iffy, but beyond that you can never please everyone, so just get on with it.
April update: Suckerpunch Spring
https://saxbrightwell.dreamwidth.org/15080.html
All single volumes in my Secrets of Sleipnir series are FREE until Mar 7 at Smashwords! (The 1-3 omnibus is 50% off 😉) #Smashwords #ebookweek26 #bookstodon #booksky #booksale #freebooks #indiebooks 🌶️📚🪐 💕📚💙
https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/96863
#WordWeavers 26/2: Who in your book is most like a real person you’ve loved IRL?
Kilum Ingaji's little son Alaiki is based on memories of my kids and niblings when they were babies. That's probably the closest.
#WordWeavers 10/4: Did your MC ever have a melody/tune stuck in their head?
Plenty, but none that we know, since it's the 4200s. Often the beats lined up with his feet ground-testing on the Sea of Glass.
#WordWeavers 7/3: How do you define a “strong” character? How do you create one?
"Strong Female Character" is a bitterly sarcastic meme for a reason. I think everyone agrees by now that strongly-WRITTEN characters, regardless of gender, are vivid, flawed, and when they change you know why.
"Remember to make art with your boner. It doesn't have to be a horny boner, it can be a brain boner or a heart boner. Make art that makes you happy and appeals to your own freakish sensibilities. This is imperative."
-from https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5lyymrft5q2ckibprycefgu3/post/3mjdefzvx7c22
Replying to
You see an outpost where 2 sentient species are learning about each other openly for the 1st time.
1 person didn't do all this alone, but it all happened this way because 1 person was there.
You see 3 sets of footprints going east. 3/3
Replying to
You see a treaty uniting 2 nations, and a high-profile marriage paving the way for more.
You see a newly-formed living island exploring the ocean.
You see the glass desert's slave quarries emptied and retaken by the sea. 2/3
Replying to
And then regular milk powder of course. If you can find whole milk powder that would probably bring in richer flavor, though no more "malt-y" than skim.
#WordWeavers 9/3: If you need to share an important piece of history/lore, what’s your approach that avoids infodumping?
A few things:
-epistolary or flashback prologue
-dialogue
-POV character explains BRIEFLY in their head like they would out loud
IMO the key is always to keep it short.
Replying to
They do incredible things for men's legs, plus the genderfuckery of it all. Put me down for Team Drag Heels.
#WordWeavers 5/3: What's the most supportive/uplifting thing you’ve heard related to writing?
I've lost the source but it went something like:
"'Write from experience' is bad advice. If we strictly did that most of us would have 2 or 3 poems, MAYBE a short story. We write from empathy."
Replying to on indieauthors.social
Amazing 😂
May Challenge: Breathe Through Your Nose
https://saxbrightwell.dreamwidth.org/15356.html
Replying to
Of all the keyboards on earth she tried to start a family under, I'm pretty sure she picked the very best one.
#WordWeavers 2/3: Do you write scenes out of order? If so, how do you decide their arrangement?
The nitty-gritty construction has to happen linearly, but there are usually a handful of scenes that are very vivid in my mind before I begin, and I'm often writing toward those.
#WritersCoffeeClub 28/2:
How well did this short month go for you, in terms of writing?
Not much output, TBH. I needed a restorative plunge into watching and reading other things for a bit. Getting back into it now!
They say we have a cycle called a "year" and eventually the earth will tilt far enough we'll have a season called "summer" where it stays above freezing for more than 2 days and there will be a color called "green" outside
IDK though it sounds fake
#WordWeavers 28/2: Would you like to meet any of your characters? Would you tell them who you are?
Yes, except for the villains, and no, absolutely not. I made enough bad things happen they'd be well within their rights to make "God is dead" happen with their own hands.
#WordWeavers 4/3: When was the last time your MC lied? Why?
In my current WIP chapter, letting people believe his mentee didn't meet a certain dangerous individual, to spare his mentee some family drama.
#WritersCoffeeClub 27/2: Do you edit while you write? What are the pros and cons?
I can't not. I can't move forward if the words behind me aren't right.
Cons: writing much slower, wasting time on sections I might cut or redo.
Pros: clean copy, accepting this is my way lets me get on with writing.