Archives

Opinion and Build-a-Character wanted (again!)

Feb18

You guys did such a good job with Jahnan & Yira that I’m hoping you’ll help me with Rige and Olivia.

They are in the same world, Foedus Planatarium (Federation of Planets), meant for a for-publication romance story. He’s a prisoner, she’s an archaeologist. (What? I have types. 😉

That being said, I have nothing else determined about them, except that they are both “human”.

“Human” in this case, as this is a space story, covers a wide array of Roddenberry-alien-type modifications and alterations on a bilaterally symmetrical biped with the head on top, as well as a wide range of cultures.

So: what do they look like, what can you tell me about their history?

Feel free to give me a single trait, like “he wears his hair in braids” or “she has green hair.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/899397.html. You can comment here or there.

Slowed-Commute Kit, by JJHunter

Feb17

Over here, [personal profile] jjhunter has written out suggestions for a kit to survive delays in Boston’s public transport.

But this is similar to my 6-hour-bus-ride-to-NYC kit, or the waiting-in-line-forever kit (I pack small, portable knitting as well) – generally, any time when situations beyond your control might mean you’re waiting for just shy of forever. It’s well worth a read.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/898945.html. You can comment here or there.

Domain Name Fundraiser – Ask the Questions!

Feb16

The Domain Name Fundraiser reached $50 – more than covering my costs for domain names.

That’s also FIVE stories.

So tell me, what do you want to know about the worlds of Edally Academy and/or Inner Circle?

Suggestions:
(Rix)
For Edally, could we have something from the older students’ point of view about the first years?
For Inner Circle, something about their Change?
(dialecticdreamer)
Prelude

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/898735.html. You can comment here or there.

The Mom Test and “Tell me About Your Story.” (A blog post)

Feb13

I’m working on two stories right now – one for Mobbing Midnight, an anthology of Crow stories, and one for Queers Destroy Sci-Fi. Both are in draft form, and I’m flailing a bit about both, as is normal.

And then I got on the phone with my mom. I was telling her about Crow Cage, my story for Mobbing Midnight… and I started to find places, just reviewing the story in my mind, where my Mom would say “I don’t get it.”

And going from there, I was able to feel the points where the story needed to improve, and feel excited about it again. So: The Mom Test. Will someone mostly unfamiliar with my writing and the way I think be able to “get” this story, and, if not, how can I improve it?

And then I was talking to cluudle about Scaling the Ivory Tower, my submission for QDSF. She said “tell me about your story.”

I thought about it. I hemmed and hawed. And then I laid out an outline of what I WANTED the story to be. Again: clarification, brightening, new energy. I knew what I was missing, and I knew how it could get better.

Do you have a similar trick when you’re stuck? Have you ever tried talking the story out with a friend – or a stranger – to get past the “what do I do now?” stage?

Mobbing Midnight’s Kickstarter is almost to 10%!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/898413.html. You can comment here or there.

Domain Name Costs MET! Thank you!

Feb12

The Domain Name Fundraiser reached $40 – covering my costs for domain names.

That’s also FOUR stories.

So tell me, what do you want to know about the worlds of Edally Academy and/or Inner Circle?

Suggestions:
(Rix)
For Edally, could we have something from the older students’ point of view about the first years?
For Inner Circle, something about their Change?
(dialecticdreamer)
Prelude

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/898046.html. You can comment here or there.

On “Relating to” characters in stories.

Feb12

I recently started following http://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/ on tumblr, and there is discussion about how white people often have trouble “relating” to characters of color in fiction.

And it got me thinking.

‘Cause okay, I – probably no surprise here – grew up reading a lot.

And Trixie Belden & Nancy Drew lived in worlds as foreign to me as Smash Ogre and Tansy. The Sweet Valley Twins and the Babysitter’s Club were as strange to me as Bilbo. Kids written in 50’s romance books (I really did read everything) lived in a place as hard to related to as did Shea Ohmsford.. Little House on the Prairie? Oversoul Seven?

I’m a 3rd-generation-German-immigrant/Daughter of The American Revolution child of hippies* who were themselves the 1st/second generation off the farm; I grew up in a log cabin on my grandparents’ 100 acres of farmland, an only child, a child of an alcoholic honor’s kid with social anxiety & depression. I have a hard time relating to anyone.

…but Herald Talia made me feel at home. Dude, for me, fiction has never been about reading about myself; it’s been about taking me somewhere else.

And this would be a lovely piece on its own, but I feel compelled to point out, also – I have a very hard time visualizing people. It really doesn’t happen. So when I’m reading, it’s very first-person-shooter for me; I’m not picturing the protagonist, I’m in their skin.

* And hippies. Okay. When you read me saying “hippies” in relation to personal experience, you have to get stereotypes like this guy out of your head. My mom was for civil rights and against the war, for vegetarianism & growing your own food and, ah, growing your own marijuana. But, despite living in New York State, my parents didn’t go to Woodstock, and the media depictions of hippies have never matched my childhood.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/897359.html. You can comment here or there.

Busy Day In the Alder

Feb10

Jumping Rings Chapter 16 is up!

Mobbing Midnight: an Anthology of Crows – the kickstarter is live and already at $170.

My Domain Name Fundraiser raised $15, opening up a free answer-fic, once a question is asked.

And

I updated my Patreon Page. It’s $1 from the new, saner incentive level.

And now I go back to the writing mines!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/895917.html. You can comment here or there.

Jumping Rings: A Story of the Circled Plain Chapter Sixteen

Feb10

Valran – Here


“Here.” Keldra Dre stood up and strode away from Valran. He swallowed until his throat no longer felt too dry to speak again.

“Here, ma’am?”

“Stay there.” She called it over her shoulder; if Valran hadn’t been so confused, if his legs hadn’t been falling asleep, he would have been grateful. As it was, he held still and hoped it was the right thing to do.

read on…

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/895652.html. You can comment here or there.

Mobbing Midnight Kickstarter is Live!

Feb10

Crows, crows, and more crows: Mobbing Midnight is an anthology focused on the brilliant corvid!

Crows are peppered through world mythology and folklore- sometimes serving as a sign of ill luck, other times a trickster.

From American crows to hooded and carrion crows, pied crows to jungle crows- they come in as many shapes and in as many environments as we can dream up.

And my story is going to be in there, along with stories by fourteen other awesome authors!

Tentatively titled Crow Cage, it’s an urban fantasy tale of magic and mystery, following a murder of crows that are definitely more than they seem – and possibly more than that, too.

Check it out!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/895376.html. You can comment here or there.