Wednesday, May 05, 2021

IWSG: Readers' Responses and Status Update

Welcome to the merry month of May! I hope it's a pleasant one. Today is not just the Revenge of the Fifth (Star Wars reference), but also blogging day for the Insecure Writers' Support Group. Learn more about them on their website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed.


 Our hosts for this month are Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine. 

Here's our question for the month: Have any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn't expect? If so, did it surprise you?

The only thing that's coming to mind happened a long time ago in response to my novella Lyon's Legacy. The reader was a co-worker who knew me in real life and was surprised by how much my characters swore in that story, since I seldom swear. That must be a sign I can write characters who are different from me.

Since I don't have much to say regarding the IWSG question, I'll provide a brief status update on my works in progress. Murder at Magic Lake is with beta readers. The sequel, Restaurants and Revenge, is well over 30,000 words. It might turn out longer than the first book. I'm focusing on that story for now and have temporarily set aside a novellette/novella called, "Jenna's Journey," showing Jenna from my Season Avatars series traveling to another country. (Most Avatars stay in their own countries, so it's a significant step for her.) I plan to publish a collection of short stories about my Season Avatars before I work on the sequel series. 

How do readers respond to your work? Feel free to share your stories in the comments.


5 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I can't say I never swear and stronger than the characters in my books...

Sadira Stone said...

I had to giggle at your example, since my characters are potty-mouths, just like me IRL. However, my current protagonist is a pediatric nurse who's trained herself not to curse aloud. Finding substitute phrases is very amusing. Son of a motherless goat!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

If you never cuss, it might surprise someone to see it in your books.

Steven Arellano Rose Jr. said...

I'll admit that my protagonists curse far more than I do. I think maybe that comes from knowing that if they were real and not me they probably would.

James Pailly said...

I'm kind of the opposite. I swear a lot in real life, but I never put that into dialogue in my stories. The narrator might tell us that somebody "cursed under her breath," but that's as far as I like to go.

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