IWSG: Author Envy

The year marches on to the month of March, so it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Learn more about the IWSG on their website or Facebook page.

Our hosts this month are Diedre Knight, Tonja Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim, and J.Q. Rose. (Unfortunately, I don't have working links for Bish and Olga.)

Here's our question for March: Have you ever read a line in [a] novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have writer envy?

It's hard for me to pick a specific example of something that caused me to have writer envy. The best thing I can come up with is Patricia McKillip's writing style, but that's the poetic nature of her prose and not limited to a single line. However, while I enjoy reading her work, her style is so different from mine that there's no point to envying it. It's something I can admire without being able to imitate. Even if I could write like her, her style might not fit the stories I want to tell.

In general, I think if you're struggling with your current work, it's easy to be envious of anything else you read because you see the finished work, not the other author's process in bringing the story to life. Comparing a draft to a finished work isn't fair, but we do it all the time. 

Do you have a particular author or story you're envious of? Feel free to share in the comments.

Writing Recap

It's hard to believe this is the last post for February 2023. The days may be long sometimes, but the years get shorter and shorter as one gets older. Since it's the end of the month, here's a quick recap on my writing projects.

I recently had rejections on two short stories. One I'm going to hold for possible inclusion in my The Season Between collection, which will be set in my fantasy Season Avatars universe. The other one has already been submitted to several markets (I haven't kept good records regarding its submission history), so I'll probably keep it on the back burner until I see another potential market for it. I still have two more stories out for consideration, but I don't like to say much about submitted stories for fear I'll jinx them.

Speaking of short stories, I'm working on another solarpunk story for an upcoming annual contest; the current working title is "Inside, Outside." I recently finished the first draft, which is about 4,700 words. I haven't been completely satisfied with previous submissions to this contest, so I've started working on it earlier, before the submission window opens. That gives me more time to revise it. (I'm not the kind of person who can bang out a short story every week; I need several drafts to make it worth reading.) 

I've also managed to resolve a subplot in Restaurants and Revenge, so hopefully after a few more tweaks, I'll be done with the major edits. Then I can work on line edits and maybe order the cover art.

Once I finish these current projects, I want to return to The Season Between collection and finish editing the stories (and deciding how many to include). I also need to go back to writing the first draft of Bubble Tea and a Body, the next book in my cozy mystery series.

An author's work is never done, so I guess it's time to get back to it. I'll be back next week with another IWSG post.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Future

I started listening to The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast a few months ago. I'd read the book with the same name and thought it was quite useful. So when Dr. Steven Novella and the rest of the podcasters mentioned they'd written a second book called The Skeptics' Guide to the Future: What Yesterday's Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow, I had to (literally) check it out. If you're interested in futurism--as science fiction writers are by definition--then you'll want to do the same.

The book is divided into five parts. The first one is an introduction to futurism, which is the art of predicting the future. It discusses how previous predictions about the future were right or not and looks at general trends. (We tend to overestimate short-term progress and underestimate long-term progress. We also assume the institutions and culture we have today will persist with little or no change.) The other four sections deal with various aspects of technology: current, future, space travel, and science fiction tech. Each part is broken into several chapters, with each chapter focused on a specific type of technology. The authors discuss what types of technology are possible (they cover everything from stem cells to light sabers) and when they might be developed or become feasible. (Some familiarity with the technology is assumed, as this is a general overview, but the authors provide some history and current status for each type of technology.) They also discuss ideas that might not work; unfortunately for my stories Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes, we are unlikely to be able to travel to alternate universes through wormholes. The first four parts end with snippets of future fiction set anywhere from a few decades to more than twenty thousand years in the future.

Not surprisingly, the overall message of the book is that technology will continue to become an important part of our culture and change it in ways we might not be able to foresee. The general assumption is that humanity will continue to exist in some form or another; the authors ignore most potential catastrophes with the exception of artificial intelligence turning against us. They do discuss the possibilities of humans using brain-machine interfaces, uploading our minds into computers, or colonizing space. 

This book is worth reading not just if you're interested in science or science fiction, but the future. After all, every new day brings us closer to it.

Writing on the Weekend

When you have a day job, it seems like the best time to write for extended periods of time would be on the weekend. However, that's not always the case. I typically spend a lot of time on the weekend catching up with chores and getting ready for the week ahead. There can also be special events that disrupt your routine. I try to compensate for this by setting aside blocks of time for writing. For example, I clean Saturday morning so I have time to write in the afternoon. I normally also like to write my weekly blog post on Sunday morning. However, there are days where even those blocks of time get usurped by other activities. Some days you just have to accept the fact that you won't be able to write much.

Are weekends typically good writing days for you, or are they taken up with other things? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

IWSG: Covering Covers

 

Is it just me, or did January seem to pass by pretty quickly? It hardly seems time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Learn more about the IWSG on their website and Facebook page. 

Our hosts this month are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner. 

Our question this month is about covers: If you are an indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?

I'm technically a hybrid author, since I have a few stories published in anthologies. I don't have any input on those covers, so I'll focus on my indie covers. Most of those are purchased, since my photo editing skills are minimal. Here's one cover I created for a short story collection called Ordinary Wonders. About all I did to the photo was add the text.

For my fantasy Season Avatars series, I purchased covers from my friend Maria Zannini, also known as the Book Cover Diva. I think she did a great job with the entire series, but I'll just highlight two of them here: Fifth Season and Summon the Seasons. 

Since my Abigail Ritter series is a different genre (cozy mystery), I decided to go in a different direction and ordered the cover from 100 Covers. See below for Murder at Magic Lake. I've already pre-paid for the next two book covers in that series; I just need to finish the books!

I've been very happy with these cover artists, and they've done a great job of designing covers to meet my visions of the characters and setting.

How do you get your covers if you're indie? Do you have any favorite covers for your books? Feel free to share in the comments.

Book Review: Ways of Being

 If you're interested in solarpunk, you might be interested in reading Ways of Being Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence by James Bridle. The author just doesn't look at ways in which plants and animals exhibit intelligence, but how technology can be used to help us understand them so we can meet their needs and sustain the biodiversity we need to survive.

The book starts and ends in Greece, where the author first visits an island where the ecosystem is under threat due to a search for fossil fuels, but later visits a farm where plants purify metals from the soil. In between, we look at the different ways animals perceive the world, how plants communicate with each other and even learn in response to their environment, non-neural computers, the importance of randomness, and inter-species communication. All of this is to remind us that we are connected to the rest of the planet and that there are other ways of knowing besides ours. The last chapter in the book is called "The Internet of Animals," where Bridle discusses how by tracking animals, we gain a better understanding of their needs and how they travel. For example, by pinpointing the exact spots where wildlife cross highways during migration, we can build wildlife bridges that prevent collisions. 

Some parts of the book are easier to follow than others. For me, I found the chapter on non-binary machines the most difficult to digest. Other readers may balk at acknowledging the legal rights of animals and rivers, even though there is legal precedent. But if you want a book quote that encapsulates the ideals of solarpunk, I suggest this one: "The enemy is not technology itself, but rather inequality and centralization of power and knowledge, and that the answer to these threats are education, diversity, and justice." I recommend checking it out.

Book Clubs

I don't think I've mentioned on here that I joined a local book club last fall. We had our first meeting in November, when we discussed The One. We'll be meeting in a couple of weeks to talk about Mad Honey, and our tentative choice for February is Kindred. While it's a good excuse to socialize with other people, this book club forces me to read genres that I normally don't consider. I admit I didn't care much for our first book, and it didn't seem like most of the other members didn't think too highly of it either. It'll be interesting to see what we discuss about our next two books and what else we read this year.

Have you been in a book club before? If so, did you enjoy the experience? Which books did you read for it? Feel free to share in the comments.

2023 Writing Projects

There are three main projects I'd like to complete and publish in 2023: The Season Between, a short story collection set in my Season Avatars universe after Summon the Seasons (it's meant to transition into a sequel or spinoff series, though right now it focuses more on what other issues the Season Avatars face); and the next two books in my Abigail Ritter cozy mystery series: Restaurants and Revenge and Bubble Tea and a Body. Here's a summary of where I'm at with each project.

The Season Between: I want to have at least one short story featuring each of my four Avatars. I have rough drafts for Gwen, Ysabel, and Kay, but Jenna's story has been giving me issues. I originally wanted to show her on a trip to a different country, but the story spiraled out of control, with no good way to resolve the conflict. So I've shifted the conflict back to Challen and made the problem about more than magic. Hopefully this will allow me to finish the rough draft of this story this month. I can then revise the other stories and decide if I want to add any others.

Restaurants and Revenge: This is the second book in my cozy mystery series. The first draft is complete, and it's been revised. However, I've been trying to work in a subplot that will allow me to add more touches of Filipino culture to the book, and it's hard to add something when the story is complete as it is. I think I've figured out where to add a couple of scenes; the problem is finding the time to work on this project. Revising can be harder (and take longer) than drafting.

Bubble Tea and a Body: This is the third book in the cozy mystery series. I'm about 30,000 words into the first draft. I have a sense of where I'm going with it (at least in the short term), and want to return to it when I'm done drafting Jenna's story.

Part of the reason it's taken me so long to finish these projects is because I've been distracted by writing short stories. I currently have three out for consideration, though at least two of those stories face long odds. I might work on another solarpunk story for another contest (or solarpunk magazine), but hopefully I'll finish what I'm working on before I take on too many other projects.

What are you planning to work on this year, writing or otherwise? Feel free to share in the comments.

IWSG: Word of the Year

 

 

 Happy 2023! May we all have a better and kinder year in the next twelve months. Since this is also the first post of the month, that means it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Learn more about the IWSG on their website and Facebook. 

Our hosts this month are Jemima Pett, Debs Carey, Kim Lajevardi, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and T. Powell Coltrin. 

Here's our question for January (I'm just quoting the first two lines): Do you have a word of the year? Is there a word that sums up what you need to work on or change in the coming year? 

One of the suggestions that was listed with the question was FINISH. That works for me, as I still have several writing and craft projects that I'd like to finish. One of the reasons I have trouble completing         everything is that I keep picking up new projects. Perhaps I should make a list of everything I want to         finish this year to keep me focused.

    What's your word for 2023? Feel free to share in the comments.

My Year in Books

 Although there are still a few days left in 2022, it's time to look back at what I've read this year. I set a fairly modest (for me) reading goal: 150 books. As of Monday, 12/26/22 (which is when I'm writing this post), I've read 187 books. (The link is to my Goodreads challenge.) I'll probably add another book or two before midnight on New Year's Eve. That's well over 45,000 pages. How do I read so much? I read a lot on my phone using my Kindle and Hoopla apps, I multitask and read (within limits), and I try to prioritize reading over games, TV, or other entertainment. I'm also a quick reader; I can easily finish a cozy mystery in a day or two. When I discover a series I really like, I chain-read it as fast as I can download the books.

Below is my breakdown by genre:

Science Fiction: 7

Fantasy: 32

Mystery: 108 (many of the cozy mysteries I read have fantasy elements, but I count them as mysteries)

Other Fiction: 8

Non-Fiction: 32

Here are some of my recommended books for the year:

Asian American Histories of the United States

A Sorrow Named Joy

The Library: A Fragile History

A Spindle Splintered

Plagues Upon the Earth

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Meet Me in Another Life

For series, I particularly enjoyed Maria Grace's Jane Austen's Dragons and Gloria Oliver's Daiyu Wu Mysteries.

For 2023, I'll probably set a reading goal of 175 books. I'll continue to challenge myself to read at least one Diversity Book (written by someone of a different race, religion, or sexual orientation from me) each month. I recently joined a local book club, which is already challenging me to read books outside my usual genres. Hopefully I can also knock a few more books off my to-read lists.

What books did you read in 2022 that you would recommend? Feel free to list them in the comments.

Holiday Trees

 One of our family holiday traditions is seeing the decorated Christmas trees at the Museum of Science and Industry. If you're not familiar with them, each tree is decorated with motifs from a different country. (MSI also has displays honoring other holidays.) We went on Sunday, and my husband gave me permission to share some of his pictures of ornaments. (He's running a contest on his personal Facebook page to see who can correctly identify the most countries pictured here, so I'm not going to identify them in this post. (If I remember, I'll come back later to comment.)

No matter what holiday you celebrate, I hope you have a good one! I'll be back next week to summarize my reading for 2022.

Sale on Smashwords!

 Draft2Digital acquired Smashwords earlier this year, but they just recently made it possible for their authors to distribute their books to that site. If you're familiar with Smashwords, you may know that they also hold sales twice a year around the solstices. From tomorrow (December 15th) through January 1, 2023, my books will be available for free on Smashwords. (Please note that ebooks are available on Smashwords only in the EPUB format.) You can find a list of my titles on Smashwords through my author page. Enjoy!

IWSG: Holiday Writing

Here we are at December's post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Learn more about them on their website and Facebook group.

Our hosts this month are Joylene Nowell Butler,  Chemist Ken, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine.

Our question for this month asks how the holidays affect our writing. Specifically, It's holiday time! Are the holidays a time to catch up or fall behind on writer goals?

The holidays are festive, but it takes a lot of work to make them that way. For example, my husband and I have a tradition of sending treats to our friends every year. We've made over twenty different types of cookies, fudge, and other treats already and plan to send them out this week. I made the dough for some of my cookies ahead of time and froze it until I was ready to bake them, but there's still a lot of work involved, such as choosing recipes, shopping for ingredients, doing lots of dishes, and packing everything for shipment. Plus, there's also decorating the house, buying and wrapping gifts, extra social gatherings and traditional family activities, and preparing holiday meals. Although I will be using up some of my remaining vacation time to get these things done, I have less time to write during the holidays. (For example, between my company holiday party Saturday evening and doing lots of cooking and baking on Saturday and Sunday, I didn't have much writing time this last weekend.) Fortunately, I'm not facing any submission deadlines for short stories, so I can focus on the first draft of Bubble Tea and a Body for now. If I do end up with some free time after the holidays, hopefully I can finish revising Restaurants and Revenge.

No matter how you spend your holidays, I hope they're happy for you! We'll see the IWSG again in 2023.

 

 
 

Solarpunk and Star Wars

 I finally had a chance to start watching Andor this weekend. (This is the prequel to the Star Wars movie Rogue One, featuring the character Cassian Andor.) As I write this, I've only seen two episodes so far. While watching flashbacks to Cassian's childhood on Kenari, I was struck by how frequently the Star Wars universe likes to show preindustrial societies, especially showing them as innocent compared to the evil industrial Empire. Endor's moon with the Ewoks might be the most famous example, but there have been low-tech worlds shown in The Mandolorian. (I'm sure there are many more examples to cite, but I'd have to do a deep dive into Star Wars lore to find them all.) It's harder to think of worlds shown in the process of developing their own technology. What about worlds in balance with nature and technology? The two that come to mind for me are Alderaan and Naboo. The leaders of those worlds are there to serve their people, not the other way around. Alderaan was a planet known for beauty, and what we see of it shows they valued their environment as well. Naboo is also a world that protects its oceans, especially since it has an sapient indigenous species that lives in them. I would also say that the moisture farms on Tattooine could be considered solarpunk technology, but the inequality and crime keep it from being a solarpunk society.

I realize that Star Wars is known for its conflict, but the galaxy's big enough to contain all types of worlds, and I'd like to see more solarpunk featured in this fandom. Perhaps it's a matter of digging deeper into some of the books and comics. One would think Force-wielders in tune with their surroundings would want to protect the environment, though obviously those on the Dark Side seem indifferent or even hostile to solarpunk concepts.

Do you think Star Wars and solarpunk go together? Can you think of other worlds in the Star Wars universe that could be considered solarpunk? If so, feel free to share them in the comments.

Mastodon

Just thought I'd share my social link for Mastodon:

@Sandra_Ulbrich_Almazan@mastodon.social

I'm still getting the hang of it, since I usually don't have a lot of time to spend on social media. I'd love to follow more writers, so if you're on Mastodon, feel free to share your link in the comments. If you celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, have a happy one!

Microfiction Contest

If you like to write flash fiction or even shorter stories, you might be interested in the 250-word Microfiction Challenge starting on Friday. Writers have twenty-four hours to complete a mini-story in an assigned genre with an assigned prompt. The stories are then judged, and winning writers proceed to the next round. There are a total of three rounds, and writers can win anywhere from $150 to $4,500. There is a registration charge, but part of the fee goes to a charity of the writer's choosing. (Personally, I think it's more efficient to donate directly to the charity.) I don't think I'll join this time since I'm busy with other projects, but it sounds like it would make a great writing exercise. If you do want to join, you'd better hurry; the deadline is tomorrow. It looks like the website hosts other contests, so it might be worth checking it out occasionally.

Solarpunk Markets

 Since some of the short fiction I've been working on lately falls into solarpunk, I was planning to post links to solarpunk markets today. Unfortunately, some of the ones I was watching have already closed. Here's what I did find:

Solarpunk Magazine: They just finished their first year of publication and will be running another fundraiser soon for year two. Here's their submission link.

Solar Flare: This anthology will be published by Zombies Need Brains. They are accepting submissions through the end of the year. You can learn more here.

I was unable to find any current markets specifically focusing on hopepunk or lunarpunk, but if something opens up, I'll pass it on.

IWSG: National Novel Writing Month

Welcome to November! It's hard to believe another month has come and gone, isn't it? That means it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Learn more about the IWSG on their website and Facebook page. Our hosts this month are Diedre Knight, Douglas Thomas Greening, Nick Wilford, and Diane Burton.

Our question for November is about the most famous writing event associated with this month: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

 

I've done NaNoWriMo at least twice, once in 2007 (when my son was still a baby), and another time a few years later, possibly 2010. I managed to "win" both times by reaching 50,000 words, though neither project was ever completed. While NaNoWriMo definitely stretches my writing muscles, I wasn't satisfied with the quality of my writing. (It might work better for me if I was more of a plotter and had a better sense of what I wanted to put down.) I'm not planning to participate this year for two reasons: I currently have several other projects pending and need to complete them before starting something new (unless I get distracted by an anthology I want to submit work to, even though one of my current projects is for an anthology), and I unfortunately don't have enough daily writing time to make finishing a possibility. (I typically have about half an hour to an hour in the evening, which is barely enough time for me to write 500 words, let alone 1,667.) Good luck to everyone who's participating, though!

How do you feel about NaNoWriMo? Are you participating this year? Feel free to discuss it in the comments.

 

Goodreads Challenge Complete!

I haven't posted much because I have a couple of hard deadlines for projects coming up in the next few weeks. However, I do have progress to report in another area: I've already completed my Goodreads challenge for the year! It was 150 books, and you can see the list here. Since I started tracking on Goodreads, my record for books read in a single year was 228, which I accomplished in 2013. I lowered my annual goals when I was really stretching to complete 200 books in a year. Perhaps for 2023 I'll aim for 175 books. In the meantime, I can read longer, more complex books if I want to without worrying about how it'll affect my goal. And now, back to writing....

Imagine 2200 Climate Fiction Awards

One of my writer friends, Susan Kaye Quinn, recently won third place in Imagine 2200's climate fiction contest. You can read her story, "Seven Sisters," here. It's about a group of women who run a tea farm. Here's the link to the entire collection. Congratulations to all the winners!

IWSG: In Praise of Cozy Mysteries

Another month begins and brings with it the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Learn more about the IWSG on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed.

 

Our hosts for this month are Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox.

 

Our question for this month is simple: What do you consider the best characteristics of your favorite genre?

 

I'm going to use cozy mysteries for this answer since it's a niche genre. (The link provides a description of the genre if you're not familiar with it.) Cozy mysteries are rich in settings and descriptions. They can make me feel familiar with a place I've never been in real life. They can be educational and inspirational when it comes to hobbies; I've been inspired to try knitting after reading so much about it, though sadly I've made almost no headway with it. (Some books also feature recipes or craft patterns.) They can be funny and full of charm and quirks. They are also feminist, showing women as competent in their jobs/hobbies and in using intellect/social observation to solve mysteries. (I do feel obligated to point out that the heroines of cozy mysteries tend to be white, heterosexual, and middle-class, so the genre could use more diversity.) Women are often shown as working with other women and developing relationships with their communities, which is a healing message. Cozy mysteries are emotional balms that offer me respite from daily life and other, bigger issues. 

What's the best thing about your favorite genre? Feel free to share in the comments.

 

 

 

Progress Report for September 2022

It doesn't feel like I made as much progress as I wanted to this month. (Of course, I can say that every month.) However, I did get a short story submitted to a new market, and I have more submissions planned for October, when more markets open. I have partial drafts of two solarpunk stories in progress. One of them is due by the end of October, so it's taking precedence for now. I have a sense of how to weave in a Filipino language subplot into Restaurants and Revenge, but I still need to figure out where to add the various mini-scenes. Good thing work is slowing down a bit so I can take my vacation time and hopefully get more writing done, along with my many other multiple projects.

Work-In-Progress: The Season Between

Since fall starts tomorrow here, I thought I'd celebrate by sharing some of my writing for The Season Between. This will be a short story collection set after Summon the Seasons, with each story featuring one of my four Season Avatars. This snippet features Ysabel, the Goddess of Fall's Avatar who is gifted with animal magic. Here she is investigating who's been interfering with Bittern Marsh, which is supposed to be a nature preserve:

“Ava. We are blessed to have you return to our humble home so soon.” Lady C’than’s voice was flat. However, the spread she offered was just as grand as before. Ysabel piled a couple of sandwiches and pastries on her too-small plate. She needed to give her body energy in case she needed to use her magic.

Lady C’than took only a cup of chocolate and a single cookie. “What brings you here, Ava?”

Ysabel polished off a sandwich before replying. “Bittern Marsh.”

“I beg your pardon?” The noblewoman’s dark eyebrows rose.

“I’ve discovered evidence someone has been harvesting cattails and trapping animals in the marsh, Lady C’than. That area belongs to the Four.”

“The Four do nothing with it,” Lady C’than retorted.

“That is exactly the point.” Ysabel set her cup down on the table so hard she chipped the bottom. She turned the mug so her hostess couldn’t see the damage. “The land is set aside for the wild creatures of Challen. It isn’t meant to be farmland or homes or anything else.”

“But it’s an eyesore, Ava! I’ve ridden through there several times and disliked it immensely.”

Ysabel sat up straight. “And what were you doing in the marsh, Lady C’than?”

She pressed her lips together.

“I need to know who’s been interfering in the marsh, Lady C’than,” Ysabel added. “Is it your family?”

“Of course not!” she replied a little too quickly. “It must be one of our tenants. I suggest you seek out Benjamin Maxham and his family. They’re always going where they don’t belong.”

The Allure of Anthologies

I've been posting here regularly about how slow my writing progress has been on my main projects: writing a Season Avatars short story collection, revising Restaurants and Revenge, and writing the first draft of Bubble Tea and a Body. As if I don't have enough to work on, I recently found out about a couple of anthologies that I want to submit stories too, but I don't have anything ready that I want to use. So now I'm busy drafting a new story that's due next month and thinking about two more anthologies that have December deadlines. 

Why do I do this to myself? I can think of several reasons. The themes are intriguing, and it's especially challenging to write to a specific topic under deadline. Sometimes it can be inspirational to work on a fresh topic for a while, especially when you're struggling with something else. Plus, if your work is accepted, there's a guaranteed payout and recognition from others for your achievement. (Self-publishing something is an achievement too, but not everyone sees it that way.)

If you like to write short stories, do you prefer to write for anthologies or magazines? What topics would you want to read about in an anthology. Feel free to answer in the comments. In the meantime, it's back to my current short story.

IWSG: Ill-Fitting Genres

Happy September! It feels like the rest of the year is going to fly by now that my son is back in school and busy with activities. I hope you find some time to enjoy the rest of summer and the upcoming fall.

As has become tradition, let's start the month with a post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Learn more about them on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed.

Our hosts for this month are Kim Lajevardi, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguirre, Olga Godim (no link available), Michelle Wallace, and Louise-Fundy Blue.

Here's our question for September: What genre would be the worst one for you to tackle and why?

I used to read more widely in my youth, but these days, my fiction reading is mostly fantasy and mystery, with some science fiction and historical fiction mixed in. That means there are a lot of genres that I don't know very well. In particular, Westerns, thrillers, and horror hold no appeal for me, so they would be the worst ones for me to tackle. I know very little about the conventions and tropes in those genres. I'd probably create something featuring an eldritch cowboy pursuing a spy across the West to prevent a mass undead cow uprising or something like that.

Which genres are you least-prepared to write and why? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

August Writing Update

 After a rough July, my writing seems to be back on track. I wound up finishing the rough draft of Kay's story (no title yet) for The Season Between collection. The only story for that collection that I still need to finish my rough draft for is Jenna's. I want to cut out a lot of the events that happen at the Fip palace and focus more on the crop issue (potato blight) Jenna needs to solve. However, I also need to reference the events mentioned in her son's story (Rob's Choice), so perhaps this will be more of a novelette than a short story. I plan to do some research on the Irish potato famine before returning to this story, so I have some time to mull it over before returning to it.

I've been holding off on Restaurants and Revenge because I felt it needed some more attention to Abigail's family and her interest in learning more about her Filipino heritage. I finally figured out a small sideplot to weave into the story. The beginning of this story is off to a good start, but I need to figure out where to place the remaining scenes. I've also returned to working on the first draft of Bubble Tea and a Body, though Restaurants and Revenge is a higher priority.

I have a couple of short stories that I feel would be a good match for a magazine or anthology--if I can find the right market. One of them is a flash fiction story, but the market I had in mind for it is closed for the indefinite future. I might try it elsewhere. I may also try writing something new for a themed anthology I recently learned about, but I haven't worked out the details yet. It may also depend on how much time I have now that the school year has started. In addition to taking my son to his athletic events, I'll be helping out with other school events.

I hope your writing is going well. See you next week for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post!

RenFaire 2022

One of our favorite annual family traditions is attending the Bristol Renaissance Festival in Wisconsin. Ever since my son was tall enough, he's been dueling my husband at the faire. They receive some basic training in fencing, don protective clothing and helmets, and go at each other with swords. The first one to pop five balloons tied to the other's helmet wins. Alex scored his first victory in 2019, and my husband bought him a stage combat dagger as a reward. Although Alex lost in 2021 (the faire was cancelled in 2020), he won again this year and received a stage combat sword. Here are a few photos to commemorate the occasion:

 

 

Can You Have Too Many Villians (and How Powerful Should They Be)?: Some Thoughts on Ms. Marvel

I don't have a lot of time for TV, so it took me a while to finish watching Ms. Marvel. Be warned; spoilers abound!

 

 

My feelings about the show are mixed. I liked the parts where Kamala interacted with her family and friends more than I liked the main story arc. I felt like the writers crammed too much into the short season. In particular, the two main villain groups (The Clandestines and the Department of Damage Control) felt like they weren't developed enough. In particular, the Clandestines went from being potential allies to enemies very quickly and without sufficient justification. The DODC's response to Kamala developing her powers was stereotypical and caused far more damage than it controlled. Perhaps they could have been saved for a second season of the show.

If the villain groups had a purpose in this show, it was (again, IMO) to bring enough firepower to the conflicts to challenge a superhero. We saw the DODC provide that in the finale. However, there was another villain in that show who had more potential. I'm referring to Kamran, who obtains Clandestine power from his mother. He has a backstory and a relationship with Kamala, which made their confrontation in the final episode emotionally charged and equally matched.

While villains should be powerful enough to make the protagonists struggle, there needs to be an emotional connection between the characters to make their story resonate. Otherwise, no matter how powerful an enemy is, dealing with them feels like cannon fodder. I'm currently drafting a story for The Season Between where Kay must deal with a heretic who doesn't have magic but is disruptive in other ways. The heretic has an unexpected connection to Kay that she has to confront. She can overwhelm him with magic, but ultimately she will have to find a different way to deal with this problem.

Would you rather have a story with lots of undeveloped villains or one evenly matched with the hero? Does story genre make a difference? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Aurelio H. Almazan, Jr., DVM: 1940-2022

Just a brief note that my father-in-law, Aurelio Almazan, passed away last Friday. He will be missed. You can read his obituary here. We will be attending his wake this coming weekend and the funeral next Monday, so I may take next week off from blogging.

IWSG: Who Do You Write For?

How is it August already? It feels like July just started, but I've already started preparing for my son's return to school. (Of course, I normally start preparing for that as soon as school lets out.) Anyway, it's also time to prepare for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Learn more about the IWSG on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Our co-hosts this month are Tara Tyler, Lisa Buie Collard, Loni Townsend, and Lee Lowery!

 

Here's our question for August: When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want?

I have to be honest: part of the reason I write is because I can't always find the stories I want to read. The tropes that appeal to many readers don't always appeal to me. (For example, I personally don't care about physically attractive romantic interests who are controlling jerks. Once they make a poor first impression on me, they have a hard time winning me over. I prefer more equal relationships where the two people engage in banter.) However, I think whenever you write in a particular genre, you do need to meet certain criteria if you want to avoid reader rejection. For example, romances require a Happily Ever After or at least a Happy For Now ending. Genres like fantasy and science fiction certainly have their share of tropes, but originality has a place there. For example, the growing interest in genres like hopepunk and solarpunk show that many people are looking for stories that offer solutions to the problem of climate change, even if these solutions require changes in our way of thinking. Cozy mysteries do seem to have a more defined set of reader expectations: it's not just the mystery aspect, but there are also certain conventions about the setting, characters, and implied lifestyle that readers expect. I am trying to adhere a bit closer to genre conventions with my cozy mystery, but there are places within those parameters that offer me a chance to tell my version of these stories.

In general, I think most readers want to read the same types of stories many times. (I'm going through a similar phase in that I want to read cozy mysteries more than anything else.) They can offer comfort and predictability in an uncomfortable and unpredictable world. However, it takes something original to deal with an unpredictable world, and we all need to shake up our routines occasionally to change up our thinking. There's a need for writing original works and also for those that meet reader desires. Whenever someone offers you a dichotomy, seek a balanced, third way instead.

Where do you stand on the spectrum? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.