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#WritersCoffeeClub June 24: Must you know the ending before you ...

2026-06-24T03:18:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…8mqv
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 24: Must you know the ending before you write the first line?

I consider myself lucky to know the ending before I write the *last* line. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub June 23: Walk us through how you build a ...

2026-06-22T15:16:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…cccy
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 23: Walk us through how you build a story.

Tomorrow's prompt seems to have slipped in, so jumping on the bandwagon.

I am a pantser, so whatever happens, happens. Anything beyond that gets inserted during editing. I rarely make big structural changes, but some things do have a significant impact both forwards and backwards as I write a series concurrently.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 22: How effectively do you convey tone in ...

2026-06-22T13:25:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…s4fz
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 22: How effectively do you convey tone in your writing?

Very, I hope. But then don't we all?

#WritersCoffeeClub June 21: What do you listen to while you ...

2026-06-22T01:18:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…plfl
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 21: What do you listen to while you write? (music, silence, a crowded café?)

I mostly just have a slightly wonky rattling PC fan as background noise.

Though I will say back in college I actually used a specific area of Rabanastre (*Final Fantasy XII*) for BGM and crowd noise while studying. There's this little... stairway, I think, that seems to have a volume glitch where it fails to reduce the crowd noise. I never really liked the game itself, but the chill music and crowd noise helped me feel not so alone.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 20: What of your immediate surroundings ...

2026-06-20T15:20:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…72nx
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 20: What of your immediate surroundings enter your work? The seasons, music, dreams?

Some of my best material comes from dreams, but very few of my dreams offer good material. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub June 19: What’s your opinion on writing ...

2026-06-20T15:17:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…q74d
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 19: What’s your opinion on writing which seeks to imitate a cinematic style?

I think you can both learn a lot from other mediums and that trying to constrain yourself to them cuts out the biggest strengths of the medium you're using.

Take a look at *Encanto* and you realize that it's less a movie and more a play not bound by the limitations of the stage. It's *spectacle.* There's something of interest no matter where you look. And that works very well for it, but movies have the benefit of the camera showing you exactly what you're supposed to see.

Movies are very good on the visuals and you can learn from that, incorporate that, but books allow you into characters' heads in ways movies don't. In the same way, games have the strength of interactivity and pawing at movies' door for approval will never work as well as doing things movies can't. Games can absolutely make players shoulder the responsibility for their actions.

Write widely, even just to try it.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 18: Talk about a time fiction shocked ...

2026-06-20T15:00:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…hwfc
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 18: Talk about a time fiction shocked you.

You know, this probably isn't actually what the question is looking for, but the Fatalities in the latest *Mortal Kombat*. On the whole, I tend to be along for the ride in media I consume and I don't engage with horror because I am a self-admitted wuss. And I really just kind of prefer happy media because I've had enough misery in life to last me.

But *Mortal Kombat* has always been very campy. The Fatalities were very bombastic, drawn out, and silly. Gleeful. So when video of the new ones hit and they were nasty, brutish, and short, they didn't hit those same buttons. It suddenly felt like a reminder how fragile life is.

It just goes to show how much presentation matters.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 17: How colorful is your writing? I'm ...

2026-06-17T13:31:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…pk6p
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 17: How colorful is your writing?

I'm assuming we mean actual color and variety.

Very. Color is very important in my work. Sometimes there are just signature colors associated with certain characters; sometimes color plays a role in setting the tone.

Variety is also important. Like, try to imagine how you would Google something you saw at a friend's, or that they talked about, but without character names. You know how I found *Suikoden III* again? Because "RPG with a duck and griffin" brought it up FAST! The same with *Final Fantasy X*. Kimahri being a blue lion-man brought up immediate results. I've taken that to heart: the more distinctive you can make one or two characters, the better off you are on searches.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 16: Bloomsday! Have you ever based a ...

2026-06-16T14:41:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…uedk
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 16: *Bloomsday!* Have you ever based a character more or less on yourself?

OMG, yes, that was a big issue with a lot of my early writing. Pretty much everything was myself as the main character and then friends and family. XD

I ended up in a position years later needing to unwind that. Started building a crossover fighting game and realized I needed to get a bit more creative. I won't say most of that old stuff survived in any meaningful way outside of my head. Drive failures and such wiped out a LOT of my early work before I got Dropbox. But, in a way, it does make it easier to differentiate things more, when I want to use them again.

I do sometimes have a character based on myself, but it's handled with a bit of ribbing now, and it's never the main character anymore.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 15: What is the most painful part of the ...

2026-06-15T04:16:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…ffut
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 15: What is the most painful part of the writing process for you?

Honestly? Feeling like I'm over-sharing. Sometimes I look at cases like *Baba is You* where some asshat threw together a knock-off of a game in development and put it on the Apple store where each name has to be unique to snipe the actual creator, creating a legal and technical headache for everyone else involved. The world is full of vultures looking to cash in.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 14: Talk about something you’re willing ...

2026-06-14T15:25:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…lmma
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 14: Talk about something you’re willing to endure in order to write.

Writing is how I endure things life already throws at me. >_>;

#WritersCoffeeClub June 13: C&R: Share your biggest ...

2026-06-14T15:23:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…jvrq
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 13: **C&R:** Share your biggest writing habit (good or bad).

Editing as I go is probably the low-hanging fruit, but I've already seen it's *not* just me in these tags, so... coming out of a conversation with my writer friend, I was actually surprised that she has like no sense of space where you could literally build any place I talk about. How many of y'all do the occasional blueprint just in case for later? XD

**Everyone:** Do you do this too? If not, would you adopt it?

#WritersCoffeeClub June 12: What passions appear in your work? ...

2026-06-14T15:20:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…wm0l
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 12: What passions appear in your work?

Honestly, not what you'd think. I know a lot about a *lot* of things, but you would probably not take a look at my whole body of work and be able to pick out any one thing that shows up over and over.

No, more often than not, you're looking at more subtle thematic things, like redemption or the different kinds of love.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 11: How arbitrary are the names in your ...

2026-06-11T14:12:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…p5ms
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 11: How arbitrary are the names in your work?

Depends. Sometimes I'll come in with a name and I'll check the meaning to see if it's anything I can work with; much of the time I have a meaning in mind and I'm searching on that for someone's ethnic background. Sometimes I'm looking at a popularity list and trying to suss out what might be popular in a given time frame.

I use [Behind The Name](https://www.behindthename.com/ ) heavily for all this, along with their surname site as linked under the menu.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 10: What is the greatest pleasure of your ...

2026-06-10T15:08:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…0c6m
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 10: What is the greatest pleasure of your writerly life?

Getting to explore other worlds, populated with interesting people.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 9: Have you ever written something which ...

2026-06-09T04:33:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…tuhp
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 9: Have you ever written something which later turned out to be a little too on the nose?

Back during Trump's first term, it was a constant frustration that any horrible thing I came up with the rich doing in *Rusted Sword* ended up happening IRL.

After the rich literally started harvesting the blood of the young for their own eternal youth for a payout like I wrote Lady Carmilla doing, I kind of just gave up. Carmilla used dresses; IRL it was cash on college campuses.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 8: How vast are your settings? Space is ...

2026-06-09T04:18:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…r7e9
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 8: How vast are your settings?

Space is very, very vast, but also very, very empty. A lot of the story takes place on the ship and that's give or take the size of a two bedroom house.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 7: Do you avoid expressions, idioms, ...

2026-06-07T21:44:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…k5vl
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 7: Do you avoid expressions, idioms, colloquialisms, or embrace them?

That depends on the work. In the end, I'm going to guess that everyone lets at least a little slip through, but I tend to save the best for people who already are supposed to be from somewhere.

Though I will say some things are pretty fun. Like how in Jerako, "throw in the towel" means something completely different because a towel there can absorb up to an Olympic-size swimming pool and we'll say a losing high dive team got salty once.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 6: How do you write about places you’ve ...

2026-06-06T23:00:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…5qlp
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 6: How do you write about places you’ve never been?

Google Street view, local pics, Wikipedia, and lots and lots of map reference.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 5: What climes/climates feature in your ...

2026-06-05T15:35:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…f56j
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 5: What climes/climates feature in your work? Why those?

I guess piggybacking my last post, temperate, mostly, if only because it's easy to move around in and make interesting. A lot of fantasy is temperate and when it's all around you, that just feels normal.

I can and do write other things. *Pioneer Hearts* is probably most like Arizona and Arizona isn't too far off from every western in the California desert. I've seen the Grand Canyon and I think everyone should at least once, because no photo will ever capture that. You may as well do Old Tuscon while you're around. And the Phoenix mall is fantastic. The GameWorks there had a sort of proto-VR setup where you stood in a ring of light to punch and kick to play *Tekken*. Also a glorious rock shop.

Uh, haven't written about all that, though. Just the desert stuff. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub June 4: In what ways do your real-world ...

2026-06-05T15:22:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…aajs
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 4: In what ways do your real-world surroundings appear in your work?

Something must have been reorganized on the site, because this was at least briefly for the 1st when I answered it, but I've had a little more time to think about it.

The real answer to that is I am really good at writing Wisconsin and I do have a whole game of it in *Superhero League of Wausau*, as well as Ethan being a Wisconsinite. I've lived in or at least seen the state from some of its most rural to most of its biggest cities, and there's a lot worth celebrating.

My immediate surroundings, maybe not so much, other than little things like VR. But a lot of the big things, I think, like the hilly geography and the temperate climate, tend to come through even without me realizing it. Maybe it's just because those things were in games as soon as the 3D era hit and it just felt normal, but "normal" is relative and for people below the glacial deposits, it must be so alien.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 3: Conversely, what sense is the most ...

2026-06-03T02:51:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…hhl2
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 3: Conversely, what sense is the most difficult for you to write?

Taste. OMG, taste. Which is a pain in the butt, honestly, trying to describe the types of food you have to settle for in space. XD

The problem with taste is that really most of it is smell, but we don't use smell words for taste very often; we compare things to other foods. And, I mean, for a place like Jerako, to skip franchises briefly, something like Oddberry that tastes exactly like passionfruit is impossible to describe as anything but itself in a world that doesn't have passionfruit.

Ethan ends up eating a lot of #2 shmeat, but the only thing you get is that he wasn't impressed, because it's, we'll say, based on a theoretically plausible, but untested process. Like how do you even describe something literally no one on God's green Earth has actually tasted?

#WritersCoffeeClub June 2: What do you hope sticks with a reader ...

2026-06-03T02:41:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…sx2j
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 2: What do you hope sticks with a reader long after?

Honestly? I have no idea. Maybe the idea that people are people, no matter what they look like. You have plenty of alien races and while they each have their own quirks, it's clear that there's enough in common to mostly get along. And the crew as intelligent robots are the same way, made with real emotions, able to opine on the nature of the soul as people with their own flaws.

I think, honestly, that "like us" shouldn't have to mean "*exactly* like us" to qualify, just "meaningfully like us." Sentient, sapient, thinking, feeling beings.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 1 (bonus?): In what ways do your ...

2026-05-31T22:43:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…68sv
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#WritersCoffeeClub June 1 (bonus?): In what ways do your real-world surroundings appear in your work?

Ethan wears a chain wallet. I have worn a chain wallet mostly non-stop since high school because when I got a "big boy wallet," it kept on falling out. A chain wallet seemed like a good idea in space.

Otherwise, they mostly don't.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 1: What sense is easiest for you to describe?

I think we're all used to describing sight. Trying to incorporate more into a scene is probably going to be part of my editing pass. Trailed off as the book went on.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 31: What went right for you this month? ...

2026-05-31T04:43:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…q3n6
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 31: What went right for you this month?

Honestly, even though I haven't had it in me to create much, the fact I was able to ride the high from finishing my first original novel all month is at least a small comfort.

I haven't done "nothing," but a lot of my energy went into managing my blog site.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 30: What do you do when you're ...

2026-05-30T13:24:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…j5n9
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 30: What do you do when you're "stuck?"

I generally don't get "stuck" because the heroes tend to always have the direction they need, but when I do, it's generally a matter of throwing a little something at them to nudge them in a direction again. Being a pantser is a lot like being a viewer with access to the level editor. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub May 29: What (in terms of writing) do you ...

2026-05-29T02:31:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…9t5w
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 29: What (in terms of writing) do you fear?

In terms of the process or in terms of audience reaction? There's plenty to fear with audience reaction.

I don't fear anything about the act of writing because I find it impossible to fear anything I truly love and impossible to love anything I truly fear.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 28: Have you ever regretted cutting a ...

2026-05-28T01:17:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…wqza
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 28: Have you ever regretted cutting a scene?

Yes, but honestly? If it's good and has a place, then I find a place for it eventually. Maybe it goes in another chapter or maybe a conversation gets split up and sprinkled across a few others or maybe it just becomes a dream sequence.

I do not *do* "cut what you love." If I love it, there's a darn good reason for it. I am not writing movies that need to be 95±5 minutes and I have enough experience with short stories to nail a 22-minute cartoon on the button.

And I am certainly not cutting what's essential.

Ultimately, I'm creating things I want to see. And, for better or worse, that means I hold myself to some pretty high standards. If it doesn't meet those standards, I don't regret cutting it.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 27: Do you read outside the genre you ...

2026-05-27T14:37:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…mpa3
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 27: Do you read outside the genre you write?

What "genre?" XD

I think knowing what's out there is important, but I'm kind of past reading to do it, much less regularly. I could read a book and spend a couple nights with something I don't enjoy or I could watch a movie and spend 90 min. w/ visuals to pick apart. I could play an indie game that has more to say on a topic than anything you find on store shelves.

Coming at it from a game dev perspective, you don't make good games by playing good games. You make them by fixing something interesting from a bad game or making a game that serves you for a genre you don't like and letting it serve everyone else in that boat.

I think that's applicable to any sort of writing. You might absolutely write a blood-curdling horror thanks to bad romance. You can recognize Batman is a horror monster to his lower-class targets. You can fix a bad movie if you change the details enough. As long as you know what makes it tick, the source is irrelevant.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 26: In what ways does your work defy ...

2026-05-26T00:08:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…s25j
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 26: In what ways does your work defy expectation?

It certainly defied mine by ending up any semblance of finished. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub May 25: Share a late-stage change you made to ...

2026-05-25T23:24:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…jatn
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 25: Share a late-stage change you made to a work.

For *First Fantasy*, there was a battle sequence I'd really hoped I'd be able to work in, but after never really having the event happen for real, I ended up just sort of accepting it wasn't going to happen and would just be cut content. But then I realized it would work really well as a dream sequence leading up to a certain place where a certain power might be a little stronger, foreshadowing something much later much better, so a dream sequence it became and while it's not exactly as I envisioned it, in some ways, it's better. I'd be lying if I said I was completely happy with not having the original idea in, but I can't really have both and the one that's in works. And is even kind of beautiful in a way the first idea isn't.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 24: What do you need in order to finish ...

2026-05-24T02:44:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…juml
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 24: What do you need in order to finish your current WIP?

Proper sleep. Keep waking up at 6:00 rather than 8:00. If work could shut up about A.I., that wouldn't hurt, either. It's draining. Thankfully, I have a 3-day weekend to recuperate a bit.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 23: C&R: Share a current creative ...

2026-05-23T02:37:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…fx4s
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 23: **C&R:** Share a current creative frustration.

Honestly, just not having the energy to do the editing of my completed first draft.

**Everyone:** Prescribe a 'creative antidote', not as solution, but as disruptive exercise.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 22: How well would your current WIP work ...

2026-05-22T00:15:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…qe6n
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 22: How well would your current WIP work as a play?

Not at all. If I wanted to write a play, I'd write a play. I mean I HAVE a play or two half-written as subject matter for games and I know how. I've known how since high school and I can think back to some of that early work and recognize it as hilarious without having aged at all.

But when I write a play, I know I'm writing for spectacle. I'm writing it to flex the magic of the stage; the "how did they do that;" designing things at a technical level. I'm writing things like the way *Beauty and the Beast* uses costumed stage hands as part of the scenery and how *Cinderella* uses a transforming gown. I'm writing ways to draw attention to what you think should be invisible until you understand why it isn't. I'm using misdirection and timing and all manner of well-oiled moving parts to craft an experience you could not get anywhere else.

Plays are their own art form and need to be treated as such.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 21: What targets do you set for yourself? ...

2026-05-21T23:19:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…3anl
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 21: What targets do you set for yourself? To what frequency?

When I first started out, summer vacation before my mom made me figure out volunteer work to look like everyone else applying to college, I set a minimum of a chapter a day. With the time of youth, I managed it, right up until I was doing unpaid labor.

I no longer set targets for myself, because I work full time and don't have the time of youth. I write to enjoy myself. When I was considering quitting $old_job, I took a week of vacation and proved I could turn my creativity into a job, but that brought a very different mindset.

I could make it my work if I needed to, get my nose to the grindstone, do a chapter a day or some programming goal, but... I already have a job. The last time I let anyone convince me to take it as a *second* job, I ended up so miserable that I almost stopped, and it wasn't until I gave myself permission to call myself a hobbyist that I was able to pick up the pieces.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 20: If not your current genre, what genre ...

2026-05-20T06:35:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…f9uf
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 20: If not your current genre, what genre would you write?

I'm writing one fantasy LitRPG and one hard sci-fi space opera slice of life. My games range from post-apocalypse political comedy to Medieval mystery-adventure romance with significant horror elements.

Literally what is *left?* XD

#WritersCoffeeClub May 19: How would changing genre change your ...

2026-05-19T02:58:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…d55e
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 19: How would changing genre change your current WIP's plot?

I'd have to PICK one first. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub May 18: With whom do you wish you could share ...

2026-05-19T02:47:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…0swy
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 18: With whom do you wish you could share your work but can't?

Honestly, I'd be happiest if I could get it in front of anyone who'd enjoy it. If I didn't think my work could bring joy or do some other good, I wouldn't make it.

That said, releasing work is not my forte. A lot of ideas are stuck in notes and such because so much of it is games. And I really need a team for games. Starting with getting a novel out there will be good, though.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 17: If you work exclusively digitally, ...

2026-05-17T07:05:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…ksaf
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 17: If you work exclusively digitally, could you work by hand? (*Or vice-versa!*)

It would be far too much friction. And if we're talking pixel art, the closest would be pointillism, or maybe Lego, so not really for that, either.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 16: What's a writerly risk you've ...

2026-05-16T01:56:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…qsel
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 16: What's a writerly risk you've taken recently? Did it pay off?

Honestly, just learning how to write a cartoon. Fade In makes formatting easy and looking some scripts up to verify the formatting kept it honest. If it's something you want to explore, what you actually want is the One Hour Drama template. Half Hour Sitcom double spaces dialogue to account for the laugh track.

Anyway, it's been a blast. A 2-part pilot and a third episode mostly done so far and I could probably crank out 22 episodes and at least mail it in to the IP holders just to see what they say, if anything. It'll never got to screen, but maybe they'll remember the IP exists and crap out a Unity remake with online leaderboards.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 15: Follow-up: and how little is not ...

2026-05-15T05:37:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…qpjh
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 15: *Follow-up*: and how little is not enough?

Any time you need to fill the void with the Idiot Ball, it's because you don't have enough of something. Maybe you don't have enough characters to fill necessary roles, or plot points to make for smooth transitions, or physical locations to offer an alternative, or better ideas for how to solve the problem. The Idiot Ball is the ultimate piece of ABC gum to patch a hole and yes, everyone absolutely notices it's been under one too many desks and lost its flavor.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 14: For characters, plots, ideas, ...

2026-05-14T22:01:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…epaz
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 14: For characters, plots, ideas, settings, &c: how much is too much?

That depends on how much it takes before the audience is disoriented. There are multiple ways to avoid this:<li>Grouping: You can treat small groups like a single character in some ways, giving them shared focus and bouncing them off each other.</li><li>Signature shorthand: Why do Power Rangers all have unique colors? Because colors are easy to remember. Color language can inform their traits. It can also just plain keep a large cast straight. Or a big world straight with diverse locales.</li><li>Tier structure:<ul><li>Hero/Big Bad/Base/Evil Lair – central focus</li><li>Party/Enemy generals/recurring locations – central focus orbit</li><li>Allies/Recurring rivals/important environments – primary support that you want people to still care about/sympathize with</li><li>interesting NPCs/interesting islands – little surprises and hidden treasures to keep things feeling alive</li><li>all your ghosts/filler – essential negative space and downtime</li></ul></li>

#WritersCoffeeClub May 13: Follow-up: if writing was not your ...

2026-05-13T04:34:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…kujz
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 13: *Follow-up*: if writing was not your "thing," what would your "thing" be?

Music. Absolutely music. Everyone on my dad's side has musical talent and the only reason I don't do more with it is because adults managed to suck all the joy out of it when I was younger. I still jam on my clarinet maybe once a year after band being miserable and I still sing harmony on hymns. I haven't touched a piano in years despite good intentions; nobody really had time to ruin that before our yard sale organ broke and the toy organ's stand shattered around the same time. I got a MIDI synth years later, but kinda got trained against using it by having a housemate's kid drive everyone nuts if the cord wasn't hidden. Mostly I focus my vocal talents on playing 2⁄3 of a "someday" pair of robotic bands and doing my own theme songs, often singing as the characters just because I have long liked that idea. I can pull off everything from a good chocolate bass to a couple good falsettos.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 12: If not in your current format (*novel, ...

2026-05-12T02:46:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…036f
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 12: If not in your current format (*novel, play, music, etc.*), in what format would you write?

Honestly, I'm running out of formats I *don't* write. Between novels, short stories, a children's book, TootFic (flash fiction), songs, music videos, games, 22-minute cartoons, stage plays, reviews, and blogs with little pseudo-comic skits in them, unless I pick straight poetry or webcomics back up, it's either those or I start writing movies. XD

Edit: Actually, thinking about this, *Renard* relies pretty heavily on poetry, so I do write it; just not for its own sake.

So I guess Hollywood, here I come! XD

#WritersCoffeeClub May 11: Share something you saw or read ...

2026-05-11T04:17:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…4skx
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 11: Share something you saw or read recently which really inspired you.

I mean the new *StarFox* game drop inspired me to write a [blog post](https://blog.bluestarcreations.net/rant-of-the-moment/the-new-starfox-game/ ). Otherwise some of my own thoughts on my own work inspired me to maybe go back and clarify a couple things because I actually put things into words that I hadn't fully grasped just writing. In one case it was actually addressed perfectly fine, but it was still worth checking on. It's really the first time these hashtag games felt like they really helped something, honestly. Normally I just accept the more I talk, the less I write. Not that talking is inherently bad; just... not progress. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub May 10: What wisdom do you wish you could ...

2026-05-10T05:54:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…pg0m
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 10: What wisdom do you wish you could share with your younger self?

Honestly? There are so many things that I used to think I'd have done differently had I known, but then I wouldn't be where I am today. The bullshit was 100% not worth it, but I took enough away from it to finally end up in better.

I think, in some respect, that that's reflected in Ethan, because he has a good conversation with Kelvin where he goes fishing for anything to take back should he slip backwards in time and Kelvin kind of brushes it off because he understands how dangerous that is. It's *tempting,* but he knows it's a bad idea.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 9: C&R: Share the first line of ...

2026-05-09T03:36:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…pc20
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 9: **C&R:** Share the first line of your current WIP.

> "I'm telling you, you're calibrating it wrong!" Celsius ripped the pizza box-like manual out of Fahrenheit's hand, his breathy tenor going squeaky. "Look, you literally have them upside-down!"

**Everyone:** How enticed are you?

Ooh, can I do a poll? I feel like maybe people would be more comfortable with a poll than replies at scale. Four answers so others can follow suit.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 8: What experience can you identify as ...

2026-05-08T15:25:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…a0th
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 8: What experience can you identify as having made you the writer you are today?

Honestly, I read so much as a kid and then I had some ideas for *Magic: The Gathering* cards. But I had fallen behind and when I presented my ideas to more serious players, they laughed at how underpowered they were compared to recent sets. So that turned into my first story.

The rest is frankly just experience. Once I started, I never stopped.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 7: Do readers need to understand a ...

2026-05-07T04:11:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…aqw2
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 7: Do readers need to understand a character's motivations to understand the story?

No, but it certainly helps. If you can't convey your major characters' motivations by the end of the book, that's an entirely different problem. You don't need to do it right out the gate (in fact you're better off *not* doing it out the gate), but can the reader really say they know a character if they *don't* understand their motivations? I struggle to conceive a reader for whom every book is just a series of events with no explanation and they're happy with that.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 6: Talk about something you've ...

2026-05-06T01:16:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…075n
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 6: Talk about something you've written which you expected would (*or expect will*) divide readers.

I hate to say it, but as gently as it does get touched upon, Ethan is kind of faced with the fact that he has the moral high ground in matters of:<li>racism</li><li>human trafficking</li><li>slavery</li><li>piracy (rape, murder, and pillaging)</li>

And really does *not* have the moral high ground in terms of:<li>homophobia (not that he's hateful; just deeply insecure in a more enlightened time when the Overton Window has shifted to make him the outlier)</li><li>political expediency</li>

And he's not always able to engage with these things on his own terms or with as much distance as he'd like.

He deals with questions of what counts as a "human" and what counts as a "person" and where those questions are different in a universe with robots and aliens.

It's patently unlike the bulk of the work I've publicly announced. And I worry greatly about that.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 5: Have you ever taken inspiration from ...

2026-05-05T05:31:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…g9xm
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 5: Have you ever taken inspiration from something which could have but didn't happen?

In some sense, but it's stretching "could have" greatly. I have several games that occur in "our" world, but all the weirdness is off to the side or is in an orphaned time loop.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 4: Is there a scene or a character or even ...

2026-05-04T13:19:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…cap0
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 4: Is there a scene or a character or even a plot you regret adding to a finished work?

Nope. Doing occasional full read-throughs reveals any such problems long before the work is finished. And really, the characters are where the story starts, so if anything it would be some minor side character or ghost character. If it's a ghost character, then really nothing of importance is lost removing that bit.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 3: Do you write your works localized to ...

2026-05-03T16:06:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…t08w
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 3: Do you write your works localized to the setting or your background?

I write in American English because that's where I live and you have to start somewhere. I like the idea of playing with British spelling for a British character, but honestly an American audience would probably just be confused by that.

If I ever get so big that I need to worry about a UK localization, I can hire out and start the long process of bickering over petty details like fringes and jumpers. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub May 2: Have you ever written a character ...

2026-05-02T06:29:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…tjfe
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 2: Have you ever written a character making one decision, only to later revise them choosing otherwise?

Nope. Not unless something fundamentally changes the decision. I write living, breathing people and their choice is, in its own way, a natural consequence of who they are at the time, what they know, and the actual conditions. There is no Idiot Ball in my work. Just people I know intimately and watch navigate their lives.

🧵 (4/4)<li>Honestly? Encourage young writers to learn ...

2026-04-30T23:08:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…gztc
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🧵 (4/4)<li>Honestly? Encourage young writers to learn Markdown. Markdown and the Fountain variant are totally in line with how Millennials and younger have always learned to write online for things like emphasis. The idea that you can write in paragraphs in any old notes app or text editor like you would online and then take that and paste it into a BOOK (at least in Fade In) is a potential enabler to create anywhere. I have TONS of notes in Google Keep and the fact I can pre-format things and just copy them in when I get home? *chef kiss*</li><li>Push people away from Amazon and its abusive practices. Places like itch.io exist and give a much bigger cut to creators. Absolutely warn them they need to PUT it on Amazon or someone else will and that's just a nightmare, but if we can pull a "find it here, here, here, and, oh, sure, on Amazon, too, I guess" and break that effective monopoly, everyone wins!</li>

🧵 (3/4)<li>I feel like society at large has this idea ...

2026-04-30T23:00:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…8a9y
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🧵 (3/4)<li>I feel like society at large has this idea that it's novels or nothing. We need to spread the idea that there are many forms of writing and none of them is inherently better than another. One of the biggest things my creative writing teacher said was that novelists often struggle with short stories because the requirements are simply different. And we need people to know that's okay! It's the same for writing TV and movies, or movies and games, all of which use some variant of screenplay format, much less stage plays with their own inverse of that. A good movie does not translate to TV. A good TV show doesn't make for a good movie. Frankly a stage play has more in common with live-action TV than a movie does! Games? Games are an absolute bear to write, from experience. They are not "low art."</li><li>We as creators need to rebel against the idea that good art requires suffering. That's just encouragement to make us suffer.</li><li>See also: "real jobs." Art is more than a hobby. Legitimize it.</li>

🧵 (2/4)<li>See if you can put a "no A.I." logo ...

2026-04-30T22:52:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…hkqn
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🧵 (2/4)<li>See if you can put a "no A.I." logo somewhere on your cover. They exist!</li><li>Share your tools! I've made it no secrete Fade In has been a Godsend for me thanks to being distraction-free. But Scrivener might suit others better because of what I considered complexity! Everyone has different needs.</li><li>Recommend free starter tools, too! Trelby served me well for ages and I just outgrew it. LibreOffice serves me well for specific purposes. Notepad++ is where I write all my blogs thanks to Markdown support and there's a Markdown viewer plugin that makes it easy! My own <a href="https://bluestarcreations.net/tools/tools.html"; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">RTF2BBCode</a> might help someone post fanfic! "Free" may not last them forever, but if it gets them started, it's worth it!</li><li>Speaking of fanfic, I think we need to understand that people generally consider some things "low art" or "not art." But you know what fanfic does? Lets people practice and get good in a fairly safe environment! Sure, they're short stories, but short stories are valid!</li>

#WritersCoffeeClub May 1: Workers' Day: What can we do to ...

2026-04-30T22:40:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…tnv4
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#WritersCoffeeClub May 1: **Workers' Day:** What can we do to support and protect other writers, not only now, but in the future as well?

🧵 (1/4)

Lots of things; enough I can't help but answer this early:<li>Discourage people from under-valuing their work. This goes for ALL art forms! Young creators especially are easy to abuse. Comfortable people put out work for free. Each penny taken from them is taken from everyone, driving prices down. You know what artists used to have? Rich patrons. I'm not saying it needs to be so inaccessible again, but you know what A.I. can't do? Write for shit! And everyone knows it at this point.</li><li>Hey, you know what A.I. also can't do? Draw for shit. People can tell at a glance these days and you can't support writers without also supporting visual artists. We're all in this together. Don't make yourself a slop cover if you don't want to encourage slop stories. 'Cause guess what? If people see a slop cover, they think it's a slop story.</li>

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 30th: How was this month for you, in ...

2026-04-30T05:36:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…nmxq
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 30th: How was this month for you, in terms of writing?

I know I'm banging on about this, but finishing my first original novel feels pretty great!

Edit: Good grief, 6 boosts and 17 faves! It's my first original novel, not the first thing I've ever written! Save some for release! XD

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 29: Share the best sentence you wrote ...

2026-04-29T17:32:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…krxa
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 29: Share the best sentence you wrote this month.

> "You can have all the theory in the world; toppling regimes requires getting your butt out of your desk to act on it."

— Prosenjt, god of "because fuck you, that's why" (affectionate or pejorative depending on whether you're in power), on why his name is sometimes spelled "Prasenjit" and why "Praxis" is a valid name for his favor as represented by a luck stat

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 28: How magical is your work? I would ...

2026-04-28T03:09:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…q6cj
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 28: How magical is your work?

I would have to say "very." If we're talking about the experience of doing it, the fact a story can simply flow onto a page is pretty magical.

If we're talking about the content, then most of it has magic outright, what doesn't usually has psi, and even my hard sci-fi, *The Temperature of Space*, owes its story to Ethan time traveling with no reasonable explanation. That gets... well, Ethan gets what feels to him like a satisfying explanation in the sequels, but the reader doesn't, at least not yet. XD

Magic isn't a bad thing. Really, my go-to explanation is that magic, psi, even prayer all ultimately lead to playing with probability. There's no such thing as a 0% chance. There's a chance YOU could wake up 50 years hence! It's not a HIGH chance, but it's not 0%. Once you have that, you can play with pathways. Emotion, ritual, faith, sheer willpower, even physical sensations can seal the deal.

Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/um47dtxR-uA ...

2026-04-27T16:48:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…zhln
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Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/um47dtxR-uA

There's a larger discussion to be had about what is and is not relevant anymore and what has and has not been relevant for decades. As a child of divorce, I got way more out of *You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown* than I did out of any of the Newbery Award books written in or before the 1950s. If reading is to teach kids anything about navigating the real world, maybe *Hatchet* needs to be dropped in one where you can't take sharp objects onto a plane anymore. In a world where small children can be quoted with "I was so scared; I'd never been in a school shooting before," maybe field medicine feels a little more useful.

And frankly, I don't think the general Newbery vibe of "it's never too early for your childhood to be over" *sucks.* We have better science now. Let kids be kids.

The world is not like it was in the '50s. Hell, the world isn't even like it was in the '80s or early '90s. A lot has changed in 30 years. Very quickly, I might add.

#WritersCoffeeClub April 27: Share a possibly unpopular opinion. ...

2026-04-27T05:05:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…txg5
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#WritersCoffeeClub April 27: Share a possibly unpopular opinion. 👀 (Be kind!)

Kids are smart and can be trusted with a lot. Say what you will about our beloved 30-minute toy commercials, Chuck E. Cheese, etc., they trusted us with a shocking amount.

Like, even by the '90s when cartoons needed some educational component, stuff was shockingly anti-authoritarian, anti-Capitalist, "stick it to the man" stuff.

Chuck E. Cheese trusted its audience with, let's be real, dinner theater and all the presentation that implies. And nobody wanged their head on a table corner and died just because it was a little dark.

There are still treasures like Steven Universe, but signal-to-noise ratio on quality kid's entertainment has definitely dropped. Frankly any adult who thinks children are best entertained with jangling keys needs to be grabbed by the lapels and asked if they realize children are still people or if they really think that little of *everyone.*

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 26: Recommend a nonfiction book about ...

2026-04-26T02:54:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…qze4
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 26: Recommend a nonfiction book about writing.

I'm pretty sure my English textbooks were old enough that anyone reading this has had time to read them. 🤷‍♂️

Honestly, though? Bookfox makes good general writing videos. I don't always agree with him or think his advice is 100% sound, but it's validating a bit to load up a video and just be like, "yeah, I was already doing all that." There are a couple others I could recommend as well if anyone is interested, approaching fantasy specifically or just coming at it from a different angle as someone from the publishing side.

I don't and really have never needed a whole book to tell me how to write. I just made more things like what I'd read. It's good to see what others are saying for a reality check, but honestly, trying to change what I'm doing too much just means it doesn't work. I've had a lot of opportunity to hone my craft.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 25: Share your current biggest creative ...

2026-04-25T17:06:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…yynj
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 25: Share your current biggest creative frustration.

Honestly? It will pass, but *guilt.* I mentioned somewhere in these tags that my game dev efforts had been put on pause because novels were suddenly so exciting, but in the short span between then and now, I've been struck with guilt over not working on some of my projects and even over projects that haven't gotten attention in a long time. I feel like maybe I owe it to them somehow to give things more attention.

But honestly? That just means I'm on the edge of having energy to spare. There will be enough for a main project and current obsession again soon, rather than just a current obsession.

Otherwise, any frustrations I have are far less to do with my work and far more to do with A.I. slop just being unescapable and that being exhausting.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 24: Share a silly mistake you've made ...

2026-04-24T15:00:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…w95z
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 24: Share a silly mistake you've made while writing.

Half of the editing process for *First Fantasy* was making sure I wasn't assigning Cain's lines to Bud for some reason. I have no idea why I got my wires that kind of one-way crossed.

Otherwise, I've found I have a particular personal typo with "phenomenal" that I had to clean up across my blogs. And a habit of typing "the the" instead of "to the." And somehow "but" instead of "by" because I typo "buy" when that's not the one I want. But that one almost makes sense because QWERTY puts "TYU" all in that pain-to-reach upper middle spot. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 23: What are some form conventions you ...

2026-04-23T02:31:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…0qs5
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 23: What are some form conventions you disregard?

Probably the biggest is not being able to write any one thing. I cannot sit down and write a comedy, or a horror story, or really stick fully to any one genre for any length of time.

That's probably going to make a lot of it a harder sell, but it's kind of just... the full experience of life.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 22: What's a writing skill you wish ...

2026-04-22T17:11:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…lyyf
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 22: What's a writing skill you wish you were better at?

Action sequences, honestly. I have always struggled with writing altercations, combat encounters, aerial combat, chases, etc. My biggest problem is I kind of have no idea how to keep them going for more than a page or two at most. My encounters are, well, we'll say dynamic, but brief. And I have never really been satisfied by that. I feel like maybe I should have learned how to drag it out more by now. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 21: What's a (maybe silly) hill ...

2026-04-21T01:09:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…756k
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 21: What's a (*maybe silly*) hill you're willing to defend?

Posting this a bit early because it seems copypasta has taken one person's error a day forward.

And I will straight-up die on the hill of writing for yourself. You can write something for an audience and that audience will only demand you write more for them. At what point is it even your story anymore? Toxic fandom starts at the inflection point between "I like this" and "I own this."

Writing for yourself may be an audience of one, but that one is the person who actually has a right to own it. If other people join that circle, awesome. It has found its people. But those people are flocking to you and if you ever stop being the center of that circle, you've screwed up.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 20: What have you tried to immortalize in ...

2026-04-20T02:03:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…9cqz
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 20: What have you tried to immortalize in your writing?

Maybe not the answer you're looking for, but I've found a way to include all the family pets past and present in some way or another. I have also included any non-bug animals I ever hit while driving, but, well... Disney did that for an owl, so I mean we all deal with our guilt differently.

I dunno, I wouldn't say I write with lofty goals. My work does not really enshrine bigger ideas than any characters and themes at hand. I don't write from a pedestal and pretending otherwise feels weird.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 19: How can prose achieve lyricism ...

2026-04-19T23:45:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…2n4m
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 19: How can prose achieve lyricism without verse structure?

Slashes.

Anything beyond that is up to the reader unless you can guarantee they speak the same dialect as you. I mean heck, people can imagine a completely different song from actual song lyrics; lyrics break basically every kind of rule there is. That's why they're so easy to mis-hear.

And that's just English. There was a video on Chinese music and the conclusion was there was simply no way to stick with the tonality of the language. There are other tonal languages with more leeway, but she could not make heads or tails of the song.

Write whatever. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 18: Does your writing ever get away from ...

2026-04-18T19:46:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…yzaf
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 18: Does your writing ever get away from you? (*[plot bunnies](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plot_bunny )…?*)

Strictly speaking, my entire body of work is plot bunnies. I start making sequels when things don't fit into one entry and as a pantser my story is more or less a big dog running away with me holding the leash on roller skates. XD

The only real thing I *wanted* to use and *didn't* is honestly something that I just put in as a dream sequence earlier today. It's not exactly how I imagined it as a combat encounter I hoped would happen, but it serves a much more important narrative purpose the way it is.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 17: Can plots which hinge on a ...

2026-04-17T12:59:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…0eyk
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 17: Can plots which hinge on a misunderstanding be done well?

They can, but that hinges on the writer's ability to build up to the reveal. Like I tapped out of a book in a series I otherwise like because the answer was so obvious and I had the entire rest of the dang book left and just couldn't spend that much time with them not being interesting enough to justify it.

Either you pace it so the reader has the slow realization somewhere midway after they're already hooked, you let them in right away with a wink and a cast worth watching stumble around, or you wait until the end with a twist, depending what suits your genre.

But it's just SO easy to think you're being clever, overplay your hand, and end up insulting your readers' intelligence.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 16: Must writing always in complete ...

2026-04-16T13:21:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…gq4n
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 16: Must writing always in complete sentences? Unusual syntax?

Whatever suits the character's voice. The narrator needs a minimum level of clarity, though.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 15: Name a writer whose voice is just ...

2026-04-16T13:19:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…gpju
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 15: Name a writer whose voice is just exquisite. Share an sample!

I drew the biggest blank for this. Or maybe it was more like a 10-car pile-up. XD

The answer I eventually drew was Robert Asprin with "The Myth Adventures of Aahz and Skeeve" series if only because it's so easy to tell who's speaking just from their cadence, and Skeeve serves as a pretty excellent narrator. If you ever needed a comedy series to show that morals are optional for heroism, that's it. XD

I unfortunately am not at liberty to share a sample, as the books are currently half a country away at my dad's place.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 14: Do you consciously work with syllabic ...

2026-04-14T02:37:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…jprj
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 14: Do you consciously work with syllabic stress to create rhythm?

In poetry, sure, but in writing it's more about flow. A character has a certain cadence, but that cadence is different for most or all characters. Like Jerako has literal hundreds of NPCs, but I generally can tell who's speaking on 1-3 lines of text alone. It's how I know I have their voices right.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 13: What do you borrow from other fiction ...

2026-04-13T14:19:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…564j
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 13: What do you borrow from other fiction (*or nonfiction!*) genres?

I've said this before, but I can't seem to write just one thing. There will be a horror segment, a gut punch, a reason to laugh, probably something to get angry about, and some exploration of relationships if not necessarily a romantic subplot. Honestly one of the most beautiful conversations I've ever written is in my secondary WIP about platonic love.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 12: How does being a writer influence ...

2026-04-12T01:20:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…quga
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 12: How does being a writer influence your life outside of the work?

I've been tasked with writing a short educational piece at work. My knowledge and skills with the product combined with taking an appropriately perky voice and knowing how to set up hooks for later entries like hydra heads seems to have hit some very good notes with both my old manager and my current one. XD

I suppose that's underwhelming, isn't it? Writing has been such an intrinsic piece of my life for so long I'm not sure how to say otherwise. It's hard to say sometimes what makes it into my writing because of research and what I research for my writing. I know a bit of herbal medicine, and I maybe know a bit of that from writing. I certainly know more about natural dyes thanks to Jerako than I did before. I never would have researched space shuttle materials without my space opera. But all the tech there is just because I find that stuff cool.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 11: What's your most effective method ...

2026-04-11T17:39:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…uyuq
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 11: What's your most effective method for connecting with readers?

I aspire to the public image of Banksy and the engagement schedule of Sade.

Some people are not built for fame and if there's any lesson I took from stumbling into *The Amazing Digital Circus* at this late stage, it's that I'm going to miss the Internet as soon as whatever fandom I might collect turns toxic.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 10: What's something other writers ...

2026-04-10T03:31:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…m934
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 10: What's something other writers swear by that you just don't get?

Not describing your characters. For the reasons stated above. I am completely baffled by some of the other responses. Like how the heck do you people commission covers? XD

Edit:
Based on the responses, it seems like a lot of popular books from the last few years *also* use some vibe image. Characters haven't disappeared so much as fallen below the 50% mark. I dunno, it feels weird looking at every book on my own shelf and seeing some character plastered on it and then looking at that and seeing it having become optional.

I guess either I'll stand out when I release or I'll take so long the pendulum will have swung back. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 9: What is your favorite way to introduce ...

2026-04-09T06:18:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…jwz3
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 9: What is your favorite way to introduce a character's appearance?

Through a character's lens works best. It can say a lot about both characters in the process. I know a lot of writers like to give people a general vibe and leave the rest to the imagination, but honestly I feel like that misses a lot of opportunities to make their appearance relevant. Things like shape language are excellent design cheats that can tell you a ton about a character in fewer words. Appearance can be environmental storytelling. It can also belie things. We do not, as humans, move through this world without letting appearances play against our biases, whether they're correct or incorrect.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 8: Do you do warm-ups before or ...

2026-04-09T06:12:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…pnjn
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 8: Do you do warm-ups before or cool-downs after a writing session?

I used to do no-hand pushups with my throbbing, engorged cranium, but these days, I'm too tired.

No, but seriously, unless you count "being 110% done with today's bullshit" and "finding myself passing out," no. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 7: Do you combine poetic fragments and ...

2026-04-09T06:09:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…qnq6
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 7: Do you combine poetic fragments and prose paragraphs in your work?

Only very rarely, but when I do, it tends to just be a thing for that story. I think my favorite example is Marklath from *The Adventures of Renard*, who has trouble expressing himself and will often concoct a poem on the fly that somehow manages the exact sort of clarity neurospicy people dream of.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 6: Do the plots or characters in your ...

2026-04-09T06:06:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…35rz
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 6: Do the plots or characters in your work converge towards a single point?

I tend to write things in terms of people joining or leaving a party that gets most or all of the focus, so... yes? Often? Even when I have game stuff, writing around conditions doesn't really make things converge, but they do interweave.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 5: How can the physical form of the ...

2026-04-09T06:04:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…aqsq
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 5: How can the physical form of the writing become part of the storytelling?

How did these get away from me?

Obviously anything you do with fonts for handwriting, but in absence of that, the way you put ellipses for a fragmentary document, that sort of thing. That said, getting cute with things should only occur very rarely or with solid justification.

#writersCoffeeClub Apr. 4: Do you switch between past and present ...

2026-04-05T03:11:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…ffk0
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#writersCoffeeClub Apr. 4: Do you switch between past and present tense? How do you make it work?

There are only two reasons to switch tenses:<li>For the sake of dialogue.</li><li>For the sake of flashbacks or flashing before an in media res beginning.</li>

My understanding is tense issues are one of the most common for newer writers and it's because they're putting past tense in dialogue. If you're not already comfortable with tense, but want to write, present tense, while less common, will let you keep it straight more easily.

As for how I make it work, we'll just say dialogue is about hearing the voices of the characters and switching tense for chronological reasons is a flex I've engaged in, but largely unnecessary if you're already writing in past tense.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 3: Have you studied writing? Did it ...

2026-04-03T04:42:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…uzw4
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 3: Have you studied writing? Did it prepare you, or did you learn more by doing?

I took a creative writing class in high school, but I was already writing before that. It taught me more about critique than writing, to be honest. English class gave me the parts and pieces, but reading gave me the example layouts. I look back at my oldest works and remember them and I can honestly say I have, indeed, learned by doing. I know what makes good progression; how to structure things better; my characters are no longer so reliant on friends and family. At the same time I can recognize there were things I already was doing well. Dialogue. General ideas. The way characters solve problems. Being so literate did give me a strong start in the fundamentals. Maybe I was immature, but I've always done well writing what I'd want to read.

If I may be so bold, I have good taste. XD

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 2: Visual presentation: how do white ...

2026-04-02T04:32:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…xrag
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#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 2: Visual presentation: how do white space and typography become meaningful elements of literary form?

Maybe it's cheesy, but I'm not afraid to use [dinkuses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinkus ) or I guess now pounds (#) in my writing because my chapters are like stage play acts for scenes and sometimes it's what you *don't* say that's most powerful.

And maybe it's *super* cheesy, but I might emphasize certain things by putting the line alone as a paragraph. I find it's the best way to implement something of a "beat."

And I hear it's out of style, but honestly I still put direct thoughts in italics because there's a place for telling and a place for showing and exposing the internal thought directly is showing. It's a form of dialogue.

And obviously from this post I'm not afraid to do italics for emphasis. Sometimes you need to control the cadence.

If all of that together sounds amateurish or *démodé*, meh, it will cycle back in vogue eventually.

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 1: What arrangement of plots do you have? ...

2026-04-01T03:04:18Z

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr. 1: What arrangement of plots do you have? No plot? Only one? A main plot and a side plot? Something else?

New quarter; new thread! See the old one [here](https://tech.lgbt/@bluestarultor/116327159579001382 ).

The answer to that is, "I'm a pantser; whatever happens, happens." My latest WIP is a two-perspective tale where the leads take time to run into each other and even after they do, one is more active, while the other is a more cerebral type who observes the rest of the crew.

In contrast, Ethan is the center of his own universe as a third person limited protagonist. And the *Godskiller* crew are more or less treated as a party and only written on from the view within that party, despite people occasionally joining and leaving.

I think, honestly, writing so much for games makes me tend to lean into a "main plot + subplots" sort of structure where there's either a clear main character or there's an ensemble you follow and only rarely split up, just as convention.

When it comes to files, folders, installation, I agree with you. ...

2026-01-31T20:39:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…l3e7
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When it comes to files, folders, installation, I agree with you. Those are basic operating skills for a PC. The problem is that Millennials are the only generation who got any education in that and kids have iPads for school rather than a computer lab now. It's been that way for like a decade. They are operating on *phones* their whole lives.

We take files and folders for granted. We also take doorknobs for granted, but without knowing what it was, would you think to twist it? That's where they are.

That's not your problem *or* their fault, but what are their options? Who's going to teach them? Going back to cars, if they've done nothing but hop a train their whole life and now they need to drive a car, who's going to do Driver's Ed? Because the schools said, "welp, cars exist now, so all the kids will grow up knowing how to drive them!" And then proceeded to give them all train vouchers.

It doesn't have to be you, but someone has to teach them.

You have a fundamental misunderstanding. Devops is building. ...

2026-01-31T19:58:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…kzkl
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You have a fundamental misunderstanding. Devops is *building.* Nobody is asking the average driver to *build* a car. They are asking them to *drive* it.

But when it breaks and can't be driven, that's *fixing* it.

Building, driving, and fixing are three different things.

If an OS is a car, then people can drive it all day long without knowing anything beyond how to manipulate the steering wheel, pedals, shift, and, ideally, turn signal. Maintenance means filling up the gas and other fluids. Most people don't do more than the gas themselves.

People get trained to use an OS the same way.

You're saying every driver should also be a mechanic.

And no, it's NOT your job to do it for free. But Microsoft does it for pay. And people are willing to pay.

What people are NOT willing to do is go to what looks like a mechanic and be handed a manual and told RTFM.

Someone has to do the work. It doesn't have to be *you,* but it does have to be *someone.*

That's what this thread is about.

I am a child of the DOS era. I was also part of the small window ...

2026-01-31T19:35:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…fd54
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I am a child of the DOS era. I was also part of the small window when schools taught computer use. You are talking to the *wrong person* about knowing how to use a computer. :J

[Welcome to 1994](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCLeWx2CV0c ). The average person has *never* understood how their devices worked. Because prior to those things being "simplified away," computers were... *drum roll* limited to enthusiasts, specialists, or designated operators.

Like, by your logic, everyone should know how a car works. We use them every day. But the only one in my family who ever did was my grandpa, who cut his teeth on the *Model A,* and they later passed him by. We have mechanics now.

That's all people are asking for: a mechanic when things are broken. The same way they want a farmer for their food, or a doctor for their sick kid, because all of these things are simply too big for the average person to bear the load of. It's not *stupidity,* it's being *overwhelmed.*

@_RyekDarkener_@mastodon.social [@Linux_in_a_Bit](https://infosec.exchange/@Linux_in_a_Bit )

See, the problem with that and: > People get upset and ...

2026-01-31T18:19:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…cvy5
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See, the problem with that and:

> People get upset and frustrated because they have to invest a little time in figuring out how things work differently, and get mad because they don't get the answer in a "follow these simple step" fashioned, served instantly.

...is that Windows has this and the average Linux user drastically over-estimates the computer knowledge of the average user of literally anything else.

If I have an issue, I can Google it and quickly find step-by-step instructions I don't have to understand to execute. I mean I personally will, but the average person thinks turning your monitor off is turning your computer off, like *heck* will they take anything away from it.

You have to understand just how fundamentally, irreparably Microsoft has currently fucked Windows 11 for that kind of person to think Linux might be a better idea. That is "triangular wheels on your car" bad. In comparison, "square wheels and the mechanic screams at you" is better.

The actual answer is they're already seeding quantum hype. ...

2025-08-20T23:23:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…40xg
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The actual answer is they're already seeding quantum hype.

Which is hilarious because unless you engineer a win, quantum can currently reliably do something as complex as...

Factorialize 15.

Whee.

It's ridiculously early for quantum, but it's already making its way into marketing and peppering itself across Google's services.

Thing is, Trump basically gave slop generators 4 years to choose when to pop their own bubble, when the bubble was already effectively popped by China. If you actually read the article, it's a puff piece driving people to silos. The "too big to fail" companies.

Here's a cute idea: Tell them to type a word in quotes. If ...

2025-07-11T20:08:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…3j35
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Here's a cute idea:

Tell them to type a word in quotes. If they fail to do it, they can't read. If they use *curly* quotes, it's an LLM. Absolutely nobody knows how to type a curly quote, but LLMs love them.

The creator of GIF said it was a soft "G," exactly like ...

2025-03-27T13:44:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…e5j3
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The creator of GIF said it was a soft "G," exactly like the letter is pronounced. People are just religiously wrong about it.

Deer actually prefer the forest edge, because that's where ...

2024-12-10T18:14:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…l9lc
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Deer actually prefer the forest edge, because that's where juicy new shoots grow. Roads greatly increase the surface area of what they would normally find in clearings. So roads are actually actively attractive to deer.

The purple tones come from particulates, often smoke. Assuming ...

2024-12-05T15:39:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…tj88
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The purple tones come from particulates, often smoke. Assuming it's not color shifted, there was probably either a very large fire or else something industrial belching it out upwind.

GiB is what we traditionally know, and every OS on Earth still ...

2024-09-04T13:15:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…r0pu
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GiB is what we traditionally know, and every OS on Earth still lists, as GB. It's just been loosed onto the world as a "well, actually" to help justify drive manufacturers giving us base 10 GB on their products. It can, AFAIK, be traced to one guy.

So when you buy a "10 GB" drive, the OS will list it as "9.whatever GB" because no one actually uses "GiB" and no one ever has. But somehow that's the OS's fault.

Everyone else is getting technical, but GiB are basically just an ...

2024-09-04T12:50:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…twva
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Everyone else is getting technical, but GiB are basically just an excuse to sell smaller storage sizes for the same price by abusing the average person's lack of knowledge of binary by rounding down to the nearest 1000, which makes exactly none of them happy a soon as they plug it in and see it reporting less than advertised.

It is essentially a made-up construction that goes against 50 years of computing history and current OS practice to lick the boot of corporate America.