#PennedPossibilities 818 — Put together a “paranormal investigation team” using your characters. Who’s doing what?

The devil-girl is now living with the as of yet unnamed school bully (don't ask, long story) in her ivory tower. The bully is a pretty smart about practically everything, except dealing with people, and she finds prompt 818. She's told write an essay about it for her language homework. Assemble a team? she wonders. Investigations? But what does paranormal mean? She looks it up in the dictionary as she heads downstairs to ask the devil-girl for input and finds her in the first floor gym. There she sees the devil-girl's thaumaturgy book is floating in front of her face as she walks the track, while will-o-the-wisp sprites float through the air to illuminate the room and in particular spotlight her open book.

Paranormal: Denoting events such as telekinesis and strange lights in the night that…

The bully snaps the dictionary closed and turns back for the stairs. "That's not paranormal, that's simply science. Stupid assignment."

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2025.10.16 — How much does your working vocabulary change between works?

I am going to assume you mean how much does the vocabulary used in the story change between works?

When I wrote in a seven-year-old's voice, I used her seven year old girl vocabulary, which surprisingly isn't hugely limited, but lacks percision. When I wrote in an autist's hugely over-educated literate voice, I used precision in both her word choice and her biting humor. Often, vocabulary is naught but a minor issue narratively. For example, Bolt in the current store is under-educated and sometimes a hick. That doesn't mean she can't get technical (flying and photographic composition), but I do audit how she expresses herself to ensure her speech is not out of character.

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#WordWeavers 2025.10.18 — Does your MC know where they came from? (Family history, ancestry, etc.)?

Forgive me for answering obtusely, though it is obvious why. The main series antagonist started tracking the genetic history of the entire human species about five hundred years ago, and, yes, she has used the information to influence population migration, densities, and done match ups to stem the species decline into extinction. Everybody has a genetic registry number. Everybody has healthcare. If you read between the lines, you might intuit her genetic heritage plays an outsized role. Yes, she has had children.

The devil-girl will figure out she's one project endpoint (as was her mother) amongst dozens of possibles in her generation. Bolt will never know why her ancestors were how they were, or why her talents lie where they lie. Thorn Rose lost her ancestral knowledge when her mother became a refugee at the age of three. Bolt and Streak 200 years before come from the same lineage that's more closely related to the main series antagonist than most.

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#PennedPossibilities 817 — Does your universe have any autumnal traditions?

The average Jane will note naught but the nights are longer and some trees are dropping leaves. I don't think anybody but farmers really notice the seasons changing as temperatures don't ever cool. Though, if you're a chef who needs vegetables that appear once a year, you might. In which case, some nomad day angel restaurateur might be renowned for meals that are celebrated at that time of year for a limited time and have a following as she sets up her popup red tent and grill on one roof after another across Home City (think gourmet food trucks). Things like that get people without wings to climb a dozen flights of stairs to share in the food.

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#PennedPossibilities 816 — What is your SC’s relationship with what society considers the supernatural?

There was a five-story circular sheet of dark so deep that it sucked in all light and reflected nothing. To look at it was to gaze into a tear rent into the fabric of reality only to know that madness glared greedily back. Step aside it and you'd see that even a sheet of paper would be thicker. Like a mirror in a frame, glaring electric blue lightning flashed and thundered around its periphery, filling the air with stinging ozone and a premonition of deadly storms bringing tornadoes and destruction. The opposite side was… no different, equally angry, equally frightening. Moreso that it had appeared mid-city, snarling traffic when it wedged itself across the avenue between tall buildings that cracked and crumbled under the pressure, snarling homebound traffic, causing panic.

A devil-girl (a SC in this story) stepped through from the, oooooooo, 👻 the other SIDE!

Holy shades of Ghostbusters, Batman!?

Sorry! Pulling your leg.

It was a rogue interstellar gateway.

Typical people in the Reluctance Series not only don't have any conception of the supernatural (gods, ghosts, whatev) and don't even possess words for such things, they'd label you psychotic for proposing the idea.

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#WordWeavers 2025.10.15 — If you wanted to achieve your MC’s goal, how would you approach it?

When I think about this question, I think you are asking how if I were a player in the story how I would achieve my MC's goal. The problem is blackmail, and even the author doesn't know what would happen if the holder of it were to die or be threatened. The issue is likely intractable by direct means by me or the MC.

I don't think the MC is doing more than wishing and hoping at this point, clearly understanding there's nothing she can do that won't hurt her or maybe her family. What she is doing is acting with integrity (such that she can, working for the mob) and making friends more powerful than herself by her actions.
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#WordWeavers 2025.10.16 — If you wanted to achieve your antagonist’s goal, how would you approach it?

[The antagonist is not a villain, except when she needs to be, of course. —RS]

Rainy Days throughout the series states she wants to prevent the extinction of the human species. The consistent long term rate of decline is about >100K per year, 240 million stated in the current wip. A lot of issues make humanity's eventual extinction seem intractable, all of which are spoilers.

The author knows that a population of pre-singularity humans exists on (spoiler), but aren't as (spoiler) as the current population. If allowed (spoiler), their culture might eventually dominate—but their genes definitely would, wiping out the epigenetics that created variants like day angels. Think of how feral dogs over tens of years end up all resembling a back-curled tailed progenitor. For humans, it might take a few centuries, but Rainy Days knows it would happen. Worse, the pre-singularity humans once in the majority would forget some of their relatives have wings and horns and would eventually end up hunting "the monsters and sorcerers."

If I approached the antagonist's goal this way, she'd likely slaughter that pre-singularity population to thwart me. Loss of the social structure and genetic diversity she fostered would be a worse type of extinction in her mind.

BTW: This question answers motivational questions for characters in a novel that did not have a firm ending. Now, thanks to this question, I know the answers. So. Thanks for proposing the question!

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#PennedPossibilities 815 — What song comes to mind when you’re thinking about your WIP?

I can't exactly say why Hey! Hey! (DJ's Attention Vocal Mix) by Dennis Ferrer works for Bolt and encapsulates her life, but her life is turned upside down by what other people say. The song is high energy, and the specific full length cut in this U-tube is the one I listen to on Apple Music.

https://youtu.be/Pds7HZA8-44

Just an ordinary day
Till you came around
I had my feet on the ground

So much for that
Just an ordinary day
Till you came around
And now my life’s upside down

Imagine that
.And it’s all because I heard you say
And it’s all because I heard you say
And it’s all because I walked your way
8x I heard you say
8x And I heard you say Hey hey

Oh just right
You got to sit tight
Close your eyes
And let your head go down
Let your feet up off the ground
And let your head go down
Let your feet up off the ground

Just an ordinary day
Till you came around
I had my head straight and sound
They’ve told me that

Just an ordinary day
Till you came around
And now my life is on the bounce
Just like that

And it’s all because I walked your way
And it’s all because I heard you say
And I should've known to stay away

But I heard you say
8x I heard you say x8
8x And I heard you say Hey hey

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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.10.015 — How's your creativity going? Would you like help or critique?

I'm answering this writer's prompt.… Otherwise, reasonable to fairly good. I really need to handle the beta tester's comment right now.

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#PennedPossibilities 814 — Your MC or SC meets a vampire. What do they do?

For starters, their night angels look a lot like we might imagine a vampire would look. They have dark bat-like leathery wings, eyes with vertically slit irises like a cat, and fangs and a cleft lip like many bats. Oh, yeah, they see better in the dark and need to wear sunglasses in the day shine. No, they don't drink blood and haven't died yet.

What would my MC and SCs do encountering a wingless man or woman with fangs trying to bite their jugular? The devil-woman, attacked, would likely fight back and have fun subduing what she'd consider a psychopath. If the vampire confronted a praetorian, they would later have to contend with the praetorian's cohort, but maybe the heavy armor would dissuade that attempt. Most of the rest of the cast of Reluctant Courier would call in the constables.

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