Jon Sparks3h ago
#WordWeavers 30/3: How do you keep track of important info related to your characters, world, etc.?
I have a big Numbers spreadsheet to keep track of character ages etc. across the series—which already spans over 40 years. Smaller spreadsheet for individual novels if timelines get complex. Notes on key facts about characters in a Pages file. But I keep a lot in my head.
#books #writing #writersofmastodon
Jon Sparks3h ago
#WordWeavers 30/3: How do you keep track of important info related to your characters, world, etc.?
I have a big Numbers spreadsheet to keep track of character ages etc. across the series—which already spans over 40 years. Smaller spreadsheet for individual novels if timelines get complex. Notes on key facts about characters in a Pages file. But I keep a lot in my head.
#books #writing #writersofmastodon
Jon Sparks3h ago
#WritersCoffeeClub 30/3: What got in the way of your writing this month?
First part of the month, we had family over from New Zealand, which was great, culminating in a grand weekend in Glasgow because they were flying out from there. And our return slightly complicated by the fire at Glasgow Central. Not much writing done then, but I’ve been back in action with renewed vigour since. It’s good to have a break now and then.
#books #writing #writersofmastodon
QueeRomance Ink6h ago
Check out: Ofelia Grand

MM Contemporary

Ofelia Gränd is Swedish, which often shines through in her stories. She likes to write about everyday people ending up in not-so-everyday situations, and hopefully also getting out of them. She writes contemporary, paranormal, romance, horror, Sci-Fi and whatever else catches her fancy. ...

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/ofelia-grand/

#GayRomance #WritersofMastodon #AuthorSpotlight Bookstodon #MMBookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon @LGBTQBookstodon @MMbookstodon
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist7h ago

#PennedPossibilities 971 — Where does your SC feel the safest? Is there a particular person or object that helps them feel safe?

-
I am going to turn this question around slightly as really it brings to mind one supporting character, Molt. He's a day angel who came to Home City to attend HUHC (Home University at Home City) for a degree in Men's Studies. (Nope, not explaining other to say it would be NSFW.) His first apartment living away from home turns out to be down the hall from Bolt, the main character, who is a courier for the mob. The minimalist aerie setup means they share many facilities, almost like a boarding house. They see each other every day. As events unfold and Bolt is allowed to have a camera, one of her coworkers decides to spy on her. He threatens Molt to do so. Very scary. Lots happen and Molt and Bolt have fun, until the thug, being the punk he is, roughs up Molt incidentally breaking a bone.

Where does Molt feel safe?

He returns home, leaving Home City and a full scholarship behind.

Bolt is livid. She wants to murder her coworker after that.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

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Show threadSpooky Panda 🏳️‍🌈8h ago

#PennedPossibilities 971 — Where does your SC feel the safest? Is there a particular person or object that helps them feel safe?

For Hati, it’s a particular person. Two, in fact. It’s either with Samuel (her husband) or with Alistair (her best friend). She’s easy to pin that way.

#WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #WingsOfQuietLonging #ParanormalRomance #Fantasy #Gothic #Victorian #Vampires #Werewolves

RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist8h ago

#WordWeavers 2026.03.29 —How big is your cast of characters?

Thanks, I needed to capture this.

So… Let's count. In Reluctant Courier (for the Mob), the following people have storylines. There are plenty bit parts I'm not listing.

  • Lightning Bolt (Bolt) aka Good Eye the avant-garde street photographer, a day angel woman, the protagonist narrator whose day job is a mob courier.
  • Steamed Milk and Sugar (Shugh), a saintly male reporter who presents as feminine but is certainly male, which confuses Bolt no end.
  • Arrow Flies True (Blue), a male day angel praetorian friend of Bolt with whom she flies tandem.
  • Light Insight, a daemonic woman who's a demon in a newspaper darkroom.
  • Night on Fire, a night angel magazine editor, sister to Light Insight and Shugh's roommate.
  • Pigeon the Pilferer, male day angel gangster punk coworker of Bolt. Gay, but reformed slightly by events in the novel which allow him to be romanced by his high school crush (a male school nurse). Antagonist.
  • Molt. It's a nickname as he has not yet given is actual name. He's a molting male day angel university student Bolt has fun with.
  • Rainy Days, chimeric Director of Home and the Nine Outer Worlds, a thaumaturge who's older than history, salt, or dirt (whichever you prefer). She looks 24 and always will. Antagonist.
  • The devil girl (Teri, short for Night Terror), a daemonic autist, mob enforcer, thaumaturge, and in this story a high school student who's way more than she seems.
  • Boss Mead, daemonic mob boss. Antagonist.
  • Horizon Blaze, daemonic high school bully, adopted daughter of Rainy Days, a thaumaturge of the caliber of the devil-girl.
  • Quince Jam (Quincy), a mysterious daemonic young man who seems to know the devil-girl and who likes to play with fire.
  • Peppermint Magnifying Glass, a male daemonic IBI agent (Interstellar Bureau of Investigation) that looks like he will stop at nothing to bring the devil-girl to justice. Hasn't shown up in the story yet, so he may be a background character until the sequel.

    • 12?

    [Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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    RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist12h ago

    #ScribesAndMakers 2026.03.29 —Griddle?

    All cultures that cook something we might call a griddle, even if it is only a grill made of sticks. In my stories, day angel cuisine borrows heavily from Japanese teppanyaki and ramen culture, focused on seafood, related broths, and noodles. Yep. Those chefs under the rooftop red tents from which the delicious smoke is rising are cooking on a griddle.

    [Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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    photographer chef cooking
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    Ollie, check pinned #fortie13h ago
    https://www.thirtywestph.com/shop/p/escaramuza Please preorder my friend Esenia's book! She is a senior at the same college I went to and is a fellow poet. #writersofmastodon #bookstodon
    Escaramuza - Poetry - Esénia Bañuelos - 2026 Chapbook Project - Spring Cohort — Thirty West Publishing House

    Escaramuza is the debut poetry chapbook by Esénia Bañuelos. Part of the 2026 Chapbook Project - Spring Cohort

    Thirty West Publishing House
    Show threadRS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist15h ago

    @NickEast_IndieWriter
    Wow, that hits a nerve for some authors, I bet. Each person has their own way, I suppose.

    I've always found it hard to understand fantasy writers who love love love to research backgrounds and build worlds with encyclopedic detail, sometimes even creating languages, taking years—a kind of Tolkien-itis—never actually bringing in characters and roleplaying them (i.e, writing a story) to see if it works without falling apart or making stories they'd want to tell impossible to write. I think some new writers procrastinate this way (I did, decades ago), but I do know established fantasy authors that do this in a directed manner after having published stories, so it must work for some. (Okay, it may also be procrastination.)

    It is not that I don't do some research ahead of writing a story; I have plenty of "magic system" notes for the WIP. For me, how the world has to work and look is mostly generated by how the characters deal with their world getting in their way, how they are forced to work with other characters who conflict with their agenda, and how I want to end the story. For example, play testing while writing a story (that is, being willing to revise) has refined my take on how humans with wings could fly, what their anatomy must be like, and surprising placement of feathers. I'm perpetually backfilling details and foreshadowing as I go. I guess you could call how I write dynamic worldbuilding.

    For a while I was part of a listserv of authors, some big names, who shared their love of research, and their research. Felt like a bunch of professors gushing. I bowed out.

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