March 16: What's the largest cast you've ever written? What made it challenging?
I think my #WIP has the most personae of any work so far. The biggest challenge I'm seeing is remembering who is in the room in a given scene and what they should be doing.
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.03.14 —Do you think readers want new experiences in structure or narrative, or do they prefer what's familiar?
Little has changed in the popular novel since the concept debuted many centuries ago. Fads of flowery description or clever narrative structure have come and they have gone. Writing styles are numerous, and, if intuitive to read, have been well tolerated.
Still. After centuries. The novel in English remains virtually unchanged despite variance in length.
Until the last decade or so, publishers have controlled the market to ensure what got sold fit a mold they thought sold well, thus the need for the current conformity in structure or narrative could arguably be thought of as artificial.
Yet, in my opinion, specifically as a reader rather than an author, I'd rather not have to tackle unfamiliar structure or narrative forms. I balked multiple times trying to read the highly recommended The Hunger Games before the story finally hooked me. Was 1st person present tense really worth it versus 1st person past tense? No, but it was in no wise experimental (in my mind at least) compared to what I've read in magazines with avant-garde editors (the last one was in The New Yorker) or what I read during the mid-to-late 20th century labeled as such.
I concur with the traditional publishing wisdom: I think readers prefer authors' writing to be transparent. It is the story and the characters that need sparkle and live, not the words themselves.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
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March 14: Do you think readers want new experiences in structure or narrative, or do they prefer what's familiar?
I long ago gave up trying to assess what readers want.
March 12: How do you "stress test" your work?
I scrub the manuscript looking for "talking heads" phenomena.
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.03.12 —How do you "stress test" your work?
When I developed software, I would run the code. I'm unsure how "stress test" applies to a tract of fiction. Have someone read it? Put it in a drawer long enough that when I read it, it feels fresh? I'm looking forward to learning what others do, and why they do what they do.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.03.11 —Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
A bit probably, but I try to keep my characters' morals distinctly true to them.
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.03.11 —Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
What most intellectuals refer to as morals is actually ethics. Morals are ethics based on a religious belief system that describes what in that belief system is acceptable behavior, usually received through indoctrination that prevents adherents from questioning its tenets regardless of evidence. I have no truck with crusader or jihadist morals whatsoever, nor any religion's ethics no matter how seemingly benign, if for no other reason than how religions condone the treatment of women.
My stories do reflect my personal ethics, promoting them in the end and seeing them broken too often throughout for reasons of contrast.
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March 11: Does your work reflect your morals? How so?
I'm not sure, since I've never specifically enumerated my morals, even to myself. Certainly, there is an acceptance in my work that violence is occasionally necessary and justified. But I'm not sure I agree with that.
March 10: How informal is your prose? Is there a limit to informality?
There is a limit for me that I can't bring myself to cross. When absolutely necessary, I put it in dialog so I can blame the characters.
Klepsis
Alfonso I. Martinez
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist
ChelsieSp 🏳️🌈