#WordWeavers 2026.04.02 —Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

I will admit to taking advantage of writing challenge hashtags to ask questions of characters or to tell small stories from characters past, dreaming that information up before including it, if ever, in the story. Recently, I took advantage of one question to define the backstory of a character who for the sake of discussion is trans (https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/116344746242207037). I think of these answers as non-canonical until it influences a the storyline, though I think is very much on the mark. Typically, I write the story to get to know the characters. Prequels, sequels, and side stories happen not to learn about characters, but because my demandy-pants characters insist on possessing me a making me their ghostwriter.

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#WordWeavers 2026.04.01 —Your opinion on April fools day & do you incorporate the day into your work?

I never write modern fiction. The poor characters don't even get Christmas to celebrate, let alone acting like malicious fools in April!

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#WordWeavers 2026.03.04 —Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?

I am going to choose the SFW meaning of party. These are things the Bolt normally would never get invited to. As a courier for the mob, blackmailed into doing it, she actively avoids her coworkers. However, due to chance, a photo editor for a major magazine discovers that Bolt is a street photographer, and incredibly good. With nothing other than ferrying messages for a decade, she has focused on her craft photographing pictures the accentuate normalcy and plain life, something she's denied. It please her, and she's become of a similar caliber as Henri Cartier-Bressen. With the editor acting as an agent, Bolt has become a sensation. Not the best thing for a person inextricably tied up with the mob, but, oh well…

I could see Bolt getting invited to a publishing party, not for all the photographs that get published in the magazine or the newspaper, but after all her work on a highly anticipated photo calendar. We'd call it a beefcake pinup calendar, but their standards and our moral standards differ a lot. I'd expect the party to take place in a rented room at a restaurant, lots of food, and plenty of millet beer to go around. Bolt would worry the entire time that a coworker, or maybe even the mob boss, might crash the party.

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#WordWeavers Apr 4: Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?

Most of the only parties the characters in my WIP would be invited to would be kids' birthday parties. Carl Benedict would never attend one of these, but any of the other characters would.

#WordWeavers Apr 4:Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?

One of the inciting incidents (as academics say) in The Devil’s Finger is when Jemima’s invited to an end-of-season party for a comedy rival’s TV show. It’s a glitzy party in a nightclub, with plenty of celebs.

It goes badly wrong. Firstly Jemima and her rival exchange words; then her manager arrives, and breaks the news that he’s dropping her.

#WordWeavers Apr. 4 — Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?

Does it need to be my character? Because I'd nominate @Ink_Soul 's Sareena. She'd be fun - especially if she meets up with Alana, and causes some chaos!

#WordWeavers Day 4. Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?

My emperor character would find a way to sneak in, disguised as an ordinary citizen.

He's done this in many different contexts (some are major plot points, so no spoilers!). He has people who can do this for him, but now he's made it to an over-ripe age, some folk regognize his limp and heavy disguise, and play along but with changed behaviour.