#WritersCoffee Club 21 Nov: What are some preconceptions about writers you'd like to see challenged?

I'm not bothered, really. People have mistaken ideas about most jobs or activities they don't happen to do themselves. It just doesn't weigh on me very heavily. I guess people's misconceptions about other things bother me more.

#WritersCoffee #Club 7/8: Have you always written, a tipping point

There's a striking difference between vaguely floating around thinking being an author would be lovely and sitting down and dedicating time and effort to get somewhere.

So a long list of byways but in 2012 I had a sabbatical and I wrote a first draft... Now I have two trad books out, I'm trying self-publishing a third and I've got a novella ready to go.

#The Crooked Medium #amwriting #reading #books

#WritersCoffee Club June 3 writing challenges continued:

I've also created work for themed anthologies (I have one coming up in Level Best's CELLULOID CRIMES this summer), and pieces built around a theme with Word X Word's Poets in Conversation series.

Continued --
2/

13. Favourite antagonist to write: Villains, anti-heroes, rivals?

#writerscoffee

I have written genuinely evil people. I prefer people who are flawed and who are doing something for motives which are not entirely selfish.

#amwriting #writingcommunity #writelife #amwritingSFF

Jan 25 #WritersCoffee Club (cont'd)

I would want an Egyptian/North African artist for this project, but I have to say, my writing it being a problem because I'm not a mixture of Ancient Macedonian Greek, Persian and possibly Egyptian is a little ridiculous.

Jan 25 #WritersCoffee Club (cont'd)
I told my agent that I was writing a GN about Cleopatra. She said it was problematic because I don't have Cleopatra's background. But Cleo's exact ethnicity is unknown because of blank spots in her family lineage--her father's mother, her own mother. (Though it's safe to say the blank spots aren't occupied by anyone who is Filipino/Puerto Rican/Ecuadorian--and also 1.4% Egyptian if 23andMe tells the truth--like me.)
And also SHE LIVED MORE THAN 2000 YEARS AGO

#WritersCoffee Club 19 Jan: How do you pick character names?

Nodding my head vigorously as I read through people's answers. Yup yup yup.

If I'm writing something in the past, I look at names that were common in the place and period. If I'm writing something set in the future, I like using a good mix of names from around the world, plus blends of personal-name+surname to represent how we mingle.

If I'm writing secondary world/fantasy, ooh, it's complicated. I've used various methods.

#WritersCoffee Club Jan 13: Do you like maps? If they feature in your work do you draw them by hand or use an application?

I don't have a mappy mind. I skip over them in books and I don't use them myself so there are probably all kinds of geographical impossibilities.

(Sorry, worldbuilders!)

The exception is this map of Narnia. I had it on a poster as a child and pored over it for ages.