Trixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 18

RE: https://retro.pizza/@trixter/116084514290429066

Okay so back to this novel-I-wrote thing...

So if I've become disillusioned enough to give up on traditional publishing, do I want to just make whatever little changes I'd like to make coming at it several years later and then self-publish? Just to let it be out in the world and maybe get a tiny trickle of validation? (I will be honest, I desperately need some validation at this point.) Traditional publishing money would have been nice, but that's not a real thing so much anymore, and the truest reason anyone has for writing is to share all the nonsense in their head with other people. I still love these characters and I want other people to love them with me.

What I've written so far is, *of course*, only the first part of a trilogy, because that is how things go, but maybe I could find it in myself to keep going if it felt like a single fuck was given by the world.

#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 18
My favorite thing about bringing up self-publishing is the people/bots watching the keyword searches waiting to tell you that what you really need is their $2,000 Professional Self-Publishing Services Package.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 19
Thinking about the whole novel thing some more and wondering if I want to rewrite the romance subplot as sapphic or just be satisfied that the male love interest is absolutely the kind of male love interest a lesbian would write, just big Hozier energy here.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon Council
*opening up my old novel project folders and immediately going to the text files of smutty non-canon drabbles*
Feb 20 at 3:12amWeb
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 20
Look, this isn’t monsterfucker romance, it’s adventure fantasy with a monsterfucker subplot
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 20
There are two important reasons why this is not a “romance” or “romantasy” novel and one of them is that the main plot isn’t about the romance, it’s about the main character rescuing her twink brother from his evil boyfriend, and the other is that everyone is absolutely miserable at the end.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 20
Yes, it’s planned out as a trilogy. Does that mean that it takes until the end of the third book to get to the Happily Ever After? No, of course not, you absolute fool.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 20
(The romance is just the raven-man psychopomp she tragically falls for on the way.)
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 22
Doing my best to fight the urge to just make a new playlist for this novel instead of working on it. That Transformers fic I was getting back into is currently all of 3 chapters and about 3 hours of playlist.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 22
(The new playlist would be entirely Hozier.)
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 22

(Actually it would just be this song, which came out over a decade after I started working on it, on repeat:)

https://youtu.be/-32-6FqGW2E

Hozier and Bear McCreary - Blood Upon the Snow (from God of War Ragnarök) - Lyric Video

YouTube
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 22

When I try editing or even rereading my own fiction writing, I run into a problem where I'm not so much reading the words as I am letting the words trigger the memory of the story as it existed in my head. Also because of this I tend to speed-read because I know what's going on, I know what happens, I'm just trying to savor the meaty bits, but that makes it very hard for me to tell if something is paced well or not.

I'm going to work on that as I go back over this novel one more time. I'm tempted to compile it into an epub or PDF to see if that helps, but if I don't at least let myself do line-edits I'll go mad.

Maybe sometime soon I'll toss the first chapter out here in case anybody wants to see what I'm on about.

#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23

I am *struggling* against the urge to use this novel project as an excuse to buy that wee e-reader Aftermath just had a post about.

I want it so much but I am so broke.

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
Gonna start describing my novel as “Hawkwind meets Wardruna”.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23

(Look at it tho, it’s so neat)

https://aftermath.site/xteink-x4-cheap-hackable-ereader-crosspoint-review/

The Xteink X4 Is The Cheap, Hackable eReader That's Just Enough

It has no touchscreen, no light, and it's under-powered. But the Xteink X4 has a devoted community that wants to make it sing.

Aftermath
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
Making sure I have enough good queer representation in this story to allow for one (1) Evil Gay
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 24
Giving theme songs to my supporting cast but I'm stuck on one because his song would be, like, something from Darius Rucker's country phase or some shit.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 25

All right, any of my buddy-pals here interested in reading my first chapter? I’m open to feedback but mostly I need encouragement and accountability at this point. Also I will warn that this is dark fantasy and not exactly cozy.

I have the whole thing written, btw, but I’m doing one last round of revisions.

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 25
I have reached the stage where I am annoyed at anything I need to do that’s not writing which is unfortunate because I have a job.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 26
My actual goal with finally putting this novel out into the world is so I can secretly post my non-canon sexy parts as fanfic.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 27

Writers will literally be like “look at my favorite blorbo, he is so perfect and I love him,” and it’s a damp wizard with depression

(I’m writers)

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilMar 1
The struggle of writing a scene with a character who you know would be inappropriately horny
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilMar 1
The difference in vibes between how I talk about my writing and the story itself is pretty significant ngl
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilMar 1
There's a lot in this novel that's really good at this stage, but I need to put some more work into the villain arc, which is basically "men will literally join a necromancy cult instead of going to therapy".
Show threadCactuar JoeFeb 27
@trixter Come now, you say this like Rincewind isn't the best character of all time ^^
Show threadJenn, blobby goblinMar 1
@trixter okay first of all how dare you come for me like this 😭
Show threadMatthew SmithFeb 26
@trixter 👀
Show threadCheryl Lindo JonesFeb 25
@trixter I'm curious to read it, but I haven't read a lot of dark fantasy.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 25
@jezlyn It’s just like… more undead things and body horror than regular fantasy.
Show threadJim LindFeb 25
@trixter I haven’t “read” a book in quite a while but I’m interested.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 25
@jim Do you mean you've like... tasted a book? Maybe just smelled one?
Show threadJim LindFeb 25
@trixter I smell a lot of books. Listen to books occasionally. Peruse books often. Doing a proper read happens rarely than I’d like.
Show threadJury NullificationFeb 26
@trixter I used to be one of ABurt's Critters ( critters.org ), but I mostly limited myself to scifi stuff. If you want a reader that's not exactly 'in your demo', send me your stuff 👍
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 26
@GabeReal I remember that group! Submitted some stuff back in the day, long, long ago. I'll send a link.
Show threadJury NullificationFeb 26

@trixter Thanks, I got it :)
How do you want reviews sent back to you? I'm used to doing crits though email, so this is new territory for me.

I was in Critters for a couple years or so, and had a 1 (-ish) crits/week ratio when I left. I eventually left because it got to be a chore, making myself do at least one crit every week. I don't begrudge it at all, though, it definitely improved my craft and I got to read lots of different short stories and novels that I wouldn't have otherwise gotten access to.
But I wasn't subbing to markets nearly as much as I had hoped I would be, and the aforementioned chore-y-ness of it, made me decide to cut ties.

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 26
@GabeReal You can just DM me here, though if you’ve got more feedback than will fit in a couple posts here, I might be cooked. 😅 Keep in mind this is pretty far along in the process, so it shouldn’t be too rough.
Show thread Glen Mastodon ☠Feb 23
@trixter evil gay as a protagonist?
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23

@viktorTheBoar Sadly no, just a deeply morally conflicted bisexual.

Chaotic Good lesbian as another protagonist, though.

Show threadTripFeb 23
@trixter We hate that it's true, but evil gay characters are usually the best ones.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
@triphazard They're *so fun*.
Show threadmeredethFeb 23
@trixter man, i keep seeing that thing everywhere, and i am gonna eventually give in. if it had a frontlight I'd have bought it already. 💸
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
@meredeth I’ve currently got a 7-year-old Nook when I want an e-paper screen but I’ve been looking to move to something more open. (It’s already far more open than a Kindle, to be fair.) It’s *fine*, but it’s sluggish and really slow to charge.
Show threadmeredethFeb 23
@trixter i already own 3 e-readers, alas, i have no such excuse. (^_^)
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
@meredeth I *also* have an iPad, but it’s just not the *same*! It’s my reader for comics, not so much for text.
Show threadRAMΞNJVNKIΞ🍜Feb 23
@trixter @meredeth Yeah, the eInk is so much better for text. I keep threatening to get a color tablet for comics though.
Show threadMatthew SmithFeb 22
@trixter I'd be so hyper critical and over analyze every word I wrote .. I'd get nowhere lol
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 22
@dawgeth Part of why I had to step away for a while was because I ended up doing a lot of freelance editing work (mostly for a small gay romance publisher), so I got a bad case of Editor Brain.
Show threadMatthew SmithFeb 22

@trixter Sounds like books my oldest daughter would enjoy lol

Gay romance with a stars hollow vibe? She devooouuuurs them.

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
@dawgeth It was a fun gig!
Show threadmirabilosFeb 23
@trixter someone said to change the font noticeably for your own re-read, plus the layout if you can ofc
Show threadHaelwenn /элвэн/ Feb 23
@mirabilos @trixter Also heard of people using text-to-speech as a way of proofreading. (I've yet to find a TTS voice I can tolerate…)
Show threadmirabilosFeb 23
@lanodan @trixter I just cannot do audiobooks. At all. The constant text input on the audio channel makes me aggressive and explode within minutes. (I tried.)
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
@mirabilos @lanodan Yeah, it's an interesting idea but my brain favors text strongly over speech, I watch TV with subtitles a lot.
Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23

@mirabilos 🤔 My immediate thought is to go sans serif but I dunno if I can take dark fantasy seriously without a serif font.

(See also that post I made yesterday about having strong opinions about random things.)

Show threadBloognooFeb 23

@trixter @mirabilos
https://www.dafont.com/dark-elf.font

Serif'd and yet it'll change your reading speed. And you said dark fantasy, so it's calling out really.

Dark Elf Font | dafont.com

Dark Elf Font | dafont.com

Show threadTrixter of the Moon CouncilFeb 23
@bloognoo @mirabilos oh no that might be TOO good
Show threadCara BruarFeb 23
@trixter some possible editing tricks
-- read the scenes and chapters in random order
--use the computer to read it aloud
--some people swear by coloured text but I haven't tried that.