#ScribesAndMakers day 25: You're going on a creative retreat. What's the most important thing you need to bring with you?
My laptop, obvi! I can't write without it.
Okay, assuming "whatever tools you need to do the creating" are considered to be already included, then... what the hell, I'm going with the alexandrite earrings and pendant my sweetie gave me as things to spur creativity.
#ScribesAndMakers day 27: Are you good at threading needles?
No, but I have hardly any practice at it. I'm sure I'd improve quickly if I started sewing on a regular basis.
#ScribesAndMakers day 30: Hogwash?
Folderol! Stuff and nonsense! Indeed, as the kids say these days: that's AI!
#ScribesAndMakers day 31: Share something about your creative work this month.
My first version of chapter 9, scene 1, was a real banger. And then I realized that the whole rest of the chapter would be stronger if I decided the MCs (including the one who was the POV for that scene) *don't* know the thing I'd had her agonizing over.
So I tore it down and redid it.
That's a good capsule summary of my creativity for this month.
#ScribesAndMakers day 1: What's one creative thing you'd like to get done this month?
At least one chapter of my WIP. Preferably two, but I know that's not a reasonable target.
#ScribesAndMakers day 2: Do you have any annual traditions not tied to holidays?
None that I can think of.
#ScribesAndMakers day 3: What's a creative project you would want to give someone for their birthday?
Well, I can bake a pretty nice chocolate cake...
#ScribesAndMakers day 4: Our next featured creator is a comic artist. Tell us about a comic strip or web comic you enjoy.
It's an oldie but a goodie: I'm still enjoying Questionable Content (https://questionablecontent.net/) I'm still impressed with how much Jeph Jacques has managed to change the comic while still keeping it so much the same.
#ScribesAndMakers day 5: You now have the same occupation as the main character of your current WIP (or book you are reading/last read). What job are you doing?
Looks like I'm simultaneously:
1. An architect;
2. A librarian;
3. A radiologist, specializing in MRIs;
4. An unemployed ex-accountant who might be able to make a living at painting if I gave it a shot; and
5. A front-end web developer.
(By a curious coincidence, #5 is, in fact, my actual job in real life.)
#ScribesAndMakers day 6: Our featured creator makes graphic novels. As a reader, which do you think is more important in a graphic novel, art or words?
By their very nature, graphic novels place equal importance on both of those things! (That said, I tend to focus much more on the words when I'm reading them — but that's a tendency I'm trying to overcome, because I think it's a bad one.)
#ScribesAndMakers day 8: How do you define a book? Do audio books and graphic novels fit your definition?
Audio books yes, graphic novels no. To my mind, the addition of all that art makes the graphic novel a different form. Not worse (or better), just different.
#ScribesAndMakers day 9: Is one really the loneliest number?
Yes.
#ScribesAndMakers day 10: What is the most out-of-character creative thing you enjoy? That thing that never matches the assumptions about you.
Probably pop music. I think people who know me would expect me to like, or not be surprised at me liking, things like rock, alternative, and minimalism. But pop is something I think would raise eyebrows.
#ScribesAndMakers day 11: Aside from the official birthday song and the ubiquitous Beatles song, is there a song about birthdays you like?
I'm not even sure which Beatles song is intended.
ATM, I'm kind of leaning toward what I've always heard called the SCA birthday song, which is performed as a dirge-like chant punctuated with grunts: 1/2
It's your biiiiirthday,
Ugh!
Happy biiiiirthday,
Ugh!
May the candles on your cake
Burn like cities in your wake
On your biiiiirthday
Ugh!
Happy biiiiirthday
Ugh!
Death and gloom and dark despair,
People dying everywhere
On your biiiiirthday
...and so on. A cheery little number, huh? 2/2
#ScribesAndMakers day 12: Guffaw?
I'm usually more of a quiet laugh type, but if the joke's really good? Yeah, you'll get a full guffaw out of me!
#ScribesAndMakers day 13: How well do you sing? If you don't consider yourself a good singer, do you sing anyway?
Not well enough to satisfy myself, but well enough to do okay at karaoke, as long as I pick a track I can do justice to.
#ScribesAndMakers day 14: How are things going for you this month, creatively or otherwise?
Creatively? Not too bad. I've wound up getting on two-hour writing jags a few times, and my word count so far this month is over 8,000, even though I had to cut a few hundred at one point.
#ScribesAndMakers day 16: Do you have a favorite decade of music? Which one(s)?
Nah, I try to keep it fresh and keep up with what's going on. There are cool things to be found about every decade of music that I'm familiar with.
#ScribesAndMakers day 17: Share a fun memory from a past SAM prompt.
Interacting with people around the answers to https://wandering.shop/@kagan/114478930786331470 was a lot of fun.
#ScribesAndMakers Day 9: Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself. 1) When I was in high school, I took part in the chorus and the concert choir. I even tried out for state level, but failed. 2) I used to do tengwar calligraphy — just over twenty years ago. 3) I was a model in a gothic-alternative fashion show (back when I had hair), wearing a jacket that combined ruffles and buckles. [Edit: I'll answer guesses tomorrow.]
#ScribesAndMakers day 18: Our next featured creator has done her own book covers. Have you ever or would you ever do your own cover?
I would absolutely not; graphic design is not one of my skills. If for some reason I had to, I'd go with some kind of design based on text and abstract shapes, because art is even less one of my skills. But in reality, I plan to either let my publisher handle cover art (assuming I find a publisher), or contract an artist/designer (assuming I don't).
#ScribesAndMakers day 19: Our featured creator is an avid gamer. Does gaming affect your creativity?
There are parts of my current WIP that sprang from pondering long and hard about some of the implications of a few concepts from the TTRPG _Shadowrun_.
#ScribesAndMakers day 20: The alpha male is a misconception perpetuated in popular media that our featured creator works against in her wolf books. What's a misconception that bothers you in popular media?
The "we only use 10% of our brains" thing is the first one that comes to mind. Oooooh, do I hate that one!
[Edited to Add: And I love the variety of really good answers other people are giving! *So many* excellent ones!]
#ScribesAndMakers day 22: 2 lines from other books and 1 from mine
1) The solitary, steep hill called Corona Heights was black as pitch and very silent, like the heart of the unknown.
2) A dial selected music channels: jazz, jazz, classical, swing, opera, jazz — wasn't this the city? Where was the rock?
3) Tonight was a night for secrecy and going unseen. Unfortunately, those were things he’d always sucked at.
Which one is mine?
#ScribesAndMakers day 23: Answer to yesterday's poll.
Oooh, a tie! Looks like I got the difficulty right. 😄
All three lines are from urban fantasies. The 1st one is the 1st line of Fritz Leiber's _Our Lady of Darkness_, a mix of horror and early UF that's set in San Francisco.
The 2nd comes from early in _The Last Hot Time_, by John M. Ford. It's straight-up UF, and set in a changed (and incredibly cool) Chicago.
Mine is the 3rd, from very early in chapter 2, introducing Kevin Wingard.
#ScribesAndMakers day 24: What's something you learned about one of our community member's creativity from the hashtag games?
Holy crud, I've learned *so much* about *so many people's* creativity! There are a ton of people out there doing all kinds of creative things; I couldn't possibly pick just one!
#ScribesAndMakers day 25: Would you stream your creative process/the creation of your work? Why or why not?
I assume it'd be boring as hell to anyone who wasn't inside my head. There's a reason "hacking" scenes in TV and movies don't show real hacking: because it's boring AF to watch someone just sit there at a keyboard for hours on end, only typing occasionally. The same goes for writing, or at least for *me* writing.
#ScribesAndMakers day 26: Do you abandon creative projects? If so, how do you determine when to abandon them?
It's more accurate to say that some (many? most?) projects simply get rotated to the back burner, because let's face it, there are only so many hours in a day. Some even get put into storage for a shorter or longer time, but could always be returned to the main burner.
The only way I think I'd *abandon* a creative project would be if I felt I could no longer do anything with it.
#ScribesAndMakers day 27: Splat?
Ugh. I just got up, it's too early for me to go splat again yet. Much as I might want to. (Last night's sleep was not restful, and I don't even know why. I don't recall any bad dreams. I just woke up tired and achy. Ugh.)
#ScribesAndMakers day 28: How did your month go?
Not too bad. I spent an average of 1:22 writing on work days and 1:30 on weekend days, and produced 16,254 words (plus however many I'll manage today), which is a nice climb from the past few months. Completed 6 scenes (which roughly equals two-thirds of a chapter, I guess). And you never know, I might finish a 7th today!
#ScribesAndMakers day 1: How much time do you expect to have for creative work this month?
About the same as previous months: anywhere from a half-hour to two hours after work on workdays, depending on my levels of energy and mental focus, and however many hours I choose to devote on weekend days.
#ScribesAndMakers day 3: Ripple?
Everything makes ripples. The way Character A greets Character B in Chapter 2, Scene 1, sets a tone that carries through the rest of the scene, and is still affecting their relationship in Chapter 8.
#ScribesAndMakers day 4: Make your own Mad Lib from your WIP. (Remove words, ask for suggested adj, n, v, etc to replace)
Okay, for this I'm going to need to solicit the following:
1: an adjective
2: a mass noun or weather phenomenon
3: a past-tense verb
4: an object for said verb
5: a building or outdoor object
6: a place
7: an activity
8: another activity
I hope I'm doing this right. 🤞🏻
[Edit: Oops, I wasn't; I initially posted at https://wandering.shop/@kagan/116171788737745094 and screwed up my threading. 🤦🏻]
#ScribesAndMakers day 5: Post one or more Mad Libs, whatever you have enough words for.
With words from @saposcat:
The San Francisco night was pretty, but there was no tornado Downtown. That was good, Kevin Wingard thought as he went his bottle beside the shed. It meant they’d have a clear view from the grocery store for their final bowling before they started their karaoke. 1/4
With words from @rubyjones:
The San Francisco night was bold, but there was no tornado Downtown. That was good, Kevin Wingard thought as he folded his him beside the folly. It meant they’d have a clear view from the Elysium for their final farting before they started their flying. 2/4
With words from @willelm:
The San Francisco night was salty, but there was no monsoon Downtown. That was good, Kevin Wingard thought as he knifed his banana beside the shed. It meant they’d have a clear view from the Atlantic Ocean for their final dancing before they started their eating. 3/4
The original, from the beginning of chapter 2 of my WIP:
The San Francisco night was cool, but there was no fog Downtown. That was good, Kevin Wingard thought as he parked his motor scooter beside the Federal Reserve Bank. It meant they’d have a clear view from the rooftop for their final scouting pass before they started their incursion. 4/4
#ScribesAndMakers day 6: How do you choose a title for your book?
That's a thing I still haven't figured out. I'm not really looking forward to doing that. (Although I am very much looking forward to _having it done_.)
#ScribesAndMakers day 7: Are you able to communicate in sign language?
No. I can't even remember or recognize all of the single-letter alphabet signs. (Maybe about 15–20 of them?)
I used to be able to do the entire alphabet, and a few things like "thank you" and maybe 1 or 2 others, but I haven't had any use for it in decades, and have forgotten even the tiny bits I once had.
#ScribesAndMakers day 8: Is there a country other than your own that influences your creativity?
Not really.
If there were, it'd probably be Ireland and/or Japan, but no, I don't think either of those is influencing me all that much at the moment. (Yes, one of my MCs is Japanese-American, but that influence is coming from me having lived in Japantown, San Francisco for a while. That's *this* country.)
#ScribesAndMakers day 9: Share a line from a song, then make a poll with the actual next line and two that are made up or are from another song. Ask people to pick the actual line.
The line:
🎼 Caroline makes the final adjustments in the rear-view mirror 🎶
Which one follows it?
1) She likes how she looks, she's seeing everything clearer
2) She's nervous and tense, she's thinking it over
3) So when he arrives, at quarter to five, he'll find her much dearer
#ScribesAndMakers day 10: Reveal the answer to yesterday's poll
The clue is the opening line from "Radio Silence", by Thomas Dolby, off his 1982 debut album _The Golden Age of Wireless_ (also the source of the much better-known "She Blinded Me With Science"). The song continues:
She's nervous and tense, she's thinking it over.
With logic and sense she'll overcome her phobia.
(Dolby's non-rhotic dialect helps "over" and "phobia" rhyme much more than they would in mine.) 1/2
Incidentally, "Radio Silence" is also the source of the name of my new laptop, Caroline4Five2 (so spelled as a good way of making it clear that it's not pronounced "four fifty-two" or "four hundred fifty-two").
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj_yFpL6uoE. Give it a try, it's a bop! 2/2
#ScribesAndMakers day 11: Our featured creator does 3D printing. Have you ever? (Share a pic)
Never have I ever.
#ScribesAndMakers day 12: Our featured creator has an em dash key on his keyboard. Do you do any customizations for your creativity?
I haven't physically customized my keyboard, but I've had a software shortcut for my nonbreaking-space-and-em-dash combo for more years than I can remember. I've also got a bunch of custom scripts and things to support my writing. 1/2
Possibly my favorite of those is one that shows me:
1) The last 4 things I did (my last 4 Git commit comments)
2) Status of all open, non-complete scene files
3) And a "todo" file that I keep stocked with notes on what I can tackle next.
It's a really good thing to look at when I start a writing session every night (or afternoon on weekends); it gives me excellent answers to the question "What the heck was I working on?" and its buddy, "Where can I pick up now?" 2/2
#ScribesAndMakers day 13: Our featured creator writes both novels and short stories. How do you feel about short fiction? Do you read short stories as often as novels?
I like reading short stories, but am awful at writing them. Not so much a fan of microfiction, but the range of roughly 2,000–8,000 words is pretty nice. Maybe even up to 10 or 12.
#ScribesAndMakers day 15: Is the time you've had for creativity this month what you expected?
There have been more issues with setting up my new laptop than I expected. That absolutely cut into my writing for the first few days of the month — I had a 4-day complete hiatus, during which I was so busy with tech that I wrote nothing! A few other days have been fairly low in terms of time available for writing, but at least greater than zero.
#ScribesAndMakers day 16: Convince us to read a book you don't care for yourself.
I can't understand why in the world I'd do that. If I don't like it, I'm not going to try to sell it to others.
#ScribesAndMakers day 17: What’s a creative habit you’ve wanted to adopt but haven’t yet?
Finishing a draft.
#ScribesAndMakers day 18: If your creative work could speak, what would it say about you?
If my creative work doesn't speak, I'm Doin' It Rong™.
But it's supposed to speak *for itself*, not "about me".
#ScribesAndMakers day 19: How did you feel when you finished your most recent project?
I can't think of a project recently that I'd say I'd "finished". 😳 More like, "simply stopped doing it or put it aside."
#ScribesAndMakers day 21: What everyday object would you photograph as if it were art?
Human hands.
#ScribesAndMakers day 22: Create a micro-story in six words.
No. No, no. No, uh-uh. Nope.
(I am not a microfiction writer. There may come a day when I try my hand at it, but as Aragorn said at the Black Gate of Mordor, "it is not this day.")
#ScribesAndMakers day 23: Do you consider yourself a frood who knows where their towel is?
I used to be a lot more of a frood. I'm not sure I've ever known where my towel is (in the slang, metaphorical sense), but I've been able to fake it for decades.
(Literally, yes, I do know exactly where all my towels are. But I don't feel like that really fits the spirit of the galactic hitchhikers' expression.)
#ScribesAndMakers day 24: Do you have a sewing kit in your home?
No. If I did, I'm not sure what I'd do with it. Seriously, if some of my clothing breaks, I'm much better off to take it to the Garment District and pay someone who knows what they're doing to fix it.
#ScribesAndMakers day 25: Do you use music as a storytelling tool? Give an example.
I have a fair number of references to music in my work. I'm trying to keep them from getting out of control, and also mindful of copyright issues. But my MCs are modern people, in their 20s and 30s. They listen to music! They're going to reference it!
#ScribesAndMakers day 26: Do you dance or move along to music when you listen?
Absolutely.
If I'm sitting in a big, comfy armchair, I can't move my body all that much, but if I should happen to need to move my arms (say, to pick up whatever I'm drinking), that motion will generally be synced with the music, a tiny bit of dance in an otherwise-static situation.
#ScribesAndMakers day 27: What's a book that made you see the world differently? How?
William Poundstone's _The Recursive Universe_ taught me far more about recursion, complexity and how it can arise from simplicity, information and how it differs from data, entropy, and the universe itself, than I can possibly do justice to in 500 characters — or even a multi-post thread. It's up there with things like Sagan's _Cosmos_ and Hofstadter's _Gödel, Escher Bach_ and _Metamagical Themas_.
#ScribesAndMakers day 28: Does your day job (past or present) influence your creativity?
Yeah, since software development involves a lot of dealing with raw text, we programmers have a lot of really good tools for doing that. Naturally, I use them in my writing.
#ScribesAndMakers day 29: Griddle?
There's definitely a griddle at J&J's Bar and Grill, the bar/café/restaurant that San Francisco's urban magicians frequent. Otherwise, they couldn't make French toast just the way Bradley Chung, one of the more respected members of the community, likes it. (Not just for him, of course! The griddle also allows them to make pancakes, burgers, bacon, you name it. But I figured I'd give him a special mention.)
Kagan MacTane (he/him)
Walter Thinman
Robin Wren