#WordWeavers day 19: Do your antagonists believe in the supernatural?

My antagonists, as well as my main characters, *are* supernatural. Or at least, agents of it; the living spirit of San Francisco itself has taught them all magic and given them the power to cast it. Not believing in the supernatural, for any of them, would be like not believing that people can see colors, or not believing in their own right hand, or something like that.

#WordWeavers day 20: What tropes are in your current project?

Oh, so many of them! An incomplete list, as per https://tvtropes.org/ titles:

Action Girl (multiple ones, in fact)
Affably Evil
Badass Longcoat
Bi the Way
The City (in a big way!)
Ensemble Cast
Family of Choice
Five-Man Band
Magical Society (a bunch of them!)
Paranormal Mundane Item
Portal Door
Utility Magic

#WordWeavers day 21: What part of editing is hardest for you?

I haven't done much of it yet; I'm trying real hard to just finish writing my first draft and then deal with editing. But I strongly suspect it'll turn out the answer is "cutting enough material to get down to a reasonable size".

#WordWeavers day 22: Have you ever created a character that you really didn't enjoy writing?

I don't *think* so. There's one of my antagonists who I don't enjoy having to do as much research as I need to do for her background (the political fixer, in case you were wondering), but when I actually _write_ from her perspective, it's usually rather fun.

#WordWeavers day 23: What word/phrase do you use too much? Has it changed over time?

I haven't checked to be sure, but probably any/all of really, actually, mostly, and probably.

(Yes, I did that on purpose.)

#WordWeavers day 24: Tell us something about your MC that seems unimportant but really is crucial.

The fact that Angel Castillo did slam poetry in their high school and early college days seems like just an interesting curiosity about them. But it's also a sign of the punk heart that still beats under their stylish, suit-wearing exterior now that they're in their thirties.

(And the experience also comes in handy for improvising orations when casting spells.)

#WordWeavers day 25: How is light created in your book? Candles, electricity, magic, or what?

Mostly by electricity; it's set in San Francisco in 2024. But an interesting piece of trivia that may become a teeny plot point: Back when San Francisco first started training urban wizards, during the Gold Rush, there was a standard spell to create light. It was still reasonably common up until roughly a dozen years ago, because it could... 1/2

...take the place of carrying a flashlight. Now that everyone has cell phones, it's mostly fallen by the wayside... but it *does* still exist — and it can be really useful for proving to someone that magic is real. 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 26: Who in your book is most like a real person you've loved IRL?

None of my characters are particularly similar to any loved ones, past or present. I suppose the closest might very well be Angel Castillo, who, like my partner, is nonbinary and a good dresser — but that's about where the similarities end.

#WordWeavers day 27: Which of your characters do you find especially interesting? Why?

Too many to list.

#WordWeavers day 28: Would you like to meet any of your characters? Would you tell them who you are?

I CANNOT tell them who I am. I absolutely refuse to ever let them know they're characters in a book; in their own minds, they MUST not simply believe, but *know*, as you and I do, that they're real, live people. This is non-negotiable for me; I won't even hypothetically put questions to them for hashtag games that would break that. 1/2

That said, if I could hang out with them without being their creator? Yeah, I would love to spend time with, and even be friends with, a great many of them! There are a whole bunch who I find quite likable. 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 1: What is your greatest fear about your characters?

I have no idea. 🤷🏻 Sorry.

#WordWeavers day 2: Do you write scenes out-of-order? If so, how do you decide on their arrangement?

A little, but every time I try, I run aground on the problem that later scenes build on earlier ones. Even if I know *generally* what happened in the earlier scene-that-I-haven't-written-yet, because I outlined things, I still find that little details matter. Like whether a character mentions a particular thing to another, or if there's been some banter, or whatever. 1/2

The future builds on the past. I can always tell when I'm missing stuff, as I write later scenes without having done their antecedents first.

That doesn't stop me from doing it; I'm currently working on 6 scenes across 4 chapters. But it feels weird.

Anyway, I decide in their arrangement in the outline, although I do give myself leeway to shift them if I later find that'd be a good idea. 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 3: Introduce one of your MCs without telling us their age, gender, job and who they are to others (e.g. friend, parent etc.).

I'm sorry, I can't figure out how to fudge the pronouns to keep the gender obscured right now. 1/2

(Could I do my introduction in Lang Belta? "Margot Chu wa mang demang kowltim tenye wang pish baseng ret. Im paxo unte goda, amash im kang du wow tugut; tenye belte belék ere kung fu"? That's "Margot Chu is a person who always has one red piece of clothing. [He/she/they/it] is short and fat, but [he/she/they/it] can fight very well; [he/she/they/it] has a black belt in kung fu.") 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 4: When was the last time your MCs lied? Why?

For Carlos and Angel, it was pretty much "the last time they told their partner they were doing some after-work thing when they were actually going to hang out with their magical team". Which, at the point I'm at in my first draft, means "not more than a week ago, and maybe as little as an hour ago, depending on exactly where in the narrative you choose.

#WordWeavers day 6: If you have several stories, which one should a new reader start with? If 1/not yet published, what other works might your readers enjoy?

I've hyped up John M. Ford's _The Last Hot Time_ a few times already on this hashtag (and/or on WritersCoffeeClub and ScribesAndMakers), and I stand by my claim that if you like my story, you'll probably like that one.

But how would you know if you like my story? I haven't finished or published it yet. So, umm. Yeah. 🤷🏻

#WordWeavers day 7: How do you define a “strong” character? How do you create one?

The word has some ambiguity to it: sometimes, people use it to mean a character who displays strength within their story (i.e., by overcoming difficult tasks and great obstacles), but other times, we use it to mean the character is well-constructed, interesting, etc. — a strong addition to the story. 1/2

Creating the first type of character seems easy enough: just throw lots of adversity at them, and have them triumph over it. (The word "seems" may be doing a lot of heavy lifting, there...)

Creating the latter? Entire volumes have been written about that; I can't really do the topic justice here. 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 8: How do you approach stereotypes while creating characters?

I try to avoid them.

#WordWeavers day 9: If you need to share an important piece of history/lore, what’s your approach that avoids infodumping?

One approach I'm using in my current story is to have two "learner" characters. They're both interesting people in their own right, so there's absolutely no problem with them "existing solely to have things explained to them". But they do get to (among other things) serve as reader surrogates, so that readers... 1/2

...can learn along with these characters. I even had one be a fairly new transplant to San Francisco, so I can easily explain non-magical things about, e.g., the City's history or trivia.

Of course, another good strategy is to break the info up into little, bite-sized pieces so it's not "dumping". 2/2

#WordWeavers day 10: Antagonist POV: Imagine you achieved your goal. What’s next?

Donna Kuang says: Which goal? I've got three propositions on this November's ballot, and four candidates I'm backing. But fine, assume I get all of them passed or elected.

Since that would be a goddamned miracle, I'd celebrate like there was no tomorrow. I'd've earned it!

And then, in a day or two, it'd be time to start thinking about *next* year's races. There's always another election cycle coming up. 1/2

Travis Winter says: Once I've made the City safe, and set it on a path that would keep it from being overrun with homeless people and criminals? Then I could just relax and enjoy that. Go back to running my company.

(Narrator: He would not, in fact, relax at that point. He'd find that there was something else wrong, that he *had* to "fix".) 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 12: How could someone who knows your MC well console them after the last time you made them suffer?

I haven't made too many of my characters suffer that much yet (I'm planning on ramping it up — although this question is making me wonder if I should pile it on a little more quickly!), but the couple of times I have, I've had other characters help them to some degree. Interesting. 1/2

Frex, in chapter 2, three characters acquire an Ominous Tome of Dark Magic™. Later, one of them talks to another about the things they're finding in it, and Character Two tells the first one that they honestly look *haunted*, and hey, if they've gone through the thing once and gotten the basic gist? Then it's okay if they put it down for a little bit, and just do a little self-care.

It helps.

(Until the next time I hit Character One with something even worse.) 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 13: Tell us about a quirk your SC has.

I'm having a lot of trouble with this one, because I've been trying out various different characters to try to find a good answer. While I do feel my characters all have well-developed personalities, I'm having trouble finding anything that feels like "a quirk". I mean, is a hobby a quirk? I don't think so. 1/2

All the details I have about my characters feel more important than mere quirks. Conversely, anything small enough to be a quirk would be... kind of trivial or even irrelevant, you know? 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 14: Is selling your work for money important to you when you write?

Not for the money, no. I have a day job, and it pays me better than writing is ever likely to (unless I get *way* luckier than I have any expectation of).

But the knowledge that total strangers had paid good money to read my stories would make me feel really good about myself as a writer. I'm already paying my bills just fine, but *validation* is something you can't just buy.

#WordWeavers day 15: If your SC came across a large crystal that was glowing from within, what, if anything, would they do with it?

Most of them would think, "*Glowing*? Okay, _that's_ a very odd thing for a magical item to do," and promptly look at it with magical sight to try to figure out more about it. 1/2

Not all my SCs are magicians, of course. The non-magical ones would vary from wondering how the hell someone had rigged that up and inspecting the thing for hidden wires or other tech to being disturbed and backing away slowly. 2/2

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#WordWeavers day 16: Do you have any kind of ritual to get in the mood to sit down and write? If so, what is it?

It depends on what you mean by "ritual". Is a ritual simply a set of frequently- or at least periodically-repeated actions? Or does it have to be an *intentional* set of repeated actions? 1/3

I mean, I *love* me some ritual! So I kind of get into the question of what qualifies. I don't feel like my writing-session kickoff qualifies. For that, I'd want something more intentional, more focused and deliberate. 2/3

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I do generally set myself up with a Manhattan and maybe a shot of Irish whiskey — although sometimes I'll deliberately do some other drink that suits the scene or the POV character. And I'll usually put on one of my writing mixes, although I may go for some other music that matches the scene.

But that doesn't feel like "ritual" so much as "getting my shit together." 3/3

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#WordWeavers day 17: Did you ever receive formal education in creative writing?

Dammit, now I'm trying to remember exactly what courses I took back in college. Particularly at UMass Amherst. I know for sure there was at least one poetry course, and I'd swear there was at least one other that might have been more prose-oriented. But the details are lost to the mists of time and the gaps in my forgettery (the opposite of a memory).

#WordWeavers day 18: Tell us about a time when your MC failed.

At the beginning of the story, Jessie is dealing with the aftermath of having lost her job. She considers it a major personal failure, and I'm not about to say she's entirely wrong. (I will note that there were factors in play that she's still unaware of. But she won't learn about those until after the story's over. If there's a sequel, her reaction to that knowledge will show up there.)

#WordWeavers day 19: Share something that makes your SC different from your MC.

They're different people. Like, entirely.

#WordWeavers day 20: How much romance is in your story?

Currently, I have an entire romantic side-plot. I'll likely have to cut it as one of the many ways to try to get my word-count down to a manageable level. But even without it, there's also the three established relationships that three of my MCs are in: two are happily married, and one is in a happy long-term relationship. 1/2