#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
#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
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
#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
There's *definitely* some romance going on between Margot Chu and her husband, and Carlos Velázquez and his wife may be less demonstrative, but they're no less in love. 2/2
#WordWeavers day 21: Where do your MCs fall, on a scale of timid to recklessly brave?
Counting 0 as timid and 10 as recklessly brave:
Angel: 4
David: 5
Carlos: 4, but he wishes he could be about a 7 or an 8
Margot: 7 (and would be higher if not for her husband and children)
Jessie: 8
#WordWeavers day 22: Is there a subject that’s represented poorly in media that you’d like to cover in your work?
Lots of things. One is depiction of various types of neurodiversity. Another is depiction of bisexual people as being bisexual regardless of what type of relationship they're in.
#WordWeavers day 23: What are you careful about when writing?
Goddess, so many things! Not contradicting anything I've already established; not contradicting actual reality (except if I _consciously, deliberately_ choose to do so); making characters with backgrounds different from mine as realistic as I can. Those are the big three that immediately came to mind.
#WordWeavers day 24: Tell us about something positive you experienced because of writing.
Getting to participate in writing communities like this one.
#WordWeavers day 25: What do you feel thinking about the last scene you wrote?
Last one I completed? Fairly positive. It seems to be doing a good job of hinting at something that I want to hint at, without bluntly revealing it yet. The kinds of people who will get it will, I think, read this and go, "Ah, I wasn't sure if [redacted] before, but now I'm quite positive," while the people who completely miss it will be able to come back after... 1/2
...the reveal and go, "Yeah, all the signs were legitimately there, how did I miss that?"
If it's the last one I did some writing in (i.e., the second of the two I worked on last night), then it's coming along okay. Off to a decent start, without dragging things out too much.
(Good thing you didn't ask about the *first* scene I worked on last night. That one's spinning out of control. Dammit.) 2/2
#WordWeavers day 26: SC POV: What’s your favorite smell?
Lex Bainbridge says: I gave up smoking many, many years ago, but if I'm gonna be honest? I still love the smell of clove cigarettes.
I won't *have* one. But I like smelling them when someone else nearby is smoking one.
#WordWeavers day 27: Which character would be the most fun to be around?
Zoë Broadstreet. She's a party girl, and completely unapologetic about it. OTOH, she's also smart, and deep.
#WordWeavers day 28: When was the last time your MC got excited? Why?
Not sure if it was the absolute most recent time any MC got excited, but one that stands out to me is that Jessie Nakamura recently got excited when her big brother, George, called to say he was just up the block from her apartment and invite her out to lunch.
#WordWeavers day 29: How big is your cast of characters?
5 MCs, 5 villains, and a whole host of other SCs who relate to the heroes or villains in various ways (parents, children, siblings, romantic partners, friends, co-workers, roommates, employees...)
It's a story about *a city*. Not a small town or village. It's got a large population.
#WordWeavers day 30: How do you keep track of important info related to your characters, world, etc.?
I have extensive notes of various types, as detailed at: https://wandering.shop/@kagan/116273665587989242. Also a spreadsheet tracking various info about each character (since that's not "notes", I didn't think to include it in the other answer!).
#WritersCoffeeClub day 22: How do you organise your notes? (No notes?) I have a few different types of notes: * Character bios (and related material) * World-building/setting notes * Plot notes, which includes an outline and also a document that's just dates when scenes take place * Also a file of "unresolved questions" that I need to answer... many of which eventually got moved into a "resolved" file! 1/2
#WordWeavers day 31: Share or tell us about a fun scene you recently wrote.
The one I most recently completed starts off being not-fun: Zoë Broadstreet needs to clean up her apartment for a party/ritual that she's hosting. She's not happy with how little time she has to do it in. But then Casey De Luca shows up to help. This was not unexpected, but Casey's attitude makes everything okay. She tells Zoë to put her to work, and says, "Don't worry. We've _got this._"
#WordWeavers day 1: Your opinion on April Fools Day and do you incorporate the day into your work?
I used to like it a lot more than I do now. I think we're drowning in way more misinformation and DISinformation than we used to be, and there's no sense in adding to that problem.
My WIP has a scene that, if you check a calendar and do the math, happens on April 1st. It's a scene like any other, no mention of April Fool's.
#WordWeavers day 2: Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g, character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.
I think the vignettes I started off with might qualify as the "prequels" mentioned in this question. I also do pretty thorough backstories, including things like where they went to school, what media items were formative influences on them (TV, books, songs, you name it), what they majored in, how they got into their current career, their relationship history, etc.
#WordWeavers day 3: For which characters do you come up with a backstory?
Pretty much everyone with more than a fleeting appearance or bit part. My MCs and villains get pretty thorough backstories; my SCs also get backstories, though of varying elaborateness depending on how much we see them and how central they are to the story.
#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.)?
I can't invite my characters to parties; they don't get to know me as the guy who created them. But in-story, Lex Bainbridge invites basically the entire San Francisco urban wizard community to a party to commemorate the City's surviving the Great Quake and Fire of 1906. 1/2
(This is a standard, annual event for them, but who throws the party rotates yearly — and it's a new concept for the two new learners, David Hartmann and Jessie Nakamura.)
Angel Castillo, Margot Chu, and Carlos Velazquez were included in the invite, too. So what the heck, tomorrow I'll answer for all of them. 2/2
#WordWeavers day 5: How would [did] the character[s] from question 4 react to being invited?
Jessie was happy to be invited, and happily attended the party. Okay, she was a little nervous about meeting so many new people, but she went anyway, and had a good time. (At least until this one guy started being a jerk, which is plot stuff.) 1/4
David was more dubious, because he's a little intimidated by Lex (the host). Jessie finally convinced him to come join her once she was at the party. Once he got there, he did have a good time (and starts the path toward getting over that feeling of intimidation).
Margot wished she could go, but has two daughters to take care of and needs to get to bed at a reasonable hour, so skipped it (at least this year). 2/4
Carlos isn't normally a big party guy, but would like to go to this one to connect with the magical community. Unfortunately, he has no way of explaining it to his wife (and kids), so he just silently stayed home and tried not to think about what he was missing. 3/4
Angel went, mostly to support their mentee, Jessie (and somewhat to support their BFF Margot's mentee, David). They expected to have a good-enough time, but quickly ran into the same jerk who Jessie was dealing with. So there was that bit of drama, and they left a little while later. 4/4
#WordWeavers day 6: Can you create a character/place/story hook/device on the spot, if you need to? If so, share an example.
Generally no. Not on command or at will or by my own desire, anyway. Occasionally something will pop up unbidden (and usually unexpectedly!), but that's completely unpredictable and also pretty rare.
#WordWeavers day 7: Look around and describe an object as if it were a mysterious item (no name, no idea of its purpose).
It's a long, slender piece of metal, mostly straight but with a slight arch to it, and at one end it flares out into an ovoid shape that's flat and concave. A sort of long-ish bowl shape, on the end of a long stem.
#WordWeavers day 8: Do your characters tell jokes? If so, let them tell us a joke, please.
Carlos is fond of dad jokes, but I'm sorry, I haven't got one on tap right now.
#WordWeavers day 9: One of your characters is seeing something unbelievable. What is it and why are they seeing it?
It's the bit in chapter 2, when one of the MCs takes out a unique magical item that's properly kept for dire circumstances only, and then uses it to walk through a wall. Their teammates are duly impressed, as are other people who find out about that later on.
#WordWeavers day 10: Did your MC ever have a melody/tune stuck in their head?
I assume all of them have had that happen at various times in their lives. Are there people who just... never get earworms?
I haven't written any situations yet where I explicitly state that such-and-so character has a song stuck in their head, if that's what you mean.
#WordWeavers day 11: What would be the most unappreciated social event a character of yours could be invited to?
I'm imagining if someone were to invite Jessie Nakamura to a charity gala or dinner. First off, Jessie's unemployed at the start of the book, and can't afford to give money away. Second, she's a motorcycle-riding rocker-girl, and would describe herself as "a black-clad reprobate". She'd feel incredibly out-of-place at any fancy event.
#WordWeavers day 12: Your MC has 2½ days of spare time, time to…
Angel: Maybe Jake and I could do a quick staycation? Check into like the Kabuki Hotel or that one out by Sutro Heights...
David: Maybe do a little hacking on that personal coding project I've been thinking about.
Jessie: Honestly, *all* my time lately is "spare", and I should really be using it to try to find a job instead of fucking around with painting. 1/2
Carlos: That's not nearly enough time to research that biographical stuff about Thomas Aquinas like I've been meaning to, but maybe I could at least get a start on it and take some good notes.
Margot: Oh heck, let's see if Al and the girls and I could do a quick road trip! Just down to like Monterey or something. 2/2
#WordWeavers day 13: Does your MC have a particular scent they love or hate due to their past?
When Angel goes to visit with Margot's parents, Margot's mother makes _zhīmahú_, Cantonese black sesame soup, for dessert. It was Margot's favorite as a girl, and she still loves it. At one point, after a burst of the sound of a blender comes from the kitchen, she tells Angel, "That sound, after the smell of roasting sesame seeds, always told me it was going to be time for black sesame soup soon."
#WordWeavers day 14: Do your MCs tend to run more optimistic or pessimistic about life?
Overall, more optimistic. They may complain, they may observe that there are significant and even systemic roadblocks to effecting change, but at the bottom of it all, they _do_ believe that change for the better is possible, and that they can (help) bring it about.
Which is part of what makes them my MCs, and heroes in general.
#WordWeavers day 15: Are your antagonists more optimistic or pessimistic? Why?
That's a really good question. In some ways, the Big Bad's plan could be seen as ultimately stemming from a lack, or loss, of hope that people are decent. He thinks he has to fix a broken situation. (OTOH, he thinks he *can* fix it... is that optimism?)
#WordWeavers day 16: If your MCs lived in our world, would they have good financial credit?
They do live in our world! And most of them have reasonably good credit. Nothing to write home about, but generally doing okay. The main exception is Jessie, who's having some cash-flow problems and general financial worries.
#WordWeavers day 17: How far beyond the local home of your MCs does your story extend?
The story is almost completely confined in the 7×7 square miles of San Francisco. At one point, Angel drives across the Bay to visit someone in Oakland. Someone else might leave the City's boundaries at some point, or might not.
#WordWeavers day 18: If your antagonists had to learn a musical instrument, what would they pick and why?
Derek Devereaux says he used to want to learn to play the organ, just so he could play the Wurlitzer organ at the Castro Theatre, but since they took it away, he might as well just play the kazoo.
#WordWeavers day 19: If your SC were going on a trip, would they pack light or take too much?
Vivian Quinlan, the leader of a high-concept party-throwing magical group (generally known as "Queen Viv" to other members of the group and even to many urban shamans outside her group) would absolutely overpack. Granted, city wizards don't often go out of town, but if she did, she'd pack so heavily, someone would only half-jokingly suggest she just hire a moving truck.
#WordWeavers day 20: What are your MCs' relationships to preparing and obtaining food?
Fairly standard for middle-class people in San Francisco these days, I think. There's a mix of buying groceries from the supermarket or Instacart and its ilk and then cooking them at home, getting lunch from places near the office on days that aren't work-from-home, some in-home meal delivery, and some eating out. (It'd be a shame not to do that; San Francisco is... 1/2
...very well-supplied with excellent restaurants of nearly every type of cuisine and at nearly every price point.) 2/2
#WordWeavers day 21: Does the change of seasons affect your writing at all? If so, how?
I write better after dark. OTOH, I have more energy when the days are longer. So those two things kind of balance each other out; there's no real net change in my output. (Also no change in content or tone; those things are controlled by the needs of the story, not my mood or the environment around me.)
#WordWeavers day 22: What would your antagonists be willing to die for?
Derrick would be willing to die to save his husband, Ashton. Donna would likewise be willing to die to save her husband, Larry or her son, Brandon.
And most of them would be willing to die to stop a threat to the City itself. Adrian is kind of on the fence about that.
(If you're wondering about Travis' wife, or Adrian's wife or son... no, I already listed the things people would be willing to die for.)
#WordWeavers day 23: What would your MCs be willing to die for?
As per the villains (yesterday), all of them have family members they'd be willing to die for. I'm not going to list them all; that might get long. But note that even though Jessie's relationship with her mother is very strained, she'd still die for her if it became necessary.
Also, any of them would die to save the City from a threat... and they very much include Travis Winter and his plans in that category.
#WordWeavers day 24: Do your characters have any "tells" when they are lying?
Probably; poker players will tell you that everyone has a tell. But they'll also admit that most of them are pretty subtle. I haven't bothered to come up with specific ones. Except that Carmen Lockhart fiddles with a lock of her hair when she's nervous... but she hardly ever lies. She just gets nervous in social situations sometimes.
#WordWeavers day 26: How "high maintenance" are your MCs?
I'm not entirely sure what qualifies, TBPH. I mostly hear it used as a way to criticize people (usually women) for having needs or desires that the criticizer (usually male) doesn't want to meet. I'm positive that's not what's meant here... but I'm not sure what *is*.
I guess about average amounts of maintenance?
#WordWeavers day 28: Do you use flowers at all in your story?
The California poppy, the state flower of California, is used as a magical ingredient in at least one spell.
#WordWeavers day 29: Can you describe your current WIP in three words?
San Francisco urban fantasy (counting "San Francisco" as one word... just one that happens to have a space in it).
#WordWeavers May 1: How long have you been working on your WIP?
I started writing the first draft on April 18th, 2025. I'd been doing pre-work for a while before then, though. I think it went from "I idly kick around this idea of 'what if I were to write a story about living, magical cities sometime?'" to "Okay, I'm gonna write this thing" sometime in late 2022.
#WordWeavers May 2: How much longer do you think it’ll take you to finish your WIP?
That question has been weighing on my mind for quite some time now. If I extrapolate my progress so far, it looks like I might finish the first draft in early 2028. Then my thoughts for how to revise are ones that might involve complete rewrites, so...
Honestly, thinking about it is pretty upsetting.
#WordWeavers May 3: Tell us one thing you love about your story.
That (I think) I'm making the City a definite character in its own right. Not just "a setting that has a major effect on the story", but really *a character*.
#WordWeavers May 4: What’s your MC’s critical flaw?
Carlos: He'd say it's his hEDS. I'm more inclined to think it's his refusal to tell his wife that magic is real.
Angel: As with Carlos, their terror of opening up about magic to their boyfriend is major. Also their insecurity and desire for their parents' approval.
Jessie: Her abysmal self-image, which at least partly stems from yet another thing that I want to keep secret for now. 1/2
David: As with Jessie, I want to keep his problems under wraps for now, and see if I can surface them appropriately in the text.
Margot: I'm not sure she has one, really. She's fairly self-actualized, having done the hard work of overcoming flaws before the story starts. 2/2
#WordWeavers May 5: Is your MC aware of their flaw?
Carlos: Is very aware of both flaws, but doesn't see any way of overcoming either of them.
Angel: Much like Carlos, except for insecurity. They don't realize how insecure they are.
Jessie and David: Both nope, at least at the beginning of the book. Jessie thinks her self-image is accurate, though she starts to learn otherwise as the story progresses. David also starts learning about his own flaw as events unfold.
Margot: N/A?
Kagan MacTane (he/him)