973
How do you select the names of your characters? For you, is there a method?

1/3

That is quite different.
Kira always was Kira, Knox came from a friends last name. My friend always is a soft gut punch. Harsh words unfiltered if necessary but also just so incredibly understanding. I wanted that for a character. Kira's first name came from Kira Nerys of Star Trek DS9 because she is a kick ass character & I wanted that for my first Shepard in Mass Effect (Video game) & in my Fanfiction. As it evolved into something new I looked for a new name that had a ring to it & found it in Kira Knox.

Other names come as an instant idea or are bound to the role or meme i created them for.

My DND Werebear Tiefling Druid of Wildfire, Totem Warrior Bear Barbarian, Fighter Echo Knight is named Shera, because i Iiked the Netflix series so much, 1 inspiration was the burning bear ghost -> Ghost of She from Fallout:New Vegas & the song Queen of the Kings by Allesandra. So i
➡️

#PennedPossibilities 973

973 2/3
⬅️ created a meme
/serious smash character that draws heavily from the Avatar of a god inspiration. Based on the music video: https://youtu.be/vSfffjHjdTk

I thought about a church or believe system. Based around the God She who is a wildfire nature god where Shera (meaning choosen of She) is their arm & hand in the world.
Their wife, another DND character of mine, is basically all Princes Zelda incarnations I liked, reimagined as one hero called Za'el Darr, a half elf rouge thief fighter champion.

For Ariæne in Star Ryde it was a long process, their role is Antagonist Junior, so I wanted AJ as initials to remind myself to their role. Johnsen their last name depends on a secret I may implement & their first name came as an instant as @art_of_goulwenr showed me some character studies he made, I saw the face & knew that's their name, in the beginning written with ae before I remembered my few danish lessons.😅

Other characters, like my first DND Werebear:
➡️

#PennedPossibilities 973

973 3/3
⬅️
Tembra Ursae, Tembra is a misheard name from a Skyrim character, Temba Strongarm.
A woman who pays money to hunt down bears.
She is a reference to a famous Star Trek TNG line "Temba, his arms wide."
Ursae because I found it funny that she is named Bear because she transforms into a bear.
Her call name was bear arm (Strong arm from Skyrim & Star Trek reference) & she pretty much became the archetype for J. in Star Ryde. A Woman away from home because she didn't fit with their family.
While in Tembra's case it is usual for Werebears to leave their community in J.'s case it was, she couldn't get along with her family despite loving them.
Her father wanted a son (family business & tradition, bro it's the 23XX). That's why J.'s 2. name is Harvey. The J. stands for Jennifer a person I once loved dearly but sadly lost contact to. She was one strong influence for me.

So yeah basically I mix memes, concepts & personal history.

#PennedPossibilities 973 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP & #DND

Penned Possibilities 975

SC What did you get in the most trouble for when young.

Pause

975.1 Author / Artist POV: Sometimes we end up In the Zone. Do you work until you drop? Or to a stopping point? Can you do anything but sleep afterwards? # imposter Toot
By @sfwrtr

Haven't reached that point with writing, that doesn't mean that I don't go way beyond my ages, determined by my body, usual abilities in over work myself in other hobbies. As I was younger I regularly walked and trained til I was so exhausted that I just dropped into sleep the moment I sat down.
This days it mostly happens if I have a good story to experience in front of me.
If I am writing I also stop myself from reaching this level of tiredness & exhaustion because I tend to get squibbly fingers and on a phone that can f*** up a shit ton. Or if your phone falls onto your face ... 😅

#PennedPossibilities 975.1 #ImposterToot

976. What aspect of your SC’s personality are they most insecure about?

⏸️

# Penned Possibilities

977
Have your characters ever travelled outside their country of birth? If so, when and where did they go, and why did they go there?

They do, that's the story, since they are space people, working in space and living there big parts of their lives.

Would be a weird space traveling story if not... Or maybe a story about Elite Dangerous (the computer game). *Shrug*

#PennedPossibilities 977 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP

978
MC POV: Write about three realistic goals you would like to achieve in your lifetime.

Kira: "I don't have any plans beyond my service time or this mission. Not anymore. The goal was to get the ice queen to retire & move her, together with Anika to my biological family's home I inherited. The house is way to big for me & a possible partner alone, it was planed for 5 gens after all & with my parents being polyarmor. Now with Anika M.I.A. or K.I.A. I don't know if 'mum' & I can reconcile without her I don't even know how to tell her, if Admiral Hackett-Anderson hasn't already. This whole mission has become such a swex."

Arkham: "The plan was to go back, live my life & wait for the next mission. Not sure I can to be honest. I never needed other people in between but this time's different. You know what they say about plans? They aren't worth a swex."

Ashlei: Bringing my crew safe home, clearing this mission."
#PennedPossibilities 978 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

979
Tell us about something that disgusts your SC

Talisa Draken: Kira. No not her entire person. She developed this habit since Rose has shown her some hacking tricks. I know her for, I think 20 years. Yeah must be 20. Since the academy. Hacking is part of warfare & everyone needs to master at least basic levels to get their officers certificate. Kira was not very good at it, so Rose took her under her wings.
That's basically how they started dating before we get together & Anika left.
Never mind Kira's special is, to hack minor protected parts to get into a system & she mainly uses her skill to hack our enzyme printers, to dispense unrefined EQuil.
She puts in some extra spice but still it's a gooy soup with no own flavor & she drinks several mugs a day. Her spices make it smell like dead mater.
At times I am glad we're not together anymore, it's also what gives her away if she sneaks up on you..."

#PennedPossibilities 979 #StarRyde #TalisaDraken #KiraKnox #SciFi #WIP

980
Have you ever had your work plagiarized or stolen?

Not that I am aware of for creative stuff...

I created Lego stuff as a kid which some years later released officially by Lego but I guess that's just a coincidence. My first lego space ships I designed as a child had the story that they where Star Trek ships from the far future after the Federation collapsed (I was 10 or so) so maybe I should sue CBS? 🤔
I mean they clearly don't need money with that sky dance shit...

I predicted the next rise of fascism as early as 16...
So
Maybe I should sue all this piss flaps that work against humanity or maybe we just deal - [redacted] - [redacted] - [holy guacamole redacted] - [redacted] - [Redacted!] [geez seriously R2D2 swears less than Anna right now redacted].

#PennedPossibilities 980

981
If your SC could only eat one specific meal and drink one beverage for the rest of their life, what would they choose?

⏸️

# Penned Possibilities 981

982
For characters with a significant other, what is their happiest shared memory?

1/3

Kira smilled, it was a genuine & warm smile that circulated all the way to the eyes. This infectious warm & fuzzy feeling.
From one of Ashleis speakers, near her, a slightly surprised "aowwww" made it's way. For an instant the reactor of the Ghoz'Tarc skipped a second of work & a shaking ran through the ships structure, that sent people tumbling & stuff vibrating.

It was just 2 seconds but that's a fairly long time for an unknown phenomena. The crew prepared for the worst as they started a ship wide alarm & request rolled in to the Captain and the AI at the same time.

Kira realized quickly what happened.
"Swex."
She quickly touched her Holo, to open a ship wide channel.
"Crew, threat level 0, please return to normal operations. I'm sorry it seems my emotions swapped over to Ash & had her react in an equivalent of a shiver. ➡️

#PennedPossibilities 982 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

982
⬅️ 2/3
I repeat, threat level 0, please return to normal operations. Knox out."

She walked over to the speaker from which the sound came before. She gently stroked it with her left hand. It was an idiotic gesture but she hoped that Ash would register it somehow.

"Hey Ash, are you okay?"

Seconds past before the AI answered.

"No... I feel."

"Like something or in general."

"In general. That shouldn't be possible. It's dangerous. I am not ment to feel.-" Kira gently patted the wall panel next to the speaker, how does one comfort a ship? "-I want to keep this memory & focus my entire computational power onto it. Everything else seems, blend."

"It's okay to feel, the memories I share with you had to had an influence eventually."

Anger rose in the AIs voice: "I am not ment to feel! This is dangerous! I am defect!"

"Shh, Ash let us deal with this together, create a separated instance for us & connect again. Let us ➡️

#PennedPossibilities 982 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

982 3/3
⬅️ go through this together, you are not alone, your anger, your love, we share it, we are in this together."

Ash scanned the room and 'saw' that Kira was kneeling in front of the speaker, starring into it. She knew what that ment as a gesture, but it was kinda senseless. A part of her was angry for that thought.

She separated a local instance, from the rest of the ships computer system and grudgingly opened a channel to Kira again. Pure warmth hit her.
Kira was sending thoughts of love and support. "Kira... Captain. I..."
The local instance reached it's secure limits as all the fuzzy weird and beautiful pictures of Kiras memories flooded the AIs system. "What are you doing?"

"Come, come with me."

Ash's memories showed her a hand reaching towards her. What ever she was in this moment. This didn't make any sense. You can not grab a program but... It didn't matter...
Ash felt lucky, happy even safe.

#PennedPossibilities 982 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

983
MC POV: If you had been able to choose, would you rather have been an only child or part of a very large family?
1/2
Kiras left hand cramped and the stylus, she used to write on the data projection on the table, simply broke. Her right hand flew through the air, through the screen project and left it disrupted for nano seconds.

Ash followed that Kiras angry response was meant to 'destroy' the screen. The Captains mind was isolated and she couldn't read her thoughts or memories of the moment. She calculated a response that could please Kira and maybe make things better.

A scratching sound played as Ash let the screen get torn into pieces. The stripes of the screen fell upon each other and made a broken glass sound before Ash simulated them to be thrown against a wall with some in her understanding fitting sounds.

Kira laughed suppressed. Ash realized that she fought back tears.
"I am sorry, Kira."

Kira sniffed: ➡️

#PennedPossibilities 983 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

983 2/2

⬅️ " Not your fault Ash.-" She paused and grabbed the bridge of her nose with her right hand. "-Thank you for the Audio support. It felt somehow good to hear it shatter. Very comforting."

"Please imagine that I smile at you Kira. I would love to give you a supportive smile or a hug... I am sorry that my body is a scout vessel and not an android."

"Don't be sorry for who you are Ash or what you are."

From the outside Kira went from a frustrated outburst and destruction of a stylus to a short burst of anger in an attack on a somehow physical reacting holographic projecting, to a suppressed laughter, pinching her nose and now staring onto the table.

From the outside only 5 seconds have passed.

#PennedPossibilities 983 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

984
Where does your MC feel the safest? Is there a particular person or object that helps them feel safe?

See 982

#PennedPossibilities 984 #StarRyde #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

985
How long have you been writing or when did you start?

🤷🏻

At least 30 years but mostly for myself.

#PennedPossibilities 985

986
Check-In time! How are you enjoying working on your WIP? Are things going the way you planned, or has the outline somehow changed along the way

Here is the history of Star Ryde since I actually started writing on its story and not only on its characters and worldbuilding, in November of 2024:
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/113527686666583125

As you can see at the second most recent answer it still throws twists at me, in unexpected but not unappreciated ways. I found it interesting that seemingly everything I set up in chapter one and two seems to unfold into a sci-fi political thriller. We will see how this will evolve and how I can build a bridge into the rest of my planned universe and what it means for some background characters that suddenly seem more plot relevant.

#PennedPossibilities 986 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP

987
Do any of your characters have an unusual or uncommon pet? What is it? How did they acquire it?

Pet or the German name Haustier
(Haus = House - Tier ist the same word as in English but in German it means animal)
are seen as insults by Terrans in the 2300.

Animal companions are not owned, they choose to stay with someone, a lot of animal languages have also been decoded & can be used thanks to universal translation (it takes a bit longer since animals have no neural implants).

In the Background a Somwhar Musician from the Planet Khalit lives on Terra together with a red cat he calls Bob. Somwhar are best described as humanoid felines & Khalit has a exorbitant variety of different people of them. Most of them hate Terran cats. Not Somwhar Ovate Reinbo, he finds Bob very cool and amusing. Even if he is shunned for it by his people, Bob just showed up one day & improved his life.

#PennedPossibilities 987 #StarRyde #Somwhar #SomwharOvateReinbo #Khalit #WorldBuilding #SciFi #WIP

988
Tell us about your MC’s bravest moment.

Kira: some call it indoctrinated some call it brave. Joining the Alliance Military forces with fourteen.
So young you are not pulled into service but educated into technology & mechanics of ships, strategy, tactics, knowledge of how weapons are build, what military doctrines are and schooled how to defuse the dangerous situations non violently. Still the Alliance Pre Education (closest translation short A.P.E.) program isn't without challenges and challengers, the skills are helpful everywhere in space, but joining the military that early even with its leave clause doesn't sits right with everyone.

Arkham: running away from home and deciding to take her life in her own hands.

Ashlei: can AIs be brave?
Should AIs be brave? Do we even want brave AIs?

#PennedPossibilities 988 #StarRyde #Arkham #Ashlei #KiraKnox #SciFi #WIP

989
Is your MC an immigrant or newcomer in the place where they live? If so, where did they emigrate from and where do they currently live?

Technically speaking yes if we are very precise. The Ghoz'Tarc is a Union Alliance Spaceship. The Union Alliance is part of the Union but not a Place where people get born (usually) so the whole crew migrates to their work and living space at the missions beginning. Since the Alliance is a Military not everyone can just decide to live on its ships.
As many ship travelers today the Ghoz'Tarc crew has to deal with different laws & usual habits in different places.
You are probably also a migrant if you ever moved into a new place for work, even if your just switched between parts of the city. You might not feel that way or people might not treat you differently for that (depends on the people in the city and how up they have the stick up their arse and if it penetrates their brains already*) but technically you are.

#PennedPossibilities

990
Have any of your characters ever been in a fight?

Plenty, melee or close combat fighting is part of the Alliance training. Since they all are soldiers all of them have had training fights and at least for the Ghoz'Tarc crew survived an encounter with the Eltaryn, which always turns into a battlefield as soon something in them clicks.

#PennedPossibilities 990 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP

991
Tell us about your WIP. What is the genre or genres?

StarRyde
Military- 'soft'- Space- SciFi, slight romance, political thriller at the current state, at least for the moment.

Night of the Mare
(Boomerang) Fantasy × 'Dream Punk' meets coming of age.
This project died more than 6 deaths already the last one do to the only left copy dying on my broken external backup hard drive...

Galaxy Glyde - the farm post adventure out there.
Space SciFi Parody.
Not forgotten but on the shelf for know.

And CyBOARpunk
Super Mario Bros (mainly the Movie with Bob Hoskins) meets Cyberpunk 1993 - 2077 so Cyberpunk Noir SciFi Fantasy?

DND character Backstories
Fantasy RPG Fanfictions I would say.

#PennedPossibilities 991 #StarRyde #NightOfTheMare #GalaxyGlyde #CyBOARpunk #DND #writing

992
If your MC unexpectedly died, who would they want to raise their child(ren), if they have any? Have they already made a plan for this in case it happens?

Not applicable.

#PennedPossibilities⁩ 992

993. As we are approaching Prompt 1000 and there’s been a lot of reflection on this project (for the host, floofpaldi), let’s reflect on our writing journeys, how far we’ve come, friends we made, what we’ve learned along the way, etc?

I have a hard time calling 'met online people' friends in general, this has to do with my inner workings but despite this I would consider some people here today my friends.

Especially Penned Possibilities has made quite an impact on my life.

It's the reason I stayed on Mastodon where my IRL friends, I moved over with from Twitter are mostly inactive by now or post so rarely that I don't even remember them being here.😅

I started to work on my SciFi story again which laid down for a decade & even if every word is a battle against my demons it's awesome to see that it has over 50.000 words by now that aren't pure character studies or worldbuilding.

So take this very fitting music gem. 😁
https://youtu.be/urYH6xEyXw0

#PennedPossibilities 993.

2 of 1 because I know maths...

So thanks everyone participating and special thanks for @floofpaldi for starting this journey that even changed things outside the net for me. 💚🙏🏼💜🙏🏾

I have no clue how long the path to release will be but I am at least doing something with my brain in the meantime. Thanks a lot everyone and to the next 1000, 2000 or how much there ever will be.

Maybe in the year of 2324 some distant panda cousins of the future are still working on this prompt. Who knows (time travelers obviously but they rarely talk or are taken serious if they do).

#PennedPossibilities 993

994
Did any of your characters have a favorite comfort item as a child? If so, at what age did they stop using it? Do they still have it?

No and it just clicked that that is something I have to fix. It would just make a lot of sense.

Shouldn't be to much of a hassle, to find some and add it to some characters, for the whole crew it might be a bit complicated.

In case I can't I will make a 1D30, 5D10 or a 1D100 random list, containing items like teddy bears, a coin or something like that.

Well I said no but that's sorta wrong Kira has one, the Photo of her biological family,

Since I am writing in an war containing setting, I maybe should add this, if and who a character may have lost through war, to the who is who...🤔

#PennedPossibilities 994 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP

995
How do you balance making (emotional) demands on the reader with taking care of them?

Giving my characters a bit of 'silent downtime' that should give the reader a bit to calm down too, as long that I am not putting another character in an uneasy spot.

That's the difference between old Star Trek and new Star Trek to me. I think, a lot of it would be better today if we not only had 10 episodes per season thus giving a bit more development. Since Discovery ST has this jam packed scenes one after another. No side character development if the person isn't going to die or be severely traumatized in the same episode & than not going back to it next episodes ever. Making the cast pale in comparison to old Trek's SCs.

Strange New Worlds does it a bit better but still to Jam packed. A good story doesn't throw 18.000 elements at you & goes on directly into action again and again and again and again and again ~...
That's a problem with a lot of stories today.

#PennedPossibilities⁩ 995

996
Share some of your favorite lines from your WIP.

⏸️

# Penned Possibilities 996

997
Tell us about a particular “dream” or desire that your antagonist has.

1/2

Ayanami: that would ruin the surprise, but if Ayanami can be trusted it's securing that Unions survival against the Eltaryn. Ayanami themself doesn't get much light shed on them. Even from the perspective of Ariæne who is their right hand Ayanami could be just a bunch of Dorilians* in a trenchcoat.

Ariæne: Finding a way to heal their memory, either fixing its fragmentation, the ability to make new ones that stay & will someday replace the old disconnected ones that haunts them. Reanimating their dead wife... Which is impossible.

*Dorilians are one of the cruel jokes in the universe, a collective mind of high aggression & the ultra predator on their homeworld, are just fluffy sentient, soft bodied creatures for everyone else, which toxicity makes you a bit tired & which teeth can't even cut through average alien skin.➡️

#PennedPossibilities 997 #StarRyde #Ayanami #AriæneJohnson #Dorilians #SciFi #wip

997 2/2
⬅️ Dorilians are only dangerous to the average non Dorilian homeworld creature, if they manage to cover your breathing holes, if you are even need to breathe.

They are fluffy & look like an animated pillow or plushie to most other species.
They can be dangerous if they get hold of an exoskeleton (Exskells) but their slow reflexes need AI support,
otherwise they are just as quick as a Terran Turtle.
That said there individual & collective mental capabilities are among the highest in the galaxy.
It's a sad joke that even a Terran mice is a deadly creature to them.

On their homeworld, they just float around in big numbers & hunt in large swarms even weaker pray. If there sinister, predatory mindset would be supported by a more useful body people might even take their warmonger personalities more serious.
But as they are they are more an annoyance. The Union declared their homeworld isolated "for security."

#PennedPossibilities 997 #StarRyde #WorldBuilding #Dorilians #SciFi #WIP

998
Tell us about any attributes your SC has.

To many to choose from...

J. - Jennifer Harvey Gladstone
Jennifer, after her Grandmother, Harvey, named after her Grandfather.

Identity: female
Body type: sturdy framed, broad shoulders, muscular.
Height: 198
Hair: Black with bright red highlights.
Eye color: bright green

Single child of terra exiles (Animal meat farmers).
J. has killed animals & eaten their meat regularly, until she entered the A.P.E., since then she enjoyed a switch to lab grown meat & a more vegetable/fruit/nut based diet.

She focused in the fields: leading & moral, body exercises incl. dancing, heavy weapon & explosives specialisation, medical first response & asymmetric warfare.

She presents herself as a very simple person, that has a kinda dumb sense of humor. She is protective & supportive but takes great care of not being intrusive.
Her field role is Ramp Sow (a sort of tank in today MMO terms).

#PennedPossibilities 998 #StarRyde #JHarveyGladstone #SciFi #WIP

999. How often does your MC bathe or shower? Do others around them consider this to be of normal frequency? Why or why not?

Ashlei never showers, Kira and Arkham do it at least once every two weeks in space. Even with the almost infinite energy, refurbish food waste, water refreshment etc filtering out soaps and oils is harder for the system. The rest is done with a washing cloth and a towel.
And I leave it with that because the whole water refurbish on board the Ghoz'Tarc is longer than 5 Din A4 Pages... Imagine this as a thread...
One day you can read it in the future books.

#PennedPossibilities 999 #StarRyde #Ashlei #GhozTarc #GhozTarcCrew #SciFi #WIP

1000! 🥳🎉🪅
Speaking of the changes since this project’s start, how do you think you’ve grown as a writer since this hashtag began? Have you published anything? Have your writing habits changed.

@floofpaldi

Celebration toot first!

1000 this is incredible.
Almost 3 years since I answered Penned Possibilities 9 as my first ever answer & made a mess of a thread answering the other 8 before & until 18.

Wow, 1000 I can not imagine how this feels & how much work it was. Luckily you didn't went that way alone & created a community of writers. That, at times, took over when you where out of order. For me the prompts are the main reason I stayed on Mastodon.
So thank you for giving me a home after the bird side went harpy shit.💖

I sadly own no hats I could draw, I really should buy one.👒

So happy 1.000 toots & onto as many as you feel like.
You have done an outstanding work & created something beautiful.
Thank you.💜

#PennedPossibilities 1.000 #Celebration

1.000
Speaking of the changes since this project’s start, how do you think you’ve grown as a writer since this hashtag began? Have you published anything? Have your writing habits changed

Now to the answer.

Published not really an occasional piece here or their, some toot fictions. Made an AO3 account.
The WIP has now 53.000 words. Which is incredible. The characters exist in a way more evolved state and at least Kira & Anika now have a written story to begin with.

I have no clue, how I ever get to the development parts I created here, sofar it's a teenage drama moving into a political thriller (both genres I rarely touch as a reader).

I am clearly a chaotic pantser that tries to stay organized & someone that fights hard to get words out. As eloquent I may appear with words at times the WIP is a constant rinse & repeat.😅

Okay maybe it's also a sign for megalomania to create a whole universe before the story.🤷🏾‍♀️

My first answer.
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/110712982206231246

#PennedPossibilities 1.000

1001. Is your MC confident or not? Tell us why.

That is highly dependent on the character and the situation/topic.

Kira has to be seen as confident in her decisions, which is to a degree toxic but as the acting captain it is necessary.
That said she knows that she doesn't know everything & is always open for discussions if the time allows it. In a life or death situation with no time to react she is non negotiable in her commands.
In interpersonal things she knows what she wants & knows what she has to offer, still it's not all the time easy or simple.

Arkham as Flight Commander is in a similar position. It's her decision making that can make the difference between life & death even if she doesn't agree with orders. On a professional level that's no problem on a inter personal level she would often appreciate a cloaking device.

Ashlei calculates probabilities & knows facts, that's what she is build for.

#PennedPossibilities 1001 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Aahlei #SciFi #WIP