#boostingissharing — Public Fediverse posts

#WordWeavers 2026.07.19 — MC POV: What scares you the most about the future of your world?

[Bolt, day angel woman:] I dunno. Just living, working for the mob, is kinda scary enough already, but there was the news…about the government saying the population had declined 30 million to 240 million since the moonshot 200 years ago. Still, 240 million! That's an unfathomable number. Can't get me to worry about that.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.19 — MC POV: What scares you the most about the future of your world?

[Bolt, day angel woman:] I dunno. Just living, working for the mob, is kinda scary enough already, but there was the news…about the government saying the population had declined 30 million to 240 million since the moonshot 200 years ago. Still, 240 million! That's an unfathomable number. Can't get me to worry about that.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.19 — MC POV: What scares you the most about the future of your world?

[Bolt, day angel woman:] I dunno. Just living, working for the mob, is kinda scary enough already, but there was the news…about the government saying the population had declined 30 million to 240 million since the moonshot 200 years ago. Still, 240 million! That's an unfathomable number. Can't get me to worry about that.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.19 — MC POV: What scares you the most about the future of your world?

[Bolt, day angel woman:] I dunno. Just living, working for the mob, is kinda scary enough already, but there was the news…about the government saying the population had declined 30 million to 240 million since the moonshot 200 years ago. Still, 240 million! That's an unfathomable number. Can't get me to worry about that.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.19 — MC POV: What scares you the most about the future of your world?

[Bolt, day angel woman:] I dunno. Just living, working for the mob, is kinda scary enough already, but there was the news…about the government saying the population had declined 30 million to 240 million since the moonshot 200 years ago. Still, 240 million! That's an unfathomable number. Can't get me to worry about that.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.19 — Where is the line between following genre or medium conventions, and creating something trite?

This is where honesty with yourself as a writer and skill in telling stories about people (not places or events) allows you to sense if a story works despite the tropes, or whether you're writing a clown show. Too many or too few genre conventions? No ruler exists. I've intentionally wrote space opera: it wasn't about the wizzing space ships, dozens of alien species, or interstellar free traders in the story—the story was about the orphan taken in by a couple, a human married to an alien, and how they help each other survive, and that's what had heart.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.19 — Where is the line between following genre or medium conventions, and creating something trite?

This is where honesty with yourself as a writer and skill in telling stories about people (not places or events) allows you to sense if a story works despite the tropes, or whether you're writing a clown show. Too many or too few genre conventions? No ruler exists. I've intentionally wrote space opera: it wasn't about the wizzing space ships, dozens of alien species, or interstellar free traders in the story—the story was about the orphan taken in by a couple, a human married to an alien, and how they help each other survive, and that's what had heart.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.18 — What is your MC’s favorite family tradition?

Bolt ran away before becoming 18. She didn't value her family until she didn't have them anymore. I could be crass and say both mother and daughter (Bolt) enjoy their men, but without the context of their society, you don't know how boringly prosaic that statement actually is. There's not much else that really qualifies that most other day angels don't also do.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.18 — What is your MC’s favorite family tradition?

Bolt ran away before becoming 18. She didn't value her family until she didn't have them anymore. I could be crass and say both mother and daughter (Bolt) enjoy their men, but without the context of their society, you don't know how boringly prosaic that statement actually is. There's not much else that really qualifies that most other day angels don't also do.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1075 — What are the biggest obstacles in your antagonist’s life?

Well, for starters Boss Mead is a mafia don in a female-centric society, and, yes, his gender makes A LOT of difference. His Family is found not blood. His management style is not what you'd think: it's cooperative and decentralized. He wants to be taken seriously by upper society and is a patron of the arts, but he's considered nouveau riche, and many suspect some of his businesses are actually laundries. Worse, he's, ughhh male.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1075 — What are the biggest obstacles in your antagonist’s life?

Well, for starters Boss Mead is a mafia don in a female-centric society, and, yes, his gender makes A LOT of difference. His Family is found not blood. His management style is not what you'd think: it's cooperative and decentralized. He wants to be taken seriously by upper society and is a patron of the arts, but he's considered nouveau riche, and many suspect some of his businesses are actually laundries. Worse, he's, ughhh male.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.18 — Talk about how a work progressed from its initial inspiration. How different was it in the end?

Hope my experience proves helpful!

A set of single word feminist prompts, one a day for thirty-one days, inspired me to write Mars Needed Women. It's a feminist gender fiction SF novel. I decided to write, edit, and publish a draft chapter each day for the entire month with only a vague idea a story, basically that women raised on Mars would end up fighting for independence with an end-stage corporate fascist state earth that started in 2025 one-hundred years later, with some exploding SpaceX Starship in-jokes. I let each prompt color each chapter. Within a few days, I'd written myself into holes that required me to skip to later prompts and do the remainder out of order, sometimes publishing a day late or multiple chapters in a day. I published the last chapter within ten minutes of midnight the last day.

I learned a number of feminist concepts even I hadn't known by trying to figure out the prompts (in French). A family of women grew out of the story, their lives and loves going in directions I'd not even optimistically hoped for. I even ended up killing off the most empathetic character to motivate a courageous climax (but she did get an epilogue). I could not have foreseen the ending. When a beta reader called my MC crass and aggressive (implying she wasn't feminine), I knew I'd gotten it right.

I did publish them as tootfics of 700-850 words on Mastodon, but have deleted the posts since. I've doubled the word count and added content with an intent to publish.

What I learned? Deadlines work for me. I will write and get it done. Doesn't mean it won't need revision or augmentation, but the focus proved helpful.

I think I should start doing that again, writing short and fast. Completing stories regularly really lifts my morale.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author #mystery #thriller #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.18 — Talk about how a work progressed from its initial inspiration. How different was it in the end?

Hope my experience proves helpful!

A set of single word feminist prompts, one a day for thirty-one days, inspired me to write Mars Needed Women. It's a feminist gender fiction SF novel. I decided to write, edit, and publish a draft chapter each day for the entire month with only a vague idea a story, basically that women raised on Mars would end up fighting for independence with an end-stage corporate fascist state earth that started in 2025 one-hundred years later, with some exploding SpaceX Starship in-jokes. I let each prompt color each chapter. Within a few days, I'd written myself into holes that required me to skip to later prompts and do the remainder out of order, sometimes publishing a day late or multiple chapters in a day. I published the last chapter within ten minutes of midnight the last day.

I learned a number of feminist concepts even I hadn't known by trying to figure out the prompts (in French). A family of women grew out of the story, their lives and loves going in directions I'd not even optimistically hoped for. I even ended up killing off the most empathetic character to motivate a courageous climax (but she did get an epilogue). I could not have foreseen the ending. When a beta reader called my MC crass and aggressive (implying she wasn't feminine), I knew I'd gotten it right.

I did publish them as tootfics of 700-850 words on Mastodon, but have deleted the posts since. I've doubled the word count and added content with an intent to publish.

What I learned? Deadlines work for me. I will write and get it done. Doesn't mean it won't need revision or augmentation, but the focus proved helpful.

I think I should start doing that again, writing short and fast. Completing stories regularly really lifts my morale.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author #mystery #thriller #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #

#PennedPossibilities 1074 — What creatures are capable of speech in your world?

In the Reluctance series? Only humans are capable of speech.

But RS, you mentioned day angels and daemons in your reply yesterday (1073) and others…

Human.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1074 — What creatures are capable of speech in your world?

In the Reluctance series? Only humans are capable of speech.

But RS, you mentioned day angels and daemons in your reply yesterday (1073) and others…

Human.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.17 — What's a trope you can't get enough of writing?

Regardless of my answer yesterday, I'll admit that I could probably shoot out an endless stream of coming-of-age stories. It's addicting as candy. In fact, Inklings, a romantasy WIP I've put on hold, is a double-trope fantasy. Both the 19 year old protagonist and her love interest work through their own coming of age ordeals. Both are also fish out of water university students. She was raised by wolves and can't understand human social standards (okay, a third trope). He is living in exile on the mainland, having fled from a bloody succession battle on his island home. Oh, right, forgot… fourth trope: she can talk to animals, one of which is a dragon (fifth?). I'm trying to move a way from YA storylines these days. Inklings is definitely R-rated despite the theme, which potentially makes marketing it hard.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#romance #fantasy
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.17 — What's a trope you can't get enough of writing?

Regardless of my answer yesterday, I'll admit that I could probably shoot out an endless stream of coming-of-age stories. It's addicting as candy. In fact, Inklings, a romantasy WIP I've put on hold, is a double-trope fantasy. Both the 19 year old protagonist and her love interest work through their own coming of age ordeals. Both are also fish out of water university students. She was raised by wolves and can't understand human social standards (okay, a third trope). He is living in exile on the mainland, having fled from a bloody succession battle on his island home. Oh, right, forgot… fourth trope: she can talk to animals, one of which is a dragon (fifth?). I'm trying to move a way from YA storylines these days. Inklings is definitely R-rated despite the theme, which potentially makes marketing it hard.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#romance #fantasy
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.17 — What does your SC find beautiful that most people don’t?

This feels like a cheat because the devil-girl is doing a guest stint as a supporting character in the current science fiction WIP. Her answer IS mathematics. The more complex the better. She likes math. Numbers talk to her, equations balancing makes her ecstatic. The beauty that could make even her cry, that most other daemons dismiss, lets her see how the universe is constructed and, well… work miracles.And that, already, is manifestly spoilers.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.17 — What does your SC find beautiful that most people don’t?

This feels like a cheat because the devil-girl is doing a guest stint as a supporting character in the current science fiction WIP. Her answer IS mathematics. The more complex the better. She likes math. Numbers talk to her, equations balancing makes her ecstatic. The beauty that could make even her cry, that most other daemons dismiss, lets her see how the universe is constructed and, well… work miracles.And that, already, is manifestly spoilers.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#ScribesAndMakers ##TTMD π2026.07.17 — Talk To Me Day Featured Creator Suzy Shearer @SuzyShearer

With over a dozen books published, undoubtedly you find it simple to turn off the self-censor when writing (and during revision!), but I suspect this wasn't an easy skill to master. Any tips for mastering the monster? My recent work is spicy by necessity of the POV (1st person) and her world; though it's not erotica, the character does relish one aspect of her life. I admit to choking whilst writing more often than I like, then restarting and wondering why I stopped. You could help me greatly by sharing your experience.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#ScribesAndMakers ##TTMD π2026.07.17 — Talk To Me Day Featured Creator Suzy Shearer @SuzyShearer

With over a dozen books published, undoubtedly you find it simple to turn off the self-censor when writing (and during revision!), but I suspect this wasn't an easy skill to master. Any tips for mastering the monster? My recent work is spicy by necessity of the POV (1st person) and her world; though it's not erotica, the character does relish one aspect of her life. I admit to choking whilst writing more often than I like, then restarting and wondering why I stopped. You could help me greatly by sharing your experience.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1073 — MC POV: Tell us about a time when your heart raced, either for good or bad reasons.

Well, since I've become less prejudiced, not only do I have more men to choose from since I'm not as picky as to whether they are day angels or not (that is no longer requiring them to have wings), there's the devil-girl. She's both a daemon and not a guy. Her pointy rebar-like tiny horns are exotic, fascinating, challenging—dangerous in a cute way. I really wasn't trying to hook up with her, only to distract her for awhile, but I was being friendly and she interpreted that, well, unexpectedly, unexpectedly nicely, you know, and, well…, you know… racing heart, right? So, why not?

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#PennedPossibilities 1073 — MC POV: Tell us about a time when your heart raced, either for good or bad reasons.

Well, since I've become less prejudiced, not only do I have more men to choose from since I'm not as picky as to whether they are day angels or not (that is no longer requiring them to have wings), there's the devil-girl. She's both a daemon and not a guy. Her pointy rebar-like tiny horns are exotic, fascinating, challenging—dangerous in a cute way. I really wasn't trying to hook up with her, only to distract her for awhile, but I was being friendly and she interpreted that, well, unexpectedly, unexpectedly nicely, you know, and, well…, you know… racing heart, right? So, why not?

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.16 — If your MC was a superhero, what would their symbol be?

Bolt already has a symbol, but it would be spoilers to detail how. She's not sure what it means, though she has her own interpretation. We might think it looks like horse tack and traces.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.16 — If your MC was a superhero, what would their symbol be?

Bolt already has a symbol, but it would be spoilers to detail how. She's not sure what it means, though she has her own interpretation. We might think it looks like horse tack and traces.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1072 — Is there a place in your world known for peace? Is it difficult to find?

At the time at the WIP, Home and the Nine Outer Worlds seem at peace. The armistice with the Wild (the only territories not controlled by Home on Home) seems to be holding, and some Wildings are joining the enclosing culture they've isolated themselves from for 500 years. The dragons have their own world (1 of the 9), but it's still an exile from Home. They aren't happy with being forced into a trade relationship (to them being held hostage) for an essential Home nutrient. After 200 years they don't want to acknowledge they started the Dragon Wars, but they seem to be keeping the peace.

All of the facts are important only in a proposed sequel, but two of the characters know all is not as it seems to be, and one hints (one might say foreshadows) events in the WIP obliquely.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1072 — Is there a place in your world known for peace? Is it difficult to find?

At the time at the WIP, Home and the Nine Outer Worlds seem at peace. The armistice with the Wild (the only territories not controlled by Home on Home) seems to be holding, and some Wildings are joining the enclosing culture they've isolated themselves from for 500 years. The dragons have their own world (1 of the 9), but it's still an exile from Home. They aren't happy with being forced into a trade relationship (to them being held hostage) for an essential Home nutrient. After 200 years they don't want to acknowledge they started the Dragon Wars, but they seem to be keeping the peace.

All of the facts are important only in a proposed sequel, but two of the characters know all is not as it seems to be, and one hints (one might say foreshadows) events in the WIP obliquely.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.15 — Does your antagonist have a line they won’t cross? If so, why?

Rainy Days works to prevent humans going extinct. No matter what she does, someone will think her evil. War. Eugenics. You name it. What she's not, is not normally cruel (though her students might beg to differ). Regardless, if the viability of the human species is at stake, she'll make an exception.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.15 — Does your antagonist have a line they won’t cross? If so, why?

Rainy Days works to prevent humans going extinct. No matter what she does, someone will think her evil. War. Eugenics. You name it. What she's not, is not normally cruel (though her students might beg to differ). Regardless, if the viability of the human species is at stake, she'll make an exception.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1071 2/2— What is something you wish existed in the real world that exists in your WIP?

I agonized for hours how to answer this question in part one, and settled for the minimum distillation I wrote.

In the stories, specifically in Reluctant Moon not the current WIP, there is no ambiguity, no lawyering allowed, nor are there exceptions. In the series it's a capital offense and becomes the rationale for war. Thinking you belong to someone is treated as mental illness.

Pure fantasy in our world.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1071 2/2— What is something you wish existed in the real world that exists in your WIP?

I agonized for hours how to answer this question in part one, and settled for the minimum distillation I wrote.

In the stories, specifically in Reluctant Moon not the current WIP, there is no ambiguity, no lawyering allowed, nor are there exceptions. In the series it's a capital offense and becomes the rationale for war. Thinking you belong to someone is treated as mental illness.

Pure fantasy in our world.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1071 1/2— What is something you wish existed in the real world that exists in your WIP?

Women are never property or ever made to think that they are.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1071 1/2— What is something you wish existed in the real world that exists in your WIP?

Women are never property or ever made to think that they are.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.14 — What is the most unusual or interesting word in your WIP’s first sentence?

Okay. That turned out more interesting than I expected! (The italics are in the manuscript.)

What the flap!

It's the narrator's thoughts. The sentence is an interjection that launches an expletive. Neither "what" nor "the" are unusual or interesting, but "flap!" certainly is. The 1st person narrator and protagonist being introduced is a day angel (as versus a daemon, for example). She has wings. She has feathers. She can fly, and is very human. The expression has nothing to do with flight, though it is colloquial. The phrase itself can also be considered dialectal since only day angels (or people familiar their culture) typically use it. The etymology does not derive from plucking an arrow in a bow, yet I am the author and I will admit, though only occasionally an insult, it serves the same purse as that word in English phonically. It's also funny in context. Yes, it has a specific meaning for day angels, a happy double-meaning that is first and foremost what a person with wings does to fly. Secondarily, well, it's sexual. I mentioned they're humans, so not surprising, huh? It's something you can do to someone else if you have feathers. I won't say it, but, if you're still curious, google the word leaving out the L.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.14 — What is the most unusual or interesting word in your WIP’s first sentence?

Okay. That turned out more interesting than I expected! (The italics are in the manuscript.)

What the flap!

It's the narrator's thoughts. The sentence is an interjection that launches an expletive. Neither "what" nor "the" are unusual or interesting, but "flap!" certainly is. The 1st person narrator and protagonist being introduced is a day angel (as versus a daemon, for example). She has wings. She has feathers. She can fly, and is very human. The expression has nothing to do with flight, though it is colloquial. The phrase itself can also be considered dialectal since only day angels (or people familiar their culture) typically use it. The etymology does not derive from plucking an arrow in a bow, yet I am the author and I will admit, though only occasionally an insult, it serves the same purse as that word in English phonically. It's also funny in context. Yes, it has a specific meaning for day angels, a happy double-meaning that is first and foremost what a person with wings does to fly. Secondarily, well, it's sexual. I mentioned they're humans, so not surprising, huh? It's something you can do to someone else if you have feathers. I won't say it, but, if you're still curious, google the word leaving out the L.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#PennedPossibilities 1070 — For characters with a significant other, how do they cope with being apart?

Of all the men in her life, Bolt (the MC) is closest to Blue. She's been with him the longest.

He's become a praetorian, but there's training, school, and traditions that make the profession less like the military and more like the life of a firefighter. Their relationship is further complicated by his living arrangement when he's not at the "palace." He lives essentially as a geisha (it's a cultural thing too hard to explain here.) It has always cost Bolt "coin" to be with him intimately, but their flying dates outside of the association where he lives are a different story, freer. Let's not delve into his responsibilities for his little sister who's a scatterbrain genius lacking common sense. His life. Complicated.

Bolt and Blue are apart a lot more than they desire, but as Bolt's life improves in the novel, so do her finances. We see the stresses in her life build up. Distraught, she turns to him to be consoled, but he's booked with two wealthy women. What she'll do to get his services is telling and spoilers.

He's very busy in his life but very attached to her, often thinks of her, and worries, in part because she's come to the notice of his employer; he's Rainy Day's praetorian. The other part is, because after all the years, he suspects she's involved with bad possibly crooked people. If it's found out she's a criminal…

Bolt and Blue miss each other when apart, not that they'd worry the other by wasting their time together talking about it. Life presents plenty to distract them.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1070 — For characters with a significant other, how do they cope with being apart?

Of all the men in her life, Bolt (the MC) is closest to Blue. She's been with him the longest.

He's become a praetorian, but there's training, school, and traditions that make the profession less like the military and more like the life of a firefighter. Their relationship is further complicated by his living arrangement when he's not at the "palace." He lives essentially as a geisha (it's a cultural thing too hard to explain here.) It has always cost Bolt "coin" to be with him intimately, but their flying dates outside of the association where he lives are a different story, freer. Let's not delve into his responsibilities for his little sister who's a scatterbrain genius lacking common sense. His life. Complicated.

Bolt and Blue are apart a lot more than they desire, but as Bolt's life improves in the novel, so do her finances. We see the stresses in her life build up. Distraught, she turns to him to be consoled, but he's booked with two wealthy women. What she'll do to get his services is telling and spoilers.

He's very busy in his life but very attached to her, often thinks of her, and worries, in part because she's come to the notice of his employer; he's Rainy Day's praetorian. The other part is, because after all the years, he suspects she's involved with bad possibly crooked people. If it's found out she's a criminal…

Bolt and Blue miss each other when apart, not that they'd worry the other by wasting their time together talking about it. Life presents plenty to distract them.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.13 — Has a bear ever featured in your work? If so, what sort of bear?

Stretching it to the limit, well, yeah, may be sorta. The Devil-girl self-describes herself as bookish in the extreme, and she has just one thaumaturgy book that she stole away with her when she ran away from home. A primer, but it speaks to her imagination. She's slightly autistic. In her self-narration, she repeatedly describes the small 500 year old book as drool-stained from her sleeping with it as if it were a plush bear.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#ScribesAndMakers π2026.07.13 — Has a bear ever featured in your work? If so, what sort of bear?

Stretching it to the limit, well, yeah, may be sorta. The Devil-girl self-describes herself as bookish in the extreme, and she has just one thaumaturgy book that she stole away with her when she ran away from home. A primer, but it speaks to her imagination. She's slightly autistic. In her self-narration, she repeatedly describes the small 500 year old book as drool-stained from her sleeping with it as if it were a plush bear.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.13 — In what ways do you play with the limits of the genre in which you work?

In plenty of SF, faster than light transportation is taken as a given. I've read about dark energy and dark matter, and made those accessible to humans in the Reluctance series, and much everything else flows from there. Readers might look askance and see this as a magic system. It isn't. It's science, though reluctantly idiosyncratic and that's my given.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.13 — In what ways do you play with the limits of the genre in which you work?

In plenty of SF, faster than light transportation is taken as a given. I've read about dark energy and dark matter, and made those accessible to humans in the Reluctance series, and much everything else flows from there. Readers might look askance and see this as a magic system. It isn't. It's science, though reluctantly idiosyncratic and that's my given.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 1069 — MC POV: Do you have an end point or destination in mind for your journey? What will you do after you’ve reached it?

[Bolt, woman day angel:] Sometimes reality kicks me so badly that even I can turn philosophical instead of literal. I can't have what I want; I'm trapped in this life, controlled by others; I've got to let go of the dreams of teenage me, and accept the defeats of silly hopeful optimism, too. But that doesn't mean I have to surrender and die inside. I have my photography, though I have to take care what images I capture. I can still fly better than anyone, and that's what I do for the boss, isn't it? So I can soar. I still have men in my life I can't incidentally hurt. My journey is to remember what little good I find, to not forget and find myself too early at journey's end. Some dirt roads lead on forever, and walking them is alright.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#PennedPossibilities 1069 — MC POV: Do you have an end point or destination in mind for your journey? What will you do after you’ve reached it?

[Bolt, woman day angel:] Sometimes reality kicks me so badly that even I can turn philosophical instead of literal. I can't have what I want; I'm trapped in this life, controlled by others; I've got to let go of the dreams of teenage me, and accept the defeats of silly hopeful optimism, too. But that doesn't mean I have to surrender and die inside. I have my photography, though I have to take care what images I capture. I can still fly better than anyone, and that's what I do for the boss, isn't it? So I can soar. I still have men in my life I can't incidentally hurt. My journey is to remember what little good I find, to not forget and find myself too early at journey's end. Some dirt roads lead on forever, and walking them is alright.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.13 — To your MC’s Love Interest(LI), what is the most admirable thing about the MC?

Love has many meanings and connotations. How people use that word as a noun, verb, or as part of a phrase isn't the same for us as in MC Bolt's culture, starting first off with the number of love interests she'd count. I did the best I could interviewing. Bolt is a day angel. She can fly. Okay, character building, go!

[Blue, a day angel praetorian:] What I admire most about her? She's athletic. Despite her small size, her wingspan, and her mass, she can fly circles around me. Skill. Honed. She surprised Rainy Days, too. However, when I learned I needed to fly better to get the job I'd applied for, Bolt insisted on teaching me to fly tandem. Yeah, you might focus on the passionate fun involved, but it's terrifyingly hard to learn to do because takes skills most angels don't learn, and violates all the flight safety rules they whip into you in school. Honestly, what I admire most about her is that she wanted to teach me.

[Molt, a day angel:] She's so full of questions! She seems fascinated about everything I study at university. She doesn't look down on me for being a Men's Studies student, taking a subject in college that everybody thinks is only taught in high school, which therefore must make it totally frivolous. She's as dozen years older than me. She understanda so much of what I'm learning from experience that I've had doubts about her interest, yet she's often such an ingénue about it—you might say "sparkly"—that it just makes me happy being with her, even if she does have an ulterior motive. I guess I'm saying that what I most admire is how, in the little things, she enjoys life and that she wants to enjoy hers with me.

[Shugh, a saint:] I've always thought of myself as a woman, and I present myself as one. Men are wary around me and women often see me as an imposter. Bolt, though, immediately understood who I am, and accepts I'm attracted to women nonetheless. She helped me get ahead at work and I'm grateful. She's hinted her attraction; I've hinted back. I think I did make her think about herself; she comes off as very physical and decidedly masculine in that aspect, though I feel she sees herself as 100% female otherwise. Moreover, we've both been discriminated against for who we are. I admire her tolerance most, and gender self-assurance next, but I do know she's hiding something. We would have been passionate already were she not pushing me away for my sake. Maybe it's her job and she's embarrassed about it; she's certainly cagey about it. I'm a reporter. I'm good at finding things out…

[Devil-girl, a daemon, an enforcer and a student:] Wait, what!? Attracted to me? [She points at her nose.] Well, that explains why I've caught her blushing and being inordinately friendly at weird times, and occasionally handsy. More evidence that I still can't predict how people will behave, no matter how I study their faces and no matter how many psychology textbooks I read. I did tell her I prefer men. She is probably keeping her interest to herself, worried I might not react well. Wrong, of course. But… you did ask a question. Actually, the answer is easy. She displays more integrity than almost anyone I've met. She's very earnest. Being blackmailed and forced to work for the mob is awful, but she makes being turned into a criminal work without losing an essential part of herself. It's a skill to be useful yet able to manipulate circumstance such that she never does things that would render her a sociopath. I admire that intensely. [Takes out her notebook and starts writing.] I'll have to observe her more closely to learn how she does it.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.13 — To your MC’s Love Interest(LI), what is the most admirable thing about the MC?

Love has many meanings and connotations. How people use that word as a noun, verb, or as part of a phrase isn't the same for us as in MC Bolt's culture, starting first off with the number of love interests she'd count. I did the best I could interviewing. Bolt is a day angel. She can fly. Okay, character building, go!

[Blue, a day angel praetorian:] What I admire most about her? She's athletic. Despite her small size, her wingspan, and her mass, she can fly circles around me. Skill. Honed. She surprised Rainy Days, too. However, when I learned I needed to fly better to get the job I'd applied for, Bolt insisted on teaching me to fly tandem. Yeah, you might focus on the passionate fun involved, but it's terrifyingly hard to learn to do because takes skills most angels don't learn, and violates all the flight safety rules they whip into you in school. Honestly, what I admire most about her is that she wanted to teach me.

[Molt, a day angel:] She's so full of questions! She seems fascinated about everything I study at university. She doesn't look down on me for being a Men's Studies student, taking a subject in college that everybody thinks is only taught in high school, which therefore must make it totally frivolous. She's as dozen years older than me. She understanda so much of what I'm learning from experience that I've had doubts about her interest, yet she's often such an ingénue about it—you might say "sparkly"—that it just makes me happy being with her, even if she does have an ulterior motive. I guess I'm saying that what I most admire is how, in the little things, she enjoys life and that she wants to enjoy hers with me.

[Shugh, a saint:] I've always thought of myself as a woman, and I present myself as one. Men are wary around me and women often see me as an imposter. Bolt, though, immediately understood who I am, and accepts I'm attracted to women nonetheless. She helped me get ahead at work and I'm grateful. She's hinted her attraction; I've hinted back. I think I did make her think about herself; she comes off as very physical and decidedly masculine in that aspect, though I feel she sees herself as 100% female otherwise. Moreover, we've both been discriminated against for who we are. I admire her tolerance most, and gender self-assurance next, but I do know she's hiding something. We would have been passionate already were she not pushing me away for my sake. Maybe it's her job and she's embarrassed about it; she's certainly cagey about it. I'm a reporter. I'm good at finding things out…

[Devil-girl, a daemon, an enforcer and a student:] Wait, what!? Attracted to me? [She points at her nose.] Well, that explains why I've caught her blushing and being inordinately friendly at weird times, and occasionally handsy. More evidence that I still can't predict how people will behave, no matter how I study their faces and no matter how many psychology textbooks I read. I did tell her I prefer men. She is probably keeping her interest to herself, worried I might not react well. Wrong, of course. But… you did ask a question. Actually, the answer is easy. She displays more integrity than almost anyone I've met. She's very earnest. Being blackmailed and forced to work for the mob is awful, but she makes being turned into a criminal work without losing an essential part of herself. It's a skill to be useful yet able to manipulate circumstance such that she never does things that would render her a sociopath. I admire that intensely. [Takes out her notebook and starts writing.] I'll have to observe her more closely to learn how she does it.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.12 — Talk about an inspiration for an element in your current WIP.

Element: Women with full unrestricted agency

At university, I took ethnology, anthropology, archeology and art history as part of a degree that specialized in folklore and mythology. The intersection of all these disciplines led me to focus on the middle east in prehistoric times, in particular before notions of patriarchy took root that led to the Abrahamic religions that predominate today. I imagined a world where direct male inheritance of property instead of through the maternal line never happened. What would people be like if women were never considered or treated as property? It's summed up in Merlin Stone's fundamental† book, When God was a Woman.

That Abrahamic religions thing and the culture moulded by them always got in the way of me writing stories with this element. The society in the Reluctance Series has undergone the requisite reset (spoilers). Women having complete agency brings its own set of issues for me as an author. I always wanted to write that story, but handling the spicy implications writing and publishing such a work, its reception honestly, worried me for decades. Humans are animals with all the implications.

I think I figured out to make it work with a minimum of outrage (by the intolerant) without coming off as preachy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_God_Was_a_Woman

† For obvious semantic reasons, Stone's book isn't a seminal work.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.12 — Talk about an inspiration for an element in your current WIP.

Element: Women with full unrestricted agency

At university, I took ethnology, anthropology, archeology and art history as part of a degree that specialized in folklore and mythology. The intersection of all these disciplines led me to focus on the middle east in prehistoric times, in particular before notions of patriarchy took root that led to the Abrahamic religions that predominate today. I imagined a world where direct male inheritance of property instead of through the maternal line never happened. What would people be like if women were never considered or treated as property? It's summed up in Merlin Stone's fundamental† book, When God was a Woman.

That Abrahamic religions thing and the culture moulded by them always got in the way of me writing stories with this element. The society in the Reluctance Series has undergone the requisite reset (spoilers). Women having complete agency brings its own set of issues for me as an author. I always wanted to write that story, but handling the spicy implications writing and publishing such a work, its reception honestly, worried me for decades. Humans are animals with all the implications.

I think I figured out to make it work with a minimum of outrage (by the intolerant) without coming off as preachy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_God_Was_a_Woman

† For obvious semantic reasons, Stone's book isn't a seminal work.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2026.07.12 — What one word sums up how your SC feels in the part of your WIP you’re currently working on?

Molt(m): Disraught.

Shugh(m): Frustrated.

Blue(m): Worried.

Night on Fire(f): Glee.

Light Insight(f): Motherly.

Pigeon(m): Ecstatic.

Mead(m): Annoyed.

Morning Glory(m): Arrogant.

Devil-girl(f): Observant.

Rainy Days(f): Intrigued.

Horizon Blaze(f): Proud.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory