#empathandaugur — Public Fediverse posts

#ScribesAndMakers 24. Do you have a favorite pen, pencil, or other writing implement? What's special about it?

Embarassingly, I am the kind of person that a really nice pen inspires to write. Specifically a flexy vintage fountain pen that I got at the latest fountain pen show in san francisco. I'd post a pic but I think our image uploading is misbehaving at the moment.

#WritersCoffeeClub 25: Does 'destiny' have a role in modern fiction?

A major theme in #EmpathAndAugur - but not played straight. The eponymous Augur has a bone to pick with it. Not quite sure why it might be passe in the modern era? I suppose that "it's destined" just doesn't hit the same as a motivation anymore, which yeah, true. You'd think "chosen one" woulda died with it, but no such luck, eh? Any ideas why not?

#AmWriting #WritingDiscussion

I suppose that #EmpathAndAugur is basically one big "Sebastian misunderstands Erika" plot. But it doesn't really fit the picture of what people think of as "misunderstanding plot", maybe because "who Erika is and why" is a pretty big question, one that Erika doesn't necessarily know the answer to herself.

#witchpunk might fit the bill a little better, as there is a lot of "Ash does not see Lucine's intentions", but Lucine is not always upfront with them, in addition to Ash having to work through her own shit in order to be in a position to understand.

perhaps, all this is to say, I often hinge plots on "understanding", mis- optional.

#WritersCoffeeClub

Winter is A Thing in #EmpathAndAugur. I think it's represented in its entirety -- beauty, stillness, danger, coziness, isolation, anticipation of spring. I really like winter.

Winter is a thing in #witchpunk, but San Francisco winters: rain, green hills, not so much the cold.

#WritersCoffeeClub #AmWriting

I'm very open that the first drafts of my books are hot garbage. plot holes, inconsistencies, threads that go nowhere, half developed themes and characters who are still figuring themselves out. I'm just pleased that there's nothing in #witchpunk that makes me outright cringe, unlike the first draft of #EmpathAndAugur. There truly is some anime cringe shit in there.

#WritersCoffeeClub #AmWriting

Hm, what is my first book? On one hand, we could interpret this as "the first book I finished writing", in which case that's #EmpathAndAugur. Or maybe the first book-length thing I endeavored to write, which was some naruto-aesthetics ported over to generic medieval fantasy in the 4th grade... But it might be overstating it to consider the idea "developed". Honestly, most of the time the idea develops as I write the book. The only time I "developed an idea *for* a book" is probably my most recent one, #witchpunk, the initial impetus was the interesting intersection of witchcraft which often incorporates bodily components, and the tech industry's inquest into genetics and its attitude towards user data....

#WritersCoffeeClub #AmWriting

#witchpunk is unusual in which I think it will be the first story I've written where the characters *do* come out, and even then, only in the epilogue (so I haven't even written it yet, haha)

in #EmpathAndAugur, *I* think Erika has extremely agender vibes, and Sebastian definitely enjoys his femme side, but the story takes place in the nineties, so coming out isn't something they would do. Heck, Erika's sexuality isn't even a thing in the first book because she's got too many other problems in her life to think about her sexuality. There are lots of reasons people don't come out---it might not be hashtag OwnVoices-suitable but it doesn't make them less queer.

(though also that said, the author's interpretation is not definitive, so if you read my books and don't agree, that's also legit!)

#EngenderedWriting #AmWriting

All the time. #EmpathAndAugur has several scene's from side character's POV, and then we introduce another POV in a fairly dramatic way. Sebastian's POV is still around though so maybe it doesn't quite count in the spirit of the question?

Similarly, #witchpunk we introduce a few new POVs, and often there are scenes that make more sense to tell from someone other than the main-er characters' POV as well, but Ash's POV gets quite scarce in the last third of the story, even though she's still around.

#AmWriting #WritersCoffeeClub

For some reason I'm really struggling with this. A lot of anime, but none of it really in specific? When I was younger I'd write shitty clones of whatever I was watching at the time (naruto, FMA, trinity blood), but these days I have no idea. #EmpathAndAugur is from a dream (and also SCP), #witchpunk was kind of a de-novo high concept thing, my short stories kind of the same. I don't understand my imagination lol.

#AmWriting #WriterMagic