#rsdiscussion — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #rsdiscussion, aggregated by home.social.
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#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.09.01 — What are your writing goals for this month?
All I'm gonna write on this topic is this little mantra from my pinned profile introduction post:
I am not telepathic.
Repeat that: I am not telepathic.
Louder: I AM NOT TELEPATHIC!
I DON'T know what the reader is going to expect.
I DON'T know if the current scene is going to frighten, trigger, or be too explicit for my audience...
Because I DON'T have anyone looking over my shoulder, clicking their tongue, and saying, "Tch, tch, tch!"
I am going to take a deeeeeeep breath, now,
clear my mind,
and write the flapping scene—
full stop.[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.09.02 — What was the last thing to interrupt you while writing?
The bathroom. 😊🤪
I had to answer this post now to write that. But seriously, the spouse is post-surgery, so caretaking. I'm not phoning a friend. That's my final answer.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#WordWeavers 2026.09.02 — What would your MC notice first upon entering a crowded room?
Bolt is a courier for the mob (it's in the novel's title). She delivers orders and missives between mob lieutenants, but also delivers insurance bills to customers that are late (protection rackets) and collection notices to clients who aren't paying their (loan shark) loans. It is no joke that her clients sometimes try to kill the messenger. Once beaten up was enough for her.
The first thing she notices upon entering a crowded room is whether there are any clients; she'll leave. It's not much better if there are any mob affiliates there, either. She ascribes to the army axiom about volunteering, as in, Don't. She pretends to be uninterested and bored before leaving as quickly and decorously as she can, so as not to be noticed or to give offense.
Beyond that, she IS going to notice the cute guys. She's sort of a connoisseur, preferring the strong beefy types since she's somewhat of a jock herself.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.02 — How do you think where you live affects your creative work?
I live in a big city. With freeways. Traffic. Constant noise, bustle. No wonder why I tend to write gritty and occasionally urbane urban and suburban stories. University, office, street, and apartment settings abound. Writing what I know. I like to think I am providing a familiar modern backdrop for stories that will lull readers into expecting the story world is like their own until the story escorts them into an uncanny valley, a world that is merely convergent—like fish and dolphins look the same but are different.
[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 2026.09.01 — List 7 things about your creativity (accomplishments, goals, etc.)
On demand auto-biography, Go!
- I am #actuallyAutistic. It's my superpower for concentration and observation. My crippling shyness does help with me having become stealthy! I am an avid people watcher. Such strange creatures!
- Was a C- English student in high school but I taught myself writing by reading all my favorite SF authors, copying parts of their stories, then emulating their style.
- My first work was a 25,000 word novella, which I wrote over Christmas vacation, overflowing with creativity after an analytic geometry test I studied furiously for turned out to be both open book and too easy.
- I write feminist (and gender) SF and Fantasy.
- I sold the third novel I wrote two weeks after I signed with my agent, which was two weeks after I mailed it to him. (Okay, it was a year after I showed him my second novel at a paid-for writer's event and he told me to send him my next novel.)
- I burnt out as an author in 2001. I found it wasn't a space odyssey when I needed to communicate with my writing and my inventory of finished works was backing up, unsold. I rehabilitated myself starting in 2015 by writing fan fiction. Eventually that tallied to the equivalent of nine novels.
- Beyond publishing again, my goal is to at least shortlist for the Otherwise Award. I'm currently working on novels I think will accomplish that goal.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#WordWeavers 2026.09.01 — What is something your MC desperately wants but would never admit to wanting?
As the story ends, she is discovering she has a crush on a female coworker. It's physical. Guess why she would never admit it. Fuel for the sequel.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1116: What does your antagonist fear?
The human species is going extinct and she fears she isn't enough to prevent it.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1115: What sounds or smells remind your MC of their childhood?
When I think of childhood, I think of all those years prior to adulthood, but there is also a nuance of life in the single digits. Bolt is a day angel, which means a human with wings, which means using those wings to fly. Yet, she did not learn to fly until 10 despite most children fledging by 3, and to the horror of some mothers, before 1. As such, she learned to Climb. The small city she lived in was built into the sides of coastal cliffs and in the canopies of Home trees (think the rugged Oregon coast). Because climbing what is essentially the side of buildings takes time, the scent of salt air accompanied by the sounds of waves crashing and rock clacking, as well as the sounds of branches and leaves rustling, would constitute major portions of her memory, especially those times she got stranded or exhausted before climbing fully to her destination.
However, she lives in Home City now (think Denver), with no cliffs or sea nearby, and no Home Trees except in less wealthy suburbs she has no call to visit. Nothing will remind her of those preteen years.
Allowing for her teens, that's a different story. Once Bolt started flying, it became her obsession. The strength and stamina she gained climbing jumpstarted her athleticism. She would become the prototypical jock high schooler, easily earning a varsity letter, the admiration of her team mates, and adoration of the opposite sex. In her case, her team mates were entirely male, which coincidentally is the opposite sex. She talks about riding her "string of ponies" from when she was 17, and we know what that means.
What reminds her of those times? Gym smells, mostly. Familiar locker room and PE shower smells, you know: sweat, used socks, chlorine, mold, disinfectant. Sounds? Lockers slamming, cheers after a win, towel fights. At 30, she visits the gym whenever she can afford it, and she budgets it as a priority. I've caught her in the story reminiscing when there. It's first person narrative, after all.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#EroticMusings 2026.08.30 — Week 66 (August 30 - September 5) Culture: How would your characters feel about the way eroticism is perceived in your own culture?
Sad? Appalled?
People in their culture might ask of us, "You potty train your children, you socialize them, you teach them to feed themselves, talk, and read, yet you don't teach them sex and contraception?"
They'd see this as a type of starvation. They would analyze it as a type of cruel deprivation practiced to guarantee knowledge of who fathered a child to inherit property patrilineally, resulting in a type of mental illness based on the transference of sexual cues from the innately human ones to objects (fetishes, as a noun) or behaviors that become what we'd label Palovian conditioning.
Not saying the characters don't have their own repression and transference going on; they are human, after all. Dramatic events change our focus, our memories, our sexual cues. In their society sex, having it, or expecting you've had it, is the norm for any gender—so long as it's consensual. Sex is taught in school. It appears in art, theatre, in regular magazines and newspapers often as self-help but also because it is fun, and sometimes in public (though depending where, it might be considered crass or demonstrative). It just is. Their "hang-ups" are uniquely theirs, but they'd be saddened by the way eroticism is perceived in our culture.
To be clear, the detail I've revealed is mostly peripheral to the stories in the series, but can be gleaned from reading them carefully. Mostly, the characters consider these things to be so prosaic and commonplace as to rarely comment on them. This is why Bolt, the MC of the current WIP, doesn't think it shameful or unseemly that she's taking photos of men and women (by implication, mostly nude) for a pin-up calendar, and many people (almost all of them women) are looking forward to buying it. These people celebrate the human body and their physicality. Their kinks lie elsewhere.
In any case, I feel this layer will add extra interest to the story to readers in our culture, to the extent they perceive it.
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#ScribesAndMakers »2026.08.31 — Choose an adverb to sum up how your month went.
Banally.
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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.31 — How did this month go for you, writing-wise?
Essays ↑ Fiction ↓
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#WordWeavers 2026.08.31 — What's one thing you hope readers remember long after they finish your story?
A woman got away with doing something they're not allowed. It worked out.
…Why would I think it wouldn't have? 🤔
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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.30 — What has your writing taught you this month?
I will write the essay about writing before writing the fiction†. My essay writing skill is leveling up dramatically. Not what I'm trying for—but writing them essays feels sooo good.
Some major cogitation is necessary. Obviously. 😭
I'll write about my results. 🤪
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
† Case in point.[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
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@golgaloth The society doesn't have the words for belief, luck, fortune, the supernatural, or religion or anything of that nature. When something happens rather unexpectedly, characters between themselves or of themselves ask, "Chance or skill?" Often starts a spirited pride filled debate (and "spiritual" isn't in their language, either). Never do people rely on something like luck, but that doesn't mean they're well prepared! So: Skill=NO.
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#PennedPossibilities 1114 1/2: On average, how long are your writing sessions?
Until I can't continue due to interruptions, having to leave for an appointment, finishing what is pending, needing to eat, needing to sleep, or total exhaustion. No average or median time accounting is possible.
Frequency is another issue altogether. 😇
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#WordWeavers 2026.08.30 — If you could interview one of your characters over coffee, what would be the first question you asked?
Imagine for a moment interviewing a reasonably attractive lady-killer ex-jock with a good reputation for being fun, if never long term. Bolt, my MC, is a female version of this, which—for reasons I won't explain—is perfectly acceptable in the woman-centric culture she lives in, as long as it is consensual. I'm preparing to write a part of a scene where Bolt is put on the spot by an SC, so I'd definitely ask first, "How many?"
Okay, maybe a little prurient interest here, since her society is way different from ours in these matters.
She could answer quantitatively since women routinely track such things due to governmental regulations. She will approximate because she is estranged from her family and doesn't have her registry books from her teens.
My second question would be an easter egg for those that read my posts: "How did you discover flying tandem and teach it to yourself?"
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#WordWeavers 2026.08.29 — What writing accomplishment are you quietly proud of?
I am becoming quite a proficient essayist. Not what I'm trying for, but one should be happy with their efforts, right?
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#PennedPossibilities 1113: Are you a planner down to the little details, a complete pantser, or somewhere in-between?
Mostly a pantser.
I find if I write an outline, my muse decides I've written the story and I lose interest. Cue the violins.
Initially, I do a lot of daydreaming about what would be a good story to tell about something I want to talk about. I then think about a character and a situation that could let me talk about that compellingly. I'll write notes. I may write a vague treatment. I always detail a possible ending to write for. As I write the story, I note where I think the story is going, details about the world that is assembling around the characters, special words, magic details, insights about the characters, annotations about how the ending could be achieved or what SCs might do when the ending (the climax) gets written. A story bible of sorts. As I progress toward the end, I may assemble my notes or ideas and write more defined ideas and expected mile posts to look for as I finish up.
And that's it.
Mostly pantser. Which means I sometimes stall out.
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#PennedPossibilities 974 — Does your MC become jealous? If so, to what degree? How does their jealousy manifest?
Jealousy is something taught in our society.
Read that again.
Nobody ever teaches that jealousy is in any wise good in Bolt's society. It's mentioned as a pathology in Men's Studies, and men taught to recognize that pathology will send people to Health Services if they recognize it.
Bolt has felt envy, when she's seen a woman get a man she was eying.
She's not entirely happy in one scene in Reluctant Courier (for the Mob) when she finds her friend Blue entertaining a pair of women. It's too hard to explain the nuances here, but it's a normal occurrence related to what people in their world call a "man's duty." Calling Blue a part-time geisha hints at the situation, but is not really close. He, however, recognizes that's Bolt has had a bad day (she has them fairly often, working for the mob) and really needs friendly (and also intimate) consoling. She's not up to sharing right then. Blue pawns off the two women on another guy in the association he lives at.
Bolt isn't jealous. That's not the emotion. There is no anger, simply disappointment. Bolt and Blue are completely human, but the society is subtly, but sometimes in your face, alien in ways we can't grasp thanks to our enculturation and gender roles.
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#ScribesAndMakers 2025.05.21 /2 — Tell us one truth and two lies about your creative work
I told two lies about my photography, and here's the results, and the truth.
50% —I meticulously catalog and keyword my image captures.
This is false. I don't have the patience. When I do photo shoots, I download into a directory named with the date and the name of the photo shoot. If it's important, I will pick some favorites and process those into a WIP or a Final directory. That's about it.
50% — I rarely do any post-processing of images. The only way to become skilled is by capturing photos right in the first place.
Gah! This is absolutely false. Not only that, it's not professional, and moreover a recipe for missing the shot you really wanted. I take the National Geographic approach. I shoot the heck out of it, capturing hundreds and hundreds of pictures, then meticulously post process the few that I captured what I was trying to express.
83% — I use specialized and expensive camera for my creative work.
Most people thought this the lie. Nope. It's true.
I have a Canon R Mirrorless and a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR. Neither are "Professional," but a step down full-frame prosumer model. Add to this a 100-400 telephoto and an 85 portrait lens, plus a bunch of lesser but premium glass, and it's quite a specialized and expensive kit!
And. I rarely use it!
For the majority of my photography, I now use an iPhone Pro Max. Yes. Expensive. Not as good resolution-wise or auto-focus-wise, but for my purposes it captures shots I can't get with the Canon, especially low light and high contrast situations where in-camera processing works real miracles. HDR on tap. Yes, I shoot RAW. (Do it. It's worth it.) Night portraits capture the stars and the subject, hand-held! The flapping STARS!
I have a thing for stereoscopic wigglegrams. There is a built-in feature called Live Photos (Harry Potter photos). A sub-feature is Bounce. If I take a shot while moving the camera parallel to the ground a few centimeters, bounce creates a 3D illusion of depth. My Trees project uses this technique. I recently discovered the Long Exposure feature, which makes the water in coastal images misty while retaining the sharpness of the rocks and plants. Again, hand-held. No tripod required. Nice.
There are so many camera features and post-processing options on the iPhone, it's hard to find a reason to take out the heavy glass. Were I hired for a shoot, I'd would use the R and the iPhone.
But, wait, there's more!
I recently bought a Insta360 X5 that lets me take spherical 360º still photos. It has dual 210º fish eye lenses; the internal camera stitches to make 72 MP images that allow you to look in any and all directions after the fact.
No, there's no web player. AFAIK. You need their app to view that, but you can edit out slices, remove distortion, and create photo montages from the same capture. It is an action camera, meant for video capture, which I'm not into, but that's useful at times. I've done hyperlapses with it. There is something called Bullet Time (like the technique pioneered in The Matrix with dozens of cameras), but that's a future project. Early days for me. Took it on my recent vacation.Also expensive, though not as much as the Canon equipment. Definitely specialized.
The biggest annoyance is some editing features might be tied to paying for their cloud service, but I'm not sure, yet. So far, I've been able to export plenty of "flat" movies and photos. It may be where the web viewer is because it allows "sharing." Yep. Make money by selling something expensive and requiring a subscription. It's how our world works.
Two sample photos had further details in the #AltText.
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