#vowsandwatersheds — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #vowsandwatersheds, aggregated by home.social.
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For the final phase of my retrospective from my 30+ year photographic career, I’m going through the original images on which the covers of my novels are based. This is for ‘Vows and Watersheds’ and it’s on the Ring of Steall in the Mamores, Scotland.
#photography #mountain #VowsandWatersheds’ #RingofSteall #Mamores #Scotland -
#writerscoffeeclub 31/5: What other hashtags inspire you on Mastodon' or similar?
As a regular thing, just this one and #wordweavers. I get a lot of fun and food for thought both writing my own responses to daily prompts and reading those of others.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#wordweavers 31/5: Do your MCs enjoy games?
Jerya never had much access to games growing up. Her recreations were reading & walking, both solitary pursuits.
In later life she has very little free time and her main way to relax is by riding (horses; bicycles haven’t been invented yet). She still reads, too, but a lot of it is work-related in one way or another.
What she needs is for someone to invent Sudoku.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#wordweavers 30/5: Are you comfortable writing from the POV of a child? Written any?
I haven’t published anything with POV younger than about 19, but I have unpublished work that takes in considerably younger characters. One who is about ten, for example. It doesn’t feel too hard. I used to be ten, after all.
The risk, I think, is making the character too ‘childish’, not too grown up.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 30/5: How do you achieve a sense of wonder in your stories?
Like everything else, it happens (if it does!) because I feel it myself first. There is no recipe or formula.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 29/5: Average time to complete a writing project?
There must be an average (mean, median, or mode) but ask around among writers and you’ll find the standard deviation is pretty wide.
I used to do camera guides in six weeks, because we didn’t get the cameras until official release and the publisher wanted them out ASAP. On the other hand, #ThreeKindsofNorth took probably 20 years from idea to publication.
#writingCommunity #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 29/5: How would your MC handle finding a spider in their home?
Jerya grew up living in caves. She wouldn’t have a problem in the slightest. (Fortunately the biology of the Known Lands is more like Britain than Australia, so there aren’t any venomous spiders to worry about.)
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#wordweavers 28/5: Did your MCs have comfort objects they carried as a child?
Jerya grew up in a remote village with very few personal possessions, and nothing inessential. Her comfort as she grew older came in walking the forests and the moors and teaching herself to swim in a secret tarn.
Now (aged 33 in Book 4, due out in August) her main source of comfort is around horses and going for solitary rides.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 28/5: Do you have advice for other writers you have yet to hear from different sources?
Every piece of writing advice I’ve ever seen is contradicted by someone else. Of the two writers I regard as my biggest influences, one was a plotter and one wasn’t.
The only advice I would give is this:
‘Someone told me’ is no basis for anything.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 27/5: What's the ideal story length?
Isn’t this the ultimate beginner question? To which the only answer is:
Not too long, not too short. Probably somewhere between five words and half a million.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 27/5: What would your ideal writing group be like?
I am a Life Member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild and have benefitted greatly from that, but I have never come across anything even remotely equivalent in the world of fiction.
https://www.owpg.org.uk
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 26/5: What childhood similarities do your MC and antagonist share?
Nothing whatsoever that I can think of, but then I haven’t given thought to Perriad’s childhood. She’s one of those people who you can’t imagine ever being a child, like Margaret Thatcher or the dreaded Great-Aunt in a couple of the Arthur Ransome novels that were formative reading in my childhood.)
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books #ArthurRansome -
#writerscoffeeclub 26/5: Would you consider writing a guide to your work, e.g. for aspiring writers?
TBH, I’m not sure I understand the question. ‘For aspiring writers’ suggests a guide to my writing process, but I’d just point them to Ursula K Le Guin’s beautiful book on the craft. (Or you could start with my Substack post on some of her gems of advice: https://tinyurl.com/58cudxj4).
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books #LeGuin -
#WritersCoffeeClub 25/5: Do you use a cover artist or design your own covers? Share your cover art.
My non-fiction covers have been done by the publishers, often using my photos.
For my novels, I’ve done my own, again based on my own photos, using Lightroom and Photoshop. Below is the potential cover for Book 4, due in August.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 24/5: While writing, do you avoid or binge watch similar material?
If there was any similar material, I would be fascinated, but I’ve never found anything that close.
If you can think of anything that matches ‘Earthsea x Northanger Abbey’ please let me know.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 24/5: Is there any work of fiction you could have written better? Don't be shy.
Yes, loads. It’s mean to mention names, of course…
…mutter ‘Jeffrey Archer’ mumble…
In fact, I’m far too busy writing my own books, and the likes of JA sell far more than I do, so what can you do?
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 23/5: Are your MCs picky about where they sleep?
Both Jerya and Rodal grew up in a village where they slept on platforms carved from solid rock with only a thin pad stuffed with goat-hair for a mattress. And crossing the mountains they (and Railu) slept under a tarpaulin on whatever bit of vaguely smooth and level ground they could find. so, no, they’re not picky.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 23/5: What gets in the way of your writing?
Life.
Riding bikes, and cleaning them afterward. Going to coffee shops (but we have some great conversations about writing, so maybe that’s a help not a hindrance). General household chores.
And more life. How do people with full-time jobs and kids manage it?
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#wordweavers 22/5: Is your antagonist more a dragon or a dragon rider?
Once you’ve explained what a dragon is…
Ask Perriad and she’ll probably see herself as a dragon rider (or else as a slayer of dragons!).
Ask Jerya, or anyone else who‘s butted heads with Perriad, and they’ll see her as a dragon—and they won’t mean it as a compliment.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#writerscoffeeclub 22/5: If someone were to write your autobiography, who would you want to write it?
Pardon?
Who else but myself?
The question is, who would want to read it?
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 21/5: Format as you write or at the end?
I format my WIP solely to suit myself—preferred font, spacing, etc. It looks nothing like Standard Manuscript Format, or like my finished books, but that’s cool. The one trick is to make consistent use of Paragraph Styles so that when needed I can change all the parameters in a few clicks.
My other essential for happy writing is never to use Word.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 17/5: Have you ever written for other age groups?
If you don’t count ‘Charlie the Squirrel’, which I wrote and illustrated for the 4yo next door when I was about 12… I have one novel in my drawer which is probably YA, but don’t know if it will ever see the light of day.
Mind you, the three main protagonists of #ThreeKindsofNorth are all 19/20 at the start so maybe I should be promoting this as YA too?
#writingCommunity #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 17/5: Other than writing, what's your go-to creative outlet?
Obviously, for many years, writing and photography sat side by side, and were often combined in articles and books. I’ve been giving the photography a bit of a rest in the last few years but it’s always there when I want to exercise different mental muscles.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books #photography -
#WordWeavers 16/5: If your characters were in a museum, how would they act?
Do you mean as exhibits or as visitors? It makes quite a difference, you know.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#writerscoffeeclub 16/5: What's your target audience? Why?
I have major reservations about the whole concept of 'target audience', let alone 'writing to market', but can’t get near elucidating them in 500 characters.
So I’ll just say my 'target audience' is people who like the same kinds of books I like. And as I’ll read almost anything except horror and paranormal, that doesn’t narrow it down very far.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 15/5: Have you ever attended a writer's fair / festival to promote your work? Would you?
I haven’t as yet but I’m seriously considering it. It’s just a case of finding the right event. (In the UK, ideally Northern England).
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 14/5: Do you have a sense of how much plot you need for how long a manuscript?
Whoa, isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?
The story decides how long the book needs to be, not the other way around.
(I’ve worked the other way around in non-fiction and there’s no way I’m doing it with my novels.)
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 11/5: Who is the best leader in your story?
Jerya herself could be said to be the best leader. After all, she does get Railu and Rodal to follow her across the mountains, and she does get them through safely. She takes the lead again on another Crossing in Book 3, and assumes (or is thrown into) even more of a leadership role in Book 4 (But you’ll have to wait till August for that).
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WordWeavers 12/5: Who is the best friend in your story?
For Jerya it’s Railu: for Railu, it’s Jerya, although their friendship is sorely tested in Book 2. Jerya’s 'madcap scheme' to leave the Sung Lands and cross the mountains lands them in unexpected and trying circumstances, and their impact on Railu is heavier and lasts a lot longer.
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#WordWeavers 13/5: Describe a place that has a special significance in your story.
Places in general are strong in the series. One is Jerya’s discovery of the Library in the College of the Dawnsingers. (Other libraries will feature in later books.) This gives one of my favourite moments (though I do say so myself).
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
11/5: Which character have you written that's the most unlike you?
Well, considering my MC, Jerya, is female, and 19 at the start of #ThreeKindsofNorth, you might say she’s highly unlike me… but really we have a lot in common.
Now there’s a guy who’ll appear in Book 4 & play a significant part even though he’s 'on stage' only quite briefly. Entitled and predatory. I fervently hope I’m NOT like him.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books -
#WritersCoffeeClub 15/4: Describe your perfect writing conditions.
A comfortable chair (greetings to all in the #POANG club) and my laptop. Or a first class seat on a train (for the elbow room, not the free food).
But actually this came close… the magic ingredient being what you can’t see, the sound of a fountain in the garden outside.
#writingCommunity #ThreeKindsofNorth #TheSunderingWall #VowsAndWatersheds #writing #books #RydalHall