#wcc — Public Fediverse posts

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.12 — What's the last museum you went to? Did it inspire you?

San Diego Model Railroad Museum. They have recreations of important California railroads, including the famous Tehachapi Loop. Inspired? Yes, to enjoy other people's model railway hobby and to not advance beyond my small set that circles the Christmas tree.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.12 — What's the last museum you went to? Did it inspire you?

San Diego Model Railroad Museum. They have recreations of important California railroads, including the famous Tehachapi Loop. Inspired? Yes, to enjoy other people's model railway hobby and to not advance beyond my small set that circles the Christmas tree.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.11 — When were you last a student?

Twenty years ago. I took two semesters of Japanese in 2006 in preparation for touring Japan before the 2007 WorldCon in Tokyo.

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

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#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
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#RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.11 — When were you last a student?

Twenty years ago. I took two semesters of Japanese in 2006 in preparation for touring Japan before the 2007 WorldCon in Tokyo.

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

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

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.10 — Do you reuse characters?

Strictly speaking, only in sequels and stories in a series. Currently, I'm reusing characters I developed elsewhere. It could be thought of as having prototyped them elsewhere, but as is true in real life, people are shaped by their environment. They've mostly different names, different talents, and to an extent different agendas, plugged into differing plots because I develop plots around the direction characters give me, but they share the same DNA. Sisters and brothers in all but blood. To say I've also written totally unique one-shot characters is almost a lie. All my characters are products of my interests, emotions, imagination, and the messages I want to communicate. As such, readers might be able to detect similarities in characters between stories within a series or in standalone ones.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
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#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.10 — Do you reuse characters?

Strictly speaking, only in sequels and stories in a series. Currently, I'm reusing characters I developed elsewhere. It could be thought of as having prototyped them elsewhere, but as is true in real life, people are shaped by their environment. They've mostly different names, different talents, and to an extent different agendas, plugged into differing plots because I develop plots around the direction characters give me, but they share the same DNA. Sisters and brothers in all but blood. To say I've also written totally unique one-shot characters is almost a lie. All my characters are products of my interests, emotions, imagination, and the messages I want to communicate. As such, readers might be able to detect similarities in characters between stories within a series or in standalone ones.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.08 — In your works, when the subaltern speaks, who listens?

I will admit that the Subaltern etal. is beyond my pay grade philosophically, but I'll take a stab at it. The oppressed in our world are voiced and heard in theirs, but still nobody is happy or truly not oppressed because everyone is taught that our little prisons are safer than thinking and deciding for ourselves, because it's obvious those that those grown powerful will become like those supplanted. That's human nature. Getting the reader to see what we do to ourselves from a foreign perspective with plenty of contrast is what I strive for philosophically. Awareness might break cycles of history.

[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 2026.08.08 — In your works, when the subaltern speaks, who listens?

I will admit that the Subaltern etal. is beyond my pay grade philosophically, but I'll take a stab at it. The oppressed in our world are voiced and heard in theirs, but still nobody is happy or truly not oppressed because everyone is taught that our little prisons are safer than thinking and deciding for ourselves, because it's obvious those that those grown powerful will become like those supplanted. That's human nature. Getting the reader to see what we do to ourselves from a foreign perspective with plenty of contrast is what I strive for philosophically. Awareness might break cycles of history.

[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 2026.08.07 — What subcultures exist in your work?

There's plenty of hints that Bolt lives as a minority in Home City. There's plenty of words day angels can say about and amongst themselves that others will get punched for saying. There is discrimination. There are not nice neighborhoods, and day angels are relegated to live in upper floors and attics of buildings with lots of stairs (they can fly up, of course). Some non-angelic claim to be allergic to feather dander and say they can "smell those people." Prejudice is visible but I don't delve deeply in this story.

Instead, we see day angel food culture. Unlike the primarily vegetarian population of home city, day angels need to eat fish. They have their own markets and restaurants, mostly in red popup tents on roof tops because tent space is cheap and portable. There's grills, friers, smokers and more, with plenty of noodle soups. And celebrity chefs. Festivals. Contests. Beer and fun smokes. Plenty. Food sections sell newspapers and zines to feather folk, with recipes, critics, and biographies. Rooftops with the scent of fried foods cloaked in tasty grill smoke where people with wings gather and those people without wings… typically have to climb ten flight of stairs or more.

[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 2026.08.07 — What subcultures exist in your work?

There's plenty of hints that Bolt lives as a minority in Home City. There's plenty of words day angels can say about and amongst themselves that others will get punched for saying. There is discrimination. There are not nice neighborhoods, and day angels are relegated to live in upper floors and attics of buildings with lots of stairs (they can fly up, of course). Some non-angelic claim to be allergic to feather dander and say they can "smell those people." Prejudice is visible but I don't delve deeply in this story.

Instead, we see day angel food culture. Unlike the primarily vegetarian population of home city, day angels need to eat fish. They have their own markets and restaurants, mostly in red popup tents on roof tops because tent space is cheap and portable. There's grills, friers, smokers and more, with plenty of noodle soups. And celebrity chefs. Festivals. Contests. Beer and fun smokes. Plenty. Food sections sell newspapers and zines to feather folk, with recipes, critics, and biographies. Rooftops with the scent of fried foods cloaked in tasty grill smoke where people with wings gather and those people without wings… typically have to climb ten flight of stairs or more.

[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 2026.08.06 — What sort of collectives appear in your work?

There's a lot of words I use for ease of understanding because I don't want to overburden my readers with too many invented words. I use guild to signify a collective of professionals. Most act more like a union than an organization for training members and keeping trade secrets. They can be frustratingly exclusive. Bolt failed to qualify for one she wanted entrance into because she was the wrong gender. Bolt was super pleased when her photography hobby brought her professional sales leading to membership in the Shadowplayer guild, although it wasn't the guild she aimed for. Yes, she knows it had become a personal prestige thing.

The Thousand Eyes syndicate qualifies as a collective, too. Bolt is not happy being a member. It was once simply three street gangs that agreed upon territories and businesses, but has evolved into a mutual aid collective of smaller entities that works under a directorate for efficiency sake to minimize constabulary involvement (i.e. control violence as a tool) and maximize smoothness of operations and profit. Boss Mead (the primary antagonist) is the agreed upon director as he has a talent for convincing people.

[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 2026.08.06 — What sort of collectives appear in your work?

There's a lot of words I use for ease of understanding because I don't want to overburden my readers with too many invented words. I use guild to signify a collective of professionals. Most act more like a union than an organization for training members and keeping trade secrets. They can be frustratingly exclusive. Bolt failed to qualify for one she wanted entrance into because she was the wrong gender. Bolt was super pleased when her photography hobby brought her professional sales leading to membership in the Shadowplayer guild, although it wasn't the guild she aimed for. Yes, she knows it had become a personal prestige thing.

The Thousand Eyes syndicate qualifies as a collective, too. Bolt is not happy being a member. It was once simply three street gangs that agreed upon territories and businesses, but has evolved into a mutual aid collective of smaller entities that works under a directorate for efficiency sake to minimize constabulary involvement (i.e. control violence as a tool) and maximize smoothness of operations and profit. Boss Mead (the primary antagonist) is the agreed upon director as he has a talent for convincing people.

[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 2026.08.05 — Share a small selection of something you wrote recently that you're proud of.

Wanna #excerpt? How's 'bout this? The antagonist, Pigeon the Pilferer, and the narrator, Bolt, are day angels. They have wings. Teri (short for Night Terror) is the mob's new enforcer.

I looked up, reflexively flaring my wings as she'd led us into a narrow alley, feeling claustrophobic, tapping feathers to the brick on either side, unable to fully extend. I let the two continue ahead. After two steps, the woman faced him.

Hands on her hips, Teri insisted, "You should apologize."

"What?"

"Apologize."

"Why?"

"Do you think Boss Idiot doesn't know? That he won't use it against you? Do it for team cohesion purposes, if for no other reason."

"Or you're going to tattle?" He sneered.

"Interesting diction there, tattle. Oh! Are you attempting to belittle me? No. That's right, you're a featherbrain. You lack the vocabulary to state that I might discuss your counterproductive behavior with your employer—"

He swung on her.

Her shoe splashed in the water running down the center of the alley as she sidestepped. Slightly. Enough. Her cloak rustled as knuckles whizzed by her shoulder. He swung twice more, then grabbed fruitlessly for hanging fabric.

The heel of her hand hit him square on his sternum. It stopped there, barely impacting. Enough that he coughed. Surprised for a heartbeat, he grabbed for her arm, but she plowed forward switching hands. He jerked his hand back. She leaned in, her face looming into his since she was that tall and he somewhat short for a man. He reflexively backpedaled. When he grabbed for her cloak, she jumped back.

"You're flapping me!" he shouted, charging, his wings flaring out.

They thwacked the alley walls like striking sticks.

That hurt.

His attack fell short as she backpedaled, not even looking back because she'd mentally mapped the alley. When he stopped, bewildered that his results didn't match what he'd thought was going to happen, she threw herself at him, caught his arm-shoulder and pulled him to her.

She kissed him…

[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

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.05 — Share a small selection of something you wrote recently that you're proud of.

Wanna #excerpt? How's 'bout this? The antagonist, Pigeon the Pilferer, and the narrator, Bolt, are day angels. They have wings. Teri (short for Night Terror) is the mob's new enforcer.

I looked up, reflexively flaring my wings as she'd led us into a narrow alley, feeling claustrophobic, tapping feathers to the brick on either side, unable to fully extend. I let the two continue ahead. After two steps, the woman faced him.

Hands on her hips, Teri insisted, "You should apologize."

"What?"

"Apologize."

"Why?"

"Do you think Boss Idiot doesn't know? That he won't use it against you? Do it for team cohesion purposes, if for no other reason."

"Or you're going to tattle?" He sneered.

"Interesting diction there, tattle. Oh! Are you attempting to belittle me? No. That's right, you're a featherbrain. You lack the vocabulary to state that I might discuss your counterproductive behavior with your employer—"

He swung on her.

Her shoe splashed in the water running down the center of the alley as she sidestepped. Slightly. Enough. Her cloak rustled as knuckles whizzed by her shoulder. He swung twice more, then grabbed fruitlessly for hanging fabric.

The heel of her hand hit him square on his sternum. It stopped there, barely impacting. Enough that he coughed. Surprised for a heartbeat, he grabbed for her arm, but she plowed forward switching hands. He jerked his hand back. She leaned in, her face looming into his since she was that tall and he somewhat short for a man. He reflexively backpedaled. When he grabbed for her cloak, she jumped back.

"You're flapping me!" he shouted, charging, his wings flaring out.

They thwacked the alley walls like striking sticks.

That hurt.

His attack fell short as she backpedaled, not even looking back because she'd mentally mapped the alley. When he stopped, bewildered that his results didn't match what he'd thought was going to happen, she threw herself at him, caught his arm-shoulder and pulled him to her.

She kissed him…

[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

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.04 — Do you consider yourself a writer, an author, an artist, something else? Why?

Author — I have completed works primarily of fiction. I write things that are meant to be books or something significant. Articles, columns, essays count. It's my primary avocation. It's a profession.
Novelist — I prefer writing long form because it gives characters a chance to grow and convincingly suffer.
Prosaist — This is to prose what a poet is to poetry. Style, elocution, and vocabulary transform a bland statement of events into a world of wonder curated into readers' minds upon the wings of words—sometimes despite the story.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.04 — Do you consider yourself a writer, an author, an artist, something else? Why?

Author — I have completed works primarily of fiction. I write things that are meant to be books or something significant. Articles, columns, essays count. It's my primary avocation. It's a profession.
Novelist — I prefer writing long form because it gives characters a chance to grow and convincingly suffer.
Prosaist — This is to prose what a poet is to poetry. Style, elocution, and vocabulary transform a bland statement of events into a world of wonder curated into readers' minds upon the wings of words—sometimes despite the story.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.08.03 — Are your narrators a diegetic part of the world which they narrate?

The word implies characters can hear the narrator, something akin to a voice over in a movie or on TV. The narrator is the protagonist in 1st person relating her story to the reader not to the other characters, so it is not the same. Answer: No.

[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 2026.08.03 — Are your narrators a diegetic part of the world which they narrate?

The word implies characters can hear the narrator, something akin to a voice over in a movie or on TV. The narrator is the protagonist in 1st person relating her story to the reader not to the other characters, so it is not the same. Answer: No.

[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 2026.08.02 — What's the most challenging thing you've ever written?

What I am currently writing: I'm depicting a modern urban society that on the surface appears very similar to our own, but turns everything upside-down and backwards in a way such that traditionally-minded or "conservative" readers will eventually discover I have made them question their own worldview. Beyond the worldbuilding, I'm non-PC when I write. There's a reason if characters come off as offensive or unrefined; I have to strive to build into this such that I don't throw the reader from the story. Bolt, the MC, a day angel woman, is, let's say, unrefined and sexist, and even when she finds herself becoming more progressive minded because of the people she encounters, she throws gender roles willy-nilly into question, including her society's conception of a trans person. Oh, right, did I forget to say the story is a female-centric society?

Oh, sorry! It is. And Bolt likes her men.

Challenging?

Maaaybe.

[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 2026.08.02 — What's the most challenging thing you've ever written?

What I am currently writing: I'm depicting a modern urban society that on the surface appears very similar to our own, but turns everything upside-down and backwards in a way such that traditionally-minded or "conservative" readers will eventually discover I have made them question their own worldview. Beyond the worldbuilding, I'm non-PC when I write. There's a reason if characters come off as offensive or unrefined; I have to strive to build into this such that I don't throw the reader from the story. Bolt, the MC, a day angel woman, is, let's say, unrefined and sexist, and even when she finds herself becoming more progressive minded because of the people she encounters, she throws gender roles willy-nilly into question, including her society's conception of a trans person. Oh, right, did I forget to say the story is a female-centric society?

Oh, sorry! It is. And Bolt likes her men.

Challenging?

Maaaybe.

[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 2026.07.31 — End of the month roundup: What will you do differently next month?

Finish the novel or bust.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
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#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.31 — End of the month roundup: What will you do differently next month?

Finish the novel or bust.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.30 — End of the month roundup: How well did this month go for you?

Welp, our friends are SMOFs (secret masters of fandom), deeply into running conventions, escorting guests of honor, immersed in science fiction and heavy reading. Yesterday they asked about the beta story. (Me: 😔). Had to face the music and discuss my lack of discipline. New motivation now. Yep. That's me. Gonna do it.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.30 — End of the month roundup: How well did this month go for you?

Welp, our friends are SMOFs (secret masters of fandom), deeply into running conventions, escorting guests of honor, immersed in science fiction and heavy reading. Yesterday they asked about the beta story. (Me: 😔). Had to face the music and discuss my lack of discipline. New motivation now. Yep. That's me. Gonna do it.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.27 — What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?

Trying to concentrate on reviewing the novel and not getting bogged down in revising it at the same time, which takes 20x longer. I think I'm procrastinating trying to avoid writing the tough parts, but I dunno. I've only be at this since the 1970s.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.27 — What's a writerly growing pain you're experiencing right now?

Trying to concentrate on reviewing the novel and not getting bogged down in revising it at the same time, which takes 20x longer. I think I'm procrastinating trying to avoid writing the tough parts, but I dunno. I've only be at this since the 1970s.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.26 — Do you have other works waiting in the wings? How many?

Beyond Reluctant Courier? Yes. 13.

Mostly to spur myself on:

Reluctant Moon WIP
Reluctant Fighter WIP
Mars Needed Women Beta
Inklings Hiatus
Zeezahsah Rewrite
Tears Rewrite
Balance I, II, III Rewrite
Trees I, II Rewrite
Motherhood Rewrite
Emeraline Re-publication

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.26 — Do you have other works waiting in the wings? How many?

Beyond Reluctant Courier? Yes. 13.

Mostly to spur myself on:

Reluctant Moon WIP
Reluctant Fighter WIP
Mars Needed Women Beta
Inklings Hiatus
Zeezahsah Rewrite
Tears Rewrite
Balance I, II, III Rewrite
Trees I, II Rewrite
Motherhood Rewrite
Emeraline Re-publication

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.25 — Call &Response: What are your techniques for getting out of having written yourself into a corner. Everyone: Have you tried this? What do you do instead?

1. I find the offending text, move it to scrap if significant, then write it again from scratch. I do that for sections from a few paragraphs to chapter. I've done this four times for the first chapter of the WIP (not serially, but over the year), approaching the same material from different viewpoints, emphasizing different things each time. Bolt has to be a talented photographer in the wrong place at the right time. The current first chapter is now photorealistically vivid, so when she encounters a disaster she's identifiable as capable and dedicated to her craft by those she encounters.

2. For major plot holes—like the current one where in events B, C, D, event D gets mentioned as happening before B and after C—I bite the bullet and outline what I have, including, vaguely, the unwritten parts that ought logically follow if the characters don't pull me elsewhere. When I have a full sense of the story, I realign sections until the timeline is straightened out. I'm a pantser, so I must be vague about the missing parts else I might lose interest in the story.

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

#BoostingIsSharing

#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.24 — Should a reader be forewarned about any and all erotic content, no matter how small?

If you have a publisher for your work, they will take care of this. They want to sell through their investment. They will decide. Try not to interfere.

If you self-publish, learn who your audience is, and the tolerance of those that host or print your content. Use this as a guide. Since you will suffer the brunt of your mistakes, I suggest you choose conservatively whether to warn. This means also that, depending on the venue, saying a product is erotic and it isn't sufficiently so could be ruinous.

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

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Una voce da un paese (#Myanmar) e una regione (Kachin) che ho potuto visitare con i suoi campi profughi IDP (Internal Displaced People) nel 2019 durante il Pellegrinaggio d Giustizia e Pace del #WCC (Consiglio Ecumenico delle Chiese)

https://www.oikoumene.org/news/in-myanmar-how-do-we-as-christians-respond

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.23 — How much erotic content can a work have without being considered erotica?

That's asking a question on the quantitative axis instead of the qualitative axis. Reader tolerances or demands matter. Each publisher will have their own standards, ultimately. To put a point on it, I'm pretty sure most of us could write a steamy erotic story where "nothing" physical happens between the characters, or a really good, for example, non-erotic murder mystery that takes place in the porn industry, on sets, with the investigator one of the actors "investigating" thoroughly. Qualitatively, it all depends on whether what happens matters for plot advancement or for "spice level." However, you push standards at your own risk.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.23 — How much erotic content can a work have without being considered erotica?

That's asking a question on the quantitative axis instead of the qualitative axis. Reader tolerances or demands matter. Each publisher will have their own standards, ultimately. To put a point on it, I'm pretty sure most of us could write a steamy erotic story where "nothing" physical happens between the characters, or a really good, for example, non-erotic murder mystery that takes place in the porn industry, on sets, with the investigator one of the actors "investigating" thoroughly. Qualitatively, it all depends on whether what happens matters for plot advancement or for "spice level." However, you push standards at your own risk.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.22 — Are the limits of what is considered 'erotic' more or less universal?

No. Simply looking at what clothing is allowed women in conservative cultures versus liberal (to protect their virtue, supposedly) shows what will be fetishized and eroticized by those restricted to those cultures. That sample alone proves the rule. Attempts to restrict human sexuality fail against the human instinct to procreate.

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

#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.22 — Are the limits of what is considered 'erotic' more or less universal?

No. Simply looking at what clothing is allowed women in conservative cultures versus liberal (to protect their virtue, supposedly) shows what will be fetishized and eroticized by those restricted to those cultures. That sample alone proves the rule. Attempts to restrict human sexuality fail against the human instinct to procreate.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.21 — Do your works contain erotic elements? How far do you go?

The dictionaries I surveyed are pretty explicit and in agreement about this word. Below find the definition from the The Oxford Learner's Dictionary. I feel it is the most encompassing one and, I think, the most consistent with this question:

Erotic adj: showing or involving sexual desire and pleasure; intended to make somebody feel sexual desire

In this case clause A can exist exclusive of clause B. So, my first answer is yes, but the current WIP isn't an erotic work.

As for my second answer: My MC was a track and field star in high school with a tuned body to show for it, with a great personality, able to attract any partner and did, and kept them, and boasted dozens. Still a hick, often sexist, sometimes prejudiced. Ends up a criminal. The story takes place when the MC is turning 30.

She's a woman. I write gender fiction.

Her perceptions of what is right in her society are what's important. What people consider right contrasts starkly with what we do, especially gender roles. Her experiences must ring true. The story isn't about sex. It certainly doesn't use common bodice-ripper or porn vernacular (it takes place on a different world) but the narrator doesn't fade to black. Why would she want to? She's proud. In a sense, she's boasting since the story has the flavor of the 1st person narrator conversing with the reader. It's also confessional. Yet, the narrator needs to convince the reader what she reports did happened—and sometimes, as a day angel with flying scenes, that what she reported was physically possible. Details? Right? There's her why, her joy, her worries, her confusion as to why she acts, and her justifications from inside her head amidst all the turmoil in her life.

If the reader gathers what physically happened between the characters, good. Not the purpose. It's plot advancement. If, further, the reader enjoys what they figure out happened, fine. Everyone is acting in the confines of their gender roles, arguably acting out, or sometimes exceeding self-imposed limits and finding meaning in and tolerance for the unfamiliar, which is thought provoking. Which is my intent.

How this works in practice (not-explicit): #excerpt

Bad enough that the Thousand Eyes associated me with Shugh. Me riding him, too? I wasn't sure I wanted not to. My body had its opinion, my brain another. Another lost memory surfaced of me at an eatery near school, aftergaming with my track team rowdy behind me, me preening in front of a skeptical cook at a smokey grill: "I can't have too many men; women need to compete better," but now I was thirty. I'd feel really bad if I hurt Shugh…

Her attitude about sex here is matter-of-fact and neutral. From our point of view? Some readers might find how she thinks about her passions erotic.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.21 — Do your works contain erotic elements? How far do you go?

The dictionaries I surveyed are pretty explicit and in agreement about this word. Below find the definition from the The Oxford Learner's Dictionary. I feel it is the most encompassing one and, I think, the most consistent with this question:

Erotic adj: showing or involving sexual desire and pleasure; intended to make somebody feel sexual desire

In this case clause A can exist exclusive of clause B. So, my first answer is yes, but the current WIP isn't an erotic work.

As for my second answer: My MC was a track and field star in high school with a tuned body to show for it, with a great personality, able to attract any partner and did, and kept them, and boasted dozens. Still a hick, often sexist, sometimes prejudiced. Ends up a criminal. The story takes place when the MC is turning 30.

She's a woman. I write gender fiction.

Her perceptions of what is right in her society are what's important. What people consider right contrasts starkly with what we do, especially gender roles. Her experiences must ring true. The story isn't about sex. It certainly doesn't use common bodice-ripper or porn vernacular (it takes place on a different world) but the narrator doesn't fade to black. Why would she want to? She's proud. In a sense, she's boasting since the story has the flavor of the 1st person narrator conversing with the reader. It's also confessional. Yet, the narrator needs to convince the reader what she reports did happened—and sometimes, as a day angel with flying scenes, that what she reported was physically possible. Details? Right? There's her why, her joy, her worries, her confusion as to why she acts, and her justifications from inside her head amidst all the turmoil in her life.

If the reader gathers what physically happened between the characters, good. Not the purpose. It's plot advancement. If, further, the reader enjoys what they figure out happened, fine. Everyone is acting in the confines of their gender roles, arguably acting out, or sometimes exceeding self-imposed limits and finding meaning in and tolerance for the unfamiliar, which is thought provoking. Which is my intent.

How this works in practice (not-explicit): #excerpt

Bad enough that the Thousand Eyes associated me with Shugh. Me riding him, too? I wasn't sure I wanted not to. My body had its opinion, my brain another. Another lost memory surfaced of me at an eatery near school, aftergaming with my track team rowdy behind me, me preening in front of a skeptical cook at a smokey grill: "I can't have too many men; women need to compete better," but now I was thirty. I'd feel really bad if I hurt Shugh…

Her attitude about sex here is matter-of-fact and neutral. From our point of view? Some readers might find how she thinks about her passions erotic.

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

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.16 — What's a trope you'd like to see subverted?

I guess I'm not that literary. Coming from watching a lot of anime, the current releases for July all seem to be of similar sets of themes, some I feel I've seen too much of. Yet. They've all come at the story with different directions and different twists, making them surprisingly fresh, though nothing breakout. I've decided not to refresh myself on what tropes are or to read a list of them to pick something hackneyed to cite. Instead, I'll state I like stories with good stories and characters. Everything has been done before. I'd like to see what's been done before subverted into something interesting! Authors: Ready, set, go!

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.16 — What's a trope you'd like to see subverted?

I guess I'm not that literary. Coming from watching a lot of anime, the current releases for July all seem to be of similar sets of themes, some I feel I've seen too much of. Yet. They've all come at the story with different directions and different twists, making them surprisingly fresh, though nothing breakout. I've decided not to refresh myself on what tropes are or to read a list of them to pick something hackneyed to cite. Instead, I'll state I like stories with good stories and characters. Everything has been done before. I'd like to see what's been done before subverted into something interesting! Authors: Ready, set, go!

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.15 — Do you read a lot outside of your comfort zone?

Life is short; I eat dessert first.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.15 — Do you read a lot outside of your comfort zone?

Life is short; I eat dessert first.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.14 — How do you escape your comfort zone, writing-wise?

Simply writing something that I expect someone to read takes me out of my comfort zone. Some of what I write would embarrass me to read aloud in front of an audience since I do my best not to censor my protagonists or narrators, and sometimes I push the line in my essay writing, too. Did I mention I'm shy? It's only gotten worse since I ceased writing fan fiction and am now writing for commercial publication. Everything. Counts. Out of my comfort zone, right?

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.14 — How do you escape your comfort zone, writing-wise?

Simply writing something that I expect someone to read takes me out of my comfort zone. Some of what I write would embarrass me to read aloud in front of an audience since I do my best not to censor my protagonists or narrators, and sometimes I push the line in my essay writing, too. Did I mention I'm shy? It's only gotten worse since I ceased writing fan fiction and am now writing for commercial publication. Everything. Counts. Out of my comfort zone, right?

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

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#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.]

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.11 — C&R: Share a sentence you loved but couldn't make work. Everyone: How would you rework it?

I must have leveled up! I either make the paragraph containing broken sentence support it, make the sentence work, recast it from scratch, or discard it as not worth my time regardless of how pretty. This is why I've nothing to contribute today.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.11 — C&R: Share a sentence you loved but couldn't make work. Everyone: How would you rework it?

I must have leveled up! I either make the paragraph containing broken sentence support it, make the sentence work, recast it from scratch, or discard it as not worth my time regardless of how pretty. This is why I've nothing to contribute today.

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

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.05 — How do you make use of the critiques you receive?

My father used to say "comments, corrections and well-flung brickbats are cordially invited."

Without that he tended to get effusive praise which he couldn't act on.

So, effectively, he and I filter them into categories and pay most attention to the middle one.

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.05 — How do you make use of the critiques you receive?

My father used to say "comments, corrections and well-flung brickbats are cordially invited."

Without that he tended to get effusive praise which he couldn't act on.

So, effectively, he and I filter them into categories and pay most attention to the middle one.

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2026.07.05 — How do you make use of the critiques you receive?

I am a criticism wimp. I know NEVER to expect a praise-fest. I tend to melt in the heat of the imagined inferno even before opening the document.

Eventually, sometimes weeks later, I read and fix the edits that make sense to me. I do know that what I've received beyond objective typos and grammar red marks is what the reader got filtering my words through their brain. It highlights areas where I may have been unclear, or where a singular idiosyncratic reader's context may have run afoul of my message or possibly been misled. What I ask for is for pointing out any plot holes, characters readers dislike, or unclear or boring passages.

Data points…

I tell myself this.

It's still hard receiving, even having taken the Clarion Workshop and having run Clarion style critique circles. Not my favorite thing, but I find there's use if the critic is professional about it.

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

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