A few months back I used a bunch of #WritingWonders prompts to flesh out a pair of characters in my head. That turned into a short story and a novelette, both of which have now found homes. The novelette just paid for Christmas.
Jon Olfert
SFF, horror, and paleofiction writer in BCS, OMQ, Lightspeed, Radon Journal, Analog. Albertan in Atlantic Canada.
#writingwonders Aug 26: If your MC wrote books, what genre would they write?
Larkh would write the last cursed book he burned as a city guard, the book that begs to be compulsively rewritten, ideally on the skin of his loved ones, the book that has haunted his every waking hour.
Tyrra would write thrillers.
Got marching orders to beef up the interiority in a tough story.
Trying a new approach. Rather than getting lost in the sentence-by-sentence of what I've already written/rewritten, I'm writing blurbs about just the feelings (appropriate to various moments) in a blank doc. It's sparking all new angles on the visuals.
Integrating these bits and pieces might wind up being a challenge, but I'm liking where it's at.
Got a great big snowfall and my oldest sculpted a cat.
#writingwonders 8/23 in your MC's mind, what's the worst thing they've done?
For Larkh, it's leaving his wife, though it's probably actually guard shit.
For Tyrra, it's things she did as a kid, but it's probably actually the Event in a story forthcoming in a nameless market.
Doing my darndest to convince a publisher that glow-in-the-dark fore-edge painting is a practical and cost-effective crowdfunding tier.
Some local writers have set up a short fiction 'book club' and I'm pretty stoked for it. Never done a book club before. Picked a piece I liked in Interzone (SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INTERZONE) and let's see how it goes.
Moving BBC clip of Seamus Heaney with the Boa Island figure. Been reading Cornwell's STONEHENGE lately. Thinking about the very different values Heaney and Cornwell imagined for early pre-Christian civilizations in the British Isles around children/the value of life. I have to think both were right.
https://fb.watch/mObdnX6vrh/?mibextid=NnVzG8
@TheSpaceshipper@socel.net I had near zero interest in this show but, seeing this beautiful boat, I need to try it.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2024/07/23/employees-report-ai-increased-workload/
"77% of employees using AI say it has added to their workload and created challenges in achieving the expected productivity gains. Not only is AI increasing the workloads of full-time employees, it’s hampering productivity and contributing to employee burnout."
The chatGPT bubble can't burst fast enough.
Really enjoyed this new piece by Dave Walsh in Typebar. (Currently Patrons only but it goes free soon.) Compelling argument outside the usual models of business OR little community thing OR Formal Nonprofit OR networks built around Big Names https://www.typebarmagazine.com/2024/08/29/the-writing-revolution-will-come-when-we-realize-our-collective-value/