I’m not officially on social media, but I do peek at non-civilization-destroying venues from time to time. I see a lot of writer games, of which WordWeavers seems the most fun. Per the official Google Doc:
WordWeavers is a writing game on Mastodon created by Branwen OShea and Alina Leonova. The hosts post daily questions for each month.
Start anytime, answer any questions you want, skip as many as you feel like. Use the hashtag, talk to other writers and have fun!
The only rules: be respectful to others and use CWs (content warnings) for posts that might be triggering.
Everyone is welcome to participate 🧡
I can’t participate there, so I’m going to participate here!
NOTE: This is an especially scant participation month for me due to deadlines, illness, and life generally punching me in the face all month.
Do you use symbolism in your stories?
Not effectively. I can identify several symbol-worthy elements, but when I try to develop them in anything but the literal sense, I feel like I’m being false.
I’ve learned a lot about what I don’t want from symbolism, though. If the right one ever falls in my lap, maybe it will be easier to work with.
Do you use foreshadowing, and if so, how do you do it?
In the sense that everything is setting up something that will be paid off later, you’re always creating the possibility of what will happen. Talking about characters who aren’t present sets up expectations for their appearance. Talking about locations sets up expectations for visiting.
The tiny, one-line hints mostly come about when I revise. If I need something that smells bad, there are a million options. Choosing “stank like a necromancer’s robes” is a heads-up that necromancy is a possibility, and it would be a weird choice to bring up and not use. (Chekhov’s necromancy, if you will.)
And then there was the time I came across a line I wrote early on that unintentionally alluded to a terrible event that occurs later, which made me exclaim, “GASP! I’M SO MEAN!” I already know that one will only hit people on reread because I didn’t get it my first time through the story. Those rarities are like puns—better when they’re accidental.
Have you ever wanted to give up writing? What helped you to continue?
About a decade ago, I had such a traumatic publishing experience, I said, “Fuck it, I hate writing, I quit.” Cold turkey. Didn’t word at all for over a year.
Oddly enough, abruptly no longer being the thing you introduce yourself as causes an identity crisis. Similar to a divorce, not only are you no longer coupled with something that occupied so much of your life but you also get to twist the knife in your chest repeatedly explaining to nosy people that it’s over.
I was in a state of profound depression when I heard a long-together writing duo talking about how they write for themselves and trust that it will find an audience beyond the two of them, and they never would have been able to continue so long if they’d done anything otherwise. Their enthusiasm for the latest thing they made was radiant.
I burst into tears and had a prolonged cry. When I dried out, it seemed prudent to figure out why this benign promo spot made such a mess of me. It boiled down to any enjoyment I once got from writing had been stolen from me.
Well, rage swelled up from deep inside. There was a flood of profanity that smashed the dam blocking my words. I was banging out a new story by the next day.
It turns out I don’t hate writing. I love writing. I need writing. What I hate is PUBLISHING.
I will always write. Publishing, on the other hand, will be dead to me the day the reward drops below a preset threshold at which putting up with the associated bullshit remains worthwhile.
Do you write sympathetic antagonists? Why or why not?
Usually not. Real-world admonitions to be nice to people who habitually commit monstrous deeds, thereby enabling them to continue committing monstrous deeds without impediment, have burned me out on both-sidesing assholery. On the page, I want villains to be defeated and ground into paste to ensure they never do it again, their annihilation such a spectacle that would-be successors are too afraid to follow in their footsteps.
Redemption is for people who made a mistake and know remorse.
People who derive pleasure and profit from harming others cannot be “fixed” by any means that will ring true.
Have you ever thrown out your first chapter and rewritten it completely?
I threw out the first act of KotSQ! It’s otherwise rare for me to plan so poorly the whole start has to go. I might fumble around with the exact starting point, but the initial “these people are in this place and this happens” usually holds.
