Returning to my novel

I'm pleased to announce that after a two-and-half-year hiatus, I'm back to working on my science-fiction novel. To help me get back into the right mindset, I've posted two short stories in the world of novel: Mentors and Seven Flights.

Disorientation: writing a story is like moving into a new home

A couple of weeks ago I moved, leaving behind the first home I'd ever bought and settling into something different. Downsizing and simplifying had been a goal for several years, and telecommuting the last few months finally gave me the time, energy, and motivation to make it happen. After living in my prior place for so long, it's still a little disorienting to be someplace so different. And that reminds me of what it feels like to write a story.

Novel progress: police of the future

One of the main characters of Prime Conditions is a police officer in a world where part of the policing role has been taken away. While Zinnia misses that aspect, her heart remains with police work. But what is police work centuries from now?

Writing retreat: 2020

A week ago Silbrith and I wrapped up our annual writing retreat, and I've been reading my post on last year's retreat to refresh my memory of what I said about the 2019 retreat. So much has changed...

Novel Progress: homes and clothing of the future

When describing the world of my sci-fi novel, one of my inspirations was the design competition shows my mother and I used to watch. Mom liked to pause those shows as soon as the challenge was revealed, taking time to think through what she would do before watching the direction the designers took. One challenge in particular stayed in my mind for days after I watched the episode. The challenge was to design the room of the future, and it inspired ideas that came back to me as I built the world of Arden for my novel.

Novel progress: Solarpunk and Hopepunk

In trying to describe my non-dystopian novel, I'd used the term "green fiction" because the setting is a future world where the environment is healthy, where hovercars mean no paving over nature, and where technology has adapted to reduce pollution. Recently I learned there's an official term for this kind of story: Solarpunk

The Dragon Update

A few months ago, Silbrith and I declared 2020 the year of the dragon, representing our goal of facing and even befriending the challenges we encounter with our writing. We had no idea...

Novel Progress: LGBTQIA+

Last week I described the changes I made so my novel could pass the Bechdel test. Making those changes got me thinking about LGBTQIA+ representation.

Novel Progress: Bechdel Test

A year ago this month, as I reflected on International Women's Day, I confronted the uncomfortable fact that the novel I'm writing didn't pass the Bechdel test. I decided to fix it.

A Tale of Two Dragons

In the last week I've faced two dragons in my writing journey. They are Cocoa the AO3 Chocolate Box dragon, and Sparkle the Twitter snow dragon. I'm still attempting to befriend both of them.

First dragon of the year

Having declared 2020 the year of facing our writing dragons, I'm ready to describe my recent encounter with a dragon. This dragon actually arrived at the end of last year, and I'm calling her Bertrice.

Welcome to the Writing Year of the Dragon

Last year, Silbrith and I had an inside joke that 2019 was the year of the penguin in our writing journey. We've decided to designate this next year of writing as the year of the dragon. **

Why dragons?

Character Redemption Arcs

It's possible that I have a mild addiction to writing character redemption arcs. Often I want to redeem my villains. It takes me by surprise when they don't want to be redeemed. Robert Winslow, for instance, in "Caffrey Flashback" and "Caffrey Disclosure" insisted that he was not going to change.

An introvert at a writing conference

Recently a writers group hosted a writing conference at a local hotel, and several of the workshops were relevant to my science fiction novel. Feeling very bold, I decided to attend. Now I've recovered sufficiently to describe the experience.

Writing Woes: Guilt

Like many writers, I have a tendency to procrastinate. Taking breaks from my writing hasn't been all bad. The extra time to rethink my story has resulted in improvements that I'm proud of. However, I thought I'd be done with my novel by now, and the more I procrastinate, the more that procrastination has become linked with something else: guilt.

The Balance of Loss and Hope

A week ago a multi-published author did me the great honor of reading the first chapters of my novel, and spent an hour talking to me about what I've written. As we discussed the direction I have in mind, she steered the conversation to the concept of risks and loss. What does the main character stand to lose? What is he willing to sacrifice?

Green Fiction

Perhaps there's another a term for it, but I haven't run across it yet. Until I find an official name for it, I'm describing my work-in-progress novel as "Green" fiction. I don't think utopian is quite the right word for it, although it's definitely not dystopian. So, what do I mean by green?

Dichotomies in our stories

I remember a lot of dichotomies from my childhood. We moved often, making me the "new kid" trying to find my place among kids who had grown up together. Other distinctions introduced in school were the the kids with good grades versus the kids with lower grades. There were the kids who took Spanish to meet the language requirements versus the kids who took French. There were athletes versus nerds, and so forth. I understood the dichotomies, but didn't embrace them. In fact, some of my favorite stories are about proving such dichotomies to be false.

Group projects and our characters

How many times did my teachers say that group projects were good for us, because we'd need to work in groups as adults? Too many. At least that's how it felt from late elementary school through high school. I was always glad to see those group projects end. As a grown up, things are different, both professionally and in my writing.

Memorial Day thoughts

Somewhat to my surprise, we haven't written a post featuring Memorial Day. I suspect the reason is that this weekend falls close to my mother's birthday. The onslaught of memories and the focus on loss often hits me hard. And yet, exploring that grief has been important to me in the Caffrey Conversation series.