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#WordWeavers 7.24 — Who’s smarter, your MC or your antagonist?

They're complete opposites. I can't compare them, if only because they're brilliant in vastly different ways. Dr. Death is a scientist, a doctor, and a manipulative bastard. Alexios is the leader of a gang, is rather good at keeping the peace between said gangs, is well-trained in combat, was once a nomad on his own, and fled Dr. Death's ship centuries ago (while the rest of his people died in that man's clutches). They're so, so different, but incredibly good at what they do.

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#WordWeavers 7.23 — Your MC is lost in a busy city, and GPS isn’t an option. How do they handle the situation?

In a busy city, much like where he currently lives, Alexios would start by questioning people he finds along the way. He would ask for directions, ask for any information he could use, and then eventually find his way. But here's the thing, Alexios has never been bothered by things like this. With everywhere he's lived, it's been this way. He was once lost in every city, on every continent, on every planet.

I finished Flux, by Stephen Baxter, night before last. One of his early Xeelee novels. It was good! But you have to accept a lot of handwaving.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux_(no

Last night I picked up Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Shari S. Tepper. I've been enjoying a lot of her books over the last few years, with more to come. This one is about a post-millennial confluence of religious conservativism, fundamentalism, ecological decay, and fascism leading to a Stand-like big fight over whether ideology will allow the planet to survive. I'm a quarter in.

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/1

en.wikipedia.orgFlux (novel) - Wikipedia
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#PennedPossibilities 736 — MC POV: Do you or did you once admire your parents? Who do you admire today?

Alexios: I did, and I'll always miss them. They were my heroes. I admire my chooms for everything they are and aren't as well. They're genuine, you know? Honest, too. We're all flawed individuals, but they do their best with what's given to them. They're loyal, kind, and hopeful for the future. I'd rather die for any of them, just to make this world better, than /ever/ live an easy, sleezy life with corpo gonkheads.

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2025.07.22 — Do you write your characters’ thoughts, or let their actions speak for themselves? Why?

I write in 1st person. The narrator is the POV. The reader gets to experience a continuous description of what is important enough for the POV to notice, what they are willing to report doing, what they want you to know about what people are saying and doing—and especially what they think about it. It is a stream of thoughts and reactions, often presented with snark or filtered by worry, and if the reader pays attention, spun in subtle ways to fit the MC's agenda. Sometimes my characters even quote their own thoughts!

Here's what it looks like in practice from the POV of the devil-girl in Reluctant Prizefighter. She's been wolf-whistled by a street gang member, but she has some defense training and has subtly dodged his grabs, but has verbally and physically bruised him. #excerpt

I hadn't learned yet how to reliably work the miracle I'd created defeating The Monster. Was this miscreant the one who might help me break through?

I looked at how his muscles moved, his legs and rear when he turned momentarily to retort to a gang mate, how he held himself erect—

I blinked. He had dimples!? Arguably cute, and not enough of a threat, nor cute enough to sway me either. I turned and walked on, trying not to grin, saying, "I doubt it."

"Doubt what?" I heard his shoes catching up.

"I thought you might teach me something." I gave him, his not exactly scrawny body, more of a dismissive look than it deserved. "I was mistaken" that you're sufficiently threatening to help me.

He sped to cross my path, but I must have intimidated him; he didn't block me. I took a much better look at his rear end. Squarish. Muscular above the hip, too. I rather liked the view, but now he'd turned red and I had to look up at his angry eyes. My hit struck home.

He asked, "What are you? Spurs? Or 2nd Street Fist Gang?"

"What are you? Besides rude?"

"NGG Syndicate. We all are." He pointed to his shoulder, and lifted a sweaty sleeve. Hiding what he revealed might be the whole purpose to him wearing the t-shirt.

"Wow. You let someone brand you!" How stupid can you get? It read NNGS in cursive, burnt into his skin with either a wire pattern heated by fire, or by an application of reluctance, but reluctant force would require him to absolutely trust the miracle worker—which might be the point! Still foolish. The scar was pink; the hair had only partially grown back. I didn't want to shudder, but did so anyway.

He added,"You're going to regret trespassing—"

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller #romance #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

Author Jason Sanford

"... The SF/F stories I write have always been neurodiverse, even when I don’t blatantly write about being on the spectrum. Because of that I’ve been frequently called a writer of strange science fiction stories, or placed in the weird SF/F subgenre. So many times I wanted to tell people that one of my stories wasn’t weird – it was merely neurodiverse. But it’s hard to take off the mask in public even when I unmask with my writing ..."
#sff #writing #reading @actuallyautistic
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/07/23

Whatever · The Big Idea: Jason SanfordMore important than writing for an audience, is writing for yourself. Author Jason Sanford has chosen to write true to himself above all else, not holding anything back in this Big Idea for his new…

I've been so busy as of late, I didn't notice a review of mine had gone live.

If you like your book reviews with a little philosophy thrown in, you might enjoy my reflection on Ray Nayler's WHERE THE AXE IS BURIED: a deeply pragmatic look at how so-called artificial intelligence is simply the latest means by which we as humans systematically exploit and oppress one another.

What does it mean to resist?
How many of us can ever do it well?

#SFF #ScienceFiction #Books strangehorizons.com/wordpress/

Where The Axe is Buried cover
Strange Horizons · Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray NaylerA book is an inert and “made” thing—until read.

Curious about this series I'm writing, and don't want to start with Book 4? The first book in the series, THE COLD BETWEEN, is discounted in ebook in the US and Canada, to $2.99.

Meet the crew of the starship Galileo before I wreck their lives completely. 😈 🙂

Appears to be Amazon-only, at least for now, but if you're a Kindle reader, give it a shot! #sff #ebooks #WritingCommunity

amazon.com/Cold-Between-Centra

www.amazon.comAmazon.com
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#PennedPossibilities 734 — Have you ever written fanfiction? If so, for which fandoms?

Oh, yeah. I regularly write fanfiction. For many, many fandoms as well. Here are some of them: The Thick of It, Doctor Who, The Hour, The Witcher, Sherlock Holmes, etc.

You can find me here: archiveofourown.org/users/agoo

I've had a ton of my Whovian stories published in both Doctor Who Magazines and big fan zines for charity as well, which feels great.

archiveofourown.orgagoodtuckering | Archive of Our OwnAn Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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#WordWeavers 7.21 — As a reader, how much detail do you want on characters’ appearance?

I've never been someone who needs much detail. I enjoy taking a peek into the authors' minds, seeing their descriptions of characters and whatnot, but it isn't necessarily needed. But inner thoughts and emotions? I enjoy those. They're needed, I think. But it doesn't matter to me if an author decides to give much detail about their characters. Our imaginations will fill in the rest. If they /do/ give readers detailed descriptions of their characters, that's fine too. Either way, I love it. Everyone writes differently, and there's room for all of us.