Scarlet Mitchell

If you're only reading to find out why there's blood on the floor, you aren't actually invested in the story. You should be curious about the plot and characters enough to read the next chapter.
Not everything has to be Shaharazad's Gambit.

I feel this same way about people who tell me that the chapters should always end on a tense moment or cliffhanger.

Like, no. The chapter ends at a reasonable spot, at the end of a scene, just like a paragraph contains a thought...

David Bowie Live Brit Awards (1996) Hallo Spaceboy (with Pet Shop Boys) Moonage Daydream & Under Pressure. Hallo Spaceboy From 1.Outside, released in 1995. Order via Amazon UK & US below:

David Bowie Live at The Brits (1996)

Hallo Spaceboy (with Pet Shop Boys) Moonage Daydream & Under Pressure.

Video of the Day

a man in a green shirt is sitting on a couch eating food . Alt: a man in a green shirt is sitting on a couch breathing into a paper bag. Stressed.

I know, cuz its like... is she gonna like it? Hate it? Ghost me and then Im gonna have to deal with my vague resentment every time I see her, later?

She said yes.

😳

Most of it.

a cartoon of a girl standing on a red panic button Alt: a cartoon of a girl standing on a red panic button

Sent a text to an IRL friend who casually offered to beta read.
😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬

a woman in a white dress playing a violin Alt: a woman in a white dress playing a violin

Is it... maybe... um...

Nah, but whatever it is, Im picturing...

... readers to find for themselves, so I hint, but don't explain.

There's a lot of lore I dont get around to in the sci-fi romance.
Im hoping a beta readers will be able to tell me which things are confusing.

There are some things I dont have room for, and others I intentionally leave unexplained.

My Mudlarks, the intent is to question what happened, and if the supernatural elements are what they appear. They are meant to be stories of perspective.

There are things about the fantasy climax I want...

This gif amuses me so much🤣🤣🤣

The facial expressions😒😈

And how perfect the Peter Pan's shadow reference here is 🤣🤣🤣

Unicorn-bug season has a sense of community when everyone pitches in to clean up the mess left by the mating swarms.

Tourist season overlaps with Harvest Season, but it's not really a holiday.

Then there's the Grim Wind... an atmospheric event between tourist season and the Turning of the Year.🥶

Turning of the Year is when people pay off their debts and prepare for winter.

Founder's Day (middle of winter) is a bit like Xmas, with gifts and family gatherings.

There are less official holidays and seasonal events...
The big Crawfish Boil happens somewhere before the Apple Blossom fest...

... Everyone gathers for a big feast sponsored by whatever the dominant local fruit company is and, like a company holiday party, boring congratulatory and motivational speeches are made by the big-wigs.
But it's fun cuz the migrant Harvesters know how to actually party, and it's their last hurrah.

I think Ive talk about to holiday cycle in the romance before.

The Apple Blossom Fest is a key turning point. The orchards are the lifeblood of the community, and they celebrate in the spring with a big party, blessing the trees.

Harvest Fest is... pretty obvious...

FantasyIndies day 20 where do you find inspiration?

#FantasyIndiesNovember

I dunno 🤷‍♀️

Stuff in my life?
Stuff I see?
Stories I hear?
Feelings I can't escape?

A map, you say?😀

#Lovember

Is it lame to answer "not really"?

The people in my life inspire ASPECTS of a lot of characters. But Ive never planted a whole real person with the serial numbers filed off into my works.

Many characters are an amalgam of inspirations.

Alt text:

A photo of hotel-room curtains held closed by the alligator-clips of a hotel-room hanger.

Oh, good!
Someone who will appreciate my note, "Lesbian Anarchist Mafia" from this morning's musings.

#Novmemeber

It...

It really actually fits a pretty key moment in the fantasy 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

David Bowie All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track Album by album and track by track, this first-of-its-ki…

This tome thunked down on my doorstep a couple years back and I read it cover-to-cover. It's a much better picture of his career (albeit just the musical side of it) than any "biography" has ever given me.

I would recommend it, if you have the mindset to read it.
Or even just as a shelf reference.

... Angela Bowie's Backstage Passes (also very dishy and with a pretty clear bias), combined with a few more serious works discussing his progression as an artist, have all been a useful addition to my picture of him as a man and an artist.

For Bowie fans, I would, perhaps instead, recommend this:

#Bookvember

As Ive said, Im a relatively omnivorous reader, but I've never been much into biographies.

Had to make an exception for one of my hyperfixations 😅

This one isn't... great. There are parts where it's a tedious laundry list of sexual partners and soapy gossip 🫤.

But this, along with...

... a prominent city that is inspired by Niagra Falls.
The eponymous falls is a very high mountain where a great river splits into a lot of smaller falls as it cascades down to the basin. The overall shape reminds some folks of a nun in her habit.
It is surrounded by boutique hotels and casinos.

...we don't get to see the more river-centered communities. The story focuses on a village in orchard country.
But in lore, on the other side of the planet, the rivers become wider and more dominant in the landscape, with fisheries everywhere.

The biggest river culture is at Hildergard Falls...

#NovemberWorldbuilders

St. Romain’s in the fantasy is the school on a riverine island. It's a small, niche university campus, and the island also is shared with a residential neighborhood. It's pretty quiet, overall.
In Hell, there aren't any major settlements we see near water.

On Avalon...🧵

... treatment, installation, pipes, and general water infrastructure than she has any reason to know.
Her favorite neighbor was a plumber, and its fascinated her ever since.

Talia- Bones. She wanted to go into physical anthropology (study of bones and evolution, etc) but felt archeology had better💸

Jack- Outside his occupational passions? Fashion. He shared an interest with his late eldest daughter who wanted to be a designer. He dresses snappy, knows about fabric types, cuts, fashion houses, and histories.
(I don't 😅)

Charlie- Plumbing. She knows way more about wastewater systems, 🧵

But yeah, I get trying to write in a mindset and especially with historic linguistic mannerisms you don't necessarily share.

So confusing!😅

If I may recommend a resource, the letters between Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris as a reference for Victorian voice (and freakiness.)

They're 🤣🤣🤣🤣