Erika Arivett

I'm having one of those days where I'm out of town and trying get 500 words down, but I ended up just deleting 400 words I wrote yesterday 🫠 (Don't worry, I hang onto them in a separate document) #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity

I did have one use of “crystallizes,” but it felt a bit spoilery, so we’re going with “clear.”

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

Who is out there in #writing groups that are actually working? I’ve been in several (with friends and with strangers organized by third parties), but none stick. They’ve moved away, gotten busy, or else don’t write at a viable pace for mutual feedback. #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity

It’s been an unintentionally Ryo-heavy week for #WIPSnips, so it’s Rin-chan’s turn.

#amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

Ryo isn’t the jealous type.

Maternity leave ends today. Praying I can still finish this draft by the end of the calendar year. 20k words to go—an equivalent amount of which must promptly be cut!!

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

Also from Ryo’s first POV chapter.
The previous scene ended with him saying, “Wish me luck.” It did not work out that way. 😅

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

I realized that without further context, this is slightly confusing. It’s the “[He who is] still here” whose energy Ryo knows, not Yoshimaru’s.

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

A #WIPSnips from Ryo’s opening scene.

#amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

Ryo has a lot of random knowledge because of his training to blend in, whether that’s in the spirit world or the human world. Probably the most surprising thing about him is that he’s quite well read. He reads classics (Japanese and foreign) and knows a lot about history. #Novmemeber #writesky

And like, I’m making it so it can stand solo, but I’d love a duology, so I have the extra layer of “Okay, but does this work as the name of a series?”

Y’all this Japan-based portal fantasy #WIP still needs a title. I am like 82% done with this draft and I got nothing 😂

#amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

When I saw this word and thought about searching it in my WIP, I kept thinking about that episode of #DoctorWho when Donna Noble is like, “Seriously, there’s an outrageous amount of running involved.” 😂

#WIPSNips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

My first love is and will always be Lord of the Rings, but in an effort to not pick the obvious: The original Dragonlance Chronicles by Weiss and Hickman have a special place in my heart, especially the young reader edition (which is literally the same series divided into 6 books instead of 3).

Every time I use the word “Yojimbo,” I think of the annoying summon from Final Fantasy X, and also vaguely think, “I really need to see Akira Kurosawa’s film Yojimbo.” Thanks for hearing my irrelevant thoughts on this matter. 😂

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

That makes perfect sense! When I’m finished drafting, I’m going to pass my current WIP to some cultural sensitivity readers and people who have spent extensive time in Japan, because I’m sure I have overlooked something embarrassingly obvious.

During. I don’t think I’ve ever written about something that would require research where I didn’t already have extensive knowledge, but I’m always ready to stop and check any detail I’m not sure of. I remember once having to stop and research the history of men shaving their faces 😂

Ryo doesn’t laugh a lot. His inhibitions are lowered by tsuchigumo venom at the moment. He’ll be mortified about this later haha

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

Rin’s ki/energy is both very powerful and very unstable. If Ryo can’t teach her to control it they’re all in trouble.

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

I usually suggest the first time that they overdid grammarly (even if I know better) and explain that it’s now AI integrated when it didn’t used to be. If they keep the class they usually don’t try it again cause I’m onto it. But most just ignore my emails and drop when their grade suffers enough.

END OF RANT.

Maybe. No promises.

Usually by the end of a semester I have busted 25% or more of the class and they drop my class rather than do the work or take the penalties. Because we have to make money off them and can’t have serious consequences for cheating. So they do it again and hope someone else is paying less attention.

Like, in high school it’s about getting them to understand ethical vs unethical uses, cause they eventually are gonna. But in college I spend more energy trying to bust AI offenders than on grading the entire rest of the class. And usually they crack if you press them, but some just lie to my face.

I teach at a classical high school where this so far isn’t a HUGE problem because they’re A) Afraid to do it and B) I have the same kids for different grades so I get very familiar with their writing capabilities. But the college classes I adjunct online are EXHAUSTING.

Every time I get to a flashback chapter (there are only four, one at each major turning point of the book), it slows me down soooo much. I have spent the last 20 minutes researching when cars came to #Japan and how the aristocracy traveled after westernization but before cars. 🫠 #amwriting #writesky

They must be experiencing the fake seasonal changes we have here in Appalachia, where there are about three rounds of fake fall followed by summer saying, “Hi, I’m still here.”

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

It’s been a few years since I’ve taught it due to time limitation (9th grade, preceded by Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl). They end up taken aback by A) How much hope they have for Rufus at the beginning that ends up being dashed, and B) How much Dana still has a sort of affection for him.

I haven’t read that one! I read her collection Blood Child and Other Short Stories in a speculative fiction class in grad school. I have since fallen in love with Kindred, and I also read Parable of the Sower (but just the first one).

There is just nothing burger or burger adjacent lol Literally all mentions of food are pretty explicitly East Asian fare except this one time Koji was eating pizza 😂

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

This was an interesting scene to write, because it’s one of the only scenes of Ryo operating in the Reikai in an ordinary way.

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity #YA #fantasy

Kindred by Octavia Butler. The way she weaves science fiction with neo-slave narrative is both unique and incredibly effective. I’ve taught this text several times, and it’s always a hit. #Bookvember #writesky #booksky