Bronwyn Scott-McCharen

Would like to start writing book reviews again but I can’t find any new releases to feel passionate about (either for or against)

I objectively know that this story would be interesting to the audience it is targeted to but I am finding no appropriate comp titles whatsoever and it's driving me mad

As much as I'm just trying to "write what I want to write" I can't help but worry about comps because I am not finding any and the only one that fits is a book published in 2008 (so unusable)

MAGA aesthetic is basically the right-wing American version of the Bolivarian/Chavista aesthetic (both are tacky as hell)

My degenerate billionaire thing would be having a sick as hell train that I lived in, rather than a mansion. My home would be wherever I wanted it to be, but fuck living in a yacht.

And the “Fox News host” look for women is an American twist on the classic Berlusconi-influenced Italian news anchor look

The “Mar a Lago” look for women is indistinguishable from the “Russian influencer in Dubai” look

Qué hallazgo…

anyway in my work, all the characters, local or foreign, are some combination of silly, stupid, deranged and/or just plain weird

Another thing I've noticed about travel books (fiction and non) is that for "relatability" reasons, the narrator (American or Brit usually) is portrayed as the only sensible/likable one in a country full of crazy locals whom they'll never understand.

You know someone’s rich if they do all their grocery shopping at KaDeWe (Berlin) or Julius Meinl (Vienna)

Now that I’m moving to Vienna in March, Argentina still reigns supreme as the place I’ve lived the longest abroad

The most daunting thing about translation (or at least the publishing side of it) is basically having to act like an agent for the writer/work and I have zero confidence in my ability to do that

When you read a book that hasn't been translated and you're like "I'd love to translate that" only you know there's no hope of you ever translating it or anything for that matter

I was just about to say, actually! It’s also very Argentine lol

Can’t believe I didn’t realize this before but current project is basically 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way (and everyone is just as deranged as people on 90DF)

Literally, there is nothing more American than talking about how much you hate the US and how everyone elsewhere "does it better"

People tend to attribute over the top patriotism to Americans, but the most American thing about me and other people is the way we distance ourselves from the US

also all that glitters isn't gold in the EU anyway, especially if you're American and your only experience of Europe (EU or non-EU) is a 2 week holiday

like if you want to live in the EU just find a way directly to an EU country. Don't bank on X joining the EU because it's not likely to happen anytime soon.

I'm seeing a lot of Americans who want to move to Albania (or any non-EU European country) because they believe that "the country will join the EU in X years"....

Draft 2 is just me making all the characters as unlikable as possible (though hopefully far more interesting). No room for reader identification/relatability (anyone that fits that bill doesn't get a POV), only reality show-style gawking.

I've seen people on FB talk about moving to *Albania* for "free healthcare," it's gotten to be that delusional

Now all I can do is just sigh and roll my eyes when someone starts writing fanfic about "free healthcare" and "accepting, happy people/societies"

Living and frequently traveling in/around Europe(tm) has really disabused me of all the typical American fantasies about it

“Reading literary fiction makes you a better person” and any other argument re: empathy and fiction is too close to the dreaded “i couldn’t relate to this character and that’s a bad thing” workshop critique

Wish there was a writing residency that involved being locked in a room for 10 hours a day for 3 months or so in order to complete a novel draft (I need this right now)

This fascination is likely linked to my other obsession with authoritarianism and authoritarian regimes (left and right wing), which are the ultimate expression of this violence

I find the topic of male violence/patriarchy absolutely fascinating but I think it's very difficult to write about this in a non preachy/didactic way (especially as a woman), and that's something I hope to someday achieve

I saw someone refer to a certain type of contemporary fiction as "messy bun fanfic" and I can't stop thinking about how on point this is