Varsha Dinesh

❊ Foxes & Foxgloves ❊

09.09.2023 01:11 — 👍 1153    🔁 246    💬 6    📌 0

The weirdest story ideas come from your own obsessions Kelly Link has carved out a unique place at the intersection of magic realism and literary fantasy. Her short stories leave many questions unanswered, but stick in your mind for weeks afterwards. Now ...

Here’s some excellent writing advice from Kelly Link:

26.08.2023 13:05 — 👍 143    🔁 34    💬 6    📌 5

Bluesky is still small enough that there’s a part of the day when there are zero updates and everyone is asleep so I feel more comfortable rambling

08.08.2023 10:00 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Now to climb out of this purgatory I have created for myself by writing but never editing

08.08.2023 09:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

But these days, I’m trying to give myself permission NOT to go for themes? I love stories that make me feel emotional and I love stories that have deep thematic resonance layered through the plot; I just write like a Pinterest vibe board (with plot, because ADHD). And I guess that’s more me.

08.08.2023 09:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I think of some strange character or a single odd image or sometimes a line (“vipasana retreat at haunted beach?”) and then go from there. I like it when I can write deeply weird, deeply fantastic, deeply second-world stories; where I struggle is when I try to pinpoint themes.

08.08.2023 09:48 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Re: last repost, I worry often about whether my stories are “thematic” or “important” enough, and then get stuck in a spiral of never finishing things. Recently I’ve been thinking that the kind of stories I’m interested in writing are always more a set of unusual images than anything else.

08.08.2023 09:46 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

My advice--don't worry too much about being "original." Worry about whether the thing you're doing is interesting and fun to you. There will always be someone to say your work isn't sufficiently new. They are obviously not your audience. 5/5

07.08.2023 17:10 — 👍 246    🔁 59    💬 6    📌 9

This is wonderful, wonderful news! I’m so sorry that all this had to happen, but I’m awed at your persistence to fight the good fight. Bravo.

08.08.2023 09:44 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

A screenshot of the audiobook of “The Saint of Bright Doors” by Vajra Chandrasekhara

let’s goooo

08.08.2023 09:33 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

EEEE IT'S HERE! My Demeter and Persephone retelling "Always Be Returning" is now FREE to read in Sunday Morning Transport!! This is my first Greek retelling and that makes me 100x times more nervous and excited!

https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/always-be-returning

06.08.2023 14:00 — 👍 154    🔁 76    💬 11    📌 17

Amma's Kitchen, by Rati Mehrotra - The Deadlands but once, after Sunday service, she heard the sexton say that there are places where the dead traverse a river after death, paying a boatsman to ferry them across the water.

The second is @rati.bsky.social’s “Amma’s Kitchen” which is about a diner in the afterlife, wisecracking frogs, memory, food and death. I thought it was beautiful. https://thedeadlands.com/issue-22/ammas-kitchen/

04.08.2023 14:53 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

Just a moment...

Today I read two stories I loved.

The first is @sloanesloane.bsky.social’s “The Blade and the Bloodwright”, which I first got to read at Clarion West last year. It was just as beautiful, brutal and powerful on reread as it was the first time!

04.08.2023 14:51 — 👍 8    🔁 3    💬 2    📌 0

New Fantasy Story at LIGHTSPEED: “The Blade and the Bloodwright” by Sloane Leong with a podcast narrated by Stefan Rudnicki: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-blade-and-the-bloodwright/

03.08.2023 15:19 — 👍 15    🔁 8    💬 0    📌 2

DEATH IN THE MOUTH: Original Horror from the Margins Volume 2 DEATH IN THE MOUTH: Original Horror from the Margins Volume 2 is an illustrated horror anthology showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists from around the world.

DEATH IN THE MOUTH: Original Horror from the Margins Volume 2 is NOW LIVE and funding on Backerkit! 20 illustrated horror stories showcasing BIPOC authors and artist around the world!

https://www.backerkit.com/c/sloane-leong/death-in-the-mouth-original-horror-from-the-margins-volume-2

01.08.2023 19:18 — 👍 57    🔁 50    💬 1    📌 6

VENBA LAUNCHED!!

When I started on this project, my goal was to make you feel as though you're entering a South Asian kitchen.

The silverware, stainless steel, the bangles, all of it. If you can't smell it, you will HEAR it!

Hope you enjoy our little game <3

https://youtu.be/HRVt3213z6s

31.07.2023 16:44 — 👍 234    🔁 130    💬 31    📌 8

I’m finally playing Witcher 3 (because I did not like the series) and a horror card game called Inscryption!

31.07.2023 15:51 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I just know there’s a branding or content person in that team who sits through meetings with him grinding their teeth to nubs. I just hope that, like me, they at least get to play video games on mute while doing what the megalomaniac wants.

31.07.2023 09:44 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

A photo of a Kerala beach and nearby cliffs in the early morning.

I sea again

31.07.2023 09:34 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

WHO WILL COME INTO MY KITCHEN AND BE HUNGRY FOR ME!!!!!

31.07.2023 04:37 — 👍 149    🔁 29    💬 11    📌 15

I tell my mother I have written x number of words today and she sends me a picture of a god with “good morning” written across it in Papyrus font

27.07.2023 04:47 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

these days I actually write 🫣 I feel like if I say that then some terrible luck will befall me and I will stop writing again but honestly fuck superstition I wrote 3000 words yesterday perhaps I no longer have to promise the home
-deity a cucumber sacrifice 🥳

27.07.2023 04:44 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

A screenshot that says “Ravanan Bullseye: a special quail egg omelette” in dubious spelling, Ravanan is the villain in the Ramayana

A screenshot that says “Japan chicken! One of the very recent chicken appetisers in rich creamy cashew” with dubious spelling

A screenshot that says “fish palaazhi”- palaazhi is a mythological sea made of milk

A screenshot that says “Chicken Monica” followed by text in Malayalam that exhorts you to post similar such recipes

since there’s less people here I feel more comfortable sharing my latest hobby: collecting South Indian recipes with the most inspired names

25.07.2023 14:52 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

“may you find the social media home you deserve” is a modern Yiddish curse

24.07.2023 18:31 — 👍 586    🔁 134    💬 2    📌 1

I guess I’m here also. *sigh*

25.07.2023 05:48 — 👍 8    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0