The Shape of Words
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#TheShapeOfWords #PoetryInMotion #EchoesOfTheMind #DreamsInWriting #UnseenMadeVisible #WhispersOfLonging #SculptingThoughts #VisionInTime #RiverOfLight #ArtOfPoetry #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #Poems #VoicesOfPoets #DreamsInWords
Time to share another author friend: Lillian Francis
MM Contemporary, Fantasy, Historical, Holiday, Military, Paranormal
Lillian Francis is an English writer who likes to dabble in many genres but always seems to return to the here and now.
Her name may imply a grand dame in pink chiffon and lace, but Lillian is more at home in jeans, ...
https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/lillian-francis/
#GayRomance #WritersofMastodon #AuthorSpotlight Bookstodon #MMBookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon @LGBTQBookstodon @MMbookstodon
WRITER FUEL: Where would a compass point in outer space? On Earth, the magnetic field of our planet points a compass north, but in space, things are a bit more complicated.
https://www.limfic.com/2025/03/02/writer-fuel-in-outer-space-where-would-a-compass-point/
#LimFic #LiminalFiction #WriterFuel #Writers #Authors #WritersofMastodon #StoryIdeas #Compass #Space #Navigation
2503.01 — Women #Writever
Mars needed women.
May Ri bought into the hype and the spiel, not realizing it was the last gasp of a long dead oligarch's dream. When the money dried up, nobody would finance the supply missions. Who cared about the ten thousand up there when you could outrage the millions down here with something less expensive? Earthers returned to their petty games of slavery—that wasn't called as such—and empire that ate nations.
On Mars, colonists were pushed to their limits: The terraforming mission, the domes, the spinlauncher and Deimosbase, the raising the first and second generation martians. Men died disproportionately. In the end, a few strongmen attempted to corner the growing "female resource" to their benefit and to the benefit their sons, working to crush the whisper of the half-forgotten promise of democracy that had followed May Ri to the planet of war.
She and her daughters led the way, fighting. Together with "sisters" and with "aunts," they redefined which gender would be considered a "resource."
They found that the blood of the ever-absent fathers spilled on the rusty regolith of Mars blended in nicely.
Earthers were outraged. #RSMarsNeededWomen 01
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory
#ScribesAndMakers Feb 21: Do friends/family give you gifts for your activities, or do you buy all your own supplies?
I buy all my own supplies, which is to say a computer and software. I spent *months* trying to get #Scrivener to run on #Linux (#Lutris did the trick).
#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #AmWritingSF #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingSFF #Scriberspace
Calling on my communities to pls see me and be a blessing to me during this horrific season in my life.
Every bit is a blessing, pls tell a kind fren or five.
#helpfolkslive2025 #funditFriday #mutualaid #disability #writersofMastodon #BlackFediverse @mutualaid @disabilityjustice @QPtheSnep I'd appreciate any assistance with amplifying.
"Library workers have two jobs” in today’s America, Helmick said: serving their communities and, uncompensated, monitoring legislation around the clock. “We’re watching to see when [a bill] will be posted, so we can alert our library committees who have been profoundly worried.” Helmick urged concerned members of the public to comment as soon as possible, noting that the Iowa house and senate are hurrying controversial legislation to the floor and “not honoring the 24-hour rule for committee meeting”—meaning constituents have little time to make their case against the bills."
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon
"The restrictions were put in place as school officials review whether the materials comply with executive orders from President Donald Trump restricting discussion of transgender people and diversity, equity, and inclusion. An additional executive order bars the Department of Defense and its schools from promoting “un-American” ideas, which it says includes diversity, equity, and inclusion, “gender ideology,” and anything that would suggest “that America’s founding documents are racist or sexist.”
https://pen.org/julianne-moore-freckleface-strawberry/
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon
#psa: #Howto #download #Kindle #books: Amazon is removing the book download to a file feature Feb 26th. Here's how to download your purchases.
Log on to Amazon.com and click Account & Lists
Click Content Library
Click Books
Find a book and to the right, click the More actions button
In the dropdown, click Download & Transfer via USB
Read the dialog. Click one of your Kindle devices
Click the yellow Download button.
Repeat 4 through 7 for each book or comic. There is no bulk download.
An .aws digital book file will download to your downloads folder. I've confirmed I can read it with Calibre on the Mac, an e-book reader. I expect the procedure will work on Windows or *nix.
Note: If the book is locked by DRM, you may only be able to view it on a Kindle, but you will have your copy forever. A good reason to buy DRM-free books.
Please BOOST!
#books #bookstodon #reading #writer #author #writingcommunity #writersofmastodon #scribesandmakers #pennedpossibilities #writerscoffeeclub #wordweavers
One thing that watching #anime has taught me, and I've breezed past 200 series at this point, none of my story ideas are close to unique. Every plot has been done a dozen times. It's the characters and how they combine with plot that matters, with the focused message we insert to be read between the lines being the thing that brings the light to the darkness. It's all that matters—other than not plagiarizing. If you are at all worried about uniqueness, stop. Hit your forehead with the heel of your palm. Sit. Write the dang thing until done. Then write something else.
#WritingAdvice #Writer #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #plot #writing
Not surprised. This is the final step in enshitification.
Lure people in with low prices/easy tech, etc. Slowly strangle with DRM. then make it so you can't leave Amazon and take your books with you.
#bookstodon @bookstodon #books #writersofmastodon
https://flipboard.com/@theverge/tech-news-e3qmqbb8z/-/a-ivKp-I7ETsWGorawxZcXzQ%3Aa%3A43611565-%2F0
"Tens of thousands of American children studying in Pentagon schools serving US military families have had all access to library books suspended for a week while officials conduct a 'compliance review' under Donald Trump’s crackdown on DEI and gender equality... The Guardian has obtained a list of books that have been caught up in the blanket evaluation. They include No Truth Without Ruth, a picture book for four-to-eight-year-olds about the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to sit on the US supreme court."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/13/pentagon-schools-closed-libraries-trump
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon
WRITER FUEL: 'Medieval' King Arthur site is 4,000 years older than we thought - the discovery suggests the mysterious "King Arthur's Hall" in England is actually older than Stonehenge.
https://www.limfic.com/2025/02/13/writer-fuel-king-arthur-site-is-far-older-than-we-thought/
#LimFic #LiminalFiction #WriterFuel #Writers #Authors #WritersofMastodon #StoryIdeas #KingArthur #Archaeology #England
Hello. My name is Agnes Stone, and I am a new adult science fiction fantasy indie author. My debut novel was released in November 2024, and I am looking for new bookish and author friends as I try to flee Meta and prepare for the end of TikTok. #selfpublishing #books #bookish #sciencefiction #scifi #author #writersofmastodon #writingcommunity #bookstodon #indieauthor
Here’s my story about my disabled brother being illegally evicted and assaulted.
https://medium.com/@khloethecat3/my-brother-was-illegally-evicted-and-assaulted-aa440ab6a7dd
#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #AmWriting #AmWritingSF #AmWritingSFF #WritersCoffeeClub #WordWeavers
Lack of education and the conservative attack on any non-parochial education explains a lot. Ignorance and lack of questioning leads to authoritarianism; it is all about power and controlling people's minds by teaching them not to think. Interesting article attached.
#BoostingIsSharing
https://bigthink.com/thinking/a-c-grayling-we-dont-need-to-bring-back-religion-we-need-to-bring-back-education/
#Philosophy #Conservative #Liberal #Education #Religion #Humanism #Writer #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #Theism
Audience expectations have changed in the five decades I've been writing. This is illustrative. Makes one think about how to or not tune stories. #Writer #Author #Fiction #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity https://www.upworthy.com/i-convinced-my-gen-z-kids-to-watch-dead-poet-s-society-and-their-angry-reactions-surprised-me?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=upworthy/magazine/Upworthy
#privacy #psa: If you have a browser that supports it, make data tracking you futile. You know what to do.
Hat tip: @DebErupts
The #AI hears this during dictation:
Frozen custard and ice cream R&D two different things.
The human hears:
Frozen custard and ice cream are indeed two different things.
You can't convince the AI that "R&D" isn't right. Why? Because "R&D" is a phrase used much more frequently than "are indeed". AI wants to write what everybody else writes and force you to make your writing average. It promotes mediocrity of the worst kind.
Do you understand now why you don't want #AI to compose for you? Do you understand why you need to be vigilant when an AI enhanced tool is in your mix?
WRITER FUEL: How do you see pictures in your brain? Here’s how your brain visualizes scenarios that you’re not actually looking at with your eyes.
https://www.limfic.com/2024/12/31/writer-fuel-how-do-you-see-pictures-in-your-mind/
#LimFic #LiminalFiction #WriterFuel #Writers #Authors #WritersofMastodon #StoryIdeas #Mind #Brain #Biology
#bookstodon #author #writersofmastodon #Writer
My first international purchase came through. The reader purchased a print version of my latest novel : Lich Ears.
I am delighted with this first step into the wider world.
May they enjoy reading the story as thoroughly as I did crafting it.
For fellow authors : Celebrate your wins, small and immense. I wish you all many accomplishments to wrap up 2024 and fun goals for 2025.
Dear writer's of Mastodon,
I have a few questions to ask you in regards to writing that you can make a living off, while also battling depression and anxiety.
1. How do you manage to write while also struggling with your mental health?
2. How can you write and ask your editor and publisher for time to deal with your mental health? (I ask this because I want to be a published writer but the fear of having a deadline really makes it challenging for me to commit.)
3. Can you survive on writing if you require a lot of time off?
#writersofmastodon #WritingCommmunity #NotPublished #writing #MentalHeath #adhd
Calling All Authors - The 2024 Winter Blogfest Is Open for Submissions! https://lydiaschoch.com/calling-all-authors-the-2024-winter-blogfest-is-open-for-submissions/
#WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity #GuestPost #Bookstodon #Author #Blogging #Winter #LongAndShortReviews #AuthorsOfMastodon
#EngenderedWriting 19 — Do you use they / them / their / theirs (or it / its) instead of the generic gender him / his, etc.? How do you feel about how it reads? Does pronoun choice telegraph a message, or it transparent?
I use they/them etc. in my narrative instead of him/her.
At first I thought it felt very nonstandard and it grated on me, but more and more I see it in media and in books, and having made a point of using it over the last 900K words of story, it feels right. Lately, the last couple of years, I use it whilst speaking, unless the subject of the pronoun is present. Neutral pronouns face-to-face seems rude, unless they use that pronoun for themselves.
What's difficult is to decide to use themselves or themself. The built-in grammar police doesn't warn of mismatched plurals. Maybe I'll make a prompt for that one...
It helps that I read that They stopped being used as a neutral pronoun in English a few centuries ago,
Is it transparent? I think it is in most genres and in essay writing, but I think certain audiences might object, like the elderly and the conservative—but I don't write for my generation nor am I a Christian genre writer.
[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
