I have all these edits to input but my car computer is downstairs and I feel too horrible to go get it.

Hello, fever and feeling like I'm hit by a truck. I don't think it's covid, at least. But I can't move.

There's a few kinds of space opera. They do overlap, but they are also very different. There's the military stuff. (Weber) There's the galactic empire stuff. (Herbert) There's the high concept stuff (Banks, Simmons) There's the ancient civ in space stuff (Ruocchio) There's romance stuff...

My glossary and its title are a WIP. And its formatting. This is probably not it.

Thinking about how to make a complicated galaxy today... Here is what I do: The biggest thing is, have different words, or different meanings depending on character, location, context. You don't want to overwhelm a reader, but it gives the suggestion that there's a lot going on beyond the frame.

Sometimes the best way to find the typos is not a grammar program. It's the printed page... Although, pro tip: what really works? Waiting until your book is published. Then, I swear, you will see them.

Today's, wtf missing word.

It is surprisingly difficult to cut exposition from a deep pov where the character is discovering things the reader already knows. So you don't want to recap... but you still want to allow your character their reaction--

I ran Navvies' Flight through autocrit's analysis last night, and discovered a major AI weakness. Obviously there are many. And I didn't do it intending to keep suggestions... But all the lies. My book is built on lies. It couldn't recognize them as lies unless it was spelled out. And even then-

"the sound of screams." Redundant or poetic?

How do I make typos like this?? Sometimes I swear it's the software.

A few comments on this book I am reading. I do actually like it, it's just this is what is hitting my critical eye: No one has hair that is so dark red it is black. What I think is the big reveal re the ancient civilization seems so obvious I'm not sure how the Chantry can keep it quiet.

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Today's editing message: let it sit, let it sit, let it sit. It seems a lot more clunky than I thought it did a few days ago. I'm questioning why Nate doesn't know one obvious thing and trying to backfill that. But let's talk a bit about stuff a character should wonder about...

In the end, reading it out loud beats everything, doesn't it? I just caught some extremely minor things on Chapter 5 doing it.. hmhmurray.substack.com/p/chapter-5-... This is a pretty terrible rendition, talking way too fast, mumbling, door opening and closing, heater kicking on...

Drafting action scene, writing sentences like those highlighted below, while painful, is part of the process.

Editing tip of the day: pick your revelations carefully. Make sure you don't offload a major piece of lore in an aside without some careful thought about it being there, or the possibility of perhaps saying less. A hint is sometimes more intriguing than the entire enchilada. Except--

books2read.com/u/47LkkR PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! A failed smuggler takes a job she's not allowed to refuse: pilot a living ship for a trio out to save the galaxy. She knows they're liars, but they're so stinking charming... & she's a liar too.

#WritingQuestions #indieauthor #amwritingfantasy #writerssociety #wip

I hereby vow to do more stuff boring people hate about my writing like 1) insert numbered lists in the middle of exposition, 2) invent stupid lowbrow neologisms like 'weirdnesses', 3) capitalize words whenever I fucking feel like it, 4) say fuck, 5) use esoteric vocab for simple shit like colors

Atm my final chapter is about 5% fight scene and 70% a lively debate about child custody arrangements. While well-written and heartfelt, I am facing facts that is not a good ratio for the final chapter. Also a lot of info dumping. But I Haz Plan. If I ever sleep tonight, tomorrow I change.

Prologue for the soon-to-be published #2 in our trilogy of stories - below in black. Looking for an escape from "The Crazy" in our current world? Snippets will be posted in the BLOG pages. epsilon-indi.com

Today's lesson in editing: I think I wrote my way through the problem, hallelujah. I've said before that a lot of writing is pattern recognition... Sometimes that's seeing a theme that's been weaving through the book(s) all along, and realizing its logical conclusion. Also, the word "nonplussed."

Okay. I have this #scifibook series that #scifireaders have kind of liked. It’s a bit like The Expanse and Firefly with a large splash of Aliens (the movie) action. My friend Cory @flameinc.bsky.social or @tailwindprojects.bsky.social is offering a chance of the first 3 books for zero cost! #scifi

Today's edits: backfilling a scene out of its white room. The highlights are paragraph breaks mostly. And at least one wrong comma. In this section I tried to change Our Heroine's voice to be a lot less... Feldelroyan, and a lot more something colder.

Today's editing tip or agony: remember, all that snappy dialogue? You can always write more. Sometimes there's a stoploss point when you're trying to bring in a new action beat where it's probably worth getting rid of the old snappy dialogue.

I don't like killing off characters. One issue already I've had with the sequel is the number of times I have not killed off characters. I actually had to not bring back two from the dead, despite my inclination. (Lee's mom and Hana Stubblefield.)

#HorrorWritersChat I'm Rebecca! I mostly write SF/F, but I've got some horror-gothic-mystery stories out. Horror's one of my favourite genres and I'd love to pen a long novel in the genre one day. Thinking about Matt a lot. He was such a kind, sweet soul who was always cheerful and supportive.

Now at editing phase where I'm excising things because although I like them, they are mostly just Nate. Explaining. We probably need less Natesplainjng and more violence.

This is so bad.

Today's editing pass I mostly left the chapters alone and just fixed the copyedits. There's one structural plot thing I think needs tightening, but most of this section is solid, I think. According to Kindle, this is an 800 page book. My print version is hitting about 550 pages.

Very well said, articulating what I tend to wave my hands at and go... Uh, just make it more interesting. ) There's a time for tells, too: it's shorthand, and it can be subjective, too... But learning how to show effectively is one of the biggest steps, I think. And it's hard.

Polla, in her own words. I'm sure there's more mistakes than that errant comma still, but... This section makes me laugh, at least. Even if it is about the apocalypse. An apocalypse. Maybe.

Editing conundrum of the day: realizing the chapter written two years ago no longer makes sense, motivation-wise, not in its current form... I need to chew on the more. It's kind of a standalone--in terms of only the final events matter to the rest of the book.

This morning's adventure's in edits... How did I even write that sentence?? I don't know. Both hands of the figures(no apostrophe) hands were gloved.... I think that comma is wrong, too.

Motivation in narrative. Irl, this is a complex and often arbitrary force. What just motivated me to eat that leftover fried chicken cold from the fridge? Laziness? The fact that bringing it upstairs to the kitchen would mean I would have to face all the undone chores up there? Motivation's sad

I keep writing these sex scenes where everything just goes horribly wrong. Space opera needs more sex farce. Or space horror. Or both. At once.

The number of times I have used the phrase, "muttered half under his breath." Is not zero. I keep meaning to just make a list of "words in phrases I can cut." But I am too lazy and so I painstakingly look.

#wipsnips *dedicate* (devote) angelique admits why she really went to charlie's the night of their first kiss, charlie is sort of like yes okay tell me something i don't know, and the whole thing is somewhat sexy #lesfic #queerwriters #writesky

Here first, in their debut holopik... Team Villain in the #navvyverse. Although I use the term villain loosely, as I'm not really sure who the good guys are. Teapot? Nik? Art by the fabulous @cgmythology.bsky.social From left to right: Virmarr, Nate, and Beya post-krov Shaping.

Stupid error I keep seeing and not fixing. I mean, yes, you can still tell someone is redhaired even if they have bleached their hair, but... Again the weeds, ugh.

I think a lot of creativity can in some way boil down to pattern recognition, or pattern creation. In fiction, you don't always see the themes you're making until you see the whole of the thing (one reason I *hated* questions like that when querying. Themes are explorations of motifs, patterns...

Okay, making tea and back to it I go.

Editing tip of the day: Checking dialogue. Aside from discovering all the places you screwed up punctuation, curly tags, etc in re-edits, a big thing here is two sides of a coin. 1. make sure questions asked are answered when they need to be. Or 2. Are NOT answered when they don't need to be.

books2read.com/u/47LkkR Navvy is free on the zon this week! If you've ever experienced that age-old struggle of taking a job, falling in love, and trying not to blow up any suns, you may relate to Polla's tribulations. The struggle is real! Well, some of it is. Probably #booksky 🪐📚💙 #sff

Sorry, I swear, this last snippet I share.

My other big project of the day... This experiment with formatting flashbacks. I think it works. I'm not sure if keeping them in talics is overkill.

Not quite landed, as per highlights, but close. Welcome to the cult, Virmarr. I do love him.

Working on the second in a trilogy. First episode published at www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN6B1HMH/ Our alien friends have the concept of politics in their culture! Is this one of the universal aspects of sentient societies? #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #indiauthors

Some of the stuff I do, or try to do, in the #Navvyverse is explore the way people handle impossible choices and imperfect solutions. Writing out my characters' reactions takes a while to get right. Sometimes, anyway. Sometimes I have to kind of workshop it to understand what they'd do.