What powers it? When my Aussie portal characters learn the archway they travelled to Umarinaris via is operated by sorcerers, and magic is a physical substance that powers it, they call it 'magic'. But it could just as well be called 'magic-tech'. (No hard magic systems or ScFi here! 😉) #SFFChat

#SFFChat Opening scene for The Ninth Drift. I hated it, hated writing it, hated the result, thought it sucked. Oomf encouraged me to post it in their discord server for feedback so I did, and everyone there thought it was great. I just decided I would get over myself and just fucking leave it as is.

#SFFChat A4

#SFFChat Q1 Varies based on what the author says they want for their work Science should be rooted in reality and things that can (theoretically at least) be repeated with exact results. Magic is when stuff happens but there's either no rhyme or no reason (maybe both).

Ok, here is a scene from the sex comedy dark fantasy I’m writing. Think Murderbot meets 7th Prince (anime). This clip outlines the central struggle pretty well. #SFFchat

#SFFChat A3: Exposition. Not that it’s bad, i just don’t want it to come across inorganically so it’s more of a challenge

#SFFChat A2: Dialogue. Having characters talk is the most fun

#SFFChat Intro I'm Erika or Kira, whichever you prefer. This question is hard because so many things I like are arguably Fantasy in some manner. But right now I'm obsessed with The Summer Hikaru Died (anime/manga) (cosmic horror+romance) so I'm gonna shout out mah boi Hikaru

#SFFChat A1: doesn’t necessarily need to be fiction, the sciences both hard and soft are ways people try to explain the world around them, finding truths; magic was used much the same way. In fiction they’re quite a bit more fanciful because writers can suspend disbelief to make 🪡

#SFFChat Intro Hi I’m Monti; it’s 6:20 AM and i’m just waking… I’m a big fan of Claire Fraser from the Outlander series

#SFFChat MC has been fucking with her absolute oaf of a truck for hours trying to get the stupid thing running / unstuck / fixed or whatever and then I get to write very well deserved moments of raw earth shattering TORQUE

#SFFChat Probably dialogue. Now, I'm told I'm good at it, and I don't doubt that, but that's mostly because I'm very meticulous about making absolutely certain it doesn't feel like a Guild Wars 2 cutscene of two characters talking at each other with no real movement happening.

I was just thinking about this listening to a podcast about magnets being the last magic we have left. Magic is something we cannot explain, science is something we can. Ironically magic in stories with defined magic systems is actually science! Fight me #SFFChat but it depends on your story and

I love action scenes! Swift description with hard hitting or witty banter. I’ve just written a sex scene where the sex is like a battle and it was so fun. But regular fighting works too. Whatever floats your boat. #SFFchat

I dislike scenes with some desired emotional effect particularly around love or loss. I am no good at writing those at all. #sffchat

#SFFChat I'm kinda in the Fullmetal Alchemist camp of there is no difference, but that's pretty much entirely because, like FMA, I also write a very modern setting and so I have to fundamentally reject a lot of the things people usually consider core fantasy ideas.

#SFFChat Q2: Most fun scenes to write. For me, often that's very dramatic confrontations between characters (not fights necessarily, but big moments emotionally or narratively). Revelations, that kind of thing. Often I've written these in my head before I get to writing them on the page!

#SFFChat Hi, I'm Cori, I know I've been a bit absent lately but I am here now and back at it with the Chunes. 😎👍 I can't say Feliks as much as I fucking love him because he's fantasy. I can't say Mosscap either because I sometimes write sci fi. uhhhhhh gonna say Mack from Cannery Row?

#SFFChat Q1: I think it really depends on a number of factors (approach, but also in-world reactions and beliefs about something). There is a degree to which, though, I think there are two overlapping ways of answering, in that a writer can *say* something is magic or science, but we might receive

#SFFChat Intro: I'm Suzy, a bookseller, games journalist and scifi writer from Norway. My debut novel, Let Slip the Beasts, came out in 2023. My favorite character from a genre I don't write is Flora 717 - a worker bee from The Bees by Laline Paull, which is, incidentally, also my favorite book.

#SFFChat 19th of September Recommend a book published in the last 5 years: Some of y’all may not know but i enjoy food, cooking, and baking, and i also studied history, so food history is really exciting to me, so my rec: « Le Melon de Montréal: Son Histoire et Sa Culture » by Bernard Lavallée

#SFFChat Barely makes the cutoff and perhaps not really, but _The City We Became_ by N.K. Jemisin Dang.

#SFFChat 20th of September By strict definition, neither Homer’s Iliad nor his Odyssey are SFF, but the English Translation of The Iliad by Samuel Butler is all i can think of for this. And if that is not valid, then i suppose some of the manga I’ve read in English translation would count. BUT 🪡

#SFFChat Intro: Introduce yourself and share your favourite character, author, or book from a genre you don't write!

#SFFChat 22 I'm really into police procedurals as well, which might be why a lot of my books involve crimes 👀

#SFFChat 22nd of September One of my guiding reasons for studying history in college and university was to learn more about places and times outside my own for a bigger base from which to world build.

#SFFChat I guarantee my prose has been influenced by esoteric styles, but my characters and relationships have been influence by Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and Jane Austen

Ooo today's prompt is "cast your wip" and I find it much easier to write if I know exactly who I'm writing so I started with casting my leads! Jacob is Lir, the stoic noble, and Ncuti is Faris, the flashy commoner.

#SFFChat 24th of September It’s not a question, but it would be cool to see some snippets of your favourite dialogue interactions 😊💬

#SFFChat A2 - Ash (elf, she/they) is friends with some powerful people and she's pissed off a lot of powerful people. For example, her partner Rosalee (elf,she/her) is a princess/ general. On the opposite side, Ash is targeted by an ancient elven whose crimes were uncovered by her mother *cont*

I honestly love how useless and easily manipulated the nobles are in Titus Groan. The second any kind of crisis happens, every single one of them is beyond useless, despite the townsfolk’s pseudo religious regard for them. It rings so true to our reality. One good grifter is all it takes. #SFFChat

#SFFChat In the Skybollon world: I guess there are many different governments, varying in power & size (power doesn't always go with size in a magical world) some are worse than others. In Lawcket's story: the government is pretty bad, giving more to the already wealthy while the poor suffer.

#SFFChat In HermitageWIP "the government" isn't fully discussed. In lore its primarily oligarchical. So, obviously not a force for good. But there are checks and balances that hold the forces of bad at bay. (Mainly... UNIONS!)

#SFFChat A4: “If you see something, say something.” Nia might not be “political”, but even she knows the legislative branch exists to keep the executive in check.

#SFFChat Outro. Going to share the brand-new, shining Ashrah commission I received today 🥰💜 bsky.app/profile/saya...

#SFFChat Outro: Thank you for hosting, Steve My share is a drawing/painting i did for Biceptember bsky.app/profile/thir...

#SFFChat 1. They're getting better. Voerlund's ruling dynasty ended the imperial tyranny and instituted a strong honour system. Silverden and Minosmir have mellowed out from their zeal considerably. Mul Manatar has somehow always been cool. Baletor, however, still sucks. Run by unregulated guilds.

#SFFChat Q2 Alright, let's break it down by era and location Pre-Greed Wars Aloutia: basically the USA today. Capitalist dream, dystopia for everyone else Post-Greed Wars Aloutia: a force of good and justice. You might not like if if you're pro-capitalist or royalist, though, lmfao

#SFFChat outro Thanks for hosting, Steve. :) You went easy on us this week. I've fallen off on boosting my published books but I do have 2 OUT NOW: WINGS is high fantasy, low spice. CONSORT is low fantasy, high spice. Both are pretty funny. www.amazon.com/stores/Aud-C...

#SFFChat Outro: In theme with this week's topic, Episode 141 of @worldbuildcast.bsky.social: More Perfect Unions -- an episode on government that we had to record before the 2024 US election and that aired the literal day after it. 🙃

(Episode 143: Children of the Revolution is also pretty on-theme. That one we recorded the week AFTER the election and it has many COMPLETLEY FICTIONAL points of discussion.)

#SFFChat The MCs relationships to greater power is not very direct. There are smaller powers Nora is dealing with local civic leaders and is trying to get their protection. She is getting very lawyerish about it. Bayle works for a wealthy man and is desperate to keep his job. He's kinda toadying.

#SFFChat Animal Farm really put some stuff into focus, didn't it?

Who wants eldritch government office buildings? We all do. We scream for them. #SFFChat

#SFFChat No access to my works where I am, so... Teralina, vice president of the Historic Neighborhood Society is kind enough to visit Nora every time her petition is denied, so the "powers that be" are not anonymous and distant. They are members of the community. Friends.

#SFFChat A3 I don't have a solid answer. There's some Discworld that could be seen as critiquing power and structure.

#SFFChat Q1: gov't good? A running theme in "Homebound" is how reality gets in the way of good intentions, which is particularly paralyzing for institutions. Fitting that, there's no clean answer here. Many governments are broadly trying to do right, but their hands are tied. Others are evil.

#SFFChat Q4 Tough choice since this is a major theme in this series: throw a dart, odds are you hit someone criticizing authority. But I talk so much about Mairid, I ought to let my FMC have some credit

#SFFChat Outro: Thanks for tonight! Share my microfiction, everyone! :D bsky.app/profile/cath...

#SFFChat 2. Carloman is beholden to no state or power, and stands alongside the gods, but as a Voerlunder, even he gets a little flustered around members the country's Lunderman nobles. He also usually defers to authority, titles, etc. for politness and making things easy.