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#WordWeavers Have you ever been the basis for a character in someone else's story?

A friend in college wrote an extended story fragment that had the people in our suite as characters. It was self-indulgent and charming. I think I still have a copy of it somewhere…

The lights in the workshop flickered, then snapped on. Jed tossed the deprimed brass into the tumbler & turned on the crucible. While it heated up, he opened the new canister of propellant, measured out a charge & put it on the scale. It was a few grains shy, so he increased the volume slightly, measured again, & was right on the money. He cleaned & primed the cartridges, charged them with propellant, seated the freshly-cast bullets, & crimped the brass. Then he loaded his revolver.

#wss366

#WordWeavers Are real people you know ever the basis for characters in your story?

I'll never tell.

#WritersCoffeeClub What was your motivation for choosing past or present tense?

I didn't choose present tense for the same reason I didn't choose conditional or future tense: it would be extremely weird.

Etra checked her make up in the mirror. She reapplied her lipstick & then saw her chipped tooth. A wave of emotion washed over her. She remembered his fist coming at her face, over & over again. And the feeling when his ring smashed into her tooth. She flushed & caught hold of the sink to hold herself up until the feelings passed. Then she remembered the smell of the revolver smoke. And watching the life leave his eyes. She smiled slightly, put her lipstick away, & rejoined the party.

#wss366

#PennedPossibilities Do you like the process of world-building?

I just wrote a post about using geomorphology and botany to enhance my ability to describe settings. I love worldbuilding — all of it. https://stevendbrewer.com/using-geomorphology-and-botany-for-settings-in-fiction/

Tanuki-chan thinks it's taking MUCH TOO LONG to fix her breakfast. #DogsOfMastodon

#WritersCoffeeClub In 500 characters, can you write a short story?

Sherrie fumed as she drove to the convenience store. She'd texted Walter that she needed them while he was still at work, but he'd refused to stop to get "those things." Then, as she was leaving, he'd had the nerve to say, "Pick me up some #beer, honey."

She grabbed the tampons, then walked to the cooler. They had a lot of the craft IPAs he preferred. She grabbed a six pack of cheap lager. "Beer is beer," she thought, savagely.

Just as the sun set, I spied a thin stream of smoke and found a tiny cabin tucked into the hillside just across a small brook.
I crossed a footbridge and walked up to the door. To the side, there were racks of herbs drying. I could smell something toothsome roasting inside.
I knocked on the door and waited. I heard footsteps, the sound of the bolt being drawn back, and then the door opened. A stout, gray-haired woman looked at me and then smiled.
"It's good to see you, brother!"

#wss366

"I'm looking for Tabitha," I said. The farmer twitched and then stared at me like I was crazy.
"Turn left at the big tree," he said. "Then just follow that path to the end."
I nodded and turned to go.
"She's a witch, you know!" he said after me.
I waved my hand vaguely at him and then kept walking.
My feet were sore and I felt dirty and smelly after three days of walking.
I found the big tree and the small path to the left. It wound through a field and then along the side of a hill.

#wss366

#WritersCoffeeClub Have you used any form of AI to help in creating your work? Do you have a red line?

No. Never have. Never will. I would avoid having any device or using any service that has AI associated with it in any form, if I could — with one possible exception: I would like to have an AI agent that I could deploy against corporate AI phone trees that would do whatever it takes to get a human on the line, then put them on hold and connect me.

Geomorphology and botany can contribute to the verisimilitude of the description of settings in fiction. https://stevendbrewer.com/using-geomorphology-and-botany-for-settings-in-fiction/ #writing

I'm out in the tent for Straw Dog Writes with a glass of Drambuie. Now I just need to figure out what I want to write…

verdaj raŭpetoj sur la ruĝa hibisko… foliskeletoj / little green caterpillars on the rose mallow… leaf skeletons #hajko #haiku #esperanto

"Oh, no," said Doreen, patting herself all over.
"What is it?"
"I've lost my lucky #charm."
"I'm sorry. Do you want to go back & look for it?"
"Yes," she said. "Thanks!"
They turned & headed back.
"What's it look like?"
"A brown leather pouch."
"What's inside?"
"Some knucklebones. And a dried newt."
"Ew."
"It also has a tuft of unicorn hair. And a dragon's baby tooth."
"Does it work?"
A bird dropping fell on Doreen's head. She pointed at her head silently.
"OK! Let's find that charm!"

#wss366

#WordWeavers How pretty is your MC? Are they prettier than you?

As an old, fat guy, that wouldn't be hard.

Revin always thinks of himself as plain. Lady Cecelia, on the other hand, doesn't think of herself as particularly pretty, but she actually is stunningly beautiful. She has long, platinum-blond hair, is well-proportioned, and is curvy in all the right places. But because she's shy and introverted, she doesn't really realize it about herself.

#PennedPossibilities Have you ever mixed a non-Latin alphabet into your WIP(s)?

In *Better Angels: Tour de Force* the Angels perform songs modeled on j-pop and k-pop songs that have a mix of English and Japanese words. In my manuscripts, I had put the words in Japanese script (hiragana, katakana, and kanji). But, after discussions with the editor, we ultimately decided to replace them with their romaji equivalents.

Spring Peeper (*Hyla crucifer*) #TreefrogTuesday

At Pliny Fountain…

murmuras fontan' sub bunta rubandaro… arbara ripoz' / a fountain murmurs beneath an array of colorful ribbons… forest repose #hajko #haiku #esperanto