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#writer

46 posts30 participants1 post today

--Update: I just Googled this writer and her name is Garielle Lutz. Which of course, completely makes sense bc only a trans woman could write this fucking pretty like this--

Just discovered this writer, Gary Lutz. omg these are some of the prettiest sentences. Like just read this, then read it again and even a third time and just admire how this sucker is structured and these layers of context:

"There was a time I would not hear of women, and a time I looked to them as my betters, and months when my heart went out to anyone done up as a person, but it was usually men I suited: men who liked to keep their words a little stepped back from their meanings and mostly wanted to know whether I was still in school or was hard on shoes."

#lgbt#trans#writer

#PennedPossibilities 736 — MC POV: Do you or did you once admire your parents? Who do you admire today?

I admire my mother, who was an international music and theatre star; she would always sing for me.

Same for her manager, who likely fathered me though nobody said. He took care of me like an uncle, played with me, took me places, even read to me whenever they were in town because my mother couldn't.

My mother was like me [autistic]. Every face she showed the world was an act, studied, choreographed, perfected, performed impeccably—and she was so amazingly good at it. The same each time. Like a recording. She was a star.

But, she knew she couldn't do mother for me; the performance would be fake, was fake, and she had learned her baby daughter saw through it into nothingness, so she didn't try anymore. Instead, she sang for me and that wasn't faking it, never was; it was her heart shining through. I knew that, and loved that, and her.

They died when I was five.

If her records are played in a restaurant, I walk out. I don't cry in public.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller #romance #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#WordWeavers 2025.07.23 — Your MC is lost in a busy city, and GPS isn’t an option. How do they handle the situation?

She's lives in an interstellar civilization without electricity or electronics—or GPS. She knows how to use a map. Duh.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller #romance #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

I swear stress is killing me... I'm at a point where it feels like my psoriasis will never calm down because of it (extra events make my skin feel like it was burning so bad the last few days), I ended up falling behind with my usual writing habits, and of course I screwed up with my better posting consistency. Well...I am still here, pushing forward as best as my exhausted totally drained self can. I hope everyone else if doing better than this, and if you're not, if you're out there struggling with your own battles, big or small, know that you are not alone. Keep on pushing. If you need a break, take some time to rest, then hop back in the saddle. We've got this. It's not until you totally give up that you lose. ~E.L.F.

#writer
#author
#life
#tired
#mentallyexhausted
#emotionallyexhausted
#imsoexhausted
#onestepatatime
#keeponkeepingon
#vampirehunterD

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2025.07.22 — Do you write your characters’ thoughts, or let their actions speak for themselves? Why?

I write in 1st person. The narrator is the POV. The reader gets to experience a continuous description of what is important enough for the POV to notice, what they are willing to report doing, what they want you to know about what people are saying and doing—and especially what they think about it. It is a stream of thoughts and reactions, often presented with snark or filtered by worry, and if the reader pays attention, spun in subtle ways to fit the MC's agenda. Sometimes my characters even quote their own thoughts!

Here's what it looks like in practice from the POV of the devil-girl in Reluctant Prizefighter. She's been wolf-whistled by a street gang member, but she has some defense training and has subtly dodged his grabs, but has verbally and physically bruised him. #excerpt

I hadn't learned yet how to reliably work the miracle I'd created defeating The Monster. Was this miscreant the one who might help me break through?

I looked at how his muscles moved, his legs and rear when he turned momentarily to retort to a gang mate, how he held himself erect—

I blinked. He had dimples!? Arguably cute, and not enough of a threat, nor cute enough to sway me either. I turned and walked on, trying not to grin, saying, "I doubt it."

"Doubt what?" I heard his shoes catching up.

"I thought you might teach me something." I gave him, his not exactly scrawny body, more of a dismissive look than it deserved. "I was mistaken" that you're sufficiently threatening to help me.

He sped to cross my path, but I must have intimidated him; he didn't block me. I took a much better look at his rear end. Squarish. Muscular above the hip, too. I rather liked the view, but now he'd turned red and I had to look up at his angry eyes. My hit struck home.

He asked, "What are you? Spurs? Or 2nd Street Fist Gang?"

"What are you? Besides rude?"

"NGG Syndicate. We all are." He pointed to his shoulder, and lifted a sweaty sleeve. Hiding what he revealed might be the whole purpose to him wearing the t-shirt.

"Wow. You let someone brand you!" How stupid can you get? It read NNGS in cursive, burnt into his skin with either a wire pattern heated by fire, or by an application of reluctance, but reluctant force would require him to absolutely trust the miracle worker—which might be the point! Still foolish. The scar was pink; the hair had only partially grown back. I didn't want to shudder, but did so anyway.

He added,"You're going to regret trespassing—"

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#mystery #thriller #romance #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

Today in Labor History, July 23, 1944: Madeleine Riffaud, 19, got off her bicycle, pulled out a gun, and assassinated a Nazi military officer as he took a stroll over the river Seine. She was pursued by French collaborators with the Nazis, beaten, tortured and imprisoned in a concentration camp. She escaped, but was later caught, eventually being released in a prisoner swap. She then joined the armed uprising against the Nazis. After the war, she became a journalist for the Communist newspaper L'Humanité, and other left-wing publications, reporting on anti-colonial rebellions in Algeria and Vietnam. She also wrote poetry and a memoir: On l'appelait Rainer (Called Rainer).

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nazis #fascism #antifa #antifascism #journalism #france #communism #poetry #memoir #books #author #writer #poet #bookstadon@a.gup.pe

#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.22 — Show us something you've created. Tell us the story behind it.

There's not much of a story, here. Both my spouse and I have families where preserving fruit in alcohol was a thing (Ukrainian & Italian extraction). In both traditions, what got used was with a neutral spirit, aka vodka. My grandmother used to make her vodka, and reportedly blew up the kitchen sink in a Chicago apartment a long time ago.

These cherries are preserved in bourbon, and newly made so they've about a month to go to be fully enjoyed. I'm creative when it comes to food and food preparation, so a few years ago after making vodka cherries and having left over cherries after running out of the Tito's, I tried a bunch of things like Triple Sec and Old Granddad. The batch I made with Uncle Nearest generated a fandom.

Sadly, I used my reserved Uncle Nearest for this batch. The new bottles just bought, obviously made by a distiller who bought out the original entrepreneurs, cheapened it. It was obvious: dark brown versus light reddish brown, even discounting the address change. Sad.

I think they'll make good cherries next year, though, if not for drinking neat.

More in #AltText.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#writer #author #photographer #chef #cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

#WordWeavers 2025.07.22 — As a writer, do you use the same level of description you prefer to read? If not, do you use more or less?

My preference is only essential description, read or written. It differs for me between the POV and the supporting characters, less for the former, more for the latter.

Since I want the reader to see themselves in the story, I often give the POV character little or no description, other than what matters for the story, or what they think about themselves.

I took this to an extreme in Mars Needed Women in that the main character has a name that sounds like Mary† though written as if Asian, was named that because she's an atheist in a theocracy, has one child whose hair is described as resembling hers, is obviously not at all curvy because of her comments about a curvy character, and works out so is comparatively muscular. And that's it.

In Reluctant Moon, there are two main characters who are very into each other, sometimes poetically going into description of their partner in intimate detail. Empathy in action is more important to this story, but with two characters, I get to cheat somewhat: one gets to have a complexion like porcelain and the other is as dark as midnight. Oddly, it's not their skin color for which they face prejudice.

In another story in the reluctance series, the only thing I think I'm going to fully describe is the character's horns since they cause her trouble. They're the size of a crooked index finder, greatly resemble rusty rebar including the dangerously sharp point, and are positioned at her temples pointing back. They destroy hats, but can be hidden in the devil-girl's hair, which implies some sort of red. She'll describe her complexion simply as olive and considers that she's so average she could disappear in the slightest crowd, were it not for her height. I am going to get rid of her scene looking into a mirror because it kind of annoys me that she would enumerate her features simply because she can, especially since she really doesn't care about them (except when she is disguising herself).

As for non-POV characters, I describe them as much as they need to be described for story purposes. As an author pointed out yesterday, if we later learn that the murderer in the mystery has bright red hair, somebody will be neutrally described with the clue, as in, "'That yellow dress really doesn't go with her freckles and ruddy hair.'" I moderate the need to describe in Dickensian detail with a desire, again, for the reader to see themselves and people in their community in the characters of my stories.

I especially enjoy the POV tagging other characters' eye color. For example, in Inklings, Wintereyes characterizes her love interest, after seeing his eyes in the sunlight, as having caramel eyes, like the hard candy, then later nicknames him Caramello despite learning his name. I can't help but describe him as a looking like a pacific islander, for in his world he is essentially an exiled chieftain's son, so his build and bulk and general appearance tag along. As for Wintereyes, the POV, judging by her name, her eyes could be anything from crystal blue to grey, and I'd not be surprised if most readers assume her hair color is white or light blonde. In the story, she is accompanied by Mother Wolf, who is a white wolf. Maybe someone will joke that Wintereyes resembles her mother? Maybe…

=-=-=-=-=
† About the name: I was checked to ensure Googling the name will make the it apparent it isn't a name commonly used in the culture it sounds like it came from.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

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#mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory

#PennedPossibilities 734 — Have you ever written fanfiction? If so, for which fandoms?

Yes, as stated in my profile.

For those who poo-poo the idea (i.e. stigmatize it), as a professional writer I'll recommend it as an excellent way to take your obsessive knowledge of a show or a book and translate it into carefree practice writing, to wit, in order:

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't have a deadline.

It doesn't have to sell.

If the fandom is online, posting fanfiction stories is an opportunity for instant feedback you won't get in original writing, unless you are already a brand name. Mind you, those stories are NOT yours to sell or profit from, other than to profit from the fundamental practice writing and completing stories. I recommend using a distinct throwaway nom de plume for each fandom.

As I've admitted many times, I used the offered opportunity to develop my distinctive (I hope) 1st person style and playtest original (as in distinct from the IP) plot, worldbuilding, and character ideas. It should be considered dangerous only if the IP owner is litigious (for some reason, the late Anne Rice comes to mind), you find you can write nothing else and want to, or someone might use the fact that you wrote fanfiction to troll or hurt you.

As a professional writer attending conventions, more than one established author has admitted to writing fanfiction, sometimes for the fun of it or to blow off steam from the real work. As I stated, whilst it was fun doing so, in the end I focused on healing after my burnout in 2001 and perfecting a writing style for my future work.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

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#RSdiscussion

#EroticMusings 2025.0713 Week 7 (July 13-19) Craft — Do you have a distinct style? Did you develop it intentionally? Do you want to change it? CW: Note the hashtag; nothing salacious.

Do I have a distinct style of erotic storytelling? As in unique enough that a reader would recognize it as something I wrote? I am not well enough read in the various applicable genres to say that definitively, but I'd be willing to entertain the notion. I have not yet published anything that I would label as more than cursorily erotic, and that's only if the reader is reading for the double meanings and implications, which I would recommend that they always do.

Did I develop that style of storytelling intentionally? I did, very much so! I don't write to entertain; no, I write to say something (usually about gender roles) and endeavor that it also entertain. Similarly, I don't write to provide gratuitous content, but then if the reader decides they see it that way, in a reading world were textual-interpretation and the idea of mort de 'auteur is fashionable, I am more than happy to have the reader have their way. I suppose a dirty mind helps here, though I dislike the term as it implies wrong thinking and is often used to coerce and control people. I am not a fan of instructional manuals or anatomy lessons, and use of common vulgar language and over-used terms. There is plenty of pornography out there, and I've no desire to compete.

Since I write in 1st person, not 3rd, the showing experiences and the goals of the POV is necessary, and, in my opinion, what is truly erotic, if a reader chooses to see it as such, is the connections people make, the illogic of desire, how it feels, how time dialates and worries manifest, whether the POV's heart beats faster and sweat gets in the way, what the POV want for the other person and whether they react in kind, and in the end the effort and sacrifice it takes to achieve those goals as much as how they (however many of them) deal with the results and aftermath. For instance, from a WIP, it's when a simple neck massage—to comfort a person (for the sake of simplicity, call them a prince or princess) you are learning to respect who has had a bad day at court—can turn into something rather messy in a public space simply because you and they both agree it must, and consent that must happen now. When friends or antagonists get to together, they can and do learn about themselves, often make a mess of it, and maybe have fun doing so or ponder why, if not. The ripples it sends through a story can be delicious wonderful. The concept here is that all human activities are equally important to the story, and if the reader sees issues with this then it is the reader who is learning something.

Do I want to change my style? Well, perhaps I should wait and see if I find an audience that likes what I am writing, first? 😝

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

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#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

Today in Labor History July 22, 1916: Someone set off a bomb during the pro-war “Preparedness Day” parade in San Francisco. As a result, 10 people died and 40 were injured. A jury convicted two labor leaders, Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings, based on false testimony. Both were pardoned in 1939. Billings and Mooney were both anarchists and members of the IWW. Not surprisingly, only anarchists were suspected in the bombing. A few days after the bombing, they searched and seized materials from the offices of “The Blast,” Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman’s local San Francisco paper. They also threatened to arrest Berkman.

In 1937, Mooney filed a writ of habeas corpus, providing evidence that his conviction was based on perjured testimony and evidence tampering. Among this evidence was a photograph of him in front of a large, ornate clock, on Market Street, clearly showing the time of the bombing and that he could not have been at the bombing site when it occurred. The Alibi Clock was later moved to downtown Vallejo, twenty-five miles to the northeast of San Francisco. Alibi Bookshop, in Vallejo, is named after this clock. On May 11, 2024, I did a reading there from my working-class historical novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill, during the Book Release Party for Roberta Tracy’s, Zig Zag Woman. Her novel takes place at the time of the Los Angeles Times bombing, in 1910, when two other labor leaders, the McNamara brothers, were framed.

In 1931, while they were still in prison, I. J. Golden persuaded the Provincetown Theater to produce his play, “Precedent,” about the Mooney and Billings case. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times wrote, "By sparing the heroics and confining himself chiefly to a temperate exposition of his case [Golden] has made “Precedent” the most engrossing political drama since the Sacco-Vanzetti play entitled Gods of the Lightening... Friends of Tom Mooney will rejoice to have his case told so crisply and vividly."

You can read my complete article on Mooney and Billings here: michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/

You can get Anywhere But Schuylkill here:
keplers.com/
greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!
And purchase Zigzag Woman here:
powells.com/book/zig-zag-woman

#workingclass #LaborHistory #warrenbillings #tommooney #sanfrancisco #bombing #anarchism #union #IWW #labor #alexanderberkman #prison #emmagoldman #playwright #theater #books #writer #author #historicalfiction #novel #author #anywherebutschuylkill #zigzagwoman @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 22, 1877: A General Strike began in St. Louis, as part of the national Great Upheaval wave of wildcat strikes. The St. Louis strike is generally considered the first General Strike in U.S. history. It was organized by the communist Workingman’s Party and the Knights of Labor. In addition to joining in solidarity with striking rail workers, thousands in other trades came out to fight for the 8-hour day and an end to child labor. For nearly a week, workers controlled all functions of society. Black and white workers united, even though the unions were all segregated. At one rally, a black steamboat worker asked the crowd if they would stand behind levee workers, regardless of race. “We will!” they shouted back. Another speaker said, “The people are rising up in their might and declaring they will no longer submit to being oppressed by unproductive capital.”

Whereas most of the worker uprisings that were occurring throughout the U.S. were spontaneous wildcat strikes (as most of the unions were opposed to the great strike), the situation in St. Louis was led by communists and was revolutionary. “There was a time in the history of France when the poor found themselves oppressed to such an extent that forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and hundreds of heads tumbled into the basket. That time may have arrived with us.” A cooper said this to a crowd of 10,000 workers in St. Louis, in July, 1877. He was referring to the Paris Commune, which happened just six years prior. Like the Parisian workers, the Saint Louis strikers openly called for the use of arms, not only to defend themselves against the violence of the militias and police, but for outright revolutionary aims: “All you have to do is to unite on one idea—that workingmen shall rule this country. What man makes, belongs to him, and the workingmen made this country.”

Karl Marx enthusiastically followed events during the Great Strike. He called it “the first uprising against the oligarchy of capital since the Civil War.” He predicted that it would inevitably be suppressed, but might still “be the point of origin for the creation of a serious workers’ party in the United States.” Ironically, many of the Saint Louis activists were followers of Ferdinand Lasalle, whom Marx despised, and who believed that communist revolution could happen through the vote. And some of them, like Albert Currlin, a Workingmen’s Party leader in Saint Louis, were outright racists, who mistrusted the black strikers and refused to work with them, undermining the success of the commune. Ultimately, 3,000 federal troops and 5,000 deputized police (i.e., vigilantes) ended the strike by killing at least 18 people and arresting at least 70.

My novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill,” is about the coal strike that preceded the Great Upheaval. My work in progress, “Red Hot Summer in the Big Smoke,” opens exactly two weeks prior to the start of the Great Upheaval, with the mass execution of innocent coal miners and union organizers who were framed by the Pinkertons.

You can get my novel from any of these indie retailers:
keplers.com/
greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

You can read my complete article on the Great Upheaval here: michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/

You can read my complete article on the Pinkertons here: michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #greatupheaval #paris #commune #Revolutionary #communism #saintlouis #pinkertons #GeneralStrike #wildcat #strike #knightsoflabor #workingmensparty #marx #solidarity #books #author #writer #fiction #historicalfiction @bookstadon

"On this day in 1849, #Jewish #writer and #activist Emma Lazarus was born in #NewYorkCity.

Lazarus is, of course, most famous for “The New Colossus,” the #sonnet with the famous lines “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” that’s practically synonymous with the #StatueofLiberty.

The #poem — which was written in 1883 for an exhibition designed to raise money to build the statue’s pedestal — gives voice to the Statue of Liberty, which was initially designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi as tribute the Enlightenment and Franco-American friendship. Lazarus’ words transformed the statue into a “Mother of Exiles” who served as a beacon of hope for #immigrants arriving at New York Harbor.

“The New Colossus” may be Lazarus’ lasting legacy, but she was far more than just a one-hit wonder."

jta.org/2025/07/22/ny/11-fasci

Jewish Telegraphic Agency · 11 fascinating facts about Emma Lazarus, the Jewish writer who gave voice to the Statue of LibertyBy Lisa Keys