Writer Of Many Things

…Just storing this where I won’t lose it.

(transcription: “Today’s not-so-vague writing vaguetweet: Wordcounts & daily time “worked” are useless as metrics to judge the value, success or validity of your work (or others’). Someone dictates process to you? Kick them to the curb and get on with writing in your own way and at your own pace.”)

(For those who’ve missed it: today our buddy John Scalzi shared this tweet –

…to which there were numerous salutory responses. My favorite:

And just write the ideas down until the story starts to shape itself. Then when you’re ready, go back and delete everything before the point where the story actually starts. 

light but warm silken stuff that the Galadhrim wove. It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be; and yet if they were moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, dusk-silver as water under the stars."

Only silk probably wouldn't be warm enough, so perhaps lined with something warmer on the inside? Hm. OR somehow chameleon tafetta technique but in wool though given the description of the technique in link I don't know how well that could work? Textile people help...

I now have it as an epub.

It features things like handweaving iridescent fabric with four different colours by hand! And as the author says, “There has been surprisingly little information in popular books and magazines about iridescence in textiles, even though weavers have been creating these magical fabrics deliberately for centuries. This book is intended to help fill that void and is the result of more than a dozen years of study and teaching.” 

here’s an example of a four- colour weave by the author. “This four-color scarf has two warp and two weft colors at every point of interlacement. This plain-weave fabric was woven with rayon sewing thread at 60 e.p.i., which was the closest sett I could use with the 30-dent reed I had available. It required a very gentle beat. Sleying the slippery rayon was difficult because it tended to fall out of the reed unless taped down temporarily.”  and another one;

Woven on a point twill threading, this four-color scarf in 20/2 mercerized cotton has orange and pink in the warp and blue and green in the weft. The sett is 48 e.p.i., doubled in a 24-dent reed.

 I think this is pretty much as close to the effect of the Lothlorien capes it might be possible to get; it doesn’t seem possible to get the fabric to adjust to the environment as described in the books (appearing greyer among the stones etc) but if anyone can think of a way to accomplish that you’re very welcome  to tell me. 

Even if it’s a bit out there and probably only possible in a lab. :)

Villains, esp in sci-fi/fantasy, are very frequently “writ large”—that is, they have qualities that are familiar and might even be sympathetic, but projected larger than life. Identification with them is often not identification with their literal actions, but with the familiar qualities that feed the large-scale behaviour.

The experience isn’t necessarily about them literally doing what identifying audiences wish they could or find cathartic. Rather, identifying audiences are often drawing a connection between much smaller-scale actions or impulses that are familiar, sometimes from personal experience, and the deliberately epic scale of the villains’ misdeeds.

This is, to be clear, not always the reason for identification or sympathy or always the thought process that goes on for villain fans. But sometimes it is! I would even say that a lot of the time, it is! And these fans’ connection of RL struggles to OTT fantastic villainy is frequently intended by the creators, not simply fannish projection (though I think it can be valid even when not intended by the creators).

Write to see the characters you can't find anywhere else.

Write to see that trope written just the way you like it.

Write to see yourself improve and grow everyday.

Write without the burden of perfection.

Write without the weight of others' expectations.

Write without fear.

Write with practice.

Write with purpose.

Write with passion.

Expecting them to be perfect and never make mistakes is setting yourself up to be an asshole.

Do you know how long it takes to write and publish a 60k novel for most published authors? Years. Plural.

That includes time spent writing multiple drafts and doing research and multiple rounds of edits. Access to a professional editor, and the ability to hire sensitivity readers. The list goes on and on and on.

Fan fic authors owe you nothing. They are churning out multiple novel length fics (or the equivalent in one shots) a year while still holding down school/jobs.

And you’re gonna jump down their throats because they wrote a pairing differently than you prefer??

Shut the fuck up.

Tags exists for a reason. Read them and move on if the fic is not for you.

I mean really. We all just lived through fucking 2020. Let people enjoy their FAKE gay porn in peace.