#author talk

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I'm excited to be one of the speakers at an upcoming event with Uplifting Voices, where we will be discussing female empowerment in art. I'll be discussing the Scandals of the Gifted series in particular. For anyone who wants to attend virtually, a zoom link will be forthcoming.

Learn more about the event at:

Are you in Denver, CO? Come join us at a reading and Author Talk by Shai Porter, one of the contributors for When the Rose Speaks Its Name: A Sherlock Holmes Anthology.

When: 6pm on May 20, 2026

Where: Denver Book Society, 1700 Humboldt Street, Denver

Register here:

When I attended her talk in Cambridge, RF Kuang explained that this book came to her at a time when she was newly married, her husband was very sick, and she was overwhelmed between her PhD and visiting him at the hospital. Everything felt dreadful, and she was so afraid that depression and suicidal thoughts came to her. She said this book is very personal.

While reading Katabasis, I can’t help but picture Rebecca as Alice and her husband Ben as Peter xD. Peter is a mathematician-magician, just like her husband Ben is a mathematician. Alice studies linguistics, while Rebecca works more in literature and postcolonial studies. Even their physical descriptions kind of match. And Alice’s character struggles with suicide while Peter’s struggles with chronic illness.

And he’d be nasty, rough and tumble with his knuckles always bandaged up from getting into a fight and a few more knicks every time you see him; he eggs on your fear of him getting seriously injured, showing you old scars or injuries that never healed right, like the tear in his bicep that he didn’t go hospital for so now when he flexes there’s a large divot on his left arm

He likes that a proper bird like you is so worried on him, packing him meals when you can and insisting he stop picking fights (little do you know he’s a bare knuckle fighter and he’s at the top of his career)

God he loves his little bird, his lady, but he won’t say it -not outright at least. He doesn’t want you tied down to him so he intentionally holds back, hoping a nice guy with a safer pastime will come and swoop you off your feet and take you away from his tumultuous life

honestly

Writing multiple *is* how i keep interest in each; i learned a while ago that my brain just doesn't like to focus on one thing and one thing alone, and if i try to prevent myself from creating new things, i end up stifling all my creativity even for the current project. In short it's just how my brain works 😅 some of my fics are also practice for writing scenes in another fic-- i started GOK and LS so i could get practice writing Decepticons I'd never written for, in order to do justice to them in a different book, Star of the Show

So they all kinda link together in my mind in some fashion

I'll explore a headcanon i like in one, then a slightly different or totally different version of that lore in another, which let's me explore different settings and plot hooks without having to be sad i can't do X because I'm already doing Y.... i just make a new story and do both!

And each sorry is so different-- i tend to have a private writing challenge and/or something i specifically want to work out through writing, and that energy is part of how i choose which story i write

Some of them I'm slower with-- Travel Buddies is going on over two years without an update, but I'm still actually working on it; mostly in my head, but i also have a good chunk of the second book written and I've been sorting out how the first book will end and all the events i need to have happen to be able to start the next big plot arc

How i keep them all straight?

I keep plot docs where i write any and all info i would have to forget, that is not written in the story. I also white shorthand notes sometimes of things that ARE already in the story so i can easily reference what I've already cemented and included

These documents end up wildly out of date, but they still prove useful and i don't get to anal about keeping them perfectly organized anymore, but i try to set up header sections for things like "characters" and "key plot events" and "key locations / descriptions"

This gives me an easy reference when I'm jumping into a fic i maybe don't remember quite as well as others

Aaaand.... i re-read my books. A lot. Like. A LOT. To the point that sometimes it's boring but it's necessary info so i read anyways 😂👌

Mostly though i just try not to pressure myself to push a deadline because I'm writing for fun and for therapy through the experience, so my focus is best spent doing what i love doing rather than worrying about how to serve it for others.

I usually have several documents open at the same time. Sometimes I'll write one story. Sometimes I'll write a little on one, lose interest or get stuck, then swap to another one and continue there

sorry if that wasn't as helpful as you were hoping for, i really don't have a magic system i just goof off obsessively 😂