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#writerscoffeeclub

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@AlexCorby@indieauthors.social · 16m ago
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/23 What's the most you've worked on a WIP before deciding to scrap it? What happened? Ooh, that's a heartbreaker. The first time I seriously tried to write a book, about post-apocalyptic circus wizards (I'm summarizing here) made it to a first draft of 115K words. There were some good characters and some pretty surreal scenes involving drugs, magic, and juggling. I eventually scrapped it because I became disillusioned and felt it was too derivative in theme if not plot. There were also just strange holes in the story that made me wonder if I even knew what I was writing anymore. I do wish I had the experience and discipline back then to go back and work the writing around until things fit. In the end, I'm not unhappy it never came to anything. Failures are part of the process and I feel more resilient for it.
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@aronsilver@indieauthors.social · 18h ago
#WritersCoffeeClub 23 March: What's the most you've worked on a WIP before deciding to scrap it? What happened? Tough question, haven’t scrapped anything. I’ve shelved projects though, for possible future continuation, but don’t think I really scrapped anything. None of the shelved projects progressed beyond outline and maybe some loose ends, so they didn’t get very far yet.
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@cstross@wandering.shop · 5d ago
#writerscoffeeclub Mar 18 - What's a writerly gift you've received? An author whose book I volunteered a cover quote for once surprised me with a bottle of Irish whiskey. Fittingly, it was Writers' Tears (and a very nice wee dram it was)! (Frankly, getting an ARC of that book to provide a blurb for was its own reward. No, I'm not telling you who it was.)
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@cstross@wandering.shop · 6d ago
#WritersCoffeeClub March 17. What's an experience or sensation you've struggled to convey to a reader? I've been arguing with myself over how to answer this prompt and took a while to realize that I don't even try to convey experiences or sensations: that's not what writing is for, in my books. I'm about ideas, and insights, and emergent emotional reactions to these.
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@Klepsis@indieauthors.social · Mar 16, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC March 16: What's the largest cast you've ever written? What made it challenging? I think my #WIP has the most personae of any work so far. The biggest challenge I'm seeing is remembering who is in the room in a given scene and what they should be doing. #Writing #WritingCommunity
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@pretensesoup@indieauthors.social · Mar 16, 2026
#writersCoffeeClub 16 March: What's the largest cast you've ever written? What made it challenging? I have written a novel with four point of view characters (i.e., four narrators). I think the hardest thing at that point is coming up with a story that can be equally owned between them all. For example, when I write a Sam/Ulysses story, the main plot is a thing they have to solve together. With four, obviously everyone has some of their own stuff going on, but there also has to be a way they come together. There's also the problem of keeping the dramatic tension going when there are more people knowing more things. That said, it was fun to write and I look forward to when I get to rewrite it.
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@adaddinsane@mastodonapp.uk · Mar 16, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/16. What's the largest cast you've ever written? What made it challenging? In a single volume, probably MONSTERS. It was a challenge because every major character (maybe ten of them, I forget) had their own throughline and everything had to meet up in a single incident at the end. #writing #writingCommunity
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@saposcat@indieauthors.social · Mar 14, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub 14. Do you think readers want new experiences in structure or narrative, or do they prefer what's familiar? I don't feel like I have any sense at all of what readers want. My guess is they want novelty within a familiar structure. Don't just give us the same old thing, but don't leave us rudderless either.
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@adaddinsane@mastodonapp.uk · Mar 14, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/14. Do you think readers want new experiences in structure or narrative, or do they prefer what's familiar? The vast majority want to read the same thing again, but different. #writing #writingCommunity
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@pretensesoup@indieauthors.social · Mar 13, 2026
#writersCoffeeClub 13 Mar: Talk about an experience where you consulted an expert for a piece of writing. Let me see. When I first started writing about Laz, I talked to a friend who is a veteran with PTSD. She graciously read some of his sections and gave me feedback. When I wrote LHftW, I had a neurologist friend take a look at some sections. And I'm always asking people who are experts in various languages for translation assistance.
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@cstross@wandering.shop · Mar 10, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub March 10th—How informal is your prose? Is there a limit to informality? It's entirely contextual. Describing a formal dinner among posh aristocrats? Go formal. Describing a drunken argument in a pub? Go informal. Prose style is like mood music in a film—it should reflect the emotional background tone but not overpower the foreground (the prose itself). Think of it as metadata for the narrative.
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@Klepsis@indieauthors.social · Mar 10, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC March 9: Do you prefer to write complex, intricate plots, or more straightforward ones? I prefer to write complex, indicate plots, but usually all I can actually manage is something simple and straightforward. #Writing
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@saposcat@indieauthors.social · Mar 09, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub Do you prefer to write complex, intricate plots, or more straightforward ones? Plots? What are those? Seriously, though, I strive for complexity through a combination of character, world, and story.
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@pretensesoup@indieauthors.social · Mar 09, 2026
#writersCoffeeClub March 9: Do you prefer to write complex, intricate plots, or more straightforward ones? I guess the way that I write, the plot is sort of what happens as the characters wander around. So it should feel straightforward, because their reasoning takes them from point A to point B and onward. I'm not sure what the plots themselves look like if viewed from the outside--in one novel, the characters climb into a magic painting. But I usually want it to seem straightforward.
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@cstross@wandering.shop · Mar 09, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub March 9th: "Do you prefer to write complex, intricate plots, or more straightforward ones?" Complex, obviously, but only where it serves the purpose of the story. Complexity for its own sake is pointless.
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@adaddinsane@mastodonapp.uk · Mar 09, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/9. Do you prefer to write complex, intricate plots, or more straightforward ones? Depends on the book. #writing #writingCommunity
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Boosted by Charlie Stross @cstross@wandering.shop
@sifaseven@mastodon.social · Mar 08, 2026
#writerscoffeeclub Day 7: What have you given up in order to write? Time for other hobbies. #writing #writingcommunity
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@cstross@wandering.shop · Mar 08, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub March 8th Do the seasons influence your writing? I live in Scotland, about 100km north of Moscow, Russia, and I get seasonal affective depression *bad*, so of course they affect my writing! But weirdly, I'm often most productive in winter—it's miserable and dark outside, so nothing else to do but write. (Inside the fiction? The current WIP is a space opera, so seasonality has little to do with it.)
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@aronsilver@indieauthors.social · Mar 08, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub 8 March: Do the seasons influence your writing? (content? topic? volume?) They do, but subtly. Generally in summer I find it harder to write, because I want to spend more time outdoors, doing gardening, and going out with friends and family. I feel autumn and winter is when I do the bulk of my writing.
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@Klepsis@indieauthors.social · Mar 08, 2026
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC March 7: What have you given up in order to write? I don't take on apprentices anymore. Which generally means that I have to cook, clean, and feed the monsters myself. #Writing #WritingCommunity
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