Replies

mjjmori, 10 months ago to bookstodon

#amwriting

Well, I’m trying to get stared again.

Anyone got any good tips on how to buld a realistic and sustainable practice of writing daily?

I’m thinking make a 30 minute habit every day after I wake up, instead of straight to the socials. Also posting everyday on here to hold myself very mildly accountable by muttering into the void about what I’ve done that day.

@bookstodon @amwriting

pelielios, 10 months ago

@mjjmori @bookstodon @amwriting Sometimes I'm totally stalled out, others I churn through such massive word-counts that my body hurts for weeks.

Often the most productive hours are when I'm lying in bed and daydreaming ahead to future scenes. Non-writing time isn't wasted.

You can skim the abutting pages and slip into a daydream that might send you jumping up to commit a phrase to paper, or not.

Try stuff out, don't force word count.

Diva007, 10 months ago to romancebooks

#DailyDiva

Hands up if you are a fan of the #MarriageOfConvenience trope? 🙋🏾‍♀️There are always good #RomanceNovel reasons why the couple MUST marry - a clause in a will; to get a Green Card; to save something of importance - and it is sooo delicious when a couple work together to achieve the best outcome! Even more yummy if the MCs start as enemies/rivals...

Recs:

"Terms & Conditions" by Lauren Asher
"Border CTRL + ESC" by Ivy L James
"In A Jam" by Kate Canterbary

@romancelandia
@romancebooks

pelielios, 10 months ago

@Diva007 @romancelandia @romancebooks Mine "marry" because one is a secret agent who has a brain fart on a mission and blurts out the first name that pops into his head, his boyfriend's.

Through various events they have to appear together and the BF is no good at secret identities.

It takes his handler to point out the problem. "Andrews and Andrews? I'm not saying it's never happened but..."

"Yeah I guess it's kind of worse if we're cousins, right?"

weirdwriter, 10 months ago to romancelandia

Can other Romance readers explain why insta love is so hated? I actually prefer insta love to the long drawn out getting to know characters. Like, for example, I actually prefer it when characters just meet and they have this instant but deep connection, like the universe was just biting it's time until it can get these people in the same room. I find the longer getting to know characters books without the instalove challenging to read. I'm more interested in how the MC's can sustain their instalove and deepen it. I find it difficult to follow characters as they're trying to get to know each other. #Romance #RomanceLandia @romancelandia

pelielios, 10 months ago

@weirdwriter @romancelandia Yes, my main pair are kind of "insta" but it becomes clear over time that they were both READY for it.

The main driver in romance is receptivity, IME.

One is vastly experienced yet bored. The other is sheltered but has been watching him for months. If they weren't compatible it wouldn't work, but they try it and it does.

Also one is a field agent with "high turnover" who has no time to lose. Other chars call him on this, he dun care. It's new to him!

pelielios, 10 months ago

@weirdwriter @romancelandia Think of it like the healthy version of all those online romance scams.

Find someone who is lonely/unfulfilled and dearly wants a companion. Place someone in their path who meets those needs.

If it happens in both directions at once, bam! Instant romance.

pelielios, 10 months ago

@weirdwriter @tmmahaff @romancelandia ah yes, even with my my "insta"pair there's some question at first over whether one is fully ace or not.

There's definitely more going on than "swiped right" and I have a hard time imagining how that would work IRL at all.

But the timeline is very compressed for reasons on both sides.

queerscifi, 10 months ago to lgbtqbookstodon

Today at QSF it's Me Me Monday. Readers, see what's new and next; Writers, tell us about your latest!

Use tag #MeMeMonday

#queerscifi #queerfantasy #queerhorror #queerparanormal #gayscifi #gayparanormal #gayhorror #gayfantasy #NewReleases #LGBTQBookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon #bookstodon @bookstodon

pelielios, 10 months ago

@queerscifi @lgbtqbookstodon I recently dropped book 3 in my queer supernatural superspy series and have been struggling to make headway on 4 (which should largely conclude things, though I have plans for a fun time-skip in 5), some encouragement would go a long way!

#MeMeMonday

#queerscifi #queerparanormal #gayscifi #gayparanormal #NewReleases #LGBTQBookstodon #bookstodon @bookstodon

Book 1 here
https://a.co/d/3M7PvCp

skyekilaen, 10 months ago to bookstodon

Anybody have recs for single-author science fiction and/or fantasy/paranormal short story collections? I'm especially interested in marginalized authors.

My faves so far:

• 'Nathan Burgoine's Of Echoes Born (paranormal)
• Zen Cho's Spirits Abroad (fantasy/paranormal)
• Iona Datt Sharma's Not For Use In Navigation (mix of science fiction and fantasy)

Self-recs are cool, too!

#ScienceFiction #fantasy #Bookstodon @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon

pelielios, 10 months ago

@jiujensu @skyekilaen @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon Seconding the Cyberiad and all other Lem!

The Cyberiad is basically sci-fi fairy tales, many lighthearted. I have such good memories of cuddling with my dad while he read them to me, doing all the goofy voices.

Especially for the AI that is perfect in every way except that it insists that one plus two equals (huge dad growl) SEVEN.

pelielios, 10 months ago

@willelm @jiujensu @skyekilaen @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon Hmm I would say skim each story first, I wasn't YOUNG young but I was like 8+ and my parents were hippies.

Some stories get darker and some are more aimed at adults (like a whole planet of paper-pushing bureaucrats that would fly over a kid's head) but there's definitely no sex and drugs and rock'n'roll involved.

At worst, cartoon violence and existential dread.

pelielios, 10 months ago

@willelm @jiujensu @skyekilaen @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon I don't remember a point in that particular story where anyone actually gets hurt, but the angry AI 1+2=7 robot definitely angrily chases Trurl and Klapaucius down and threatens to flatten them for disagreeing.

By that age I found this HILARIOUS. YMMV.

Some of Lem's other books I would absolutely hold off on until they're older (13-16ish). Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, The Futurological Congress, very dark and bleak (but amazing).

pelielios, 10 months ago

@skyekilaen @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon Vladimir Voynovich, anyone?

I know him best for Moscow 2042 (basically a novel-length riff on the "no red ink!" joke) and Ivan Chonkin but he had some very good scifi short story collections.

I'm still haunted by one where a spaceship repairman is tasked with finding the cause of a recurring clanking noise and welp, spaceship's haunted.

Not sure any of the English compilations are still in print but he is etched in my psyche for good.

pelielios, 10 months ago

@willelm @jiujensu @skyekilaen @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon There is even a loose movie adaptation of The Futurological Congress (The Congress, free on Kanopy, Peacock, Roku) that feels very relevant in these NFT-ified times.

Stanislaw Lem is the Polish Philip K Dick.

I never have the paperback far from hand, it has been through a lot with me.

pelielios, 10 months ago

@willelm @jiujensu @skyekilaen @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon ha, it turns out my copy was published the year I was born! We literally grew up together.

I have SO much pulp scifi from my parents. Some made the transition to the world of ebooks, some didn't. I carry the torch just in case.

pelielios, 10 months ago

@lenoreo @Diva007 @romancelandia @romancebooks My M/M/M series doesn't hone in on specific labels much in the text, but one of the mains is very much demi (partly by upbringing but mainly by temperament) and another is mainly ace but finds sex a useful form of rebellion.

Then there's the one who's gay but engaged to a woman and two-timing with a straight guy.

Their collective sexuality is MESS.

(Link in profile, Book 1 free today!)

pelielios, 10 months ago

@Diva007 @lenoreo @romancelandia @romancebooks I hope you enjoy them! A lot of the explanations are very slow in coming but at its core, it's a group of wildly different people who all care deeply about each other.

herhandsmyhands, 10 months ago to romancelandia

PSA: #IndieAuthors with adult erotic romances or erotica on amazon, you can now change a setting and get your books out of the dungeon.

ETA: or just explicit genre romances

@romancelandia
Via author Jackie Lau on twitter; this is the link in the screenshot

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201097560#title

pelielios, 10 months ago

@herhandsmyhands @romancelandia Any guidance on the age ratings?

I'm keeping mine at 18+ for now to be safe but they're really very soft, I was reading far more explicit things as a young teen and most of them were non-erotica SFF.

16ish sounds more reasonable, the body parts are rarely even named and by that age either they've heard it all or they're being teased mercilessly for being so precious.