#Wordweavers Day 23 - Do you plan your themes or do they arise from your writing and then get tweaked in edits?
Sadly, yes, I plan!
The themes part of my brain can work a lot faster than the 'write a novel' part of my brain.
I have already mapped out story lines for five novels in the #CopperWolf series, and a further five novels in a semi related series.
That's 10 years of work ahead of me !
#writerscoffeeclub 19 Apr 'How do you feel about using real people as lookalikes for your characters?'
You want an honest answer?
I would have thought that this Venn diagram was true for most of us, most of the time?
Speaking for myself, and in relation to a character, I might (for example) prompt myself:
What would Fred Flintstone do?
What would Winston Churchill say?
What would [my school teacher] ask?
How would I react?
'BarmyWaffle' is the chief boffin at the engineering lab
he has told me to look up graphene and silicon dioxide on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_dioxide
this is what happens when you wake up in the middle of the night and continue to write your novel!
I'm also looking up 'utlimate tensile strength' of various materials
my fiction is rooted in reality!
'Barmy Waffle'
This is regular British English to me. I am trying to translate it into Japanese. Google Translate does not recognise it, nor do the search results on Google, DDG or Bing.
Nor does my adult son!
What does 'Barmy Waffle' mean?
BTW, BarmyWaffle is the newest character in my novel
Please boost for a wider sample
#WritersCoffeeClub 16 Apr How present is music
400 years from now there is barely any electricity, so no radio, no TV, no internet
Throughout Wolfland it’s a tradition to have a night out on a Saturday.
In Lancaster, OpenMike runs the Variety Show. Music, dance, songs, comedy skits, etc.
The book is often punctuated with music and song.
The Orchestra of Miss Fortune appears regularly.
Even aboard ship, things stop for 'Saturday night fun night'.
#PennedPossibilities 15 Apr 'How does your SC respond to the quiet'
HayWire likes tranquillity. It allows him to concentrate on the fine detail of his work as a watchmaker, or his hobby as an inventor.
The paradox is that he is trying to use gunpowder or hydrogen or any explosives to invent new munitions.
#Wolfland in 2450AD has 19th century weaponry. Bows, arrows, crossbows, cannons. No rifles, no pistols.
see also Alt Text
#MastoPrompt 12 Apr #Yonder
A computer or a motorbike, it’s a question to ponder,
Whatever I choose, it will require me to wander,
I could hitch hike down, to the big smoke yonder,
Although in the end, I bought a local Honda.
“16 year old Scott hitch hiked from Swindon to London with £100 in his pocket”
The full story is on the website!
https://www.scottrochester.com/scott_rochester_computer_science_teacher_maplin_spectrum_zx80_zx81
#WordWeavers Apr 10. Antagonist POV: How do you feel about the government?
ThunderCloud: "I am the government."
(Worringfolk in 2450AD)
https://www.copper-wolf.com/banderisate/reporter.php?bundle=r46200202662004016722310224
#PennedPossibilities 639 — Does your MC have any pets?
MC KristalClear has ready access to many horses at The Garrison (where she works part time) so no pets of her own.
SCs, Franklin and Faraday who run the regional newspaper have a German Shepherd Dog called Scooby
#Wordweavers 8 Apr 'MC POV What are the 3 most important things you always take with you?'
Sense of humour
Compassion
A genuine willingness to listen
KristalClear says, she thinks she picked up those traits from the author!
looking at a bit of Ancient Greece to see how bits of Wolfland might operate in 2450AD
Maxim 146
146. When you reach old age, be sensible – Πρεσβύτης εὔλογος
#writerscoffeeclub 3 Apr
please watch 90 seconds of this
from 21secs to 1min54
"Also sprach Zarathustra"
This is the opening of the Talent Show on a Saturday night - The Orchestra of Miss Fortune - with 12 year old AngryBard on KettleDrums - doing 90 seconds of uplifting classical music
Somehow I have to convey this in words in chapter 9!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfwAPg4rQQE&t=21s
#scifi
#CopperWolf
#writing
#music
#orchestra
#KettleDrums
#writingCommunity
#writerscoffeeclub 3 Apr 'How do you navigate scenes with many characters'
The narrator dominates scenes with many people. In this extract OpenMike has broken the 4th wall and is talking to the reader as if they are a volunteer helper.
Usually, dialogue is just 2 people. If there are 4, then the text alternates between the first 2 talking, then the second 2.
I'm writing for teenagers. Too much complexity is unwelcome.
see Alt Text for more
#pennedpossibilities 2 Apr 'What originally inspired your plot'
On 2 Jan 2025 I woke up from a weird dream - modern day central London with no motor vehicles, only horses. I have pen and paper at my bedside and started writing.
The idea developed. I went to my desk at home and started typing lots.
Climate Change. No oil, no cars, no aircraft, no internet.
The British Isles 400 years from now.
https://www.copper-wolf.com/banderisate/reporter.php?bundle=r71200203693004015032310249
In 1979 sixteen year old Scott hitch hiked from Swindon to London with £100 in his pocket.
#ComputerScience #computer #coding #scifi #CopperWolf #ZX80 #ZX81 #Spectrum
https://www.scottrochester.com/scott_rochester_computer_science_teacher_maplin_spectrum_zx80_zx81
#WordWeavers 1, Describe your story using only 5 nouns.
pirates
wolves
horses
ships
friends
community
(yes, non-conformist Scott did six!)
@liverpoolrichard Hi Richard, thanks for the insights. Just after Easter I'm visiting the Isle of Man for a few days, staying in Laxey!
I'm currently writing a novel which features the Isle of Man, and have already made inroads with getting some authentic Manx language into it.
"You can also get port and sherry from Mannan"
Who can I contact at their Tourist Board to see how many of their boxes I can help them tick?
https://www.copper-wolf.com/banderisate/reporter.php?bundle=r41200202362004014422310222
#writerscoffeeclub 21 Mar 'World Poetry Day'
The Back Row Boys in their final year at school have agreed to perform in the end of term Variety Show.
The sort of lads you'd find on the back row of the bus on any school outing!
They have rewritten the words to TubThumping by Chumbawamba.
Purely for educational purposes obviously! #PoeticLicence
see Alt Text for more
#WordWeavers 18: Is there a connection between how you write (plotter vs pantser) and how your MCs deal with their goals?
I have never before seen the word 'pantser' so I looked it up
clearly I am a plotter (and I did all my published non-fiction that way, #copperwolf is my first incomplete novel)
BTW, the twin MCs in CopperWolf are both plotters
https://www.writersdigest.com/getting-published/what-is-a-pantser-in-writing
#wordweavers 17 Mar 'How organized are your characters?'
Everybody is organised. The Goodies, the baddies, everybody.
If they weren't organised in 2450AD they'd be dead!
After The Great Famine everything is scarce. Climate change caused the increased demand for energy, which had led to the oil and gas running out, which led to the failure of large scale agriculture.
Rising sea levels, changed coastline, and that meant:
