Every time I see discourse about Max Miller, I have to remind myself it's a scumbag from Ohio, and not the Tasting History guy.

Emily Wilson went way too easy on Nolan's Odyssey.

You ever peek your head into an old fandom, see the kind of 'discourse' that's happening in there, and are glad that you're no longer a part of that community?

"I don't understand why you, a fantasy writer, don't appreciate the value of making bargains with the fae."

John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 2d ago

Every now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude

My daily routine right now: * write * eat * check Email and Submission Grinder * write * eat * check Email and Grinder * (Tuesdays Only) Play Pathfinder * write * eat * check Email and Grinder * sleep (optional)

In the Province of Gal, there are three major schools: Crike, a school for barkeeps and other trades; the Arnest Carter Academy, which started as a school for adventurers but is now more of a scientific academy focusing on magical fauna and archaeology; and Lorintha Academy, a school for mages.

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle)@kiraofthewind.com · 3d ago

Good day, #AugustWorldbuilders! Today's Q: does your world have specialized schools for people seeking a specific job or trade? Or anything like a magic or military school?

I think I'm secretly an extrovert who's just been too traumatized by bad social interactions to really try putting myself out there in the world.

The WIP I'm spending the most spoons on focuses on a student of a fantasy trade academy called the Crike School. It teaches things like barkeeping, running shops, metalworking, artificing, and other so-called 'NPC' trades. 1/2

Kira of the Wind (Erika McCorkle)@kiraofthewind.com · 4d ago

Good morning, #AugustWorldbuilders! In your fictional settings, what subjects are taught in schools? Do they learn the usual history, math, language, science? Anything extra? Anything specifically removed because the powers-that-be don't want kids learning about it?👀

Squinting. Most of the characters in my setting apparently have really bad eyesight.

Susan Savage Lee@susansavagelee.bsky.social · 3d ago

What’s a word or phrase you overuse when writing? “That” is a big one for me, though I’m getting better at avoiding it #writingq #WritingCommunity #writers

So it seems like Kris Straub's entire body of work has vanished from the internet? Everything from Chainsawsuit to Starslip is gone, and the links on his website are dead. What the heck? Even the original posting of Candle Cove seems to have vanished. What is this?

After receiving some harsh but fair crit, I decided to turn my half-epistolary story into a full-on epistolary. Less awkward and lets me have more worldbuilding without every other piece of dialogue feel like an exposition dump.

Ian Haramaki 🏳️‍⚧️✨ @ Megaplex C9@cometkins.bsky.social · 5d ago

What's something you decided to really punch up from your book/wip in edits? #WritingPrompt

1300 words into a rewrite of a concept I love. Hopefully it gets some traction this time. #writingcommunity

Why do so many markets say "no AI submissions" and then use AI art in their solicitation for stories? It signals to me, at least, that you're a market to be avoided like a bad cliche. #writingcommunity

I ended up working a rather shallow guard antagonist from the original draft of a cozy short story into a kinda fun side character who spends most of his time trying to repair a constantly-vandalized memorial to adventurers who saved his hometown but wrecked the economy in the process.

Ian Haramaki 🏳️‍⚧️✨ @ Megaplex C9@cometkins.bsky.social · last wk.

What's something from your book/wip that you didn't plan for but enjoyed anyway? A surprise scene? A character that just ended up working? etc. #WritingPrompt

I find it bizarre how many aspiring authors don't want to read. Reading is how you improve your craft as an author, and the fact that I can find so many folks in writing Discords without a favorite novel is just sad. #writingcommunity

I wonder if anyone has done a video essay yet about how garbage the politics of Person of Interest were. Pro-surveillance, pro-government, pro-billionaires... it was entertaining enough for its era, but I've met year-old cream cheese that's aged better than that show.

Is it weird that I'm immune to stepping on LEGO?

Never seen a form rejection this blunt. Just "I'm not using this story". Not even an 'it's not a good fit for this'. What?

Reposting for folks who missed it yesterday.

Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 3w ago

Today from Hell Itself, a story about memories from @freemanwrites.bsky.social

What I loved about this particular piece is the tremendous amount of emotion it conveys without ever coming out and telling us how to feel. From the very beginning it was, well, a requiem. I hope you're as moved as I was.

Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 3w ago

Today from Hell Itself, a story about memories from @freemanwrites.bsky.social

I wrote the original draft of this story almost exactly three years ago, and it was the first thing I ever got shortlisted. Glad to see it has a home finally. Give it a read, won't you?

Hell Itself Magazine@hellitself.bsky.social · 3w ago

Today from Hell Itself, a story about memories from @freemanwrites.bsky.social

JKR and her new org apparently helped get the new Amnesty International report on how TERF organizations destroy lives taken down from their site. Well, guess what? The Streisand Effect is real. Here's the entire report in a thread. Read it. Share it.

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 3w ago

Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.

I find it weird how all of the stories I've had accepted in pro or semi-pro markets are ones I have spent comparatively little time on, but the ones that get rejected repeatedly are ones I keep overthinking. Wondering what that means, exactly. #writingcommunity

Scrivener natively recognizes 'whatchamacallit' but not 'proven'. Huh.

Again, I really don't want to do this. But I'm putting out almost two dozen applications a week and not getting any responses. Anything helps at this point.

Dylan Freeman@freemanwrites.bsky.social · 4w ago

I loathe begging like this, but I have less than $10 in the bank, have been out of work for four months, and haven't had a job interview since April. Literally anything will help at this point. ko-fi.com/ihpkmn

Finally getting back into writing my current novel draft. Hoping I can connect the dots between now and the ending soonish. #writingcommunity

I apparently owe 96 cents in back taxes because my tax software rounded weird. Not 96 dollars. 96 *cents*. It probably cost the Ohio Department of Taxation more to post the letter telling me this than it would for them to write off a literal rounding error. What the actual fuck.

The far right hates human freedom and wants to censor pornography.

Mike Stabile@mikestabile.bsky.social · 4w ago

In a new report for Heritage Foundation, the same FCC General Counsel salivates over the prospect of banning not just porn but written texts, saying the Supreme Court's decision in FSC v. Paxton could signal a return to Comstock era prosecutions. www.heritage.org/government-r...

I loathe begging like this, but I have less than $10 in the bank, have been out of work for four months, and haven't had a job interview since April. Literally anything will help at this point. ko-fi.com/ihpkmn

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Here endeth my contributions to the current SCP Discourse™️. I've got shit to finish writing.