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#pennedpossibilites

1 post1 participant0 posts today
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RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

Whilst I try to only rarely cross-announce on the various writer challenge game hashtags I frequent, I'm doing so because March 30th, today, I am answering questions asked of me on Talk To Me Day hosted by Scribes and Makers. To ask, please include a question and these three items:

#ScribesAndMakers #TTMD @sfwrtr

Follow the two hashtags to participate in the answers and fun.

Here's the announcement: indieauthors.social/@saposcat/

#BoostingIsSharing

#PennedPossibilites #WordWeavers #WritersCoffeeClub #Writever #Writephant #TimeTravelAuthors

Indie Authors SocialWalter Thinman (@saposcat@indieauthors.social)Reminder, feminist SFF author RS- @sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe -will be our featured creator this Sunday Mar 30. Find out more about RS on their pinned profile and check out this month's project at #MarsNeededWomen. We invite you to ask questions about grammar-B writing style, elocution, feminism, gender, cooking, and other interests by tagging in RS and adding #ScribesAndMakers & #TTMD
#writer#author#writingCommunity
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Ray Ingles

#PennedPossibilites 623. In theory, what would be your SC’s weapon of choice?

(Catching up)

Atosho used both guns and stilettos in the war. She's practical enough to prefer guns; close-quarter fights between women are generally over quickly. Whoever makes the first mistake gets stabbed, and zapped. At that point, they're out of the fight - usually because they're dead.

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C. R. Collins

#PennedPossibilites 623
In theory, what would be your SC’s weapon of choice?

There aren't so many weapons on Ardonna. Mages are born weapons so don't need anything external. Same with most other forms of life. If you do find any, it would be among humans, particularly in the Dragon Age. The queen of Sharren likes her sword, which marks her as a threat to some people when she visits Quenelle.

Replied in thread
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Anna Saultron

@whatitgonnatakeforyoutofixthis welcome to the game. :)
If you wish for your answers to be visible to other players/authors/writers I recommend putting the hashtag #PennedPossibilites and the number into it. The last one is more so people don't get confused which the actual Prompt is, some people came later to the game and answer older prompts.

I put the tags, usually in the end of my answers so people with screenreaders have easier time listening to them.

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Adria Bailton

#PennedPossibilites 147. MC or SC POV: Where did you grow up?

Nelly: I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. It's still called that even though there's no countries anymore. The city I grew up near is Seattle. It still has enough life left that people still call it that. I didn't grow up in the city, though. I grew up in a bunker outside the city.

I've officially caught up to about 30% of the Penned Possibilities questions with this answer.

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Adria Bailton

#PennedPossibilites 136. What modern technology (in your world) would your MC or SC have trouble living without?

They do a lot of "roughing it" because much of modern technology has collapsed in the dinosaur apocalypse. But their sleep packs are modern sleeping bags that are weather proof and keep the cold out.

Also, once they reach the place powered by windmills, Haunta is not keen on leaving for the wilds again where there isn't a heated home in the winter and hot, running water.

Continued thread
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RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

Intro Post 2/2
I sometimes write "sample stories" directly. While hashtags may prompt me, I've also had ideas that want out and complain if I repress them. I use this as an excuse to write side stories or explore characters. Part of why I am on Mastodon is introduce myself as an author who is actually writing.

"Being chatty," is usually off-topic from writing. This includes politics, things I've read, photos, or discussing other art and creative endeavors I've discovered thanks to my followers and feeds. I make a point of promoting other author's books and publications when I see them by boosting. which I consider being both collegial and friendly. I boost especially creative artwork, also, and critique when I think my opinion might prove useful to the artist.

Below are spotlight sample stories and posts. There are plenty others that you can look for after you read these. I am writing two sets of stories right now. Inklings is a fantasy romance about a woman named Wintereyes who has befriended wolves. And squirrels. And dragons.... Hashtag: #RSInklingsStory. I am also writing a few stories in what I call the Reluctance series. Hashtag #RSReluctanceStory. Reluctant Accomplice is half-complete and I am starting a short story Reluctant Father right now. The Reluctance series is SF in a universe with a few extra natural laws (that are "reluctant") in which humans have been reengineered and interstellar travel is in the background. For reasons of not wanting to explain things to the Mastodon audience, I use terms like "magic" that aren't used the mainline stories. "Day angels" and other types of people are mentioned, but you'll have to pick up what they are from context, if you can, where it matters. I won't explain my jargon. After reading enough stories, you'll catch the drift. One main character, referred to as the "devil-girl" is a recurring character, as is the main antagonist (provisionally named "Director Rainy Days") who's the protagonist of her own stories.

Click and read:

Eldritch CaféRS, Author, Novelist (@sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe)> #PennedPossibilities 413 — What is your MC’s go-to comfort food? CW: Gross. I'll answer this for Wintereyes from *Inklings.* She's human, so even with her knives she's not really that useful to her wolf pack during the actual hunt, not until the very end, which to the wolves doesn't count for much. To the extent that she can drop from a tree on boar's back, or climb the pile of wolves subduing an elk, and dispatch the animal, she does her part: she prevents fellow wolves from being gored or maimed. The pack leaders reward her and her clever hands and metal fangs. But, still: *Human*—weak teeth. She takes the heart, that first warm bite, but chars the rest of it in the coals later. With juniper berries, long pepper, and onions! Now that she lives amongst humans, roast meat scents drifting from the university cafeteria remind her that she still has her place amongst beasts, and it comforts her greatly. On the rare occasions when the staff dresses a whole pasture beast, they've granted her unusual request. [Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.] #BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSdiscussion #RSstory #RSInklingsStory
#Mastodon#boostingIsSharing#writer
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RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

CW: Intro Post 1/2

Note: Updated for use as a link for friends and pinning.

Most of my current web presence as an author is on Mastodon under the handle @sfwrtr. To view my profile, click this link: eldritch.cafe/deck/@sfwrtr

What follows is TL;DR detail explaining Mastodon and how it works. There are clickable links at the end of the second part of this post, but knowing how to drive the car is far better than being buckled into the child seat...

Mastodon is organized around "feeds" and "toots." A toot is the same thing as a post on Facebook, eX-Twitter, or other social media, and is a term used interchangeably. It is a single unit of information that might also contain images. A feed is a list of posts with the most recent at the top. My profile is a feed of my posts. Common feeds are:

"Local," posted by account on the "instance" server hosting my account.

"Global," all feeds accessible at the time (aka federated).

"Home," which is customized and discussed below. Other than your home feed, you don't see these feeds unless you click on a button to see them.

Unlike eX-Twitter, Mastodon has no algorithm. Instead, you have a home feed, which shown by clicking a home-shaped button. This feed is customized by you by "following" the account handles of other people you are interested in. For example, you can follow me @sfwrtr. It's done by clicking their handle, which is a link, and clicking Follow. You can also choose to follow keywords, called hashtags. These are also links and begin with a hash/pound-sign. Readers are most interested in hashtags commonly used by others. When you follow a hashtag and another user's post includes a hashtag in the text, that post shows up in your home feed. I commonly use the following hashtags because of my interests and with whom I wish to communicate:

#writer #author #writing #fiction #sf #sciencefiction #fantasy #romance #writersOfMastodon #writingCommunitity.

Because Mastodon has no algorithms, and it exists in reaction to commercialism, trolling, and the hostile environment of eX-twitter, you will find things called content warnings. You'll see CW: text. You'll see a "See More" button. You'll see images marked as sensitive. CWs exist. You can make what you want of it, but ought consider using them in your posts for sensitive topics that might bother others. Click to reveal or hide things. You can mute threads so sets of posts are hidden. You can block hashtags: block #uspol for example if you don't want to see posts about US politics. You can block people, for obvious reasons.

A person's profile is a separate feed. It includes volunteered information. I have pinned some representative posts that always remain at the top. These introduce me and include a few posts in which I list sample stories. Below that you will find my most recent posts, reply posts, posts of other people I have favorited, and posts that I have boosted. By boosting a post, I redirect it so it shows up in the feeds of people who follow me. It's how we share on Mastodon. You will also find a list of my followers, people who receive in their feeds whatever things I post.

Although you can read what I've written publicly (most of it is tagged as public), I recommend signing up for your own account. I will provide an invite to my friends so as to make that process as simple as possible. Ask me for this.

My writing output can be classified into three categories: Hashtag responses, sample stories, and being chatty.

"Hashtag responses," also called hashtag games or challenges, are responses to questions or prompts. Some of them like #writersCoffeeClub and #wordWeavers are posted en masse at the beginning of the month. Another, #pennedpossibilites, is posted daily. I try to answer them on a daily basis. I use them to think through characters, writing technique, plot, or as a way to provide advice to writers. Sometimes the hashtags prompt me to write as one of my characters, or may result in my writing a small story. My account is hosted on an instance server that allows me to "toot" 5000 characters. Most others are restricted to 500. I can use the limit to write around 800 words; sometimes I do. 800 makes for a concise short story.

Eldritch CaféRS, Author, Novelist (@sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe)6.69K Posts, 600 Following, 705 Followers · RS, pronounced /är' əs/. Professional #SF #fiction writer coming back from burn-out. Writes character-driven #SFF (science fiction #fantasy) and some #fanfiction (#MLP). #ClarionWest 98 graduate. #SFWA life member. Studied non-western culture, #folklore, and #mythology. #Feminist #Writer and #Author in the #WritingCommunity amongst the #WritersOfMastodon. Goals: Return to paid publication. Provide interesting content for followers. Make friends; attract colleagues. See intro post for more...
Continued thread
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MaelGuerra

#pennedpossibilites 382. (4/4)

I had words with him. While I do not shy from profanity entirely, I shall not bore you with the ones I hurled at him.

The offers of wealth, of favors in return came, but those were equally uninteresting.

Nor will I bore you with his begging, nor the threats he devolved into once begging failed.

The only thing I can say about the man is that he no longer has the ability to bother necromancers with his requests. Nor to bother anyone else."

Continued thread
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MaelGuerra

#pennedpossibilites 382. (3/4)

Instead, I followed him to a hotel room.

We sat there, and I could see him shaking his elbows were on his knees, and his head hung. I told him to take it slow, tell me about his loved one. He looked up at me, and I could see the fire of ugliness in his eyes.

He told me a name, said she was the most important thing in the entire world. I did not recognize it, and asked who she was to him. He said she was his true love. I knew I would not leave that room in a good mood by the rapture on his face. I asked again who she was, his wife his girlfriend?

He said 'not yet'.

I demanded an explanation. She was a singer. She had died during the plague, before she had 'a chance to love me'.

He burst like a rotten melon and spewed his sickness. How he wanted her back, to be his, to stay with him forever. He had done his research and wanted her bonded to him. He wanted an undead slave with her full mind.

Continued thread
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MaelGuerra

#pennedpossibilites 382. (2/4)

The first of those instances was in 1999. We had recently weathered a magically generated plague that decimated the Appalachians, and rendered extinct our local crypto-hominids, the Tennessee Wild Men. It had been only months since the last of the dead had been buried. I had helped as best I could, as a medic, and by giving the living and the dead a chance to say goodbye.

It was not surprising to find someone that had taken the time to hunt me down and make a call requesting my services. Word had spread, and I had told a few people how to contact me.

A meeting was set, and I drove into Kentucky for it. I sat down at the coffee shop we had agreed to join up before moving somewhere more private to discuss the necessary details. The man that approached was nondescript, but had a feverish look to him.

My instincts said to leave. My compassion ignored them. I do have that, you know. Compassion.

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RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

#PennedPossibilities 357 — MC POV: Tell us about one of your bad habits.

Well, I'm... um... People around me know that I am very encouraging and equitable, distributing assignments on merit, listening to suggestions, reprimanding fairly, and demonstrating when necessary. I do tend to observe and evaluate everything. Thankfully, what I think, uh... emotionally in the moment, or angrily or in disappointment, doesn't leak out to effect how I treat people or change my decisions. I know better. Except when I have to deal with stupid. I have some tolerance for people who tease me, less for people who harass me for their own benefit, and almost none for those who work to provoke me—assuming I don't have to tolerate such treatment for the sake of my people or my objective.

When that happens, the snark inside leaks out. I wield my vocabulary like a weapon, which is better than using a fist. I remember this one time a guy wolf-whistled me. When he took exception to my ignoring him, he followed me, taunting me, doing everything from spewing a running commentary for his companions on my "curves," and lack thereof, to trying to lift my skirt. I acted stupid, bubbly even to diffuse his interest—but I was trained enough to be faster at dodging than him grabbing. Made him try harder. I'm afraid my retorts, while sounding stupid, had vocabulary above his head. When he asked my name, I said, "Gelding." Then told him, "It's a verb."

He understood that one. Not happy. Angry. Red faced. Made me grin.

Fortunately, he'd followed me into the territory of a rival gang. That I used my "magic" to push them together and start a fist fight made the evening all the more amusing! That led to more fun with his girlfriend who took exception to me somehow beguiling him in the first place. My fault, huh? Really? (#pennedpossibilites 356: eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/11267580)

Now that I think of it, all of it was great fun. I really enjoy when people give me permission to play with them!

Really is a bad habit!

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

Eldritch CaféRS, Author, Novelist (@sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe)> #PennedPossibilities 356 — Share an excerpt from your WIP that either shows your villain's true colors or perfectly describes them as a person or being. CW: Violent. Spicy. I'm rewriting this as a reluctance story; maybe canon, maybe not. Who's the villain, really? If you follow me, you should guess that a saint is a type of human as are previously mentioned day angels. The MC is something altogether different. > I ran from the gang fight I'd provoked. I skidded around the corner, my worn sandals losing traction. Unsure nobody noticed, I turned immediately into an alleyway. It opened on the east and late afternoon shadows filled it. > I seeped into those shadows. > Huffing and puffing, I held my knees, catching my breath. I grinned, then chuckled. I had to learn not to taunt people like that! Even if they'd started it. Silly girl. One day I might really get hurt. Still fun— > Shoes clattered by. Then stopped. > I had been chuckling. *Shoot!* > I looked up to see Mustang at the mouth of the alley. The svelte late teen was a saint, considering her muscular legs. Her brass stud piercings confirmed she was the buzz-cut blonde from before. She'd socked Triggerfinger when she'd thought he might be flirting, as if his wolf whistle, which started the debacle, hadn't been enough. Nothing girly about this gangster, especially since she sported a new bloody nose that she wiped on her wrist. > "I see you, Gelding," she said. > I glanced behind. A dead-end. Brick walls climbed two stories. The stink of rotting fruit wafted from trash cans beside a bolted gated loading dock. My heart sped. > I asked, "Are you the one?" I reviewed the revelation I used a minute ago to push a hot head into throwing the first punch. I reintegrated it. Would she teach me something about myself? > Mustang shouted, "Are you brain dead or flapping crazy?!" as she stalked into the alley. > I backed rapidly, keeping to the paved depression centered between uneven cobblestones. It gave me stable footing despite the stagnant water that splashed my toes and squelched underfoot. I pressed down on my hair, reminding her of my sharp rebar-like horns. "Fair warning." > She spat, likely thinking, *Ya going ta shoot glow-y sprites at me?"* Most of my kind were capable of little else. > "A 'skirt' named Gelding might be crazy. Might also be dangerous." > "As might an enforcer named 'Mustang.'" > I struck the rear wall, bruising my hip. "Dunno. 'Mustang' only implies fast, maybe unpredictable—" > She charged, screaming, *"Predict this!"* > She grabbed something dirty-white. A razor sharp blade popped out, glinting in her hand to my left. Revelatory targeting in my mind revealed itself as neon lines and flaming firefly digits across my sight, intersecting the cement ditch ahead. > I stepped forward, bending down as if cringing. > Were she to cut me, my face or my neck, she'd slash across left to right. She didn't hold for a belly thrust. > *My Stars, was she fast!* > She braked out of reach just as I managed to perform the miracle. The tiny gravity wave blipped her off her feet only a hands-width. She continued forward, airborne, water also splashed up to her chin. She had run like the wind; made sense she reflexively windmilled. Daemon miracles were reluctant to hurt people. The miracle failed predictably; I hadn't needed to lift her long, anyway. > I leapt to my right. She touched down where I would have been in reach of her slash. She hopped, stumbled, and careened face first into the brick wall. > She didn't even whimper as she dropped like a sack of beans. I frowned. Like Triggerfinger, she'd taught me nothing. She lay mouth open in a pool of black stagnant water, blowing a few bubbles. I lifted the jackknife. > The hilt was carved animal ivory. The heirloom looked sickly yellow in spots. The blade snicked into the device when I rotated it. I popped it open, closed it, opened it, waved it, then closed it and grinned. > "Nice piece of kit, Mustang. Thank you!" > She'd spent time primping and layering on unsubtle makeup, including glittery white eye shadow. I picked up a trash can and dumped the contents over her. Mostly cabbage stems, potato peels, bits of pears, and the stones of plums, from the smell of it. A stream of foul brown paste followed: congealed fry oil. > Her skirt had ridden up in her collision, revealing an idioglyph that resembled a trail of black muddy hoof marks. It rose and circled her hips. She wasn't really blonde. I checked. Why a saint with her speed hadn't found a more savory profession—athlete, for example—I could only speculate. > I didn't realize I'd learn the why's of such questions soon enough. [Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.] #BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool #fiction #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSdiscussion #RSstory #RSReluctanceStory #microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory
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K. N. Brindle (they/them)

I'm super excited to announce that my first short story Double Crochet is now available (along with other great work) in the first issue of Solstitia magazine from Fiction Fans!

patreon.com/fictionfanspod/sho

DOUBLE CROCHET is a heist story set in an industrializing fantasy world with a crochet-based magic system! Read more about this story at:

knbrindle.com/short-stories/

Please boost! I can't wait for everyone to read it!

#WritersCoffeeClub#WordWeavers#PennedPossibilites
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GaH Learner

Hi again, missed you all, in a way. In another way I enjoyed just floating around... but that has to end, gotta get back to writing.
I'm not up to continuing my fantasy story yet, but want to participate with a SF story on ice I started years ago. Learning more about the characters with the hashtags may help me getting back to it. Working title: Mars Mess. I won't answer every question but plan to answer most. So here we go... 😁

#WritersCoffeeClub#WordWeavers#PennedPossibilites
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