aldersprig | Entries tagged with question

I’ve started to write the story of Beryl going through Aunt Mary’s journals.

Which means I really need to be able to place Aunt Mary on the timeline.

Preference is earlier but American so obv. not TOO early; I also need to know or name the Aunt that came before her.

1789 is the earliest I can go and be in the timeline that the Rochester NY area was settled IRL.

(cross-posted from Mastodon)

Well, I seem to have burned out on Spoils of War again so I guess I gotta figure out if I’m going to post something else in its place.

Right now I’m posting Purchase Negotiation (Fae Apoc (Fdomme, just pre-apoc)), Saving the Cult (urban fantasy heavily inspired by some of the Marvel shows out last year), and The Bellamy, an English Manor Hellmouth/Library/Archive.

I’ve also got… The Ambassador from the Mists (Fantasy politics), Upstairs/Downstairs (Slave dramas belowstairs), and

Aunt Family Journal Tales (the concept here is a series of stories based on the journals and on Beryl/Eva finding them, but I have no plot yet) currently in progress, along with The Rubble (Fae Apoc, long post-apoc), the Wilds of Notebook (portal ???), and the possibility of restarting Kael’s tower from an earlier point, which is slightly daunting.

Feedback is welcome with the note that what I feel like I can enjoy writing will probably be the deciding vote – although on that note, good comments make me enjoy writing something more.

Please follow and like us:

Mirrored from Alder's Grove Fiction.

Please follow and like us:

Today’s Poll Picked the setting of my current impulse project, Digging for Pants.

Okay this is going to be FUN!

Today’s #WorldBuildingWednesday is a setting I dreamed up for my incomplete #NanoWrimo 20…18? story The Jeweled Pomegranate , which could loosely be described as
*
Academics Having Adventures
+ Magical Items
+ Forced to Be Together (via said Magical Items)
+ A Ruined Wold.
*
So! The Ruins! In a time Before, the world was hit with a series of what are now called subside-ances – pretty much semi-magical sinkholes big enough to swallow, say, the Smithsonian.

That is… almost all I know.

I know there are universities with research professors (& grad students) who they send to explore in these places, either for “grave robbing” (they’re not inherently graves) or information acquisition, and all that grey area in between.

And I know that magical items *definitely* exist.

Oh, and that money exists.

So! I’m asking you: ask me questions! Help me work on #WorldBuilding this world of… exploring a previous era of the world!

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from Alder's Grove Fiction.

Today, I am feeling uncreative, and so I beg your aid in a story I am writing for the Great NanoWrimo Prompt Call.

I point your attention, if I may, to the world of Things Unspoken.

Cities/places already in existence include

Scheffenon, the Scheif Harbor, high on the Northern Sea (where there are Cornesc-speaking people)
(Scheffenon isnot a Cornesc word, but one from the people who had been here before)

Orschëst, down by the southern border

Corthwin (where the Ash remains unburnt)

the western cities, the ones that had once belonged to an Empire called only To (never the To Empire, the Tovan nation, or anything else, just To)

Here is a very draft map – http://www.lynthornealder.com/2015/04/28/what-happens-in-meetings-a-draft-map-of-part-of-the-unspoken-world/

So! I need another city. There’s sort of obviously not one language to this Empire, so it doesn’t have to sound like those above, but should sound… “exotic?” Well, not Springfield or Washington, let’s go with that.

(Most of my named people have Eastern-European-inspired names, just as a note)

Halp?

(If I get more than one, i’ll clearly just have to write another story)

Mirrored from Alder's Grove Fiction.

Hello!

You may have noticed that I have come to the end of Haunted House!

This leaves me with a slot for posting things and being uncertain what to work on next.

So I thought I’d ask you guys!

Options include:

Leave the slot open and work on getting Haunted House edited and ready for publication
Leave the slot open for rotating prompt calls of short stories
Pick up one of the following:
- Beauty-Beast
- Purchase Negotiation
- BeeKeeper
- Post-Scar City
- Post-Scarcity Mystery
- Catboys in Cages
Pick up something else (your suggestion)
- Portal Closed has been suggested & seconded
- Desmond’s Climb has been suggested & seconded
- Bee-pocalypse has been suggested
- Science! (the Chickens) has been suggested
- Fairy Town: Whitney & the Crossroads Park, or Katydid’s series
- Space Accountant
Start a new serial (your suggestion)
- Dragons next Door
- Aunt Family
- Things Unspoken

Note: I have Kael’s Tower earmarked to work on when I finish Hidden Mall, and Funerary Rites was giving me a lot of trouble the last time I tried to work on it, thus why they’re not on the list.

Mirrored from Alder's Grove Fiction.

crossposted from Patreon.

So, Patreon has, over the last couple days, released first an announcement and then a clarification about its fee structure. (here: https://blog.patreon.com/updating-patreons-fee-structure/ )

What this means for patrons is a $0.35 + 2.9% fee added on to every pledge.

I have been considering my options while flailing about with every other creator who thinks this is a horrible, awful, very bad idea.

So far, I have come up with broadly three plans:

* try one of the Patreon “alternatives:” Gumroad, librepay, the Kickstarter one that isn’t out yet. (main problems: Librepay does not allow paywalled projects, which I like, and its format isn’t as robust, from quick looks. Kickstarter isn’t out yet. Gumroad has slightly higher fees, so that’s out, unless I misread their fee schedule)

* Start a newsletter I send out 2? times a month to subscribers. Major problems with that: what do I do about different donation tiers? And I really like the constant feedback and regular posting schedule of doing things every week).

* Replicate Patreon in subscriber-locked posts, either on my wordpress blog or on a subdomain blog just for that. (Main problems: the upkeep. I might have to rely on people to tell me if their donation has expired).

I really enjoy the format here at Patreon, although there are many options I would like that don’t exist yet (archiving, for one!). I like being motivated to post every week, I like looking through reposts, and I like the stretch of things like the maps. (*guilty glance at the map tag*).

But I don’t think anyone needs to pay that sort of fee, when the whole idea was to encourage microtransactions.

That’s not as important, however, as what you think, so please tell me: what do you think about my options?
and on Wordpress

Crossposts: https://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1454866.html

In spending November picking up loose ends, I seem to have dropped all those other skeins...

What, of my long-running projects, are you most interested in seeing me continue (up to, say, 10 suggestions)?

read on…

Crossposts: https://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1452589.html

Okay, that's fun enough to make into a meme:
✍🏻
If I wrote a setting just for you, what would it look like?
— Lyn Thorne-Alder (@lynthornealder) January 15, 2017

I was playing around with my friends on Twitter (thinking about Month of Letters) and this came up.

So: If I wrote a setting just for you, what would it look like?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1306112.html

So this

is my current project list for November.

But I know me. I know that I do better with some fun stuff on the list. And I know my call-for-random-numbers people. I know that less than 7 items makes people less into the game.
( Read more... )

I need three projects to play with during November. What should they be?

1. Finish It
2. Arisse
3. Showcasing
4. Hurt/Comfort Bingo
5. Addergoole
6. Beekeeper
.

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1273138.html

Dystopic YA Parody/Drama #nanowrimo project:
Set on visibly-once-was-Earth or on a completely different world? #poll
— Lyn Thorne-Alder 🍃 (@lynthornealder) September 8, 2016

The idea is more or less a project written in the vein of Dystopic YA stories, with a heavy dose of

broodingYAhero. I'm not doing nano, just doing a project I start writing in November... or something. It'll be derivative, of course: that's the whole plan.

Anyway, above is poll question #1: Where is it?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1255795.html

I am going through 365 Conlang thingies beyond #Lexember one month/day in the second half of August.... because I wanted to. See conlang 365 tag for the ones I've done so far...

April’s Auxpril is about getting new fans! (Which leads of course to the question of: for what? I’m a mult-project girl; should I focus on fans for the fan-fic (blood for the blood god?), fans for Edally, fans for my vast corpus of unfinished work (i.e., this blog…)

Sometimes, one of those can translate into another, in theory. So I’ll ask about all three:

Where do you go to find Fanfic? I have accounts and stories posted on AO3 and Twisting the Hellmouth, and don’t mind writing in a specific fandom if it draws people.
Where do you go to find original fiction on the internet? I’m listed on Web Fiction Guide, Epiguide, and Muse’s Success (shamless plug: I still pay in fic for every two reviews, and Edally is sadly underreviewed)
Writers: Where do you go to find audience?
I know ysabetwordsmith and others have used the Bingo Challenges to go fishing for audience; did you find that it worked?
Project Wonderful ads, sure, but how do you make them engaging enough to draw people in?
If you’re already a regular reader, how did you find this blog?
Any suggestions on making it easier for readers to move from one section of my work (blog, fanfic, serial) to another?

Thanks! Also, if you're a new fan, thank you! Where did you come from and how do I clone you? :-D

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1246704.html

I'm really enjoying

haikujaguar's meta conversations with her characters, and I wondered... is that something anyone would be interested in, with my characters?

Follow-up question: what settings?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1242117.html

Hey, Addergoole fans! I need some ideas for short side fiction!

Consolidated from three tweets, looking for three separate-but-related things:

Addergoole year 5 - the original series. First week (showing up through 1st dance). Give me a character to write a side story about, pls.

what kind of addergoole: year 5 story could I fit on a postcard while still having it a discrete piece of fiction?

Need some what-if situations for Addergoole. What if a student []... What if they Change []... What if they find out...[] Looking for students that illustrate or exemplify Addergoole, essentially.

Crossposts: http://addergoole.livejournal.com/326617.html http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1218520.html

...would people be interested in a map/diagram/floor plan milestone? Like, for every month we reach this milestone, $5 donors can vote on a potential map or diagram or floorplan related to either the serial or the month's theme?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1214898.html

For Five-minute Map Friday tomorrow, I'm thinking of doing a quick map of Aud & Sage's part of Smokey Knoll

I KNOW I've identified harpies and pixies and centaurs nearby, but I can't FIND them.

What I have so far is:

the Brownies across the street.
Ogres (dragons) next door - cavern-and-castle system - waterfall

The neighborhood around it [Smokey Knoll], the Retibya Heights, is a, ah..."
"It's an affluent upper-class human neighborhood..."

the Brownies across the street....

"(The harpies)...Their great-grandchildren live down the block from me"

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1208550.html

I'm trying to put together an

all_bingo "Finish It" card here.

It was pointed out to me that I have far, far too many unfinished stories to sort through.

So I started looking through the second page of my more, please tag: here

This is just a few suggestions of things someone has said "more, please" to that I have not finished. I will add to it as I find time.

Stranded
Stranded in Winter - Autumn is stuck in town in winter
Space Accountant
A Reason - and Accidental, and bunking arrangements, etc (Genique got Married?)
Addergoole
Matchmaker, Matchmaker - Sabine didn't intend to collar Holles. But...
About That... Fridmar in an unexpected possibly-romantic situation with a student? i.e., Lyn is not great at consistence.
Bracken, her first year
Deaths in the Faerie apocalypse, a side note
They Were Over - Forrester runs into her former Keeper
Together/Again twins!

Aunt Family
Then and Now - Radar and his kitten
The Strength - and other stories of Deborah

Random?
Romance was never this convenient to handle - Mark Faine, Mark Faine, Mark Faine. How many of him are there?
Falling From Grace - ...not sure what to say about this one.
this one didn't get a more please but it could use one.

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1200780.html

Want something written? Be the 1st to comment on each of the xposting sites with a topic/link and I'll write you 100-250 words in the next week

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1199404.html

I have 3 posts currently open for feedback:

Patreon May Theme Poll - will close 5/5 at 5:55 (Eastern time)

"Finish It!" - what stories do you want to see me finish? I need a total of 30...

...and speaking of finishing, I was already planning on finishing a fdomme story, or at least progressing it. Tell me which one?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1199140.html

Okay, I have a lot of "male captive" stories (for a reason), all of 'em hanging around unfinished.

(please feel free to suggest others, this is just off the top of my head):

Reynard and Elle
Mieve and Amrit*
Daxton and Esha ***
Arisse and Chress **
Jahnan And Yira...

Which one should I focus on for the next, say 5000-10000 words of entertaining not-currently-for-profit fic?

(These may turn into books of the self-pub variety at some point...)

(*s mark "votes", since I didn't feel like making this a poll and I won't treat it as binding, more like recommendations)

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1196814.html

Okay, I have a Serial family.

But they need names! Also, I need a POV character of them, pref. one of the kids. I'm thinking Middle Daughter - thoughts?

We have their brief bios (see link above) and know that they live on a tropical sky island and like to hike.

Also, they're about to go on an adventure.

Name them?

We have Parent One, Parent Two, and Daughters One through Three.

While we're at it, the setting/serial need names too!

--
From

rix_scaedu:

Ideas for names - won't work together:

Rainmouse
Isa
Shining Pearl

From

inventrix:
Nimbus

From:

clare_dragonfly:
Billow (to go with Nimbus and Shining Pearl)

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1183403.html

Some time ago, I started migrating Addergoole from its old roll-your-own to a wordpress site: http://www.addergoole.com/TOS/

However, if you look at the original table of contents (http://addergoole.com/TableofContents.html), you can see that this is a monumental project.

Is there anyone willing to be bribed with promises of future fiction to help me with this work?

Moving a page involves:

Copying and pasting it from the original page
Checking formatting - it took me a couple tries to find what worked for me
Checking for two name changes from original canon to new
Scanning the chapter for all characters and tagging them in the correct tagging format
Marking each chapter in the correct categories

As I said, it's rather monumental, but I am drowning in long-term writing & personal projects and am not doing well at getting it done myself.

Help?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1172317.html

It's time for an Interlude again!

I think I'm only going to do one this time - just an informational bit.

Anything about Reiassan you'd like to read about?

I'm playing with Foedus Planetarum to give myself something to, uh, play with.

Yira's people, the Medusas, have tentacle braids and tend large in stature.

Jahnan's people tend brown-and-green, very dexterous, with prehensile toes and prehensile, forked tongues.

I am looking for a couple more variations on the humanoid theme and have not yet found a generator for that /goes looking/

Ideas?

Edited to add:

inventrix had provided these links:
http://www.scifiideas.com/alien-species-generator/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=alienrace
and this one
http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/humanoid.htm
and
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=fantasyrace

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1113755.html

I'm reading through the posts, but: can you remember if I ever gave Evangaline a profession?

Also: What era do you think of Evangaline living in & how old do you think she is?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1109219.html

Does anyone know what happened to Plunge magazine?

ysabetwordsmith?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1107007.html

The year is (fictionally) 2014. The world started ending in 2011. Tell me something/as much as you want/ everything about an Addergoole student beginning school this, the 20th year of Addergoole.

Existing students in year 20 are:
Adalbert (Anda/Ciro)
Alewar (Sarita/Finn)
Ankara (Aggie/Bowen)
Berry (holly/Tristan)
Chaney (http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/123052.html)
Eryk (Shiva/Ty)
Lidah (Ivette/Anwell)
Rasputin ('Lisha/Vlad)
Selena (Oralee/Meshach)
Semiramis
Willow (Acacia/Carter)

This is still early enough for 1st generation characters, however!

Crossposts: http://addergoole.livejournal.com/319179.html

The Missing Treaty will have informational interludes every 6 chapters, much as The Angry Aetherist did: http://www.edallyacademy.com/category/story/interludes/informational/

These included subjects like:
* what meals are like at Edally
* A brief history of the school
* What the dorms look like.

I asked earlier if anyone had anything they wanted to know about Edally; I'll expand the question here:

Is there anything you'd like to know about Edally or about Reiassan, the greater world Edally is set in?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1098077.html

(Iconic stories: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/971913.html )

If I were going to write a story (~1000-2000 words) in your favorite setting(s) as an introduction to the setting, what would it include?

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1095397.html

Iiiiii don't know if anyone can answer this, but it's worth a try.

Think of your favorite of my settings.

Now, is there a story you can remember as "this, this is a good intro to [setting]?"

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1094987.html

Are there sites on which you read fiction, fan or otherwise?

I know of AO3, and I've at least heard of Fanfiction.net although I haven't heard anything specific about it.

I know some people post fiction on Deviantart, but I dunno how much feedback/audience that garners one.

And I used to read Potter fic on Fiction Alley, but that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Are there any other fandom-specific sites?

I can and do plan to use the Google machine, but anything where someone already knows the community would be super helpful.

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1076291.html

Okay!

Imagine a world very much like ours, except, through some twist of fate, a major comic book publisher managed to create a female super-hero whose path followed something like Batman's/Superman's in our world.

She got a long-running TV show in the 60's, movies in the 70's, then a reboot in the early 90's and another reboot around 2010. The comic strip has spawned dozens of side-lines. There have been animated shows and even a brief musical. Fanfiction abounds. Fan wars abound.

She would have first appeared in a Wonder Worlds Comics (Often called, because of its logo, V4 or V4C) in the mid-30's.

So:

She needs a name. It needs to be a woman or lady or anything that isn't girl, please.
It also needs to be not something that already shows up on a Google search, 'cause this is showing up in to-be-published work. <.<

I would like for her to have a super-power of some sort, and a secret identity.

edited to add: now I have two! Waterwoman/Liquid Lady and the Aerialist!

I'm leaning more towards Bruce Wayne than Clark Kent in this secret identity, even though such heros don't usually have superpowers.

She needs at least 2 sidekicks, pref. with catchphrases, one male and one female.

A trademark villain or two wouldn't be bad, either.

And anything else you can think of!

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1072719.html

April Theme Poll - pick the poll for this month!

Blogging (Etc) from A-Z - topics from K on (Excluding P) still open!

World/Character-Building Fun Prompt Call - Dragons Next Door, Addergoole/Doomsday, Reiassan/Edally

Five Things... - If I were to do a series of Five Things... blog posts

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1042940.html

In honor of International Women's Day, leave any question about any woman character of mine from now till 2 p.m. EDT (freaking Daylight Savings) Monday. I'll answer through the next week!

(PS: if I'm pointed to other holidays I can do similar things for them. Although, for instance, I don't have any President character for President's Day <.<)

Edit: Closed. Only two questions!

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1030691.html

Because of a variety of systemic problems I've had with

kink_bingo over the years, most of which I really feel are "it's not them, it's me," I've been thinking about creating my own sexytimes and kinkytimes type of bingo community.

If you would have an interest in participating:

* What sort of prompts would you like to see? Specific prompts? Categories?
* What sort of prompts do no Definitely Not Want?

* How about achievements?

* And, as a community, are there things you're rather see/not see?

As an example, if I create a bingo community, it will not be "fanfic with orgfic tacked on;" I'll try to make the language & rules include both original fic & fanfic (It's a small thing, but it frustrates me endlessly).

So what about you?

~~Also, what should I callll it?~~

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/1008563.html

http://itsamellama.dreamwidth.org/96968.html

Okay, so I was thinking - the last giraffe call (http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/819607.html) made enough for an art!

And Mel has art options in her tipping thresholds.

Sooo... there's a lot of "more please" stories that came out of this Call. Ideas? I was thinking either the young princeling/his older Mentor; the ace prince & his ace rescuer, or the princess with her Very Very Angry Captive

http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/tag/giraffecall

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/994409.html

24 hours only: ask for something written and I will add it to my queue directly.

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/990208.html

~~...where I established Draconic pronouns, if at all?~~

http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/181376.html#cutid2

Thanks, Inventrix!

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/986762.html

Ever want to poke me to write something in specific?

This thread gives you a chance to suggest a blog topic sometime in December,

and

this thread is for prompts for anything non-Addergoole (is there a desire for an Addergoole/Fae Apoc/Doomsday prompt thread?)

and

this thread is to help me narrow down the "more please" tag to a few stories.

:-D

Go, tell me what to write!

Crossposts: http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/984118.html

A While Ago, I asked for suggestions for what sort of traits would you enjoy reading in Doomsday students.

I got these suggestions:
Someone who was raised thinking Faeries Are Bad.
Someone who is Really Damn Good at Workings.
A purebred Mara Change. (those 3 @inventrix)
kid with some kind of special needs? Physcial handicap? (@dahob)

I'm coming to the time when I need to have these 5 characters fleshed out - 3 boys and 2 girls, to go with Sianna, Sweetbriar, and Austin.

So wanna tell me something about one of these five 8-year-olds?

Crossposts: http://addergoole.livejournal.com/305316.html

If I were to start another serial, as per this poll, and chose the year(s) you'd voted for,

BUT posted it micro-form, i.e., daily or 6 days/week but only 100-250 words/episode:

Poll #16074 Other Serial Questions

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

View Respondents

Would you read it?

View Answers

Yes
8 (88.9%)

No
0 (0.0%)

Maybe
1 (11.1%)

No (or maybe) but I might buy the e-book
0 (0.0%)

Would you tip/donate/commission?

View Answers

Yes
1 (11.1%)