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plot

FOR WRITERS: When Bad Things Happen to Good Characters

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puppet master - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Olivia Wylie: For Writers: do you ever find yourself feeling bad when you’ve created a loveable character, and for reasons of Plot bad things must happen? Feel free to elaborate! Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf

FOR WRITERS: Writing a Warming World

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climate change - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: As the climate changes, there will be all kinds of ramifications – on the physical world, on society, and on our institutions. How do you forsee the world changing? What sci fi nuggets can we pry out of it? And can we somehow make a difference in the shape of things to come? Join the chat

FOR READERS: Overarching Plots

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plot

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: Do you like “overplots” in your sci-fi/fantasy? Do you like your novels/series purely self contained, or do you want each book to advance a larger plot? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! This is a legacy chat. Join the chat

FOR WRITERS: What Motivates Your Stories?

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motivation - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Dave Fragments: How do you pick the theme or your story? For instance, I only and rarely do vampire stories because Anne Rice intimidates me. So if I have a character who is a vampire, then the plot must come before the character. Other stories begin with a thought like the main character being an abused orphan who doesn’t know his history and goes from there in self discovery. That’s character driving plot. Obviously. What motivates your story – character or plot and which of those are subordinate? Join the chat

FOR WRITERS: Gaming Your Stories

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Super Mario Brothers

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Jordan Marshall: We often talk about the architect/gardener dichotomy, but with the advent of story games, I’m wondering if a thrid option has opened up. Do you ever use some sort of game in your plotting/writing process? Scott adds: “And if you do, please, oh please, can it be Super Mario Brothers???” Join the chat

For Writers: Hiding in Plain Site

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Platform 9 3/4 ticket

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Justine Bonczek: I find it interesting when writers create huge hidden worlds that exist within plain site of existing worlds. While Harry Potter is not sci fi, it’s still a great example of a functioning society that invests a huge amount of time, money and effort into staying hidden from the larger world. I find this concept to be fairly prevalent in queer fiction as well, and I’m curious if there are some parallels of being queer and also “hiding in plain site.” My question is, what is the draw to creating … Read more

Discussion: Limiting Magic

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Freddy MacKay: World limitations that help plot, or how to limit your character so they are challengeable. AKA Setting up magic rules. Freddy makes a good point, and I’m gonna take a part of it and run with it. Magic, to be interesting in a story, has to have some limits. Imagine if a character could just “magic” whatever result they wanted? Limits can be many things: Physical – channel too much magic and you destroy yourself/burn yourself out/need top recharge Emotional or Ethical – you *can* do many things, but your moral code limits … Read more