"With these resolutions, PEN International and its writers commit to continue using words as acts of conscience, to inspire and take action, and to safeguard the dignity of all living things.” - Burhan Sonmez, President @PENInternational

https://www.pen-international.org/news/pen-internationals-resolutions-2025

#PENInternational #Writers #Resolutions
#Democracy #ClimateJustice #GenderDiversity #FreeExpression

We are delighted to welcome Aotearoa New Zealand author Lee Murray ONZM for our upcoming horror anthology, Of Dread, Decay, and Doom! Read more about Lee: https://www.starsandsabers.com/2025/09/18/anthology-contributor-lee-murray/

Chrome just leveled up.

Google baked Gemini AI straight into Chrome — turning your browser from a window into a co-pilot. It can summarize tabs, recall past pages, jump you to the right part of a YouTube video, and even book your groceries.

The browser war just became an AI war. ️

https://hostvix.com/gemini-in-chrome-what-it-means-for-bloggers-and-website-owners/

#PennedPossibilities 788 — Out of all of your characters, who would make a “plan,” who follows along, and who knows if the plan is going to fail?

I had to think sideways about the WiP to answer this, and while "make a 'plan'" uses language that implies it being made by someone renowned for making failing plans, I'll keep the answer serious.

Make a plan: Boss Mead. He's wanted the devil-girl ever since he learned about her from Nightingale Glory, but now that he's gotten the chance, he's going to own her (the way he owns the protagonist, Bolt).

Follows along: Bolt has been broken. She follows along, trying to keep her life from becoming so bad it isn't worth living.

Knows if the plain is going to fail? The devil-girl. She's copasetic with being used, so long as what she's being employed for doesn't frustrate her own plans—but if you make things insufferable for her or hurt people she feels responsible for, it won't end well. Boss Mead plans to do both.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

Nota bene:

"Point of view characters" are not required. Many books have omniscient narrators and "head hop" as a matter of course. Saladin Ahmed's EMPIRE OF THE CRESCENT MOON does this, and it won *all* the awards.

If you *like* to work with POV characters then please do! But there's no rule saying you have to.

Just saying.

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2025.09.18 — Have you written something blasphemous? Tell us about it.

Definitions are required. See image or #altText.

Have I written something blasphemous? That describes almost any story I write. The blasphemy (as some would brand it) is often subtle and therefore insidious in that the storylines tend elevate women, grant them secular and sexual agency, dismiss or criticize gender roles, treat sexual preference as nothing other than a person's understanding of their body and therefore normal, inevitably violates someone's conception of scriptural doctrine or how the world works, could sometimes be classified as advocating various flavors of paganism or simply being schismatic, and occasionally creates societies that completely lack the concept of the divine or the supernatural and therefore belittling the need for it in the first place. Someone will see my stories as evil or perverted. Guaranteed. So. Yeah. Both heretical and blasphemous.

That said, my stories are about relatable people living their normal lives and suffering their little adventures, that ought be fun and fascinating, full of mysteries for the reader to bite into. The worlds my characters inhabit, though: subversive.

My stories are destined to be banned somewhere—and proud of it.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Or does it? Does your MC match their other family members? Explore your character's family tree with the Family Generator. bit.ly/familygen #WritingPrompt #amwriting #writers #DnD

#WordWeavers 2025.09.18 — Does your antagonist have any specific fears?

I haven't interacted with him enough in the story to be sure, but if I were to pick one, it would be that the high society and upper class people he associates with might come to think he has some shady business dealings. Since he's a man, he's often under a microscope (different gender balance in his society).

The mob boss has some high profile legit businesses, and "redevelopment" and "philanthropic" interests in Lowtown, but his underground businesses account for most of his profit. He kills rumors as soon as they surface.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#Cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

Does anyone have a *method* for where to cut off your chapters?

Do you end on specific kinds of story beats? Do you have a rough length they conform to? Do you have to have accomplished something to make it a chapter?

I have ZERO intuitive sense of when chapters ought to end, and it's driving me batty.

#ScribesAndMakers 2025.09.18 — If you write novels, do you strive to have your chapters a consistent length? CW: Crass.

Chapters are like sh*t. They happen. Depends on what I ate thought about last, and how deep the characters want to go. I've had chapters as short as a few paragraphs (not an epigraph), up to novelette size. One novella got written as one long chapter because the MC continued telling the story even in her dreams.

Wait… I am not implying my chapters are sh*t. Though. I will admit. In the current WiP, I began three different chapters, got some pages into them, then scraped them and rewrote them, taking snippets from each. I save all scraps. One chapter had the file name of 3rd Attempt for a while…

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

Writers! You have many options for publishing your work. Which one is best for you and your book?

Join me Thursday, October 2, 7-9 p.m. ET via Zoom, for "Is Self-Publishing Right for You?"

In this class we will explore self-publishing, hybrid, and alternative routes to publication: collaborating with a nonprofit and work-for-hire.

Learn more: https://writer.org/event/is-self-publishing-right-for-you-2/

Who and what is a Grey Man? Gus & Oliver found one and brought him to me. Support us at Patreon.com/amberunmasked for early access! #cats #writers #CatSky

Becoming a writer is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Here is the story of my struggle and what I learned in the process.

https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/writing-2/2024/03/becoming-a-writer

Dear Purposeful Prose,

I’m pretty sure I was scammed by an editor I hired on Fiverr. I’ve hired people on Fiverr before without a problem, so I didn’t think this would be any different.

This experience made me feel really stupid, and I don’t want to be a bad or difficult client. Am I doing something wrong? Is this editor a scammer or just not good at her job?

How did I answer? Check it out!

@bookstodon #writers

https://www.purposefulprose.org/post/a-purposeful-prose-advice-column-scammed-by-my-editor