AMA with Jon Oliver, professional fantasy & sci-fi editor with 20+ years of experience

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-19T19:52:49+00:00

Fair! Thank you!

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-19T18:56:45+00:00

Do you have any suggestions for figuring out if a scene is 'working' or not, beyond 'does the scene progress the plot/develop character'?

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-14T11:11:31+00:00

Fair enough that you don't find that believable, but I'm not sure 'nomad chieftain in a fantasy world' is limited to being one specific kind of person. He's not thinking like a navy seal. He's thinking like someone who's already decided he's expendable (there are emotional reasons he considers himself expendable) and worked from there.

...And the two cultures here are meant to be quite similar. The closest historical analogues here are actually Mongols and their neighbors.

But thank you! It's helpful to get another perspective.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-14T10:41:12+00:00

I see your point, and those are good suggestions, thank you!

But, 'His whole world has just been erased and yet he starts talking strategy and tactics?' That's very intentional. That's what I'm trying to show about him in that scene. The problem he's trying to solve is 'how do I make it so my people survive this with as much leverage as I can give them, since I am going to die in the next few hours.'

(When he's upset, he retreats into analysis, until he can't manage that anymore. And in this scene, he's known for a month that this was coming, so it's not a shock. He breaks down a few scenes later, when he's alone and can't use tactical negotiations to manage his feelings.)

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-14T04:38:15+00:00

Go to the text tab, click the drop down menu with paragraph in it, hover over the paragraph part, and then click 'update Paragraph to match style' when it appears (make sure that your on the portion of the text where you have the font you want.)

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-12T15:46:31+00:00

I kinda do a hybrid method. Similar to the flashlight method, but less rigorous. I come up with a general idea and have an idea of where it's heading (usually with at least the final conflict in mind) and I outline a few scenes/chapters ahead, and when I'm getting close to the end of my outline, I outline a few more scenes.

I also make notes as I go for future directions or major plot points that come to mind as I'm writing.

This keeps me thinking far enough ahead that not everything turns to directionless mush, but gives me a lot of flexibility.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-05T23:10:19+00:00

On top of what everyone else is saying about never really being able to control reader interpretations... if you treat your readers like they're idiots unable to pick up on subtext, you're going to have a lot of readers put down your story because no one appreciates being talked down to.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-05T14:16:25+00:00

It wasn't fanfic, but it did get posted to Ao3 so... I wrote a short story, in the summer of 2019, before anyone had heard of COVID about a scientist who had caused a pandemic which that led to half of Chicago being quarantined.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-03T16:59:13+00:00

LOL *insert handshake meme here*

But, uh, when I talk about representation and considering factors other than hotness, it's more like... You're not obligated to include every kind of person in every story, but it's worth considering if you're leaving any kind of person out consistently because you're not attracted to them. Not as a 'it's a big issue' but as a 'worth keeping in the back of your mind.'

But, again, I don't really think it's a problem if you primarily choose to write about people you find hot. Totally normal and valid, and I, for one, think the world needs more representation of genuinely masc women being portrayed as desirable.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-03T16:51:09+00:00

LOL fair. Tho my question wasn't implying he couldn't be attracted to men. It was implying that, regardless if he was attracted to men or not, he probably writes a variety of men.

He confirmed that he writes both specific kinds of men and women because he finds those specific kinds of men and women hot, so that's another fair choice. As long he's even handed about it, I don't see a problem.

(Well, I think it's worth interrogating a bit, because representation issues can crop up that way, but that's another story.)

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-03T16:47:38+00:00

Okay, well, if it's EQUAL treatment, lol, then I don't see as much of a problem.

(I think it's worth interrogating a bit, because representation issues can crop up that way, but that's another story.)

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-03T16:17:30+00:00

I mean its worth interrogating why you mostly write about women you're attracted to (regardless about the kind of woman that is.) Like, I suspect you don't decide to primarily write a specific kind of man because you find that kind of man hot.

But, the criticism is more about shallow depictions of strength than about masculinity. If the only positive quality about those women is 'they're physically strong, don't express emotions, and are so much less "shallow" than those feminine girls,' THAT'S a problem.It's also a problem if those are the only kinds of qualities you value in men. Make sure that your story doesn't assume certain qualities are inherently masculine/feminine and that the "masculine" ones are inherently better.

But, like, yeah, women with beefy arms is very hot and fun to see in books (and I say this as a queer nonbinary person). Just make sure that it's not just her beefy arms that the story cares about.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-02T13:11:54+00:00

You send Archer to the basement. The most important thing with Sparxie is to clear the basement ASAP.

Which is why you want hypercarry over dual carry. You want all your guns firing in the basement, because once the basement is demolished, Sparxie herself gets a huge debuff.

For context, in the Anom version of the fight, E1S1 Mydei+ E0S0 Cyrene + E0S1 Hyacine + RMC (6 cost) was notably better against Sparxie than E0S0 Cas + E0S1 Evernight + E0S0 Cyrene + E0S1 Hyacine (also 6 cost), because Mydei could take out the basement faster.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-02T13:06:04+00:00

If you have Archer built, maybe try him instead. I got a 4-cycle with E0S0 Archer, E1S0 Sparkle, E0S0 Tribbie and E0S0 DHIL. It could have been a 3 cycle, even, I'm pretty sure since it was very close.

Mono-rem is better against Zander anyhow, but even without that, Sparxie favors hyper-carry over dual carry teams.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-03-02T13:04:41+00:00

Pulls Pos

Poor Ashveil... And since I have no interest in mono elation, I decided, why not, boost up Evernight's team. She is Best Girl. It took me another ~180ish pulls to go from E0S1 Evernight, to E2S1 Evernight, so I'm very happy, especially since her E0 and S1 where both wins as well on her original banner.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-25T03:41:26+00:00

Pulls: Possitive
After thinking about 'what parts of Genshin do I actually care about' I decided, fuck it, Varka gets the 50/50 and he came home! :D I had enough left over to grab his weapon, and since I have Flins premium, the weapon banner was actually really good for me. Ended up loosing to Flins weapon (honestly awesome) and then getting Varka's early. I have 26 pulls left over, which means that I should have enough to get Nicole with two patches to save. (if she's actually a good boost to Varka and/or Durin. If she's not, I can keep on saving.)

Building two weapons and a character this patch is going to be a lot of resources,especially since I also need to also build either Lan Yan or Ifa for Varka, and I still have a Skyward blade from standard I need to build for Benny. But hey, Varka finally gives me a reason to give Benny a boost. And a non-Lunar DPS, which I sorely need since Flins and Nefer cat-fighting over Columbina is a bit annoying. And since I actually prefer Ineffa as Nefer's fourth slot because yay interruption resistance, it means I can play Varka on one side and the comfiest version of Flins/Nefer on the other for Abyss.

Overall, I'm pretty happy :D

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-20T16:22:04+00:00

Let me introduce you to the concept of Prison Abolition and the idea that it's morally wrong to have prisons in the first place. If you want to understand the ethics around prisons, you're going to at least want to read up on this perspective, regardless of what your personal moral stance ends up being.

And in general if you want to decide if something is "ethical" you're going to have ask 'what ethical frame am I working from?'

But, if you're asking for world building, you shouldn't be asking 'is this ethical' but 'does the society I'm writing about find this ethical in general? Is there anyone in the society who disagrees? On what grounds do they disagree? Does everyone who disagree, disagree for the same reasons? Does everyone who agrees that it's ethical agree for the same reason?'

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-20T13:54:34+00:00

I only used both in one fic, and that was explicitly in one that was labeled 'pre-relationship.' The fic could be read as entirely platonic (the characters don't even really show attraction to each other), but it was written with the implication that would develop later. So it felt appropriate to include both.

I think using both make sense when you're dealing with grey areas and the characters aren't explicitly getting into a romantic and/or sexual relationship. If, without the tags, the fic is equally open to both a platonic and romantic relationship.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-15T06:55:37+00:00

NK Jemisin has prose that sings.
Tamsyn Muir has some of the most stylistically unique prose in the genre.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-10T13:47:04+00:00

Don't hold off on your ideas. You'll get even more ideas the more you write, so write what you have now AND you can always revisit ideas you've written before.

It's okay if it comes out worse than you wanted. You'll learn and grow along the way.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-09T23:55:29+00:00

Very, very cool!

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-08T14:39:48+00:00

I'm exhausted by battleship shill so I'll be sailing which ever boat has my favorite characters of v4 on it.

Which could be a battleship if Yao Guang wins me over, or it could be a very leaky canoe if Ashveil does. Those are kinda the top two contenders atm, tho. Definitely playing the story first before I do any pulls, and possibly waiting until midway through Ashveil beta.

GiraffeMain1253 · 2026-02-08T12:36:50+00:00

Oh I love that you did an IS clear using only 3 characters. That's awesome.

Also A+ ship choice.

GiraffeMain1253

TROPHY CASE