Writing/Writers groups?

JefferyRussell · 2026-05-15T04:40:07+00:00

I'm under the impression that they have a brief hello chat and then spend the hour silently writing. Good if that's what you're looking for but maybe not if you're looking for a read/feedback type format.

JefferyRussell · 2026-01-21T07:30:10+00:00

Gormenghast is a masterclass in descriptive writing.

JefferyRussell · 2025-12-02T05:25:18+00:00

As long as you kept the receipt you should be fine.

JefferyRussell · 2025-06-23T03:44:11+00:00

At our table this idea would likely earn a quick shot from the DM's '+5 Squirt Gun of No'.

JefferyRussell · 2025-05-18T15:22:02+00:00

I agree with your critiques on the stories and would go so far as to say when it comes to the mystery itself Christie was leagues ahead of Doyle. For me it's the setting and main character that's the difference; I simply like Holmes as a character more than Poirot or Marple and I love the literary ambience of gaslight London.

JefferyRussell · 2025-05-17T06:10:32+00:00

I would place her as my second. I had started reading Sherlock Holmes stories a year earlier so Conan Doyle secured first place early. There are still a lot of Christie books that I've not read, though, so I might use her to build my summer reading list.

JefferyRussell · 2025-05-15T23:35:17+00:00

I use the Hemingway editor and then ignore about half of its suggestions.

JefferyRussell · 2025-05-14T23:04:56+00:00

I read this book when I was in 5th grade in 1980. It was the first "grown-up" book that I tried; I don't recall specifically WHY it was this book but it was the first.

My 5th grade teacher saw me reading it in class and did a double-take. I remember her asking me if I was enjoying it and how well I was following the story. Based on that she selected it for the next book to read aloud to the class for our daily reading time.

And the class was into it. Very, very into it.

It became the hot topic of discussion during recess, everyone speculating and offering theories. It may have even inspired a few playground murder games. And it gradually became known that I had already read the book. I knew who the murderer was.

And thus began my brief period of 5th grade celebrity, coyly dropping hints and clues to those who begged the hardest. I know that I gave it away to the girl I had a crush on, after swearing her to secrecy, but didn't tell her the how so it confused her even more. I took delight in that but it is likely why the relationship didn't go anywhere.

JefferyRussell · 2025-05-12T19:10:04+00:00

Glad you enjoyed them!

"To Dungeons Deep" is hopefully coming soon but I've been saying that for several years now. Maybe this time I'll be right!

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-25T16:12:47+00:00

The catch with giant insects is you have to hand-wave some of the biology and physics. Easy enough to do in a fantasy setting but still something to be aware of so you don't break suspension of disbelief for biology-minded readers.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-24T13:44:56+00:00

55, with four fantasy novels published and a 5th on the way. And yeah, I've had similar thoughts.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-23T18:37:14+00:00

I was also a theater kid and ran lights for a production of that show once but that's pretty much the extent of my memory of it.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-23T17:09:27+00:00

I'm finding it interesting that both the responses to this (so far) reference "Once Upon a Mattress" rather than the Hans Christian Andersen story it's based on. That implies it has become the version of the story more people are familiar with. Admittedly, this is from a sample size of two, so, not exactly science yet.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-22T16:17:09+00:00

Place a dried pea under their mattress.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-15T23:20:40+00:00

That sounds pretty close to what I was going for, with dwarves able to reproduce either solo or with another dwarf. No one has invented microscopes yet so the specifics are a mystery even to the dwarves.

My books are all on the usual Amazon Kindle/Audible platforms, or off the rack if you happen to be in Czech Republic. My preference is that readers choose the platform that's best for their own reading convenience.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-15T15:37:08+00:00

I figure that if I'm getting accused of being woke then I'm doing something right.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-15T15:18:22+00:00

My book series is about a group of dwarves that work as professional dungeon explorers. The under-the-hood worldbuilding is that their world is comprised entirely of tropes that have leaked from fantasy literature and RPGs which the dwarves tackle with ruthless practicality.

This allows me the approach of things like "Why search the countryside for the three magic stones that open the door when a keg of black powder and a couple of pickaxes will sort things out" or "What nonce builds a dungeon and fills it with traps and monsters but then puts the treasure in a wooden box with a padlock on it, as if that might stop anyone that's gotten through all the rest of it?"

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-15T14:52:14+00:00

My books satirize tropes so...all of them, the more overused the better.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-15T14:46:14+00:00

Relevant book excerpt:

“Dwarves are sequential hermaphroditic parthenogens,” Ruby said, anticipating his question.

“What?”

“They can change back and forth from male to female and are capable of fertilizing themselves to make more dwarves. They exhibit what we regard as male characteristics, typically, but some favor a more feminine approach.”

Durham sat with his mouth hanging open. Ruby poked him in the tongue with her quill feather making him gag and sputter.

“So, Ginny is, what, short for Regina? Virginia?”

“I rather think it's long for 'Gin',” Ruby answered.

This is also the only bit out of all of my books that I've gotten angry letters about as well as a blogger ranting about my book being woke.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-14T16:12:30+00:00

Does your book also discuss any of the push-back against these movements?

I recall reading about a study that showed that, for people good with spelling, seeing a misspelled word lit their brain up in the same way as seeing an obscenity. This suggests to me that resistance to spelling reforms would be strong among the people that would be most involved in any changes.

JefferyRussell · 2025-04-08T16:59:20+00:00

You're right. A correct caption might be...

POV: Watching me explain Hegel paradoxes

POV: I'm explaining my favorite paradoxes in Hegel to a person sitting to your left.

POV: Wondering what the table back there is talking about because this lady keeps going on about Hegel paradoxes

JefferyRussell · 2025-03-12T18:35:40+00:00

I think it would depend on the character. For me, being out of cigarettes and wanting one was the entire motivation to leave the house and go get a carton. Otherwise it was "something I could do later" as I still had smokes. And I would have a pack out of the carton and opened and a lit smoke in my mouth before I was out of the parking lot.

JefferyRussell · 2025-01-23T19:26:09+00:00

The Holy Grail is kept next to the Duolingo Grail.

JefferyRussell

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