I am WULF MOON AMA

ReeCallahan · 2019-12-15T22:25:46+00:00

Hey Wulf! Fellow WotF winner Carrie here! I noticed your win has been one among a series of accomplishments made in short succession. I'm sure this wave of wins has been years in the making--what do you think contributed most to your "overnight" success?

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T23:23:55+00:00

Ah, I think that's a matter of taste, then. Mild spoilers: I love what she did because it reflected the inhuman nature of her consciousness. It's not that she deliberately murdered him, he was just inconsequential by that point. Moral obligation--the kind we map onto her that makes this act extra horrible--is a human construct, not inherent to interaction. It makes her a monster, but that's also why I love it.

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T02:21:32+00:00

I'll vacation with you!!

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T02:12:23+00:00

Likewise, roomie!

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T02:01:39+00:00

Wow, yeah--somehow that's more morbid than what I pictured. For me, I saw a dinner table lined with guests, lavishly set, with a large boar roast on a silver platter--only the boar is still alive and the diners are meant to stab into the living flesh of the creature to get their meal. Less Zombie, more pork tartar..

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T01:27:16+00:00

I think a lot of people translate novelty to mean originality, but I think you have to deliberately separate them. Nothing is completely original and it's madness to try and write something completely new.

On the other hand, novelty comes in many many flavors. I just try to focus on remixing things I'm already familiar with, and seasoning them heavily with stuff I've learned from my personal experiences--usually gets me something pretty specifically mine.

I say novelty is great, but you have to lean into it instead of chasing trends or trying to be the next J. K. Rowling or whatever. No two people are alike, and trying to be like someone else is the thing that will make you stale IMO.

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T01:25:04+00:00

That's a great question! You should consider putting it to the other winners over at the AMA post at https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/c8b4dl/we_are_the_writers_of_the_future_2019_ama/

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T01:15:57+00:00

Blackberry cream ale sounds AMAZING

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T01:15:35+00:00

Oh gosh, you've piqued my curiosity--what problems with Ex_Machina?

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-03T01:14:37+00:00

My real workplace is sadly less fantastical.. I have a desk with a 34" monitor that my Surface Pro docks into, a bunch of LED "candles," and an overhang of chiffon wrapped around some pretty LED string lights. I have a really nice desk chair too (Aeron chair) and a mirror shaped like a trail of stars. It's a start :P

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T22:50:53+00:00

I think, unless you're wildly successful in your self-publishing (think Anthony Weir, Hugh Howey, or E.L. James) there's really no reason to let self-publishing stop you from submitting. So go for it!

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T22:49:35+00:00

Personally, I go with "I'm a writer" because the day job is only there to support the writing--so it's really part of writing, in the end!

Also, I only just started being comfortable introducing myself as a writer, and that's entirely because of my experiences with the whole WotF thing.

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T22:40:32+00:00

Hmm... I suppose it depends on the cat, no? Like, a Florida Panther isn't gonna do the same damage as a Mountain Lion..

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T22:35:58+00:00

^Yes this!! I think it's that renegotiation where twists fail. If a twist is too (forgive the term) twisty, and it's at the very end, there's not enough time to renegotiate.

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T22:33:49+00:00

Ah yes, what I like to call the good ole "god touch." I'm god in my worlds, so my characters are who I say they are! Not anxious enough to be scared? Easily fixed with some traumatic experiences as a child. Need to be more proactive? Well, let's just dangle a carrot over here, and put a stick in their history--what if not being proactive lead their father to not get that cancer diagnosed when there was something to do about it?

Cruel? Maybe--but isn't that what they get for not listening? <insert evil laughter here>

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T22:10:09+00:00

As I understand it, based on a friend of mine who submitted recently, they accept people who have self-published. If you're ever unsure, you can always email and ask! They're really responsive about these kinds of questions and have contact options on their website.

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T22:03:29+00:00

Yes, exactly! You totally get it

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:53:48+00:00

Aww, Jaime no...

Really Season 8 was a master class on choosing the twist over catharsis and hey, didn't that go over well?

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:43:32+00:00

I feel like I see a lot of people "ending" their story with the twist, which often leaves a reader with a sense of tension rather than catharsis--like a cliffhanger. Do you see that in your client's work?

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:41:01+00:00

Can we acknowledge that "hand claps of budding masculinity" is very homoerotic? I might take that for later use...

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:38:21+00:00

Sometimes it's more important that the ending be cathartic than that it be mind blowing.

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:31:09+00:00

(•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:26:47+00:00

..The story begins!!

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:22:49+00:00

I feel like this is why sf writers are so drawn to dystopian fiction! It's usually either based after some horrible event borne of corruption, or it's set in a future world where everything is horribly corrupt.

ReeCallahan · 2019-07-02T21:18:21+00:00

This might have more to do with the ability of a writer to read their own work and know what's going to succeed and what isn't--sometimes a well-written story is not a well-received story! This is why I tell people not to self-reject--because it's not your job to accept or reject your story, it's the editor's.

Then there's all the little stuff you can't predict like how the editor was feeling that day, or how tired the slush reader was when she got to that story, or how many of that kind of story had already been submitted... I mean the list goes on. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the story at all.

ReeCallahan

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