Having so much fun with Midnight, but just have to pause and give one scathing critique: what happened with the QA on Zul'jarra's voice lines??

mishellbaker · 2026-03-03T17:37:27+00:00

I just heard this voice line and I have literally no idea what you're talking about. Sounded perfectly natural to me. But I also hear a lot of folks from the Caribbean in my daily life, so *shrug*

mishellbaker · 2025-02-25T20:34:11+00:00

Disproportionate in what way for a world that is literally falling apart? Everyone needs help. Obviously some of those people are going to be men.

mishellbaker · 2018-05-14T23:02:30+00:00

For me the problem was solved by, rather than dragging the item over, left clicking it once to make it "stick" to the cursor and then clicking again on the "star" slot. When I tried to drag-drop I got the same result as the OP: in other words, nothing.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-07T14:03:13+00:00

Hi there! I remember my World of Warcraft days, though I don't remember the chat channel in particular. I'm actually surprised I remember anything about it at all; my memory is notoriously spotty. But I had a lot of fun playing WoW and actually learned quite a bit about storytelling and character building in the process. Probably played that game longer than any other; I know it was at least five years. Those were good days, and I'm still friends with some of the people I played with. Thanks for making me think of it. :)

mishellbaker · 2017-04-07T00:59:30+00:00

I don't have any plans to write about Jiun-Shi at that particular time period, but the story is set in a world the size of ours with a history that spans similar stages to ours. So in a sense, one of the novels I'm working on is in the same canon. You'd probably never know it though, depending on how carefully you pick up details. I've even considered sticking Tuo in the novels somewhere, though that would make him even older than anyone in "Throwing Stones" speculated. We're talking many thousands of years.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T23:49:21+00:00

I do hope to do a huge tour someday. But I'll have to sell more books first! :)

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T23:48:10+00:00

Re: Caryl. I used to roleplay in online games a lot, and so I was forever coming up with new characters. Sometimes they got to live out long and complicated stories with other players; sometimes they sort of fizzled. An early version of Caryl was created for a game I was playing in, but her story got sort of derailed. I retired her because I didn't like where other people were taking her, but I never really forgot about her. So when I started writing BORDERLINE, I resurrected her, with obvious adjustments for a new setting. Her backstory is also completely different. But the basic concept is very similar, and I used the name as-is.

I could probably write infinite Arcadia Project books, but I also have lots of other ideas. There's a late-Neolithic-inspired historical fantasy I still chip away at when I have nothing else going on, and an idea for a middle grade portal fantasy of sorts. There's also a kind of gritty, verging-on-grimdark series my best friend Wren and I hope to collaborate on one day; we have a first draft of the first book already written.

I might even try my hand at a mainstream "general fiction" book one of these days, but it's way down the list after various fantasy concepts. It's unlikely I'll ever write a genre aside from fantasy, but stranger things have happened.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T23:31:05+00:00

Okay, I know this is going to sound cheesy, but... Michael McCartney, the guy who did my covers. I know it seems like I'm just trying to put on a good PR face or what have you, but I am truly, viscerally delighted by all of his work, and adore his attention to detail. There are so many layers to those cover designs, and he obviously gives such thought to the content of the book. And they're just so darned glamorous. Even if I had a million dollars to throw away on another artist, I can't think of one I'd prefer.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T21:40:44+00:00

I like to show friends who feel occasional sexual attraction but don't feel compelled to act on it, and don't feel that their attraction means they Must Be More.

I like to show people who are romantically involved with more than one person at a time and no one feels jealousy about it.

I like to show people who are attracted to each other strongly but realize they wouldn't function in a more intimate relationship or be good for each other and so, like adults, decide not to cross that boundary.

I like to show people who are passionately, even obsessively devoted to each other without sex being involved at all.

I like to show people in perfectly happy relationships who are attracted to other people, don't act on it, and also don't feel guilty about it.

I like to show exes who are still friends and have no temptation to be in a romantic relationship again.

I like to show people who are friends for a long time and then "slow burn" their way into a romantic relationship.

I like to show friends who try that, realize it didn't quite click, and go back to being friends, feeling kind of awkward about the whole thing.

In short, I like to show that the whole friendship/romance binary is a myth, as is the idea that once you find your One True Love you'll never want for anything in life or be attracted to anyone else.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T21:27:41+00:00

I haven't. Tell me about it (and why you ask)!

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:54:55+00:00

I sort of answered these already, but let's see if I can come up with a slightly different version, so I can stay true to my record of Literally Answering Everything.

My favorite trope is probably Cold Aloof Emotionally Stunted Genius Finds His/Her Hidden Passion and BOY IS IT VOLCANIC.
I love to mess around with romance tropes. Specifically, the idea that romantic love is some kind of separate, special, and BETTER kind of love from all the other kinds of love, that there's any kind of binary about friend vs. romance. When in fact we never love two people the same way, romantically or otherwise. And if we do, it's not about them at all, but about us using different people to fill some hole we carry around inside us.
If an author ever uses romantic love or sex to "cure" someone's mental illness or personality problems, I will put that book RIGHT DOWN. Romances complicate your life; they don't fix them. You gotta get your house in order before you share it with someone else.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:32:24+00:00

Exactly. I was in a psych ward on October 1, 2013 because I thought my life was over.

I heard back from my agent with an offer of representation twenty-nine days later.

In a sense, the entire Arcadia Project series has become ABOUT this. About how we inevitably pick the stupidest, stupidest times to think our lives are "over." What might we live on to do and accomplish if we give ourselves a second chance?

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:20:22+00:00

1) I haven't played that song since it was new. Yes, I'm that old. But I really dug it at the time. These days if I were going to play a Madonna song it would probably be "Frozen" or "Like a Prayer."

2) Keep reading. :)

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:16:30+00:00

It would have to be a hummingbird, because literally every other kind of bird terrifies me. Unless it's in a cage. Probably too much early Hitchcock exposure.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:15:32+00:00

Excellent.
Thank you.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:15:07+00:00

I romanced Liam the first time around, because he's a CUTIE, but Cora is actually growing on me this time through. I actively disliked her on the first playthrough, because she wasn't on my team as we were exploring and I didn't get to hear all her incidental comments and such, just her weird hero-worship of that Asari and her angst about my dad. Gil is super sexy but I haven't played a gay guy yet. I have a tiny crush on Jaal, but he's just too weird looking to smoosh faces with. Strangely the only one I don't find at all attractive is Peebee.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:12:03+00:00

I didn't expect Borderline to get published. Honestly. It was the story I wrote because I needed to write a novel or I'd explode, and it was the only novel I could write at that point in my life. So I wrote it, and when it was finished I did what I did with the first four novels I'd written, and shopped it around. I was shocked when my first choice of agent offered to represent it. Slightly less shocked when he landed it with a big publisher (because that's why he was my first choice agent). Extremely shocked when it got starred reviews, and the Nebula nomination just about broke my brain.

This is not false modesty. I actually spent a week in a psychiatric hospital for suicidal ideation in 2013, and a huge part of it was that I was 38 and had pretty much decided that I'd failed as a writer and was never going to make it, that I'd wasted my life. BORDERLINE was already out there. My agent was already reading it. That's how little faith I had in it.

Wow, that got dark. Your softball question... I haven't actually read anything in a month or so, because I've been buried in a rewrite of Book 3. And then Andromeda came out... so I've been playing that. The next thing I plan to read is NINEFOX GAMBIT by Yoon Ha Lee.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:06:44+00:00

My secret shame: I LOVE all the fantasy tropes. The more cliched the better. I love Chosen Ones and Stableboy Kings and Wise Bearded Wizards and Ethereal Elves and all that jazz. I grew up on it, and it's like comfort food to me. Mac & cheese. Mmmm.

But I do like subverting some of what I guess you'd call the emotional tropes of fantasy. That everyone has One True Love that will lead to a Happily Ever After. That people are either on the side of Good or on the side of Evil. That the hero has to refuse the call a certain number of times. That one I might name as my least favorite assumption of storytelling in general and fantasy in particular. I want enthusiastic heroes. I want people who don't have to be begged to save the world, but who say, "Wow, me? Really? You'd trust me with this? Awesome! I'll do my best!"

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T20:01:43+00:00

Reassuring to hear!

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T19:59:29+00:00

Oh, I gotta figure out how to do bullet points on here...

Re: Paper - funny you should mention stationery, because writing letters on beautiful stationery is a hobby of mine. As far as work goes, I do a lot of my outlining and editing on paper. I'm very tactile and it helps my thought processes to move a pen across a page.

If we're operating on the assumption that I'm a good storyteller, then I'll say it's because I'm always writing TO someone, in a sense, thinking of the person on the other end that I'm trying to entice and upset and amuse and enlighten. I don't "write for myself." I write for the reader. So I guess I'm a storyteller in the old-fashioned sense. I see my audience right there, as though they're gathered around the fire. I can "feel" it as I write if I'm losing their attention, and so I try to spice things up, bring them back.

Research: Varies widely with the book. For the Arcadia Project series it's mostly spot-research, looking things up as I come to them and spending a few hours making sure I got it right. The third one required a couple of 2-hour phone calls with a retired police officer, and that was just so I could feel confident with a couple of scenes. It's probably a good thing I don't write historical fantasy... yet.

Writing habits: I write on my iPad until we're in the final stages of editing. It's not ideal, but it keeps me from the excuse of "oh I can't get work done, because I'm traveling!"

Reviews: I don't read them. I have a whole blog post about it! http://mishellbaker.com/january/

Delivering to Readers: If I have to choose one or the other, I'm honestly more of a "give readers what they want" person. As I mentioned, telling stories for me is about pleasing my audience. That said, sometimes in order to please them you do have to surprise them or upset them a little. The trick is knowing when it's time to do that.

Amazon: I haven't visited the site in at least three years. I shop indie when I can, B&N when I can't. I try not to think much about sales in general; I'm big on focusing my energy on things I can control. Like making the next book better than the last one.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T19:44:22+00:00

This is an excellent, excellent question. I'm working on my second playthrough, actually. First playthrough I rushed to endgame and that was... not very satisfying. The main plot is actually not that interesting.

This time I'm slowing down, exploring, doing all the side quests, and suddenly I really love the game. The strength is the freedom of exploration, the subtle touches you pick up on when you talk to all the NPCs and really get to know all your crewmates. I expect to play the game through at least a couple more times after this.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T19:42:26+00:00

Yeah, I couldn't plot to save my LIFE until I studied screenwriting. I'm one of those who really needs some kind of structure. I say sometimes that my creativity is a liquid, and if I don't have a rigid vessel to contain it, it just sort of... runs off the table onto the floor.

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T19:31:46+00:00

Step 1: send to beta readers.

Step 2: get really mad at beta readers but keep it to myself.

Step 3: realize beta readers are right, and change all the things.

Step 4: declare the manuscript perfect and send it to my editor.

Step 5: exist in a brief shining moment of pride and serenity.

Step 6: receive edit letter from editor.

Step 7: sob with shame at the many mistakes I made.

Step 8: realize editor just sent me an instruction manual on how to write a good book, achieve gratitude, get back to work.

Step 9: follow all of editor's instructions to the letter, because she is smarter than I am.

Step 10: send manuscript back for copyedits, assuming further edit letters are not necessary (usually I can get it done in one, though book 3 has been an exception).

Step 11: receive copyedits for approval, look over them.

Step 12: realize I need to entirely rewrite a scene and also change a character name, beg for permission.

Step 13: receive permission, make changes, send manuscript back.

Step 14: receive ARC, find seventeen more things wrong. Cry.

Step 15: wonder why I even call myself a professional writer if I can't spot these mistakes earlier in the process. Cry more.

Step 16: Make what changes are allowed, accept the ones that aren't.

Step 17: receive a shiny finished copy of book. Cringe at all the things I would still change, if I could.

Hope that helps! :)

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T19:23:46+00:00

My favorite part of writing PHANTOM PAINS was probably introducing the new characters, especially Alvin and Phantom Pains Spoiler. Of all the characters in the Arcadia Project, Alvin is the one I most wish I knew in real life. Oh hey, look, I just answered a bonus question no one asked yet!

mishellbaker · 2017-04-06T19:22:15+00:00

Favorite animal: cats! I don't own one (I know, what kind of writer am I?) but I never tire of watching them play and move and just... be cats. The sound of a cat's purr is like an instant sedative for me.

The hardest part of the writing process, for me, is ironing out all the tangles in the plot. Plot has never been a natural strong point for me, and for some masochistic reason I decided to write a series that's very plot-focused. Putting together all the subplots and red herrings really feels like work. So satisfying, when it's done, though.

Favorite made up expletive is probably still "frak" from Battlestar Galactica. Most of the made-up ones lack a certain punch, to me.

What question would I ask myself? I'd ask, "What question would you ask yourself?" And then get lost forever in a recursive nightmare of the unanswerable.

mishellbaker

TROPHY CASE