Here continues my musing on some tropes that frequently recur in my writing! Specifically, analyzing my tendency to use what I refer to as "Soft Masc" protagonists-- "a male character with a presentation that is fairly normatively masculine, but with a preponderance of personal qualities that were traditionally coded as feminine" --and how that manifests. … Continue reading Tropes in my writing: Soft Masc characters, part 3
Tropes in my writing: Soft Masc characters, part 2
Here continues my musing on some tropes that frequently recur in my writing! Specifically, analyzing my tendency to use what I refer to as "Soft Masc" protagonists-- "a male character with a presentation that is fairly normatively masculine, but with a preponderance of personal qualities that were traditionally coded as feminine" --and how that manifests. … Continue reading Tropes in my writing: Soft Masc characters, part 2
Tropes in my writing: Soft Masc characters, part 1
Here begins my musing on some tropes that frequently recur in my writing! The trope that has become increasingly important to my work in recent times is what I’ll call the Soft Masc— a male character with a presentation that is fairly normatively masculine, but with a preponderance of personal qualities that were traditionally coded … Continue reading Tropes in my writing: Soft Masc characters, part 1
The ideas I keep coming back to
I remember back when as a child, when I had strong impulses to write but not as much practical knowledge or exercise of the craft, I first noted that some people seemed to often come back to the same ideas or even tropes in their stories again and again, particularly as their bodies of work … Continue reading The ideas I keep coming back to
Counting my fan chickens before they’re hatched
I want to journal again. I hate that I've written so little recently, and I want to get back to my previous five or so times a week. And not just about my writing, though I want to talk a lot about that. I want to get my life and my thoughts back in here. … Continue reading Counting my fan chickens before they’re hatched
Two fans, these opinions
In my rare free moments in the last few weeks, I've been checking out TV Tropes. It's a really addictive website, easy to get lost on, but I always find myself most drawn to reading not the pages about in-story tropes, but rather the ones about the creative process. I've always been fascinated by process, … Continue reading Two fans, these opinions
Letting my characters be my characters
I have a fear of letting my characters be my characters. While art that works is art that works, and it's often difficult to quanitify exactly what makes one piece compelling while another one isn't, there are generally some guidelines to good storytelling. Drama requires conflict. Stakes should be high. There must be an arc … Continue reading Letting my characters be my characters
Musing on muses, part 1
Artists have a long tradition of drawing inspiration for their art from various muses, and the more I think about it, the more I realize I do as well. The traditional artist-muse relationships tends to be a man being inspired by a woman, but I have always been prone to drawing creative energy from people, … Continue reading Musing on muses, part 1
Sex in my writing
I don’t write about sex much. I don’t know if those of you who have read much of my work have noticed that, but I tend not to deal with it very often. To be frank, I think there’s something approaching a prudishness in a lot of my writing— not a lot of exploration of … Continue reading Sex in my writing
The drafting process
The drafting process doesn’t come naturally to me, and as such, at times I find it frustrating. During my early development as a writer, I was extremely compelled to edit as I wrote, and if I couldn’t figure out just how I wanted to phrase something, I wouldn’t write it. That lead to nothing ever … Continue reading The drafting process
Phoebe Roberts 