#Moshke writes

[acertainmoshke]

I've been having a tough time lately, and when I don't have the energy for everything keeping up with social media is one of the first things I slip on. But I still care about all my writing buddies, so:

Reblog if you're not offended when people take a long time to answer asks, forget to reply to your replies, lag behind in tag games, or skip several weekly ask games.

[author-a-holmes]

Obviously ignore this if you want but I saw you mention that you recently got published (congrats!!!) and I had a question. I'm still far out from that, but I know how to write and can research how to publish but I don't know how to market. Not only am I autistic and not charismatic, I want to solely use my pen name and distance my writing from my face because of my professional life. Do you know how to actually get people who might like your book to notice that it exists as an indie author with no previous following? Thank you if you have any advice!

Hello Moshke!

Thank you so much for the congratulations! It's taken longer than I expected but the realisation that I'm published is finally beginning to sink in! It's very surreal ^_^

I honestly don't know if I'm the right person to give advice on marketing as, at the moment, my book's been out just over a month and I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark, but I wanted to give your ask due consideration and, despite my hesitation, I think I still have some tips that could hopefully help.

The reason I think I might have at least some relevant tidbits is that I'm also writing under a penname and most people don't seem to realise that.

Now, in my case, it's not about privacy it's just that don't like my given name enough to see it on book covers :D So I don't mind talking about it, but marketing your book under a penname isn't that much different to how you would market the book under your legal name.

Tip No. 1

Establish your pen name as a functional pseudonym now. Don't wait until you're ready to publish.

So, this stage was a little backwards for me. I come from the age of internet use where you did not give your real name online, under any circumstances, so I've always used various "online names".

By the time I decided that I was going to use "Arista Holmes" to publish under, anyone who knew me online already knew me as Ari. Even my best friend offline will sometimes call me Ari when we're chatting, so it had become as much an actual nickname as an online pseudonym.

But that's exactly what I'm getting at. I'm not pretending to be "Arista Holmes", I am Ari. A writer in her 30's based in the south east of England. The same way I'm Josie to my mum, or Jo-jo to my Godmother.

Tip No. 2

Don't think about it as marketing your book, but as creating an author "brand".

I'm using "Brand" here in the absence of a better term, because I absolutely hate thinking about this as a "brand", but what I mean is think of your Penname as something people will google search.

In fact, Google search your pen name.

As I mentioned, I'd been using "Arista Holmes" online for a while, and I had accounts all over the place that I didn't necessarily want coming up when people looked up my books.

(I will deny spending my youth on Neopets, it's just TOO embarrassing!) 

But jokes aside; Google your pen name. See what comes up. Scroll through all 20, 30, 50 pages of google. Some asshole looking for some embarrassing post from your teen years won't stop at page five, and neither should you.

Shut down any accounts you find, or if you want to keep them, change the username to something else. The only non-publishing related account linked to Arista Holmes now is my AO3. I figure it's still writing, so no harm in leaving that one up.

Tip No. 3

Set up social media accounts now; Be as consistent as possible across all platforms.

Now, and I want to put this in big bold letters:

Having accounts on all the socials does not mean you will be active on all of them.

Or use them at all, in fact.

Having accounts on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Youtube, etc etc etc, just means that if, by some miracle, you make it big and draw in fans you'll also inevitably draw trolls and by making the account with your pen name; it stops them claiming that username and pretending to be you.

It's a form of pre-emptive protection.

On that note; Be consistent across your accounts. Use the same profile picture, use the same header or banner, use the same colour scheme, use the same "About Me/About Author" description, and (as much as possible) use the same username format.

That last one won't be possible on all platforms. Some of them don't like periods/full stops. Some don't like underscores, but try to be as consistent as possible.

For example my account on here is author.a.holmes, most other places I'm aristaholmes. I'd change it, but at this point, I don't want to break all my links.

Tip No. 4

Author Pictures Are Not Required.

I'm adding this point here because I mentioned profile pictures in the previous tip. Author Pictures Are Not Required.

Don't get me wrong, they're often highly encouraged, and I can't deny that they give a humanising effect to the author, but that doesn't mean you actually have to show your face.

I've chosen to put my face on my "About The Author" page in the back of my book, but that's a personal choice. You don't have to add one at all! It's only more recently that I've seen fiction author photos in the back of books.

Until about... 15 years ago? Ish? I wouldn't have expected to see an author photo unless the book was non-fiction.

If you want to add a picture of you, but don't feel comfortable or can't because of real world problems, consider an artist's caricature instead. Go one step further than a pen-name and give yourself a pen-picture! Jenna Moreci uses an artist's interpretation as her profile picture/logo, and Lemony Snicket only had pictures of the back of his head for ages.

If you do decide to commission an artist though, do explain to them that it will be included in your books, that you'll be selling, as they will probably want to add a commercial licence price to the artwork; But if you explain why you're having the caricature done I imagine most artists would be very reasonable about it.

***

That's all my tips for setting up and marketing yourself, as the author, under a pen name... but I can already hear the voices in my head muttering that I've not really touched on how to get people to find you once you've set up the pen name, and the socials, and your website etc.

And it's because I personally think that if you're writing under a pen name you need to establish it as an entity in its own right before beginning to try marketing it.

So, moving on…

Tip No. 5

Find your place on the great, wide, interwebs...

I mentioned I'd been online as Arista Holmes for about 8-10 years prior to deciding to publish under this name, but once I did decide to publish I went and made all my author socials (just like I mentioned in Tip No. 3)

That was in 2020 and it was part experimentation, and part letting people find me. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with multiple social media's, and I also knew I didn't WANT to, so I made the socials and I started posting on each platform and figuring out which platforms I liked. Which ones were easy to use, and which ones got me the most engagement with other people.

For me, this turned out to be Tumblr and Instagram. Twitter and Facebook are like graveyards for me, and Tiktok is only a little better, but your mileage may vary.

I cross post consistently with Tumblr, Instagram, because those are the places I get the most engagement... but I also maintain a blog on my website and any big pieces of news (such as asking for ARC readers, or publishing my book) gets posted across ALL platforms because, well, I live in hope that one day my tiktok will go viral lol.

But honestly, the multiple socials literally eat up so much of the time I could spend writing; I highly recommend picking two, three at most, and focusing on them.

But what do you post? I can almost hear you yelling <3

Tip No. 6

How to market when you're shy/introverted/not-charismatic/or any other thing you feel is holding you back.

You're going to want to throw something at me but lean on your strengths. It sounds so simple, and I know it's not, I'm sorry, but here's what I mean by that.

When I was still experimenting with all the socials to find the ones I liked, I stumbled across an image. I want to say it was here on tumblr but, honestly, I don't remember and at the time I was neck deep in every marketing and promotional blog or article I could find trying to figure this shit out.

It was called "The Periodic Table of Content Marketing".

I don't know why this helped me wrap my head around marketing, but it did.

I read over each of the types of marketing and I started getting idea's.

Ebooks... I'd heard about people doing reader magnets for newsletter lists.

Interviews... I've seen authors on podcasts. I'd seen people on tumblr interviewing their characters. I could do that.

Trends... What are popular tropes if not trends of the moment?

And I suddenly realised that this silly little graph was all the different types of marketing I could do, broken down simply, and laid out neatly, and I could pick and choose not only the bits I was comfortable doing, but the bits that I was confident with.

I'm never going to put my face on a tiktok video and lipsync to popular songs, but I could write a 12,000 words short story prequel to my series and make it exclusive to newsletter subscribers.

That was something I could do, because it leaned on my strengths; My writing.

Because I haven't said it yet, but two years ago I'd have described myself very similarly to you.

I'm not charismatic. While I'm not autistic, I am painfully introverted. I have severe social anxiety. I'm not funny, I can't talk with strangers casually or easily. Talking about my book more than once a week feels like I'm bragging or being pushy... But I can write.

So I started looking for opportunities to share my writing, and let it... not speak for itself, but let my words draw in the audience. It still took a bit of pushing on my part, I would look for tag games where the user had left an "Open Tag" and I'd hop on those and share some words.

This is part of the reason Tumblr is one of my favourite places to network with writers and readers, because the tag games let me share and tease content without having to push through my social anxiety all that hard.

It's a slower, organic, audience growth but it's definitely my preference.

The content I shared on here, produced to play tag games, I quickly realised that I could copy it onto a pretty image in canva, and share it on instagram easier than I could condense a paragraph into the twitter character limit, or make it look appealing on Facebook's janky system.

And the more writing I shared, the more people commented and followed. And the more they commented and followed, the easier it was to talk to them. And then I started getting asks. That was nerve wracking and sometimes they'll still sit there a couple of months before I can make myself answer them.

(Sorry Sleepy and Avra, if you're reading this! I'll reply soon, I promise!)

Have I gone off topic here? I kind of feel like I have but also... not really.

If you feel like your writing is your strength, lean on it. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Show your hand with your words.

By the time I set up my mailing list and offered 'Whatever Happened To Madeline Hail?' for free, I got 12 people to sign up straight away. I don't know if that's a lot, but it was at least eight more than I was expecting.

When my book launched, I received 14 reviews, and sold 20 copies the first month. Again, I don't know if this is a lot, but it was a whole hecking lot more than I'd hoped for.

I don't know if I'm good at marketing, and maybe someone will reblog and reply to this with better advice, or tear apart what I've said, and if they do great! I really hope it helps you or someone else down the reblog chain because, as I said at the start, I'm really just stumbling around in the dark and hoping I somehow get it all to work out lol

But I do just have one more piece of advice, that isn't really my advice...

Tip No. 7

Fake it until you make it.

You're a writer. The beauty of the internet is that we have time to stop, and think about the words we're writing in response to someone.

I'm a shy, introvert, who doesn't know when to shut up when she gets started talking about writing (Or at least that's what it looks like based on the length of this post...)

But 99% of people I speak to online don't know I'm an introvert. They don't know that after sending an email I have to go back to bed for a few hours to recover my energy, or that I can't answer a phone without feeling nauseous for the rest of the day and it's because when I'm online I'm Arista Holmes, and I can write my responses in the same way I write my characters.

I'm not saying I'm not being me, I am, but I'm also being given the time and space to be the confident me I want to be, rather than the nervous wreck I actually am.

Write your socials, and market your book, as the you that you’d write if you were dropped into one of your own books.

Fake it until you make it.

Handy Resource List For Marketing:

Periodic Table of Content Marketing

Jenna Moreci's Youtube - I take her writing advice with a huge chunk of salt, but her marketing advice is top notch.

Bethany Atazedah Youtube - Co-wrote a Marketing For Authors Non-fiction series, but a lot of her youtube videos contain good, free, advice too.

Self-Publishing With Dale - If you want to market effectively, keeping on top of the current trends and changes in the market is important. Self Publishing with Dale is the best way I've found to do that; He really has his fingers on the pulse of the Self Publishing Market, and even if you're not publishing yet, checking out some of his videos can teach you loads about what to do, but more importantly, what NOT to do.

Michael Anderle's 20Bookto50k system - I didn't mention it as a tip but the BEST form of marketing a book is to write the next book. Michael Anderle talks about his theory that is you have 20 books published, your backlist of royalty income should net you around $50k a year. The hour and a half talk changed my whole marketing outlook and is why I'm focussed on a slow grown, more organically sourced, audience rather thank paid advertising.

Abbie Emmons Youtube - I'm not sure I should include Abbie in a list of marketing resources as she's often more about the writing side of the craft, but her videos have been invaluable to me, so she's just worth checking out in general.

[amielbjacobs]

Happy STS! What is your character’s living situation like? Do they live in a house/apartment/boarding house/castle? How neat do they keep it and why? What sort of vibes does their home have? Share as much detail as you like for as many characters as you want!

Vyacheslav Mirsky & Nadezhda Mirskaya - As of the events of Spymaster, the Mirskys have recently moved into an apartment in West Germany to work at the newly opened Soviet embassy in Bonn. Because of general 1950s sexist ideas about the wife being the one who takes care of the house and because of Vyacheslav's general retreat from all aspects of married life, most of the decor was left up to Nadia's discretion.* Nadia is thrifty, so I would imagine that a lot of the furniture depends on what was cheapest and quickest to get when they arrived in Bonn. She also likes to hang up mushroom identification charts because she loves mushroom hunting.

The one room Vyacheslav has claimed for himself is his "study". Nadia is aware, although neither of them have ever said it out loud, that she is not allowed into this room. Probably if she went in, Vyacheslav wouldn't say anything, just look uncomfortable. But she's never tried. Neither of them are eager to test the boundaries of their weird awkward silence.

The study isn't really a study; it was probably, like, a large broom closet or something of the nature before Vycheslav crammed a tiny desk and a chair into it. He keeps some of his books here, and mostly he shuts himself into it and writes, and then burns what he's written in his ash tray.

* Vyacheslav will insist to the last that he believes in the equality of the sexes as a tenant of Communism, but they're still the kind of m/f couple where things don't get done unless she either does it or tells him to do so. I will say, in his defense, that if she ever did feel able to ask him to do his half of the housework and so on, he would probably rise to the occasion, but he is so distant and weird to her that she never really feels comfortable discussing that with him.

Eugene Wallace - Wallace lives in a small 2 room flat in Bonn, somewhat away from where the other American diplomats live because he speaks very good German and isn't psyched about living packed in with all his coworkers next door. (This is, of course, also convenient for a secret love affair with a Russian spy . . . )

It's kind of a mess because he moved in recently. A lot of used furniture, some of which he's tried to repair or cover up damage on, a lot of boxes of books. Even if he were fully moved in, there'd probably always be books lying around the place. It's cluttered, a little worn, but cozy. He likes the color light blue, generally light colors.

His bedroom has a window that looks out onto the street, and there's a tree growing up next to it.

Honestly, I should boot up the Sims and model their houses, that would be fun.

Thanks for sending this, Moshke!

[thatndginger]

Happy WBW! How much do you like to know about your characters and worlds that will never make it on the page? Do you fill out long and not strictly necessary character sheets, plan everything from their favorite t-shirt to their preferred restaurant, and know 100 years of cultural history? Or do you only make up as much as is needed to tell your story? Or something in between?

Thank you so much for the ask Moshke!

I am definitely somewhere in-between when it comes to how much I want to know about my characters/world. My typical creation style is what I call the ‘throw it in the corner and let it grow like fungus’ system. I start with a few basic facts about whatever I want to write about – for example: Kerr’s starting ideas were ‘short’, ‘charming’, ‘annoying’, and ‘shapeshifter’. Then I slowly grow the character or world around those ideas. Part of the fun of it is seeing what comes out, you know? I’ve tried filling out those insanely detailed character sheets, and while parts of them have ended up being useful, I usually end up discarding half the stuff anyway when I realize my first thought wasn’t the best one.

For my worlds, I definitely want a pretty solid base to work from, since setting influences the story. But I don’t have the capacity or desire to plan out every single little detail, and have a whole history book’s worth of knowledge. But I do need there to be a good foundation of facts and details to start from. Do I think I need to detail the entire history of War Witch’s world from prehistory to present? No. Do I think I need to at least have a few basic ‘eras’ and important events down? Probably.

[moonluringfrost]

I hope you know you’re the best, Frost, and it always makes me happy to see your tags and replies and I’m so happy to know you (and your characters) and be in such a nice little writing community with you (It may be late and I may be tired and a bit sentimental, but that doesn’t make it any less true)

Aaaaaa that’s so sweet of you to say, Moshke! I feel the same about you, seeing you on my dash or in the tags always makes my day a little brighter :D

[scorpiongrassfield]

A Night at the Fall Fair

Alright everyone, I promised a fluffy short side story and uh. It's over 3k which is double the longest scorpion grass chapter soooo... here you go. This story is dedicated to @acertainmoshke, who gave me the idea for it, and helped me find some posts I needed to write it. Thank you Moshke~

Without further ado, here's the story:

"Alright kids, its costume reveal time!" Pat calls from down the hall.

You emerge from the room you chose to change in, as do Pat and Sylv.

Pat is wearing a floor length and rather form fitting black dress with flowy sleeves, a long straight black wig, and a black pendant necklace. Their makeup is also rather dark, their eye shadow in shades of deep gray, and their lipstick pomegranate red. They're holding a bundle of what appear to be rose stems.

"Morticia Addams?" Sylv guesses. He's also stepped into the hall.

"Ding ding ding, right on the money," Pat cheers. "I wanted to do drag, but I'm a little tall to be Gomez." They shrug.

"You're uhhh... That kid from that show, aren't you?" Pat guesses.

Sylv huffs and rolls his eyes.

"Um. He's a ghost, isn't he? His name is... Yukine?" You guess.

"Yeah, that's right," Sylv says with a smile. He seems surprised you got it.

"It looks good. Though I think you're right, blond doesn't quite suit you," Pat says.

Sylv shrugs. "I kinda figured. That's why I went with the wig instead of bleaching it."

The cartoon yellow of Sylv's wig is not quite blond and it is in stark contrast to his usual dark hair.

Also part of his costume are a green jacket with a faux fur rim to the hood, a white shirt, and some blue jeans.

The most striking part of his costume, even more so than the hair, is his eyes.

"Are those... colored contacts?" you ask.

Sylv snorts. "No, I just wished really hard and my eyes turned orange," he says. It's a bit sarcastic, but he's smiling and it lacks bite.

His shoulders hunch up a bit the way they do when he's annoyed. "They were a pain in the ass to get in though," he grumbles.

"I told you that contacts suck," Pat says in a sing song voice.

Sylv sighs in response.

"Anyway," he says with the careful enunciation of someone forcibly changing the subject, "Your costume is really cool too."

"Thank you," you say, returning the smile he gives you.

"You don't know what it's from, do you kid?" Pat says, nudging Sylv with their elbow.

"It's not just a creepier take on a sheet ghost?" He asks, nudging Pat back to get their elbow off his side.

"Nope!" Pat says popping the 'p'. "You wanna do the honors?" They ask, looking to you.

"Well. It's Charlie Brown's sheet ghost from. Um. Is it 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown?" you double check, looking at Pat.

"It is! Which is what we will be watching as soon as we get back from the festival, since someone hasn't seen it," they say, looking pointedly at Sylv.

Sylv rolls his eyes at them, but doesn’t say that he doesn’t want to watch the movie. 

“That sounds nice,” you say. 

“Excellent. These plans are now iron clad and inescapable. Now let’s get moving,” they say. 

The drive to the fair doesn’t take long. Pat is behind the wheel. Sylv volunteered to drive home, since he doesn’t drink and Pat claims there is very good hard cider to be had at the fair. 

It’s still a touch light out when your group arrives. This is perfect, because it will be much easier for you to select pumpkins for carving. 

You make a beeline for the pumpkin patch right away. 

“I’ll be over by the craft booths for a while. We’ll meet at the hayride atText if you need something,” Pat calls after you. 

You give them a thumbs up. 

Sylv follows along behind you at a more reasonable pace. 

“You’re that excited for pumpkin carving?” he asks, sounding unconvinced of the worth of it. 

You nod. “Yes. It’s a lot of fun. And it’s very different from a lot of other carving materials. I like it a lot.” 

“Huh. Alright then,” he says with a shrug. 

“Do you… not like pumpkin carving?” you ask. 

Someone brushes past you, and you move more to the side of the makeshift aisle of the pumpkin patch. Sylv follows suit. 

“I’ve never tried it. But I’m uh, not to fond of the idea of getting the guts out. I hear they’re slimy and I’m not too keen on sticking my hands into slimy things,” he explains, arms crossed defensively. 

“Ah. That makes sense. Well. You don’t have to if you don’t want. But if I cleaned out the insides for you, maybe it would be more enjoyable?” you offer. 

His mouth twists to the side a bit the way it does when he’s weighing the pros and cons of a thing. “Hm… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try,” he says with a shrug. 

“Oh. Okay then. I’ll pick out a pumpkin for you too, then,” you say with a smile. 

You think you see him smile back before you turn your attention back to pumpkin seeking. 

You walk up and down each row, making a mental note of potential good pumpkins as you go. Sylv follows you like a shadow, silently observing you. 

It takes quite some time to find truly good pumpkins, light dying in the sky by the time you select three. The pumpkins are a little hard to hold, what with your costume getting in the way of your arms a bit. 

“Want me to carry one?” Sylv offers, hands hovering close to the pumpkin nestled in the crook of your right arm. 

“Um. Sure. Here,” you say, juggling the pumpkins around in your arms so he can take the one he picked out for him. “That one is for you.” 

“Oh. Thanks,” he says, taking the pumpkin. 

The two of you return to the car to deposit the pumpkins in the trunk. 

“So, now what?” Sylv asks, casually leaning against the car. You still can’t get used to the way blond hair looks on him. 

“Well. We have an hour until the hayride. Want to go play some of the games?” you say, pointing over to the tents and booths that house the fair games. 

“Sure, sounds like fun,” he agrees. 

This time he leads the way. It’s much more crowded by the games, you almost lose him a few times. 

The games are all pretty typical for a fun fair. There’s ring toss, gold fish cup, duck pond… but there are a few that have been reskinned for the season, like the bean bag toss has players throwing bags at a vampire rather than a clown. 

You and Sylv work your way through the games, knowing full well that most if not all of them are rigged. 

Sylv somehow manages to be consistently better at games involving luck than you, which is alright because you’re better at the ones that require throwing skill. It all evens out. 

You manage to knock over the full stack of milk bottles at one booth, which nets you a Big Prize. 

You don’t really have any need for a unicorn plush that’s almost as tall as you are. 

You offer it to Sylv.

“That’s sweet, but I don’t really want it either,” he says with an amused grin. 

The two of you make meaningful eye contact. 

“Foist it onto Pat?” you ask, matching his grin.

He nods decisively, “Yep.” 

Pat will never be able to turn down a gift from the two of you, no matter how impractical. 

You manage to find Pat after texting them. They’re over at the picnic tables enjoying a drink and a snack. 

“Oh no,” Pat says as they see you approach. 

“What?” Sylv says, with a shit eating grin. 

“You know what,” Pat says, giving you both a stern look. They seem to be trying hard not to laugh. 

“We won this for you,” you say, offering the oversized plush with your sweetest smile. 

Pat loses their battle and huffs a laugh. “Uh huh. I’m sure you worked very hard to get it for me, and definitely didn’t get it accidentally and then not know what to do with it,” they say, arms crossed. 

“We would never,” Sylv says, faux-scandalized. 

“Uh huh. I’m so convinced,” Pat says dryly. They stand up from the table. 

“Alright, you two watch my stuff while I go take our new friend to the car,” they say, taking the unicorn from you. 

“Will do,” Sylv agrees. 

The two of you sit down next to each other, with Sylv taking Pat’s seat. 

“This is fun,” Sylv says, smiling softly. 

You nod in agreement. 

The two of you sit in companionable silence for a while, enjoying the cool autumn air and the lovely smells of the food and drink all around you. 

Pat returns with a tray. 

“Snack time,” they declare. 

Sylv frowns. 

“We’ve got some nonalcoholic hot cider for you,” Pat says, placing a tall styrofoam cup in front of Sylv. 

“And… I wasn’t sure if you wanted a cold hard cider or not, Theo, so I got both. I’ll drink whichever one you don’t want,” they say, gesturing to the two remaining cups on the tray. 

“I’ll take the hard cider,” you say after thinking it over. 

Pat nods. “Nice, they’re pretty good. Though the other kind is also pretty good. Can’t beat fall-fresh cider.” They hand you your drink. You have to take the first layer of your costume off to drink it. 

Underneath you’re wearing a yellow shirt with a black stripe and black pants. 

The cider is pretty good. Crisp and tart, and it feels warm going down. 

“And we’ve also got some mini-cakes to share. Pumpkin spice and caramel apple flavored,” Pat says, setting down the tray and sitting across from you. “Feel free to dig in.” 

You take an apple cake. It’s very moist, and a little sticky to the touch, but pretty tasty. 

Pat stares down Sylv until he takes a bite of a cake too, this one pumpkin spice. 

You aren’t entirely sure what the story behind the cold war over Sylv’s eating habit is. You think it might be rude to ask, so you don’t pry. 

Once Pat is satisfied that Sylv is eating, they dig in as well. They tell you all about how they found a really cool stall selling hand-woven baskets and ended up befriending the person who makes them, and also that they bought too much apple butter so the two of you will have to help them eat it. 

In turn, Sylv tells them about how pumpkin picking and playing games went. You’re content to watch the two of them speak for the time being. 

Ciders drunk and cakes eaten, your group cleans up and gets ready to go on the hayride. Sylv keeps his styrofoam cup with him, having not finished his cider. 

The line for the hayride is a little long, since there are only so many people that can fit on one cart, even if they do have two carts in rotation.

Once your group is at the front of the line, it turns out that there are only two seats left. The next several groups behind you are groups of four or five. 

“Alright, why don’t you two go on this one, and I’ll hop on the next one?” Pat offers. 

You frown. “Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, it’s all good. Maybe I’ll make some new friends,” they say with a smile. 

You don’t doubt it. They could make friends with just about anyone they set their mind to befriending. 

“Come on then. We’re holding up the ride,” Sylv says, not unkindly. 

You follow him up onto the cart. The two of you sit close together, as the ride is a bit crowded. 

Before the ride starts, Sylv whispers. “Do you want some of my cider? It’s still warm.” He holds out the cup. 

“Oh. Um. Sure, I’ll try it,” you say, taking it from him. You try not to think any silly thoughts about all this. 

It’s a very nice cider, well-spiced and not too sweet. You notice that the cup is still mostly full. “Do you not like it?” 

Sylv shrugs. “It’s fine.” He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it anymore. 

You hand the cup back as the ride starts to move. 

The first jump scare does indeed scare you. The sound you make is a little too shrill to not be embarrassing. You can’t help but fold in on yourself a little bit. 

Sylv leans in a little closer to you and starts telling you all about the history of scare rides in a hushed voice. 

You’re more than happy to listen. You always like listening to him talk, but when he’s explaining something he’s passionate about he really lights up in a way that is terribly endearing to you. 

He talks the whole way through the ride. You think this is probably more enjoyable than it would be if he were silent. 

He helps you step down off of the cart once it’s over. 

After everyone gets off the ride, one last scare actor jumps out at you, some sort of evil bloody scarecrow. 

You yelp and grab onto Sylv reflexively. 

He manages not to spill his drink. He looks pretty amused, but it doesn’t seem like he’s laughing at you. 

“Sorry,” you say as you let go. 

He makes a ‘don’t worry about it’ gesture. “It’s fine.” 

The two of you wait for Pat’s ride to be done with in companionable silence. 

Pat also yelps when the final scare happens, which makes you feel a little better about it all. 

Sylv is stifling a laugh this time. 

You suspect it’s more about how Pat’s outfit has straw bits stuck all in it. There’s even some in their hair. 

“Wha- how the hell do neither of you have any hay on you?” Pat complains. “That’s just unfair,” they say, crossing their arms and frowning. 

“Maybe the fabric of your gown is just more prone to snagging?” you offer. 

Pat sighs. “That’s probably it. And you two jokers have short hair, too…” 

You shrug. 

“Anyway. That was fun, did you have fun?” Pat asks. 

You nod. 

“Yeah, it was a decent ride. The people doing the makeup and costumes here are talented,” Sylv says. 

Pat agrees. 

“Alright. Next up is to drink more hot cider. It’s getting pretty chilly out. Are you two warm enough?” Pat asks. 

Sylv shrugs. He has the advantage of having a coat built into his costume. 

You’re currently wearing the sheet ghost portion of your costume as a sort of cloak, which is doing alright to keep you warm, for now. You tell Pat as much. 

“Right. Well, you two go have fun then. If you split up, we’ll meet back at the car at say… 10:30 if we don’t all see each other again before then, alright?” They say. 

“Sounds good,” Sylv agrees. 

You nod. 

Pat waves as they head back to the food area. 

“Do you want to split up?” Sylv asks? 

You shrug. “I don’t mind staying together if you don’t.” 

“Let’s stick together then,” Sylv decides with a smile.

The two of you wander around. You’ve already seen most of what there is to see. You find the craft booths, which are interesting. There are a lot of talented craftspeople and artists around. You end up buying some little flowers carved from wood. One each for Pat, Sylv, and yourself. You pocket them to give later. 

After that, it seems like you might be done for the night. 

“Is there anything else here to d-Corn Maze!” Sylv says, cutting himself off in excitement. 

You find yourself being half-dragged along behind him, as he’s grabbed you by the hand. 

“Ah, you like corn mazes?” you ask as the two of you enter. Sylv slows his pace once you’re ensconced in the endless walls of grain. 

“I’ve never been in one before. Always wanted to try it though,” he says. He finally lets go of your hand. 

“Oh, I see. Well. Hopefully it will be fun. 

You let Sylv dictate which turns to make, since he seemed so excited about it. 

He gets utterly and completely lost. 

You have a fairly good grasp of where you are in the maze. You’ve always had a good sense of direction, and the little lanterns scattered about are in different shapes and colors, making for good landmarks. 

“Theo,” Sylv says, plaintive, “We’re going to die in here. We’re going to die and then haunt this place as ghosts forever because we’re never getting out.” 

You can’t help but smile. You’re pretty sure he’s being overdramatic for fun.

“Well, then it will be a much more authentic haunted corn maze, won’t it?” you say with a shrug. 

“I can’t believe you want us to die here,” he complains. 

Sylv’s phone rings. 

“Yeah?” he answers the phone in his normal tone of voice. “The corn maze. What? No. We’re totally not lost… Oh, is it that late? Uh. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. See you,” he says. 

“So Pat’s going to come find us. We’re supposed to say put,” he says with a sheepish smile. 

“Ah. Then I guess we will stay here,” you say, smiling back. 

“Help me finish this before they get here?J” Sylv asks, offering the cider to you again. You accept it and take a sip. It’s cold now, but still pretty tasty. 

After you take a few sips, you give it back. “You have to drink some too,” you say. 

His shoulders slump. “Okay,” he says, like he’s accepting a burdensome task. 

The two of you do manage to finish the drink before Pat finds you, though it doesn’t take long for them to arrive. 

“Oh good, you two haven’t died and decided to haunt the maze,” Pat observes. 

“We came pretty close,” Sylv says with a laugh. 

You nod in agreement. 

“Right. Time to get out of here. If we take too long, we’re not going to have time for our movie before I fall asleep,” Pat says. 

“Oh no, we wouldn’t want that,” Sylv says, sarcastic. His smile is genuine though, so you think he might just be giving Pat shit for fun. 

Pat nudges Sylv’s shoulder with their own in a friendly manner, but doesn’t say anything else about it. 

Pat leads the way out of the maze pretty quickly. You were right in thinking you knew the way out. 

Once you’re out of the maze, you notice that Sylv is no longer walking next to you. 

“Sylv?” you call out. You turn back into the maze. You hope he didn’t get separated and then lost again. 

“Boo!” Sylv shouts, jumping out from around a corner. 

You startle, not expecting it at all. 

“Hey,” you say in a complaining tone, crossing your arms.

“That’s for not helping me get un-lost,” he says with a big grin. 

Well. It’s hard to stay mad at him when he smiles like that. 

“I suppose that’s fair,” you agree. 

Sylv laughs goodnaturedly at your easy acceptance. 

“Come on, let’s catch up with Pat before it’s past their bedtime,” he says. 

The two of you hurry back to the car. 

Pat is leaning against the back passenger side door, smoking a cigarette. 

“Pat,” Sylv says. 

Pat shrugs, but stubs out their cigarette in the dirt. “You two were taking a while. Just wanted to pass the time. 

Sylv gives them a look, but doesn’t comment further. Another war between them, though this one is slightly less cold. 

Sylv gets into the driver’s seat, and Pat into the back, leaving shotgun free for you. 

“Did we all have fun?” Pat asks. 

“I’d say so. We got you a pumpkin to carve,” Sylv says. 

“And a giant unicorn plush. A night full of presents,” Pat replies. 

“I also got some flowers,” you add. You turn to hand Pat theirs. 

“Huh. Thanks,” Pat says, accepting it. “Y’know… When I pulled the nine of pentacles this morning, this wasn’t the sort of windfall I was expecting. Not gonna complain though,” they say, a smile apparent in their voice. 

“Glad you’re happy with it,” Sylv says. Then, after a beat, he asks: “Did you have fun, Theo? I know I kind of dragged you around for a lot of it.” He sounds slightly apologetic. 

“I did. This was a very lovely outing, and hanging out with you was nice. Thank you,” you say, genuine. 

Sylv’s shoulders hunch up a bit, but he doesn’t sound annoyed when he says: “Don’t mention it.” 

The rest of the drive is peacefully quiet. 

Once back home, everyone changes out of their costumes and into more comfortable clothes. 

Your costume is the fastest to remove, so you end up getting back to the living room first. 

By the time you’ve found Pat’s dvd copy of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” your friends have both made their way out of their respective bedrooms. 

“Perfect, thanks Theo,” Pat says as they settle down into their favorite chair. 

Sylv sits down on the loveseat and echoes, “Yeah, thanks.” 

Once you’ve got the movie playing, you sit down next to Sylv. 

It’s a cute movie, and you’re happy to watch it again. 

Though this showing is supposed to be for Sylv’s benefit, and he falls asleep about halfway through. He slumps sideways, his head coming to rest on your shoulder. You don’t mind much. 

Once the movie is over, Pat looks away from the screen to the couch. 

They chuckle when they see Sylv. 

“This is a strict no sleeping on the couch household. You have a bed, go get in it,” they say in a slightly raised voice. 

Sylv stirs and shoots them a dirty look from barely cracked eyes. You notice that Sylv still has the colored contacts in. 

“Sorry,” Sylv says when he realizes he’s laying on you. He sits up. 

“It’s alright,” you say, rubbing at the back of your neck. 

“Goodnight. See you tomorrow,” Pat calls as they head to their bedroom. 

“G’night,” Sylv calls back. 

“Good night,” you echo. 

Sylv stands up and stretches. “Right. Time for bed,” he says, and starts towards his room. 

“Don’t forget to take your contacts out,” you call after him. 

He swears. “Ugh, thanks Theo,” he grumbles. You suspect he’s more upset about having to take them out than the reminder. 

You head to bed yourself. Drifting to sleep, you think you had a pretty nice time tonight. You hope your dreams will be just as sweet.

[toribookworm22]

Happy WBW, Tori! How accessible is your world? Are some disabilities accommodated and others seen as a problem, or just invisible? If your world is pretty inaccessible, what's the in-universe reason for this? Interpret this any way you want, and it's not meant as a judgement for people who haven't thought about this--I just really like knowing how authors approach disability!

Hey, Moshke! Thanks for the ask, darling!

Okay, so I want to discuss The Animatronic Saga for this one for a couple of reasons.

When I started the series, I was 12 years old and very naive to disabilities. I simply hadn't been exposed to a lot of then and therefore they didn't translate into my writing.

So the series is incredibly inaccessible. It's possibly even a little ableist. After all, animatronics cure all things physical.

I thought this was a good thing. No sickness, no disease, no injuries, no pain. Glasses are rarely seen as most people get corrective surgery. There's no mention of anyone with a chronic illness or anything like that.

But on one of my rewrites, I realized how much humanity this stripped away from my characters. And I found little seedlings of its undoing. Such as the fact that automatons may heal fast, but they scar quicker and nastier. Reprogramming may cure all physical injuries, but it will leave lasting side effects. Wounds that open back up. Nerves that attack the body. Worsening mental states.

So now, The Animatronic Saga is quite inaccessible, but it's done very purposefully. The modern world has pushed out those with disabilities, trying to fix them and mold them. But they won't be fixed.

Because forcibly fixing someone isn't really fixing them at all. And maybe it's more nuanced than that. Maybe there are more stories to tell than miracle cures.

[sam-glade]

Happy WBW, Sam! What is the best way to communicate long-distance in your world, and what are the conventions around that? (for example, letter etiquette or email writing styles)

Hi Moshke! Happy WBW!

I've answered a similar question here on long distance communication (and clackers).

As for letter etiquette, the only thing I specified so far is that in the times of DoD the less formal the letters are (i.e. the closer the acquaintances) the more simplified the ideographs become. The writing system is ideographic, but people want to write fast, so they simplify the symbols and let you figure out from the context whether they mean 'carrot' or 'pinecone'. Sometimes you need to know the pen pal to understand what they've written. Sometimes it's injokes piled on top of one another. Sometimes it's rebuses (much like in Egyptian hieroglyphs).

Thankfully, by The Truth Teller, the writing system got simplified down to syllabic.

[writernopal]

Hi Nopal, happy STS! What are the myths surrounding the sea like in your world? Are there krakens, sirens, sea serpents? Entirely new and different things? Or fantasy twists on the (already fantastical) traditional legends? Are there any that aren't fearful, either in a hopeful way or in some way involving getting everything you ever wanted?

Happy STS, Moshke!

Are there krakens, sirens, sea serpents? Entirely new and different things?

Yes, yes, yes AND yes! Krakens and sirens are particularly integral to Fay's character and story. She serves Satoyev, Lord of Krakens, and has her own kraken, Saviyesaih, that she summons and often rides into battle. That's how she got one of her names/personas, The Scaled Siren, and is where the name of her crew, The Siren's Marauders, comes from.

There are also sea witches (different from sirens) which are covens of humanoid fish-type women who develop out of too much Consumption (a type of forced magical expansion that deforms and damages the body). Satoyev himself is a special type of creature but I can't get into what he is or why bc it's spoilers. Less deadly are sea nymphs, inspired by nudibranches, which are kind but skittish treasure-seeking creatures. There is one that makes an appearance on the cover of AASOAF 2!

Or fantasy twists on the (already fantastical) traditional legends? Are there any that aren't fearful, either in a hopeful way or in some way involving getting everything you ever wanted?

OOOO this is one area I really wanted to develop when I was writing AASOAF but I could never really find an opportunity for it. It, like some of the other media and entertainment (like music, art movements, etc) fell a little by the wayside bc it's not directly related to what happens in the series.

My plan is to explore those kinds of pieces in the AASOAF companion novel which I've not really talked about, mostly because I don't have that much to say about it yet. It's what I plan to write after AASOAF 3 and as of now, is going to be a slice-of-life piece focused on two minor characters that make appearances in the AASOAF series. (Lexlar and Hartim, for those who might recognize their names!)

[acertainmoshke]

I am officially a published author!

7 Days for Fae is a low-stakes middle grade book following 10-year-old Fae as she makes a new friend, learns to accommodate her own needs, and helps her family get along. Featuring an autistic protagonist with supportive parents, a big imagination, and a b-plot about showing her aunt that there’s nothing wrong with one of her parents being trans. It also contains 4 lovely illustrations by Marta Maszkiewicz like this one:

Find it as a paperback on Amazon or Lulu, or as an ebook on Lulu!

Full blurb under the cut:

Fae struggles to do a lot of things that are easy for other kids. She has a hard time talking, running, and reading facial expressions. She finds other things easy: reading, making up stories about fairies, flapping her hands to tell the world she’s happy. But in 5th grade it’s not good to be different, no matter how much she can’t help being disabled.

Now Fae’s aunt is moving in with her family and suddenly nothing feels right—all of the adults are quietly upset for reasons Fae doesn’t understand. Aunt Lana gets mad at her for things she can’t help and makes her feel like a baby. She just wants things to go back to the way they were.

Meanwhile at school, the new kid doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo that Fae is supposed to be invisible. He sits right down next to her and starts talking about spaceships. She isn’t sure what to do with this loud boy, but when he still wants to be her friend after a meltdown gets her suspended, it seems worth giving him a shot.

And now, as her life is falling apart, it looks like it might be up to Fae to discover if people really can change, and if change can sometimes make everyone’s life better.

[acertainmoshke]

I had the weirdest interaction with a random lady today while we were both buying coffee. So I’m wearing this cap:

Because (1) I happened to put on green pants, a green and black Oregon Trail shirt, and a teal hoodie, so the color scheme matched. And (2) I think it’s really fucking funny.

So this lady smiles and asks what my hat says in Hebrew. And I have been WAITING for this. I’ve owned this hat for months now and no one EVER asks. So I tell her, impressively succinctly and coherently, “It says emet, which means truth. But it’s also a joke because it was what was carved into a golem’s head to bring it to life.”

And she sort of…recoiled? And went, “oooooh, that’s a lot of information,” then laughed nervously and turned back to the counter.

And I’m??? So confused?? I answered her question in two sentences. And I can’t tell if I was talking too fast and overwhelmed her or if, like, she was expecting some deep religious Christian significance?

[acertainmoshke]

New writing game because I’m so tired and I’ve been sad that I haven’t been up for as much writeblr lately.

So

Reblog this with one line, devoid of context, that you wrote today (or the last time you wrote).

I’ll start:

It wasn’t, really. Not nearly as sharp as chocolate.

I’ll gently tag @writernopal @moonluringfrost @abalonetea @author-a-holmes@ albatris @sithbelle @moonshinemagpie @keysandopenmind @mister-writes @gummybugg @sam-glade @stesierra @akiwitch and @k-v-briarwood because that was who I could come up with off the top of my head but if you see this consider yourself tagged!

[acertainmoshke]

Hey guyyyyys…

If all goes well, I should be able to publish 7 Days for Fae in the next month or two!! This is my figuring things out book so I am still working on people knowing it exists, which currently means (1) hoping the local bookstore approves my request to order it, (2) letting my therapist recommend it to parents she knows, and (3) posting about it here.

I haven’t talked about it much on tumblr because I was done with the first few drafts before I found writeblr, so if you don’t remember it’s this one:

A middle grade book about a 10-year-old autistic girl (who also has a neurological disability) navigating life as she struggles in school, makes a new friend, tests her own limits, and has to find a way to communicate with her well-meaning but ignorant aunt. Featuring supportive parents and a b-plot about her nonbinary parent and the adults who are weird about that.

Most of my writing buddies on here are more in the adult genre of interests, but I would really appreciate people sharing this post so that parents or teachers or anyone interested might see it. (Follow me for updates or if you don’t want to be following me feel free to send me a message/ask to be told when it is available)

[acertainmoshke]

Are there people you can pay to draw you a fantasy map? Not, like, design it—I know where everything IS. Just make it aesthetic and pretty and like a real map

[acertainmoshke]

I know I was just complaining about romantic dynamics, but you know what the best romantic dynamic is?

Former lovers who are still kind of in love but not together for practical reasons.

[acertainmoshke]

What is everyone’s hyper specific writing quirk? I’ll go first. When I’m handwriting I use cursive to represent italics.