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2026.01.09 — Is there a difference in how long it takes you to decide if you like different mediums? Why do you think that is?

Yes. An image takes seconds to see and react to. Music takes however long it takes to hear a piece. Reading something takes minutes for a poem to days for a novel.

Why? Time to appreciate the work.

This doesn't mean something can't take extra time to grow on me, or that I won't make a snap decision based a something that immediately resonates, but I am pretty consistent about "finishing" before definitively liking something.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]


photographer chef cooking

2026.01.12 — Does your MC have a good support system?

No. She thinks of herself as poison and worthless.

She develops a support system without intending to—while actively pushing people away—throughout the story by caring and helping out new friends because, well… She is confused that she's still human and that she behaves like a normal woman despite her circumstances.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]





2026.01.11 — What does the opening chapter of your story reveal about the world it’s set in?

It's a city, likely modern. They have cameras and newspaper reporters. Some people have wings and can fly. There's apparently "racial" tensions since the two characters in focus hurl pejoratives at one another, and the story names the "races." A multistory sheet of absolute blackness has opened blocking a major boulevard. Traffic is snarled, but nobody is running in abject fear, either. The generic term for what created the "apparition" is "miracle." The weather is very hot.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]





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2026.01.12 — How do you get to know your characters before you start writing?

[Something maybe TD;LR, where I take you through my character and story development process, with examples. —R]

If "start writing" means before composing any of the story, be it a novel or something shorter, I either repurpose a character from an earlier story or imagine the type of person I could develop sufficiently to take the story from the starting situation to my chosen ending. By "imagine," I mean positing a stereotype, a few random details, an agenda, and likely an adversity. Then, I write.

This brings me to a second "getting to know" meaning for "start writing," which is what happens at any time during composition when a character appears on stage. I write, letting the character deal with the situation, learning who they are …

899 — Imagine This: In a modern universe, what would be your MC’s screen name (gamer tag or online alias)?

Bolt, a day angel, lives in a self-naming society already, and she chose the name Lightning Bolt to assert she was a fast flier and was proud of it. If the point is it needs to be an alias for anonymity, how about Blue Streak? Implies crazy fast as does Lightning Bolt; as a bonus it highlights that her wing feathers are various shades of blue including electric blue. It works as a pun because she does swear a blue streak now and again.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]



…

898 — Does your MC prefer to spend time alone, in a small group, or in a larger group?

Bolt spends most of her time these days alone, but since she's involuntarily working for the mob it is a kind of self-defense. She prefers company, preferably male. Small groups are best. When she was in high school, she was the top aerial athlete and she trained hard—though for obvious reasons not as physically strong as the guys she hung out with. She horsed around with them a lot and got into a plenty of trouble, but was their leader, often accused by other girls of keeping too many guys on a string. She took pride in that accomplishment.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]


897.1 — Bonus Question (Courtesy of @HeliaXyana): Which one of your characters is the loudest snorer and who is most likely to sleepwalk?

Bolt doesn't often sleep with others, but when she has fun events planned for the next day, she does literally sleep with Blue. The well-built fit praetorian whistles through his nose, faintly. Bolt finds it endearing. It doesn't keep her awake when enveloped in his blue feathered wings.

As for sleepwalking, nobody does that naturally. Unnaturally…

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]





2026.01.09 — Have you invented any words/sayings/swears etc. for your story?

Yes. They must be instantly understandable in context, and preferably humorous or revelatory. The POV is a day angel, a thirty year old woman with feathered wings who can fly. I try to stick with standard English, but I do modify clichés and invective, repurposing and warping normal words. A culture-centric story needs flavoring and spice. Here's a few in each category:

Aerie: Any home accessible only by flight. Bolt lives in a converted attic apartment in the big city and her aerie has an entrance hatch instead of a window.

Feather: A colloquialism for another day angel if you are a day angel yourself, an in-group word for a minority. It's a racist slur if you use it and aren't a day angel. Prepare to be punched.

Being demonstrative and …

2026.01.08 2/2

— While editing, what most clearly signals a pacing issue?

It occurs to me that by "pacing" you mean the rhythm of the words and whether sentence length varies pleasingly. Read the chapter aloud. If it sounds wrong or is hard to orate, consider changing whatever sounds stilted.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]




2026.01.08 — How long does it usually take you to decide if you like a book?

Liking is predicated on me reading the book.

A bad cover ruins any chance of me reading a book. An extraordinary cover goes far to ensuring I will. I read the blurbs, but not about the author. I then read a middle page at random and the page of the first actual chapter.

If I buy the book, two things help me decide if I like the book. Finishing it. Few are books that I lose interest in, or that I hate, but it happens. Second: What I feel after I finish the book.

Since this question is "how long," that depends on the book. I rarely have time to read one in one sitting. Let's say between three days and a few weeks. Then, if it isn't …

2026.01.08 — Antagonist POV: What advice would you give to people 10 years younger than you?

I ask this to Rainy Days, the Director of Home and the Nine Outer Worlds. She looks 24 years old and makes no attempt to look older. Her mouth makes a surprised O-shape. With a cough, she starts to chuckle. It turns to giggling before she starts laughing, holding one hand to her belly and waving for me to stop asking. When I persist, she says, "You're flattering me. This is way too ridiculous." In good humor, she gets up, staggering briefly because she's hyperventilated, before she wanders into an adjacent room where I can hear echoes of her laughing and snorting through the closed door.

She's technologically immortal. She's older than nations and civilizations. It's really too funny a question to ask her. She's outlived them all.

Fortunately, …

2026.01.09 — What’s your top tip for writing authentic dialogue?

Were I asked, and I'm taking this as if I were, I'd say:

Imagine yourself speaking to the other person, and adjust as you would to hired help, a friend, a co-worker, a superior, or a personage (prince, pastor, etc.). Your character can be self-conscious; you as an author cannot. If you find you are, imagine harder. Do this exercise for both characters, regardless of whether they are POV or not.

Keep paragraphs short. Dialogue is back and forth, so clip heated exchanges with em-dashes to show characters interrupting each other. Trail off with an ellipsis. Don't force your characters to use proper grammar: Sentence fragments, contractions, telegraphy—One. Word. Sentences!—blabbering run-ons, leading ands and buts, lack of pronouns or verbs, and other grammar catastrophes are okay, as dictated by each character's requirements. Skip …

2026.01.08 — While editing, what most clearly signals a pacing issue?

Read the chapter. If it bores you, consider shortening it.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]




896. What does your MC worry about the most?

Trapped working for the mob for a dozen years, you'd think she'd be worried about herself most. She's pretty apathetic about that, resigned to her fate. No. It's about all the people she's being thrown into contact with, people she likes, with whom she's making friends. Friends that care about her, which confuses her no end since she has decided she has no worth. She knows better, on these accounts. Being acquainted, especially the mob knowing these friends know her, makes them targets (maybe hostages) that can be used to control her. They could even use that she's in the mob to blackmail the few who have elevated positions.

She worries. A lot. She cries sometimes, even as she can't resist being with them and deludes herself it will be okay.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

…

895 — Tell us about your SC’s most cherished possession.

They are not an acquisitive group†, so I'm going up the food chain to the top predator antagonist who is featured only as a cameo SC. When you can have anything and you are technologically immortal, what interests you? None of the little things. For Rainy Days, her most cherished possession is the world itself, but it's the world in a role not unlike a crippled bird. She loves it. She takes care of it. She knows it would die were she to neglect for even a day, so she works hard to never to resent it. Instead, she actively searches for someone to replace her. Which is what makes her the perfect antagonist.

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†The MC does have a cherished item—as does the Devil-girl in her SC role, but the latter I've talked about ad …