@groggydog #amwriting #historicalfiction #Breadspotting ;)

#Breadspotting Act 1, Scene 13 is out to patrons at 2393 words. Uncle Milton finally makes an appearance, and the family works out some things. https://www.patreon.com/posts/breadspotting-1-85486677 #amwriting #historicalfiction

Scenes: 13
Total Word Count: 27,170
Still only US$1

#WritingWonders Jul23 2/31

Do you think readers will find your MC likeable? Why or why not?

First, they have to find my MC.

#Breadspotting is at:
https://www.patreon.com/wanderingbeekeeper

The story has 12 scenes thus far, 24k words.
The first scene is up for free.
It's US$1 to get the rest.
I've recorded audio files that patrons get for free with the text.

I have 7 patrons.

I have never reached 10 patrons.

So would people like Tim and Peony? They'd have to meet them first.

#WritingWonders Jun23 28/30

If your MC could live anywhere in our world, where would they choose?

Tim, Peony: Boston maybe, someplace Irish that's not Ireland

Hiram: Moscow, there's serious money to be made

Jennie: Louisiana maybe, be a root worker in the bayou

Kevin: Does it matter? Me Ma & Da aren't here.

Malone: I hear there's a lovely convent in Lyons, & it's far from Paris

Yunus: Texas, they need help

Henry: Greenwich Village, or Paris, 4th arrondissement

#Breadspotting

#WritingWonders Jun23 24/30

Antagonist POV: What do you think about the MC?

We've seriously underestimated them. We thought we were dealing with cockroaches, but we have a much nastier type of vermin here. Rats fight like terrors when cornered, and now I have to wonder if I need to put on more ratcatchers, and let them turn the dogs loose. Would be so much easier if we didn't have to be circumspect, hard to rid a posh borough of rats when you can't be seen doing it.
#Breadspotting

#WritingWonders Jun23 23/30

Would your MC/hero stand out in our world?

Only marginally. 1856 London is not that different from 2023 NYC. People walk to work, buy their breakfast from a cart on the street, take the bus if they can afford it, and live in a very similar way. How we pay, using cards and electronics, would take a little adjustment, but not much. Mainly, their clothing would mark them as out of era, and that's easily addressed.
#Breadspotting

#WritingWonders Jun23 20/30

Do you have any LGBT+ characters in your story?

Henry is short for Henrietta, and she's butch as hell. I'm basing her on women I have known, and am reading Stone Butch Blues for more background.

Yunus is bisexual, although the story doesn't give him time for any sort of relationship.

Jennie Redteeth is ace, but more through young age and trauma. She may eventually develop an interest but right now doesn't even want to be touched nonsexually.

#Breadspotting

#WritingWonders Jun23 19/30

Who was your MC’s first friend and how did they meet?

Tim: Andy Cohen, the kid next door growing up

Peony: Alice Greevy, at the church nursery

Kevin: Rhys Jones, two doors down in the mining company tenements

Henry: Next question.

Isaac: Felipe Suarez, across the road, he was the chemist's son and could steal fireworks sometimes

Malone: Agnes O'Connolly, we sang together in the children's choir

Billy: Yeah, you're about to meet him

#Breadspotting

Got Milton into the house and seated at the table. Shots of pochim have been consumed and business can begin. #amwriting #Breadspotting

Uncle Milton has walked with a limp ever since he fell through the roof during the Rhubarb Wars. #Breadspotting #amwriting

#WritingWonders Jun23 18/30

Have your friends and / or family read your books? Why / why not?
No. I get excuses, but no hard reasons. My readers for Antillia, for the most part, ghosted me after I sent them the text, hence my constant fretting over whether I should send off 180k words for a pro edit or just toss the damn thing. #Breadspotting has 24k words, and some Sausage Making posts, and I still only have 7 patrons. The evidence says that I suck as a writer. I keep doing it. Not sure why.

I've got the next scene of #Breadspotting pseudocoded, and a few lines I want in the draft. I just need to work through it and get a revised draft out to patrons. Getting the time has been difficult, getting the headspace much more difficult due to ongoing fash issues in the neighborhood. Going to try for a writing session Sunday, and will take what time I can grab before then whenever I can get my head clear enough. The show must go on. #amwriting #historicalfiction

#WritingWonders Jun23 15/30

What’s your setting: urban, rural, natural, something else?

Urban - London, 1856. #Breadspotting is #historicalfiction with no magic or fantasy elements. I've taken very minor liberties with the locations, as there wasn't actually a bread factory at Gossett Street, but within the bounds of possibility in our world. The Bappers are an unusual assortment, but they're all people who could have actually existed.

#WritingWonders Jun23 13/30

Is there a corruption arc in your story? If not, speak about any other arc.

No. The current arc is about aggression and response, leveraging available strengths, and winning through positive action. The Bappers have an opportunity to go low and bloody, but as a whole deal retributive damage proportionately. There will be an exception, but it's already foreshadowed. The Stickers, well ...

Words: 24k
Scenes: 12
Patrons: 7
https://www.patreon.com/wanderingbeekeeper
#Breadspotting

@neve Yes to all of the above. Spite and grim determination keep me going. After 40 years of publishing fiction and ttrpg stuff and getting No Reaction Whatsoever, not even hate mail, #Breadspotting is my last effort, and it's yet to break ten patrons at US$1 a month, which is not doing good things for my ability to finish it. Seriously, do I have to write something deliberately offensive just to get a freaking reaction? I'd rather get a rotten tomato than silence. #writephant

#WritingWonders Jun23 12/30

MC POV: How do you feel about marriage?

Tim: Bloody happy let me tell you.
Peony: What Tim said.

Isaac: I hope so, how will people know I'm a success if I don't have a wife to get fat?

Malone: It's a lovely institution and a cornerstone of our society, but I think mine will be spiritual rather than secular.

Yunus: My relatives try to introduce me to nice young women of good family. I have studies to complete.

Jenny: (bares her teeth and hisses)

#Breadspotting

#WritingWonders Jun23 10/30

How would you describe your story: fun, epic, dark, sad, etc.? Why?

Grim but hopeful. The Bappers are up against an enemy seeking their destruction, who has greater financial resources and greater access to official support due to class distinctions. They rely on organizing and solidarity to confront the enemy with a strong, unified neighborhood.

#Breadspotting
Words: 24k
Scenes: 12
Patrons: 7
https://www.patreon.com/wanderingbeekeeper

Starting to make some serious notes for the next arc of #Breadspotting - getting some description of Reena, and filling in back story as to why she looks and acts and dresses the way she does. #amwriting

The Rhubarb Wars will be referenced in both the first and second arcs of #Breadspotting but never fully explained. #amwriting

Trying to get to #Breadspotting but my usual Sunday #writing session has gone by the wayside. We are prepping for departure at 7am tomorrow for a 5 day road trip with family members, for my father in law's last ever pilgrimage to the Wyeth Museum. He's 82, and all the friends he used to go with are gone, so it's the next generation of cousins going. I'll be taking my laptop with me but no idea how this is going to go.