#WordWeavers

7 September 2023

Why did the Mer-Princes become villains? Simple. They had ambitions that were somewhat problematic, and they wanted to rule the world, which got in the way of other people wanting to rule the world, and the happiness, peace and wellbeing of countless other people. Did they care? Nope. They wanted what they wanted, by any means necessary.

#writinglife #amwriting #writingcommunity #mermaids #merpunk #amwritingfantasy #writing #writers #watermyth

#WritersCoffeeClub

9 September 2023

Not only is Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay one of my favourite books (and GGK's writings are a great influence on my own), but the cover by Mel Odom is one of my favourite works of art. I can't count how many times as an amateur artists I've tried to reproduce that cover and in fact doing so in my teens helped me rehabilitate my art and take it to a better place after I'd despaired of ever being good, although I'll never be a visual artist of any merit. One cannot be all the things, after all.

Link takes you to the wiki that has the cover.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigana

#writing #writers #writinglife #writingcommunity #writersofmastodon #watermyth #amwriting #bookstodon

#WritersCoffeClub

9 September 2023

I'm all about the intertext, the bricolage, the palimpsest, the mise-en-abyme. it's in my literary research and it's in nearly all of my published work to date, from the Bunian Empire stories, to the Sesen stories to the Laneworld stories. More easter eggs than you can shake a stick at! Layers are my kink, clearly.

#writing #writers #writinglife #writingcommunity #writersofmastodon #watermyth #amwriting #bookstodon

#WritersCoffeeClub

1 September 2023

Intro: Shameless Self-Promotion

Hello, I'm Anita. I'm a senior lecturer in literature and creative writing (I teach creative writing both for undergraduates and postgraduates and think about the mechanics and the craft of writing all of the time). As Nin Harris I've had fiction, poetry and even a Game (interactive fiction) published in various venues (professional, semi-professional, token etc). While I'm in several anthologies including the award-winning People of Colour Destroy Science Fiction, I've never had a book to my name yet. I aim to change that this year by self-publishing the first novel of the Cantata of the Fourfold Realms, #Watermyth.

Here's my bibliography for access to the free stuff: https://mythopoetica.com/bibliography/

#introduction #writinglife #mermaids #merpunk #amwriting #writingcommunity #bookstodon #bibliophile #writersofmastodon

#WordWeavers

1 September 2023

A new hashtag for a new month, allons-y!

The twenty-five Mer-Princes are one of the major antagonists in the Cantata of the Fourfold Realms, and this happened because their blasphemous (and deeply problematic) scientific experiments caused them to be expelled and exiled from the Empress Rhavella's Mer-Kingdom on the realm of Gaeirn. I suppose it's a case of "What if Dr. Frankenstein became embodied in twenty-five Mer-Princes who wanted more power and dominion over more than one element?"

The main Mer-Prince in #Watermyth is Prince Rinaldi and I guess the positive things about him is that he actually does care for his daughter, is urbane, very cultured, has excellent tastes in food and in books. As a whole the Mer-Princes are also brilliant architects and scientists, are charismatic and good company, but their cruelty is subtle and unparalleled.

#writingcommunity #writinglife #amwriting #amwritingfantasy #writersofmastodon #mermaids #merpunk

#WritingWonders
28 August 2023

Who's the first character you created for this work?

Oooh, I really like this question.

Most of the main characters for #Watermyth were created in the 1990s, some years before the hypertext came into being. I think the first Yrejveree character was The Wild Maiden of the Trees, sometime in 1993 -- a story fragment I scribbled down in an exercise book, followed by Ipede Dwinkum in 1994 -- I typed out his story during WordPerfect class, lol.

I think it'll have to be Ipede for #Watermyth because the Wild Maiden doesn't really factor much in the novel and Ipede's just a background character who never really walks in.

For the MCs, the first character created would be Finora, actually. She happened sometime in 1997.

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #mermaids #merpunk #domesticfantasy #writingcommunity #writinglife

Hi Masto, how's your Monday?

I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on #Watermyth this week since I've taken leave. That's my idea of a holiday? A necessary one or I'll never be able to publish my novel. There'll also be resting and a lot of reading (for my monograph, haha). If I don't get distracted by the gazillion domestic tasks...

*I did think of going on vacation but I'm not completely mobile yet and walking in the mall is about as adventurous as I can get right now. Also, need to save money for music exams and car maintenance.

#amwriting #writinglife #writingcommunity #writing #writers #amwritingfantasy #writersofmastodon #authorsofmastodon #Monday #Today #Mondaymotivation

#WritingWonders

(I'm just doing what I can since I've given up on catching up on every prompt!)

22 August 2023

What makes your hero feel weak?

Aila: Regret.
Yildie: My debilitating and transforming injuries.
Regya: Cognitive dissonance and disorientation.
Vita: PTSD.

Again, Finora would be too spoilery because she's kind of larger than life.

#watermyth #writingcommunity #writinglife #amwriting #writing #writers #amwritingfantasy #Gothic #mermaids #merpunk

I don't really have the brain space for fiction #writing and revising right now. I'll return to #Watermyth and my short stories after the marks meeting later this week and after I've submitted the compulsory 3-4 articles. Because I need to secure my rice bowl first: my day job keeps me fed, clothed and housed, plus gives me medical benefits and a pension.

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #writinglife #writersofmastodon #writingcommunity

#WritingWonders

8 August 2023

What is your MC'S bedtime routine like?

Aila likes to have a late night hot chocolate with Shani in the kitchen, chatting about the events of the day. Other members of the domus join them, especially the swan maiden. Then she goes upstairs, washes up, changes into her nightgown (where the Gothic Heroine bit comes in), and then reads in her favourite armchair before climbing into her massive bed that overlooks the balcony and Maris Exsilii (the Sea of Exiles).

#watermyth #writing #writers #amwriting #amwritingfantasy #mermaid #writinglife #writingcommunity #writersofmastodon #authorsofmastodon

#WritingWonders

7 August 2023

What does your MC see when they look out their bedroom window.

For Aila, it would be Maris Exsilii, the Sea of Exiles.

For Finora, depends on her location: in old Ferahia, it would be the Quarter her Palazzo is located in, but also the neighbouring Palazzos and the canals of the Ferahia. In New Ferahia, she'd see something entirely different but that's a spoiler for #Rosemirror (the second novel that I hope to publish next year).

#watermyth #writing #writers #amwriting #amwritingfantasy #mermaid #writinglife #writingcommunity #writersofmastodon #authorsofmastodon

Have somehow committed #hypertext burying an easter egg on watermaidens.net!

#watermyth #amwriting #amwritingfantasy #writinglife #writingcommunity

#writingwonders

2 August 2023

How much do you know about your side characters prior to the first draft?

For #Watermyth, a whole lot! Because it's a novel set in a hypertext project I started in 1997 -- and some of those characters just kind of happened as I grew the web. For anyone curious about how It All Began, I wrote about it here:
https://mythopoetica.com/2023/02/14/pre-publication-date-2-the-origins-of-watermyth-and-tentative-publication-timeline/

(but sadly, it couldn't debut in March and work/health keep interrupting this final process prior to sending it for publication!)

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #writingwonders #writinglife #writingcommunity #writing #writers #writersofmastodon

#WritingWonders

27 July 2023

I would say all of my MCs for #Watermyth have a difficult relationship with authority in different ways. It's something I think about a lot and this is reflected in the different characters.

Aila became an authority almost by accident and is always secondguessing herself and trying to run away from that post before responsibility has her returning.

I can't say a lot about Regya but everything she is going through is because of the impossible dynamics between her and the Queen Mother of the Yrejveree merkingdom (same one that's in my @bcsmagazine short story)

I'll just limit it to these two for now.

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #writingcommunity #writinglife #writersofmastodon

Finished revising/line-editing my "Daddy Issues" chapter. Phew. One of the biggest (and by this I mean wordcount-wise) chapters. A real headache.

Going to stretch, indulge in some PVP on #startreklegends and then it's onwards to the next chapter. Allons-y!

#amwriting #writinglife #writingcommunity #amwritingfantasy #writing #writers #writersofmastodon #authorsofmastodon #Watermyth #startrek

The most important thing I can do on this midweek public holiday is actually work on #Watermyth. *sagenod*

Alright, let's do this.

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#WritingWonders
12 July 2023

Compliment or review I liked best about my writing? It's hard to choose, honestly!

But I'll focus on #Watermyth:

Here's the blurb page with lovely remarks attached.

https://mythopoetica.com/2023/06/03/nice-things-other-people-have-said-about-watermyth-blurb-page/

One of them, by @nassos :

“Watermyth is an intricately-structured and layered tale that challenges Western narrative conventions, and a rewarding read of lush imagination and deftly-controlled prose. It is also a story about stories, which is to say, the best kind of story. “We bleed pieces of ourselves into the telling,” the storyteller in this tale says. Anita Harris Satkunananthan certainly has.”

— Natalia Theodoridou, World-Fantasy Award-Winning Author–

Woke up with a start and took it as a sign to do some work on the novel. And so I have.

#Watermyth #amwriting #writinglife #writingcommunity #writing #writers #writersofmastodon

I have to add, for at least ONE scene in #Watermyth involving Finora, the theme song for Sephiroth (FFVII) was playing in my head as I was writing it! 😂

#Watermyth #writinglife #writingcommunity #writing #writers #amwriting #amwritingfantasy #writersofmastodon #authorsofmastodon #bookstodon

#writing #writingwonders

#WritingWonders

28 June 2023

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

Aila would probably return to Klang to reconnect with family if her destiny did not lie elsewhere.

Finora? Either Venice or Japan.

Vita would probably choose Jakarta.

#Watermyth

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