#WritersCoffeeClub March 3: On what are you unwilling to compromise?

I write in en_US because my main market is US publishers—but when writing dialog between British people I refuse to compromise on British slang and usage in dialog, even though the books are copy-edited in American spelling and grammar.

Let 'em deal with someone else's culture for a change.

#WritersCoffeeClub 2 Mar: Does your overall goal differ from project to project?

My overall goal(s) is(are) invariant: stay alive, keep earning a living by writing fiction, entertain and enlighten my readers.

Specific per-project goals are almost invariably different from novel to novel! Even within a series.

#WritersCoffeeClub Mar 1st, What is the fundamental goal you seek to achieve with your current WIP?

To continue to earn a living as a working novelist.

Beyond that: to mercilessly mock the messianic singularity/AI religious beliefs of our tech billionaire overlords, using fiction as a weapon. And also to entertain my readers.

Really, do I need anything more? (I've got a load of contributory goals, but those are the big ones. EDIT: and to write a kick-ass sequel to the book I just delivered.)

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 28: How well did this short month go for you, in terms of writing?

Better than expected at first: finished the submission draft of one novel, sent it to my agent, and rolled straight into the sequel. It's not going *fast* (my eyesight is deteriorating again: screen-time is fatiguing) but it's still moving.

(Eye is fixable by surgery. There's a wait involved.)

#WritersCoffeeClub 2/27. Do you edit while you write? What are the pros and cons?

Always. I can't start work without reviewing what I wrote the day before and tweaking it. I can't even move on to the next paragraph until the one I've just written works properly and everything that belongs there is in place.

My first drafts are more like someone else's 2nd to 4th draft. (Many of my "first drafts" ended up in print with minimal changes.)

@doncish Please don't drop the hashtag! Or nobody else on it will see your response. #WritersCoffeeClub

#WritersCoffeeClub PS: note that there are *no* Good Guys in this story (or even in the universe it's set in): just different shades of gray. Which villain to root for is entirely up to the reader!

Because fuck white hat/black hat narratives, that's warmed-over Christian dualism and I'm having no truck with it.

#WritersCoffeeClub 26 Feb — Does your current WIP have an antagonist? Why or why not?

(Current WIP is less than a week/3000 words old)

Yes, it has antagonists! The two main protagonists are scoundrels and thieves (and very much in love). They've misguidedly decided to defraud a space princess (who is vastly more dangerous and less naive than she performs in public). And they're all locked in a three-way stand-off with a monstrous sacerdotal grifter who takes over space religions for profit.

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 25: What’s a unique habit you have while writing?

I don't think my writing habits are unique. Unusual, maybe. I mean, I work on a desktop Mac sitting on a weid 1970s Swedish writing bureau I found in a charity shop in 1993 that's really designed for handwriting or typewriters, not 27" monitors. And I work my way through 4-5 refills of a 1 litre thermos of strong black tea (with milk) in a working day—thermos b/c my office is a long way from the kitchen. But unique? No.

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 24—What's your greatest challenge in fleshing out your setting?

(SF/F world-builder's perspective here):

Knowing when to stop.

The setting is both a stage for the characters to play on and a discipline on what they can do: it needs to extend beyond the reader's awareness but simultaneously not to intrude and get in the way of the story.

So it gradually develops, in a feedback loop with the story and the protagonists.