WayWORD Festival 2025
1–5 October, Aberdeen
The programme for WayWORD 2025, the University of Aberdeen’s cross-arts literary festival, is now online.
#Scottish #literature #writing #creativewriting #WritingCommunity
writingcommunity
A thing I love about Austen's work is how immensely quotable it is. All you need to do is open up one of her books and you'll soon enough find a quote to your liking!
#AmReading #AmWriting @bookstodon #books #Bookstodon #WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #Regency #Georgian #JaneAusten @romancelandia
In addition to the write-up about the upcoming P+P cast:
* More than 78K Austen novels have sold this year thus far (compared to 64K for all of 2024)
* The Folio Society's special edition Austen collection will range about $1000 USD
#AmReading #AmWriting @bookstodon #books #Bookstodon #WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #Regency #Georgian #JaneAusten @romancelandia
WRITERS!
Submissions are invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, Gaelic, & Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct!
@writingcommunity
Submit free via Submittable 👇
https://nws.submittable.com/submit
#Scottish #literature #writing #WritingCommunity #IAmWriting #poetry #shortfiction #shortstories #Scots #Scotslanguage #Gaelic #Gaidhlig
#wipwednesday
From Whimsical Tigress, book 8 of the Whimsical Dreams series.
https://www.tiffanyetaylor.com/bookshelf
#wipwednesday #romanticsuspense #embezzlement #dangerinperil #bodyguard #graphicartist #butchfemme #lesfic #sapphicbooks #bookstodon #writingcommunity #butchfemme #lesbian #lgbtq #lgbtqia
@lgbtqbookstodon @bookstodon @sapphicbooks
"The whole idea of this book I find very fascinating, because it very clearly is the author looking to make a fictionalized version of something that really happened in real life, and also something that's really close to her family."
Hosts Margaret Kelly and Katie Roarty discuss The Expert of Subtle Revisions on Women are Reading: a book club podcast. Check out the discussion here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ofo7ylnE6j8Cvip7IMDho
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon
101 Days. . . The first book in my #mystery series is scheduled to launch on December 1. Color me equal parts excited and terrified.
#wipwednesday
From Whimsical Tigress, book 8 of the Whimsical Dreams series.
https://www.tiffanyetaylor.com/bookshelf
#wipwednesday #romanticsuspense #embezzlement #dangerinperil #bodyguard #graphicartist #butchfemme #lesfic #sapphicbooks #bookstodon #writingcommunity #butchfemme #lesbian #lgbtq #lgbtqia
@lgbtqbookstodon @bookstodon @sapphicbooks
A CHAOS OF LIGHT
New Writing Scotland 43
Ed. by Kirstin Innes, Chris Powici & Niall O’Gallagher
“writing that unsettles and challenges, that questions assumptions and gets us to look at, when it feels so much less painful to look away… A rich, boisterous, tender, charming, angry, sorrowful, gleeful mix”
Available now from all good bookshops!
@bookstodon
@writingcommunity
https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws43/
#Scottish #literature #poetry #shortstories #shortfiction #newwriting #writingcommunity
The grand finale is here!
The final two Chapters (43 and 44) of "A New Faith" are up on the website at https://tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith
#solarpunk #hopepunk #bookstodon #novel #climatechange #adaptation #migration #mystery
#thriller #amwriting #WritersCoffeeClub
#WordWeavers #ScribesAndMakers
#PennedPossibilities #writingcommunity #sciencefiction
#climatefiction
For reasons I am unsure of, my blog appears to have not had a single view in months. 😢 I’d appreciate it if you visited https://hubpages.com/@benjamincox for all my latest articles as and when they are published. Currently working through #Spooktober by watching & reviewing as many horror films as I can. Thanks for all your support and please share and enjoy! 🙏🏻 #film #WritingCommunity #blog
Apologies for the shameless plug. 😁
That's our Emily! Cheerful as always.
#AmReading #AmWriting @bookstodon #books #Bookstodon
#WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #EmilyBronte #Victorian @romancelandia
I mean, would it kill you to let Cathy tell you about her ferrets?
#library #libraries #reader #readers #books #book #writingcommunity #ferrets #humor #humour
#AmWriting: This week, as I start readying my book for publication, I'm having second thoughts about some characters' names. What to do?
Be forewarned if you haven't seen Materialists yet, this does a really deep dive into the movie while cross-referencing Jane.
https://electricliterature.com/jane-austen-did-it-better/
#AmReading #AmWriting @bookstodon #books #Bookstodon #WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #Regency #Georgian #JaneAusten @romancelandia
The Next Generation of Scottish Writers
To celebrate their first 20 years THE SKINNY magazine presents their Next Generation of Scottish Writers: 12 poets, novelists & essayists who are shaping the future of Scotland's literary landscape
@writingcommunity
https://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/features/the-next-generation-of-scottish-writers
https://tinjar.ghost.io/anf/download-a-new-faith/
Ebook versions (EPUB and PDF) are available to download to your favorite ebook reader.
Both versions are DRM-free and should be usable with most ebook readers. DRM-free means that these are yours to keep and also share with friends/family just like a physical book.
#solarpunk #hopepunk #bookstodon #climatechange #adaptation #migration #mystery
#thriller #amwriting #WritersCoffeeClub
#WordWeavers #ScribesAndMakers
#PennedPossibilities #writingcommunity #sciencefiction
"The steering committee elected to remove eight [of the 20] books from the list, not only narrowing the breadth of titles being discussed by teens across the state, but also narrowing the number of books they will be reading in anticipation of voting for the Georgia Peach Book Awards... All of these books are published for the young adult audience, meaning that the Bowl’s steering committee elected to remove books that are appropriate for the teens involved in this competition.
Seven of the eight banned books are written by female-identifying writers, while at least five are written by writers from demographically marginalized backgrounds."
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon
https://bookriot.com/helen-ruffin-reading-bowl-book-ban-2025/
Someone wrote about this piece: "I'm not sure if I've been a fly on the wall listening to your family, or if you've been the fly at mine."
That recognition hits deep.
This is "sneaking my mother's creepy g-d on high" - a cinematic spoken word piece about winter 1997, family dinners, and what happens when you finally stop performing neurotypical.
Religious expectations. Neurodivergent reality. The price we pay for authenticity in families that were never built for minds like ours.
Heavy content warning: family trauma, substance use, religious themes, cult references.
How many of us recognize that battlefield of family gatherings where our honesty threatens everyone's comfort?
#ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent #SpokenWord #WritingCommunity #MentalHealth #DisabilityPoetry
I'm ever so proud that for the third consecutive year my work is featured in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology. This year it's Volume 6. Out now,
Other artists, writers and poets whose work is featured are:
@haikushack , David Ellis, Azelle Eric, Sherri J Moye-Dombrovsky, Uswa Majeed and D.R. James.
All info:
https://mastodon.world/@haikushack/115214820088311067
@abpositiveart @bookstodon @bookstodon.com
#writing #writingcommunity #poetry #poetrycommunity #haiku #art #artist #writer #writers
Help! I can't breathe!
That's what I feel like when I run out of time and space for creativity.
"According to two district sources, AI was used to measure instructional texts against a rubric that took into account “DEI content.” The books must be removed from all classrooms, and cannot be used as instructional resources—either as texts read in class or as choice books in classroom libraries. Though the books have received no formal challenge, they are currently awaiting further review."
"Book banners have told us over and over again that they’re just trying to take books with extreme sexual content out of public schools. Classics are safe, they’ve said. We’re not removing books based on the ideas they contain, they’ve said. We knew none of that was true; Senate Bill 12 proves it."
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon
https://franklinstrong.substack.com/p/to-kill-a-mockingbird-pulled-from
"In what intellectual freedom advocates have seen coming for months, a Texas school district has just shut down access to all secondary school libraries for students due to the regulations of the state’s Senate Bill 13... The district also offers no timeline for when students will have access to their own school libraries–facilities that their family tax dollars go to operate. NBISD’s decision to shut down the libraries in order to complete a review of materials based on vague language showcases how quickly and easily public schools are and will continue to cower to far right politics infiltrating communities throughout Texas."
#books #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon
https://bookriot.com/new-braunfels-isd-library-closures-sb-13/
So today, to my great fascination, I realise that Chinese fiction has a four part structure:
- Qi (起) – Setup: Introduces characters, setting, and emotional tone. Often includes poetic visuals or symbolic moments.
- Cheng (承) – Development: Builds relationships and stakes. This phase may feel leisurely, but it’s rich with emotional layering.
- Zhuan (转) – Twist: A sudden shift — betrayal, revelation, or a change in perspective. It’s not always a plot twist; sometimes it’s a thematic or emotional pivot.
- Jie (结) – Conclusion: Ties everything together, often with a sense of moral or emotional resolution rather than just plot closure.
So, what happens if you've been trained in the Western story structure narrative all your life and want to write Chinese fiction - not just fiction set in China, but Chinese in every way?
This is what I'm doing now, and you know, I'm avoiding the Western narrative styles in terms of dialogue and structure instinctively, literally throwing out the playbook and just going by gut feel. This is probably due to a life time consuming Chinese fiction - both modern and classical. My brain understands what needs to be done. Fascinating.
#Fiction #Writing #WritingCommunity
