Are you still deciding?

I would probably not do a disease unless you are are trying to evoke feelings related to covid, or it’s very, very different in symptoms. (and maybe not even then) - only because I feel like that’s carrying a lot of baggage right now for some folks.

Of the rest, I love the alien creature idea!

Really glad to have helped even a little. Best of luck to you! 😀

FWIW migrating from Mastodon migrates all your followers automatically and you can interact with them just as you did on Mastodon.

You do need to manually recreate your list of people you follow though, from what I could tell.

Once that’s done you haven’t really lost anything unless you were or were intended to be heavily active with the feed on your local mastodon instance. (Vs federation etc)

ok but how about you tell me why to move from mastodon to firefish?

I like the UI better (by a lot), I like the “antennas” feature, I like that I can do a traditional blog post if I choose (“pages” they call it), it’s very custom-configurable, and in the 3 days since I’ve joined I’ve already seen bugfixes and improvements deployed.

Why move? If Mastodon is 100% great for you and nothing about the look/feel/functionality of Firefish jumps out at you then there is really no reason.

As a child of the 70s, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes have been a part of my earliest understanding of space and our exploration of it. I learned about them (multiple times) in school, and was excited (spoiler alert) years later with how central the fictional Voyager 6 was to the plot of the first Trek movie.

Every single time I have read that they are still sending data back I’m excited to hear it, though from what Wikipedia says there is really no likelihood either will be doing so later than 2025/2026 respectively.

This headline gave me a little “oh no” moment until I read the article. 😀

It is a real breath of fresh air though in terms of features and great UI!

I want to be able to do more than just upvote this lol. I was so pleasantly surprised. In minutes I was sure I wanted to migrate my Mastodon account.

My contribution to beehaw so far is this comment. I have confidence issues, and have been essentially radio silent on social media for the past ten years

Well, I feel honored that you are responding to my post! 🙂

but I’m at a turning point in my life and writing is the only thing that makes sense I need to start now

Turning points are precisely where you change direction in your life, so it sounds like you are doing the right thing! 👍

I’m primarily interested in short stories which I would like to potentially narrate in the future, but I’m slowly trying to get over the confidence problem at the moment.

While I can’t possibly know exactly how you feel or what factors may have led to this, I do somewhat understand. I had general anxiety issues and maybe a tinge of depression when I put my feet on this path. I barely touched the project for the first 6 months or more after I decided I was doing it.

My really very amateur advice is - take positivity from everything you can. For example, what helped me was a BUNCH of honestly sort of small sounding things that seemed to bear fruit over time. Two examples -

• I made a playlist called “Positive” and added any song to it that made me feel good. Even if it wasn’t explicitly a song about positivity - if it made me feel energized and happy to hear it, it went in. I would put that playlist on every time I sat down to write.

• When someone crossed my twitter feed who looked like they were spreading positive feelings to people, I followed them to ensure I’d get those positive messages in my feed.

I’d also suggest finding a writing podcast that you enjoy listening to. I’ve been listening to a few of them - at least one episode a day, and on one of them I’m about to start their back catalog for the third time. There are a lot of them out there, and they are all just a bit different from each other. One or more will click with you. It will not only educate and motivate you, but it will also help you feel more confident. Every one of these published writers that I have listened to has complained about the same feelings of doubt regarding their writing, the same difficulties with confidence and impostor syndrome, and really almost all the same problems that we beginners seem to have.

Although I don’t intend to plug a particular one, the Writing Excuses podcast often discusses short fiction, and gives specific advice for short story writers. At least one of the regular hosts has extensive experience with short fiction. Their show is also a little bit different every season - they change up the structure of the show and have guest hosts, and other things to add variety and to cover a lot of facets of writing.

I’m not qualified to give you any advice about how to write, but I will say this advice from B. Dave Walters is in my head all the time - I’m paraphrasing: The worst thing you write is better than the best thing you don’t write. (because it’s the only way to get better and that won’t happen if it stays in your head)

All the best to you!

So basically an 18th century vibe in terms of the culture and most forms of technology, but still using swords and the like for weapons?

Yes exactly that! Though again loosely, I admit. I am doubtful my setting is more historically accurate for the real-world period than the Kevin Costner Robin Hood is for its period, but I’m telling myself that’s OK since it’s really secondary world. That secondary world excuse is a double edged blade though because in the beginning I really had to work to pack away the part of my brain trying to convince me that I needed to invent new words for units of time, common foods, animals, etc. 😀

Very interesting idea.

Thanks! The use of swords, bows, staffs (staves?) etc is really the main impact of this that I’ve shown so far. More may creep in during revision. I have done a bit of research into likely impacts in other areas, but there seem to be surprisingly few for that point in history that have been significant enough to make it into the book.

I’m a huge fan of the Powdermage series by Brian McClellan, but I didn’t want to incorporate gunpowder into my magic system as he did, and I also didn’t want it to be a negating factor for my magic system. I’m sure I could have worked around those concerns, but ultimately it just seemed more likely to complicate things than add much to the story. Most fantasy I’ve read hasn’t included gunpowder/guns, and I’ve not generally found that I missed it. Anyhow is there really room for another page-turner flintlock-fantasy??!! ;-)

on one occasion I removed an entire 40k word section (I kept a backup in case I changed my mind.)

I’m almost pathologically incapable of deleting things. Both in my writing and otherwise. There’s always a backup of anything I could ever ever see needing again. That’s a huge chunk. I don’t think you could pay me to delete that much without a backup.

Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and Jack London’s White Fang are good examples here

Read both of those decades ago, I didn’t even think of them - good examples, I loved them both. Now I understand better.

Richard Adams’ Watership Down

I have heard of but not read this, I will add it to my someday list.

So I think I want to write something focused on non-humans, but for an adult audience and not middle grade. Probably a limited market for it, but it’s what I want to read, which always seems like a good place to start when writing something!

I agree there, that’s part of why I described my book the way I did. I want to write about people mostly trying to be good to each other. That’s the sort of fantasy I always enjoyed reading the most, and although I hope it’s the kind of fantasy others want to read, it’s definitely he sort I want to write.

I read Tad Williams The Dragonbone Chair when it was new, so I admit I don’t remember too much about it. But what has stuck with me after all these years is feeling like it’s a book about true friendship, of a sort not everyone finds. I want to write books that folks remember that way years later. Bad things happen, villains exist, but the people you are going to spend the most time with are going to be the sort you would feel lucky to know IRL.

Couple of edits…

On purpose.

Only clearer by the day that this was all an exercise to intentionally kill Twitter to the benefit of billionaires, fascists and other extremists.

I truly thought it was just tone deafness and overconfidence on the part of Musk for a good potion of this. But the last few events, along with various comments he has made along the way, have me concluding that this must be true.

They are not cool

I mean, not with that attitude.

This sounds really cool, actually!

Aw thanks!

This sounds really cool, actually! I think the “medieval” fantasy has been such a staple for so long that an 18th century vibe is quite refreshing.

Thanks - though I must admit it’s a very loose triangulation just based on sort of the state I wanted technology and such to be. (except the gunpowder of course) I didn’t want to have to write about people eating from trenchers and such. Due to the lack of gunpowder I’ve preserved certain weapons that otherwise would likely not be very prevalent with firearms around, but it’s not the kind of story where I go very deep in drawing attention to that, either.

And nothing wrong with heading for the middle ground between cosy and grimdark…I’ve dropped a few series because once all my favourite characters had been brutally killed off, I just didn’t care enough about the handful still left alive that I was willing to keep paying for books, you know?

Thanks - I try not to get too inside my own head about those sorts of things, but from time to time I get an imaginary “reader” on my shoulder saying “Oh sure and somehow none of them died during all that?” I appreciate your pointing out that not everyone will have that reaction though. The character I was considering killing off has probably got the broadest appeal of any of the main characters, so if I had, I might have walked right into the trap you mention. 🙂

I’m definitely done with the world. Like, I love it, and I might go back to it one day, but after writing so much about it, I’m really ready to try something new and different.

Yeah that totally makes sense. That’s a lot of words (and who knows how many more you revised/trimmed out over the years) for a solitary pursuit, I could absolutely understand wanting to do something different.

Working with a new genre is challenging, especially if it’s not one you’ve read a lot.

I’ve read a fair bit of sci-fi too, but not a quantity that I feel is really going to help me write it, if that makes sense.

But a sci-fi/fantasy blend is more forgiving in that respect than hard sci-fi, since the magical elements allows you to get away with fuzzier science.

That’s a great point, and something to consider.

I’m feeling drawn to some xenofiction, maybe,

I had to google that I admit - that does sound very interesting. Now with your comment about short stories I’m going, “So like a squirrel who witnesses some major historical event while going about his daily life, but has no idea of the significance it poses to humans?” Would that be the sort of thing that would qualify? I have to admit THAT is a genre I have never read.

I just need to find that character+world combination that I feel attached to enough to spend time on, if you know what I mean?

I totally do - it’s funny how things just grab you. My story originates almost entirely from a dream I had that inspired the magic system I use. I didn’t even decide I was going to write a story for another year or more after that, but all during that time I kept thinking it would be a fun magic system to work with. When I decided I was ready to start writing, it was immediately what I thought of.

Well, if you decide to let folks read your work, I can’t promise I’ll get through that many words in a timely fashion, but I’d love to give it a shot.

what an amateurish logo, looks like what a tiny business puts up on their wordpress when they have no designers & are only making a logo

To me it looks legitimately confusingly like the xorg logo, which ironically you usually see on a Linux system only when the config to display the correct logo for something is missing or invalid.

They are called TWEETS, ELON! TWEETS!

Elon Musk: For now…

Least destructive decision he’s made since acquiring it.

I’m writing what I think of as “classic fantasy” - though whether others would find that term applicable I do not know.

No dragons, no Tolkien-esque races, but a typical Europe-ish setting, say 18th-ish century without gunpowder, and a fairly hard magic system which is both powerful and self-limiting, with a story of pursuing justice while being pursued by those who would deny it. The theme has ended up being very heavy on friendship and loyalty. It’s not a cozy, but it’s very much not grimdark, either.

I’m a little bit worried that I don’t provide enough possibility of death to any of the main characters via the story as written, but I’m so close to the end that I’m not going to change anything unless I still feel this way during revision.

I find that I don’t enjoy world-building for its own sake, so I tend to incorporate it into a story as I write.

I do this as well, but I take somewhat copious notes regarding the significant details as I create them. It’s too early to tell whether this is going to generate a result I’m happy with or not. 🙂

I was thinking about one of your opening comments before:

I just can’t figure out where to go next. I haven’t quite landed on an idea I can get excited about.

As kind of weird as it is for me to feel this way, I’ve been having random ideas lately that might be a good fit for where you are, depending on if you feel you are done with the entire world or not.

I have found myself daydreaming about doing short stories involving some of the secondary characters and the lives they had/have before they got swept up in the events of my story, or a slightly different idea would be to do short stories that may involve new characters but showcase a particular culture from the world, or an interesting situation to be solved in an interesting way with magic, or etc. For me, I feel like that’s a fairly foolish daydream for the point where I am at this time. But for you, with all that body of work, and looking for something to do - maybe a good fit?

Edit:

A sci-fi/fantasy blend is less complicated than it seems, if it is something you want to give a try in future.

My worry there is that I’m not sure I can learn what I need to in order to write credible sci-fi while also learning to write. But I’ve been a majority-fantasy reader for my entire life, from a very early age. I feel like I’ve got a built in comfort zone on the fantasy side that is allowing me to focus more on learning to write than learning to write fantasy.

additional edits for minor corrections and clarity

That does sound pretty awesome. Writing a blended sci-fi/fantasy story is on my list of things I want to do, but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.

The worldbuilding for something that size must have been immense, I feel like that must have been the most fun part in a way.

(after about 1.3 million words, not intended for publication)

Sheesh. I’m at 106k words and that’s 10x more than any single thing I’ve ever written before. 1.3 million sounds impossible - what a journey writing that must have been!

Nothing kills the joy of writing for me more than “okay, but is it marketable enough to sell?” No shade on anyone who wants to be published! It’s just not for me.

I can get that. In my case, I am going to need a second career as I age, and personal circumstances limit the sorts of things I can consider. Fortunately, this is something I can consider, something I am really enjoying, and something I think I can learn to be good at.

If you are willing to share, what’s the scope and general description of your huge work?

Feels like just yesterday in some ways. But how the world has changed since then. Really sad about this.

Before you all fall for the shamless clickbait,

I used to start and end my day at Ars Technica. For years.

Has really never been the same since Conde Nast took over. I usually only end up there now when someone links an article from there. Thanks for saving me a click, and I’ll pour one out for what once was…

I’m burnt out and can’t focus at work. Really wish I had more that 2 weeks of vacation time a year

Have been there, and am never far from there. It sucks and I wish you the best in overcoming it. Any chance you’ve got a supportive boss? Mine is and it helped a lot.