June Newsletter: Traveling Light - A WFM Anthology (and more!)
Pants? Where we're going, we don't need pants.
It’s June! I love this time of year. Long days and plenty of sunlight make for a happy me!
News
The biggest news this month is: Worldbuilding for Masochists has launched a Kickstarter anthology!
So what’s the story here?
For years on the podcast, we’ve been slowly co-creating a fantasy world. The hosts each have a section of the globe to call our own, and each of our guest stars contributes some worldbuilding trivia. We’ve been weaving all of that together into a semi-coherent whole.
What became a tentpole concept, though, is the MNG: The Magical Nude Gates. These were a gift of the wonderful Kate Elliott, a transportation system allowing instant transit between two places, with just one catch: Nothing comes with you. Not even your pants.
At first this was just objectively hilarious, but as time went on, we realized it had huge implications for diplomacy, trade, cultural exchange, language, and so much more. We couldn’t stop thinking about it.
So, we figured, what better way to explore these things than through an anthology?
We’ve lined up some amazing contributors, including:
Natania Barron
Marie Brennan
Mike Chen
Kate Elliott
Victor Manibo
Kritika H. Rao
Mike Underwood
Valerie Valdes
And if the project meets its funding goal, we’ll also be opening up for submissions! We’ll take at least one story from slush (maybe more if we hit some stretch goals).
So what’s in it for you, the backer, besides helping to get some wonderfully weird worldbuilding out there in the universe?
Depending on what level you back us at, you can get an e-copy, a print copy, a swag pack, or even name a character or contribute a bit of worldbuilding delight!
So, please, check it out, tell a friend, tell all your friends. We’re tremendously excited about this project and very much hope we can meet our funding goal and see it through!
Random Current Thoughts
What else is going on? Well, I’ve been trying to get the writing wheels back underneath me. I was very productive in April, but none of it was productivity I was very happy with it. I wrote many words, but they felt… flat. Lifeless. The pieces just weren’t fitting together right. The characters were compelling in concept, but not when I put them into action.
This has happened before, and it will happen again, but it’s never a fun place to be. Worse still, when you’re not sure if the problem is you or the project.
So I’m setting that project aside for a bit, in the hopes of finding out, and I’m beginning work on something new and very different for me. And I’m… not going to talk about it much, at least for a while. I think sometimes talking about a project can help you sort out ideas, but I also think it can release a pressure valve in ways that actually work to the detriment of writing the project. If I’ve talked it all out, why bother writing it? Or so some part of my psyche seems to feel.
I think part of the problem, too, has been trying to make myself fit a different shape of writer than I really am. In the anxiety over needing to keep my career moving, I’ve felt like I need to produce faster. My usual process is not so much slow — I can generate words incredibly quickly — but it’s roundabout. It takes a while to reach a sensible conclusion, even if I’m in motion the whole time. So I spent the first few months of this year studying different methods of plotting and planning and trying to make them work for me.
As it turns out, they don’t.
I’m an organic writer, and that’s just the way it’s gonna be. I can’t force myself to fit a particular method. It makes me unhappy to try, and being unhappy makes it a lot harder to write.
I’ve turned, instead, to some sources to help me make the most of my methods, in the hopes that being gentler on myself (see Chuck Wendig’s book, below) will yield greater results.
What I’ve Been Reading
Honestly, June has been a banger month for my reading! I have, as foreseen, been binging some Star Wars novels on audio, but I also got to spend some time during ConCarolinas reading e-ARCs by the pool, and I had a few days at the beach to read actual paper books. Wild, I know! Anyway, I heartily recommend any and all of the following:
Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara
Morgan is my Name by Sophie Keetch
Gentle Writing Advice: How to Be a Writer Without Destroying Yourself by Chuck Wendig
The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis
Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec
David Mogo Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
These are affiliate links and, if you use them, I’ll get a little somethin’ back from Bookshop! I will then use that to… buy more books!
Wrapping It Up
I’m charging ahead into a busy summer! I’ll be on the road quite a bit, traveling for both work and pleasure, and I’m very much looking forward to that.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to check out the WFM Anthology Kickstarter!
