Monster hunters, spaceships and comedy of manners by indie author Mel Dunay
I have like one line in the space regency about Longbourn having a drawing room with turquoise walls and pink furniture, but Midjourney kind of ran amok with the idea when I prompted it.
An example of me getting a bit rambly during the previous week’s dictation session. This got cut because Maxim’s cousin Victor interjected himself into the conversation earlier than I originally thought. And it’s not entirely in character for Maxim to try to shield Chloe to that extent.
Continue reading “Friday Fragments: Chloe and the Wolf” →This was originally published as a novella in a pulp magazine in 1945 before being expanded into a full-length novel and re-published in that form, and it feels somewhat padded in the middle. It’s a weird, rambly first person sort of thing that sounds like the author managed to get Raymond Chandler and Edgar Allen Poe stuck in his head simultaneously. Usually hyped as a mystery story with extra atmosphere, I would say rather that it’s a psychological horror story which uses mystery tropes to help ground itself. Above the cut, I will only say that Red Right Hand spends about a quarter of its length hinting in one particular direction, and the middle two quarters basically saying that possible solution out loud while simultaneously laying down markers for the actual resolution in the final quarter. More interesting than good, and not helped by the fact that the only truly sympathetic characters – the policemen and the damsel in distress – are pretty peripheral. But it’s very much its own thing, and if that counts for anything with you, it might be worth a try. Just remember, if you find yourself thinking that “obvious solution is obvious,” stick around to the end.
More detailed, spoilery thoughts below the cut. Leave now or be spoiled.
Continue reading “Weird Wednesday: Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Owens” →Suno wouldn’t let me use the opening paragraphs of Robert Heinlein’s Door Into Summer as song lyrics (no, it’s not a copyright issue, I’ve gotten Suno to use Star Wars dialogue as lyrics in the past), so instead I gave it a general prompt based on the anecdote of the cat who won’t accept that all doors lead to winter snow: https://suno.com/song/a611bcd1-1579-45bf-ae34-0a2f2732d4e7?sh=Rvqz0Izo10EGxrJv
I cut this bit during the dictation cleanup process because it’s kind of rambly, and it’s not literally true that all Chloe knows about Maxim’s cousin is his parentage. Back in Wolf’s Trail, she also had to look up stuff in a book Victor wrote.
I’d heard references once or twice to Victor. Maxim and the other Storm Crows seemed to respect him, while the Continentals—the ordinary people of Noricum with no ancient knowledge or long lifespan—seemed to fear him. The only thing I knew for certain of him was that he was Jerome’s son, and Jerome I had no particular use for.
Occasionally, I offer moral support and solutions that worked for me in the comments section of other writing blogs, but I don’t do a lot of it here. What works for me might not work for you, and vice versa. That being said, I’m seeing certain things come up over and over again in certain places on the web, and I feel like I have to put my oar in. Since nobody asked me, I can’t call them “Frequently Asked Questions,” but I feel comfortable calling this “Frequently Seen Questions…”
Continue reading “Frequently Seen Questions About Writing” →I had to use “Vary Region” on this image. Vary Region is a Midjourney tool which keeps most of the image intact and only changes one area in it. The first image below is the revised image, the second one below is the original. Can you see what was changed?
Continue reading “Midjourney Monday: Spot the Difference” →This conversation originally took place with the two leads from the Hunter Healer King series talking in an elevator. In revisions, they’re actually having this convo on horseback, so the physical movements or “business” surrounding the conversation are different. For the record, Chloe and Maxim are not actually any kind of cousins, they just have faulty information about her family at this point.
Continue reading “Friday Fragment: Bad News” →I’ll let her give you the news…she’s made progress in recovering but still a ways to go. Like she says, if she can blog like this the rest of us have no excuse for not pursuing primary writing tasks.
From the space regency, a brief bit of scene setting and the image which helped me visualize it, although you can also see where I chose to ignore it:
Continue reading “Midjourney Monday: Reception Area aboard The Last Repose” →
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