#WritersCoffeeClub 4/2. **International Children’s Book Day!** What makes for a good book for children?

Honesty. Appropriate language.

Never talk down.

#WritersCoffeeClub 1st April. Do you include in-jokes, hidden messages, or “Easter eggs” in your writing?

Oh, yeah. All sorts of in-jokes, but the real fun are the Easter eggs, and the enjoyment of watching other people comment on them.

International Children’s Book Day! What makes for a good book for children?

Honesty and respect for the child's imagination.

#WritersCoffeeClub 2025-03-02

#WritersCoffeeClub April 2. International Children’s Book Day! What makes for a good book for children?

Don't treat them like idiots.

#WritersCoffeeClub April 2. International Children’s Book Day! What makes for a good book for children?

Simple - anything they want to read.

It encourages reading when they get to choose, not the adult (as long as it's age appropriate).

#WritersCoffeeClub 2. International Children’s Book Day! What makes for a good book for children?

What they want to read. Seriously. Try to guide them away from false non-fiction and toxic fiction. But

All Underpants Gnomes all the time? Comic books? Manga? Classics? Recent fiction and nonfiction? Nothing but Gaming manuals? It's all good.

It's like kids who only want to eat 3 things: force them and you end up with eating disorders.

Force reading choices and you get kids who hate books.

#writerscoffeeclub 2nd April 2025. What makes for a good book for children?

Adventurous escapism.

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2504.01 — April Fools Day! Do you include in-jokes, hidden messages, or “Easter eggs” in your writing?

Yes. If I can convince you to read Mars Needed Women (https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/114261812977623863), there is a HUGE amount of subtext in the story. It's about hidden (or intentionally dusted with a tiny little bit camouflaging rust) messages. Much is also said indirectly. It's a study in saying a lot without saying much that would get you in trouble. The "EM" in the story is the in-joke, because, well, you know who that refers to. What happens to the silvery phallic symbols and the money is, well, maybe somewhat subversive? There's even a few Easter Eggs in the form of popular references. It was fun to write.

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"If the story grabs me and the writing is good, I'll read anything." — @sifaseven

2. International Children’s Book Day! What makes for a good book for children?

Puns, rhymes, and silly tongue-twisters.

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2503.31 — Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility! What trans author has inspired you the most?

Oh, noes! It seems I don't care who the author is just that their story is great. I don't read intolerant crap. I do have a trans friend who inspires me, but that is because you would never know. They are invisible, have no problem with that because they are now completely consistent in mind and body, and are happy. Horses for courses, I guess.

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2503.30 — Do you label your works as LGBTQIA+? Why or why not?

This seems almost like a fan fiction question. In commercial writing, you end up writing genres which by definition either are or aren't. As I understand this, booksellers like Amazon force these genres. That's not labeling (or tagging), that marketing. I can't see tagging a book that is one genre as LGBTQIA+ if some of the characters are whatever or simply tolerant.

As for one fan fiction example, I did not use the gay tag, but did use romance and sex tags. In the long description, I did mention it was written for a M/M contest. As far as I'm concerned, if it ain't explicit it's friendship, love, and passion—and anybody can relate to that. I think I got a few down votes for that, but fuck them.

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#WritersCoffeeClub 2. What makes for a good book for children?

publishers and marketers have lots of opinions on this. but i think children don't necessarily need simple vocabulary and sentence structure to enjoy a book - look at Watership Down or Anne of Green Gables, for instance. there has to be something compelling in the book that motivates kids to keep reading, in spite of possible challenges. lovable characters are probably even more important than adventure (as AoGG shows).

#WritersCoffeeClub Apr 1: Include in-jokes, hidden messages...?

Oh, absolutely. To the point where I've probably forgotten some of them.

And Alice, of course, speaks in pop culture references. So I imagine the nuance of half of her dialogue goes over the head of readers who don't know scifi shows the way I do.

#WritersCoffeeClub 2. International Children’s Book Day! What makes for a good book for children?

Don't know. Good thing I don't write children's books.

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2503.29 — How do you handle foreshadowing? How do you navigate building up to the ‘big reveal’?

Good question, as this is a major technique for giving continuity to a story.

Since I start my stories with a character and her agenda, and a firm idea of what will happen to end the story, I have only the vaguest idea of plot when I write. This means I often discover with my characters how they will react to an event, and why they can do this or that thing. I discover backstory as I go. Which means...

• I backfill. That means I go back to previous chapters and add clues to support what will happen in the later chapter.

• I emphasize a discovered bit of backstory or attribute in expectation I might use it in a future chapter. For example, in Mars Needed Women, I realized Earth would attack the Martian capitol but it wouldn't happen in that chapter. That made me realize Earth would take out a really important character doing so. I emphasized "capitol" and in the next chapter assigned a place to that "capitol" mentioning that's where the character worked. In the fatal chapter, where was the bad thing going to happen?

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#WritersCoffeeClub 2. International Children’s Book Day! What makes for a good book for children?

1. Remembering what it's like to be a child

2. Telling a story an adult would enjoy too

3. A good illustrator

#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2503.28 — Happy Respect Your Cat Day! Who or what accompanies you when you write?

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#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2503.27 — What’s the strangest situation or place where you’ve written?

I've written on the deck of a ship. Also the empty galley way past midnight. I write regularly in the car (as a passenger) all the time, so that's not particularly strange anymore. With noise canceling airPods, the spouse can listen to podcasts while I listen to electronica.

One time I wrote on the moon, but that was a dream…

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#WritersCoffeeClub 1st April. Do you include in-jokes, hidden messages, or “Easter eggs” in your writing?

Sometimes I do because I love doing this. But it's important that nothing hinges on anyone getting the reference. I put footnotes if I reference a myth that is important to understand a dialogue or something but if it's just for my own amusement it's just there, no matter if anyone but me gets it