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#WordWeavers Day 29: Who would laugh about [yesterday's bad joke]?

Margot: Curiously, Jessie might laugh drily, and give her a look like, "Wow, I didn't realize you were so dark."

Angel: Their partner, Jake, appreciates their dad jokes. He'd laugh, unironically.

Carlos: Nobody; the whole Velázquez family would groan.

Jessie: Nobody. They'd just look concerned for her.

David: Another nerd who hadn't heard that one before?

#WordWeavers Day 30: Tell us about a myth in your story’s world.

The tech bros have a myth: that Silicon Valley and the tech industry are a "meritocracy".

(I know, it'd be cool to tell about some myth or legend that the City shamans have, among themselves. But I haven't come up with anything like that yet. Maybe it'll come up during the writing of the book, but maybe they're just not much given to inventing myths — they're more inclined to *be* mythical, or at least mystical, figures.)

#WordWeavers Day 1: Pitch the setting of your story as if you're a travel agent trying to convince a tourist to visit.

Come to San Francisco, the most beautiful city in the world! Enjoy world-class dining, ride the world-famous cable cars, and see breathtaking views. Tour the famous Castro and Haight-Ashbury districts, and see the vibrant murals of the Mission. Come and leave your heart in San Francisco!

#WordWeavers Day 2: What are the 3 most important things for a traveler to take to the setting of your story?

An open mind, a good camera, and lots of money.

#WordWeavers Day 3: What are the 3 most important things for a traveler to know if they visit your setting?

1. Stand right on escalators; leave the left for people who are walking.

2. Always dress in layers, no matter what the weather looks like.

3. Do. NOT. Call it "Frisco". Just don't. "San Fran" is acceptable, and "SF" is also okay, but really, "San Francisco" is preferred.

Bonus: Cable cars are actually pulled by a cable under the street; they're not "trolleys", so don't call them that.

#WordWeavers Day 4: MC POV: What about your daily life would surprise a stranger?

Margot Chu says: Probably the way I "commute" to and from work.

(She has a magical key that lets her use certain doors as instant portals to certain other doors. She uses it about as casually as another person might take the bus.)

#WordWeavers Day 5: Who truly understands your MCs?

Angel: Margot.

Margot: Her husband Al, and Angel.

David: Jessie comes to understand him pretty well as the story progresses.

Jessie: Her college friend Aisling (who, unfortunately, is ~500 miles away and busy with her own life). Angel and David come to understand her as the story progresses.

Carlos: Not even his BFF or his confessing priest; "really, only God," Carlos would say.

#WordWeavers Day 6: Share a description of unusual or interesting clothes in your story.

From a vignette where Derrick Devereaux and his husband are about to go out to brunch with their crew:

#WordWeavers Day 7: What were the smells in the last scene you wrote?

That was Angel Castillo waking up, having coffee, showering, and then driving to work in their convertible with the top down. So, in order:

1. coffee
2. shampoo and conditioner
3. a little mustiness and oil in the garage
4. the many smells in the air of a San Francisco morning

None of these were explicitly described in the text, though. (The *presence* of the coffee was, but not its aroma.)

#WordWeavers Day 8: Antagonist POV: If you could have 5 minutes to speak to an MC without interruption, what would you say?

CW: aggressive misgendering and enbyphobia

Van Martinez says: I'd tell Angel Castillo that she's really not all that special. She doesn't have to call herself "non-binary", she doesn't have to wear such chi-chi clothes all the time, and seriously, nobody cares.

#WordWeavers Day 9: If the character from your last scene closed their eyes, what would be the first 3 things they'd notice?

The last scene I wrote was Angel Castillo driving their car to work. They should really, really, not close their eyes! (I won't describe what they'd notice if they did, because it would be bloody and tragic.)

#WordWeavers Day 10: What kind of stories do you like telling?

Ones that give people things to think about, and that make them feel good, like we can do things to make the world better and make ourselves and our loved ones happier.

#WordWeavers Day 11: What are some of your characters' traditions?

Most San Francisco city shamans celebrate what they call Phoenix Day, or Rebirth Day. It's February 20th, the anniversary of the opening of the Pan-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Just under 9 years after the Great Quake and Fire, it signaled to the world that the city had been rebuilt and reborn, like the phoenix that is the City's symbol. 1/2

The shamans celebrate with joyous parties, and generally include phoenix and fire motifs. Depending on the styles of the particular people involved, this can range from flaming shots to lots of candles everywhere to phoenix ornaments or decorations to cakes that have phoenixes and/or depictions of the City. 2/2

#WordWeavers Day 12: Your MCs are going on a picnic. Who and what do they bring?

Margot and Carlos would bring their families. Angel would bring Jake. David might ask his housemates along, or maybe this older gay couple he plays with on occasion. Jessie would probably ask her brother George, because her friend group is pretty well scattered around the country.

Folks would generally bring things like picnic food, blankets, things to drink... maybe frisbees or soft balls to throw and catch?

#WordWeavers Day 13: What would the opposite of a common celebration in your world look like (e.g. the opposite of Halloween, anti-birthday, etc.)?

Being asleep at 5:12 a.m. on the morning of April 18th. Like any sane person who doesn't have some reason to be up that ungodly hour. (Work, been out carousing all night and haven't gone to bed yet, woken early by small child, that sort of thing.)

#WordWeavers Day 14: Follow-up to #13: Now describe what the real celebration looks like.

Many San Francisco City shamans (and many real-world people) attend the Great Quake and Fire Commemoration at Lotta's Fountain. People start gathering probably around 4:30 a.m. or so (although I'm not sure, as I've never gotten there that early!), and attendees include the fire chief, mayor and many supervisors. As well as anyone who wants to be there. 1/3

At 5:12 a.m., the moment the Quake struck, they ring the bells and sound the sirens and alarms.

After that, people migrate to 20th and Dolores Streets, at the top, back corner of Dolores Park, to ceremonially update the paint on the Golden Fire Hydrant. (It was the only one that kept working for many blocks around, and was painted gold afterward in honor of its faithful service.) 2/3

It used to be that after that, people would head back and meet up at Lefty O'Doul's, a scant 3 blocks from Lotta's Fountain, for breakfast. But then Lefty's went out of business. 3/3

#WordWeavers Day 15: Do your characters give gifts to others for no reason or only on special occasions?

Mostly just special occasions. They're pretty busy people, and haven't got a lot of time for random gift-buying and -giving.

That's not to say that, frex, Angel and Margot haven't *occasionally* seen something in a store or online and thought, "Oh hey, my bestie would like that, I'll buy it for them." But it's more of a one-off thing, not a common occurrence.

#WordWeavers Day 16: Does charity exist in your world and do any characters participate in it or support it?

Charity exists in my world, just like in ours. Various people give to various causes in various ways, like Angel makes regular donations to the Trevor Project: https://give.thetrevorproject.org/campaign/641674/donate

#WordWeavers Day 17: Have your MCs ever given gifts to strangers? If not, what could it be?

I think that would mostly just be spare change given to panhandlers.

#WordWeavers Day 18: A stranger gives your SC their dream gift. What is it and how does your SC react?

If someone could fix Lex Bainbridge's maimed leg, or even just give him relief from his chronic pain, he'd weep tears of joy and be forever grateful. But he's already sought the best magical healing anyone in San Francisco can provide. It's not going to get any better.

#WordWeavers Day 19: A stranger invites your MC to a celebration of some kind. What would it be? How would the MC react?

That will happen to Jessie roughly ⅔ of the way through chapter 5. When she runs into Lex Bainbridge at J&J's Bar and Grill, they'll recognize that each them looks a bit familiar to the other from some clubs. He'll invite her to a party happening that night, and she'll cautiously but happily accept the invitation. David, who's with her at the time, will be a bit worried.

#WordWeavers Day 20: Do you associate any of your characters with a song (a theme song, of sorts)?

I have entire playlists for many of my characters!

Most of those are music that character might like, though, more than "songs that remind me of the character". They're lists for *getting into the character's mindset.* Mostly. A few examples:

* Carmen Lockhart has a mix for when she's sculpting, that's mostly Bach 2- and 3-part inventions and most of the Brandenburg concerti.

1/2

* I have 2 lists for David Hartmann: one for when he's coding, another for when he's out clubbing and dancing. There's a bit of overlap between the two; he does like techno.

* Derrick Devereaux has a mix of songs that he might do, or has done, drag performances to.

* Travis Winter has a mix of '60s-to-'90s tunes (regrettably including a few artists and tracks I rather despise, e.g., Eric Clapton or the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar").

2/2

#WordWeavers Day 21: Are your MCs named after anyone of significance in their world?

Angel's legal given name is María Milagros, which is one of the names of Mary in Catholicism.

Jessie Nakamura's parents are Star Trek fans. Her middle name is Keiko. She is not specifically "named after" Keiko (née Ishikawa) O'Brien, but her parents did get the idea from hearing her name, and will admit it. OTOH, Jessie's older brother, George, *is* named in honor of George Takei.

#WordWeavers Day 22: Do your characters ever stargaze?

Aisha Quinn is a dedicated star-lover! It's hard to stargaze in a city, but she avidly reads books on astronomy and astrophysics.

#WordWeavers Day 23: Where do your MCs feel most at home?

Margot: At her actual home

Jessie: On her motorcycle, or at Peace Plaza in Nihonmachi

Angel: On the streets (and sidewalks) of San Francisco, whether driving their Eldorado or just walking or sitting

Carlos: Anytime and anywhere that he's doing research

David: He's still not quite sure. A few contenders are: on the dance floor at a gay club; in a puppy pile at a rave; pair programming on a thorny problem or reviewing code.

#WordWeavers Day 25: Do your MCs believe in an afterlife?

Carlos is a devout Catholic, and yes, he does believe in Heaven (and Hell).

Angel is a lapsed Catholic, and firmly rejects every damn thing the Church ever taught. But, along with the other 3 MCs, they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that supernatural things are real, so they're not quite willing to deny categorically that any afterlife exists.

#WordWeavers Day 26: What other forms of media do you go to for inspiration?

"For inspiration"? I don't get my inspiration from media, I get it from cities and life.

#WordWeavers Day 27: Would your antagonists look forward to family reunions?

Donna Kuang would look forward to one.

Dennis Devereaux would actively refuse to go.

The other three wouldn't much care one way or another.

#WordWeavers Day 28: Would your MCs look forward to family reunions?

Margot would look forward to it.

David would wonder if Mom was going to be there, or Dad. It couldn't be both.

Jessie and Carlos would both be mostly ambivalent.

Angel would dread it and consider making an excuse not to attend.

#WordWeavers Day 29: Do your characters empathize with other species more than their own?

Mostly no. Carmen Lockhart is a possible exception; she had to work very hard to understand people, but she eventually did so and became a playwright. Also, she understands at least certain animals very well. (There's a lot more that could be said on both of these points, but it'd be spoiler-y.)

Of course, my characters *do* "empathize" with the City... but is that really a "species"?

#WordWeavers Day 30: How good at saying goodbye are your antagonists?

I guess no better or worse than most people?

#WordWeavers Day 31: Do your characters celebrate any form of a year ending and a new one beginning?

They're modern Americans; they all celebrate New Year's Eve/New Year's Day like the rest of us.

#WordWeavers Day 1: Where are you on your writing journey? What have you accomplished and what are your plans for the future?

I'm still at the very beginning. I mean, seriously, I *still* haven't started the first draft. 1/2

I've accomplished *most* of a fully-fleshed world and characters to tell a story in and about, with some recent background that lays the ground for a plot. I've written just over 100,000 words of exploratory vignettes.

My plans are to write this thing, get it published, and then keep going. More books after this one. 2/2

#WordWeavers Day 2: MC POV: If you could make an antagonist do one thing that doesn't involve anyone's death, what would it be?

Angel Castillo says: I'd make Travis Winter see that what he's trying to do is *wrong*. It's so terribly wrong. I'd make him see that he's been so wrong that he should give up magic entirely, and dedicate his fortune to truly helping others, not trying to rule them.

#WordWeavers Day 3: Share something writing-related you're proud of: an achievement, a beautiful passage, a compliment, etc.

I'm proud of the way I've increased my time-spent-writing-per-day over the past month, and stuck with it even when my motivation's been low.

#WordWeavers Day 5: Has your writing process changed over time?

Definitely, even though I'm still in the early stages of my first novel!

First, my writing process was 100% world-building, which gradually added building characters as part of the world.

Then it moved into a phase of largely writing first drafts of vignettes, albeit with frequent stops to improve the world-building. 1/2

Now, it includes a fair bit of editing and revision of existing vignettes (one is coming close to second-draft status), in addition to the aforementioned other things. 2/2

#WordWeavers Day 6: When was the last time you wrote a character facing a difficult choice? Have they made the right decision?

Not positive it's the last thing I wrote that first the criterion, but it's the one that came to mind: Jessie Nakamura was agonizing about how, and where, to come out to her parents. She wound up going with "the restaurant they took her out to dinner at" as sort of a Hobson's choice, but in retrospect, she thinks it was the best possible option. 1/2

It was someplace she'd never go back to again, so she didn't have memories of that incredibly stressful event attached to, say, her college dorm room.

(N.B.: This is very unlikely to show up in the novel itself. It's a background-material vignette. But I might make it available as some kind of extra somehow, after the book's published.) 2/2

#WordWeavers Day 7: What's the biggest threat your world is facing?

The world as a whole? Nah, you mean *my* world, right? The world of the city shamans in San Francisco. Just the City, not the whole world. Okay.

Then it could be anything from economic problems and corporations pulling jobs out of the city to homelessness to drug abuse, but my MCs are pretty sure the Big Bad's plan to fight those things is an even bigger threat.

#WordWeavers Day 8: How do you create characters who have depth?

By treating them as real people who just happen to be getting involved in a story, not as playing pieces that serve the needs of the plot. By diving into their past histories, their daily lives, their internal lives, their hopes and dreams and fears. By trying to inhabit their skins.

#WordWeavers Day 10: Antagonist POV: Do you have any flaws?

Travis Winter says: Yeah, of course. I mean, who doesn't?

Some people would probably say I'm too interested in money, but I don't think so. I mean, that just goes with the territory¹, right?

I do let my temper get the better of me sometimes. But I'm working on that.

1. N.B.: He runs a multibillion-dollar private equity fund. That's "the territory" he's talking about.

#WordWeavers Day 11: Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn? How do your MCs react to danger?

David: Flee.

Jessie: Freeze.

Margot: She's a trained martial artist. Take a guess.

Angel: Fight, though not nearly as effectively as Margot.

Carlos: Like many disabled people, fighting and fleeing aren't viable options for him. He resorts to fawning, because his mind races a hundred miles an hour and won't let him freeze. But he's not at all happy about it.

#WordWeavers Day 12: If you needed companions to start a rebellion, which of your characters would you choose?

Curiously enough, what Angel and Margot (and to a good extent, Kevin Wingard) are doing in the book *is* pretty much forming the core of a rebellion against some of the Powers That Be. I'd happily take all three of them, and also the people they recruit, like Carlos.

#WordWeavers Day 13: If you met a person like your antagonists in real life, what would you do?

Be cordial and superficially polite, but not exchange any deep interactions with them.

Okay, Donna Kuang is a political consultant, so with her or someone like her, I *would* discuss issues and make my views on them very clear... but I doubt I'd change their mind. (If they were open to progressive views, they wouldn't be antagonists.)

#WordWeavers Day 14: What was the weather like in the last scene you wrote? Did it play a role in the story?

Not sure if it counts as "last wrote" or "am still writing" (there was no *explicit* scene-break between it and what I'm currently working on, but it feels a little like a new scene, because a bunch of people arrived...). Anyway, that scene was indoors, and the weather had no effect on it at all. 1/2

If I look at the one before that... again, a few scenes kind of flowed from one into the next, but in at least one, the weather was cool enough that Angel Castillo was bummed about having to put the top up on their convertible when they were cruising around town.

N.B: This is "as of when I wrote this answer", back at the beginning of the month. I've written more since, but am leaving the answer as-is. 2/2

#WordWeavers Day 15: How long is your longest work?

My longest vignette so far is 10,846 words, for "A Day in the Life: David Hartmann ('Good Day' version)". (There's also a "bad day" version, which is shorter.)

#WordWeavers Day 16: How long is your shortest work?

My shortest completed vignette (so far, but I doubt any will be any shorter than that) is "Jessie [Nakamura] Comes Out to [her brother] George", at 956 words.

#WordWeavers Day 17: Do you prefer long or short works? What's your sweet spot?

Oh, I'd prefer to be writing an entire novel! As it is, my vignettes keep creeping up in length, past what I expect them to do.

#WordWeavers Day 18: Have you ever wanted to write a story but lacked the skills for it? What skill would you need?

Sort of? There's a story I want to write in the future, and I know I'll have to develop some prose storytelling chops that I currently don't have. And I know there's at least one major novel that I should read first.

But that's not so much "have wanted to" but rather "plan to someday". (Maybe it's just knowing my limits?)

#WordWeavers Day 19: How honest are your MCs when honesty will get them into trouble?

They all have some level of marginalized background, and people like that realize that there are times when you need to *lie* to power, rather than speaking truth to it. Quick, extremely clear example: As a gay Jew, David Hartmann knows that there are times when you *do not* tell the truth about yourself to people with badges. 1/3

Similarly, Angel Castillo knew better than to let their parents know about their high school lesbianism. Again, that's a case where the "will get them into trouble" part of the question comes from someone who's in a position of power or authority over them. 2/3

But sometimes you can get into trouble with a peer. A friend or lover, for example.

Most of my MCs know better than to lie in cases like that. But Angel is still trying to figure out how to break the news to their boyfriend that magic is real, and the City is alive, and they can do one and talk to the other.

[Addendum: I'd already written this answer when I saw this, yesterday: https://mastodon.social/@jgilbert/113847758124368411 Feels relevant.] 3/3

#WordWeavers Day 20: Do you feel the Covid pandemic has affected your writing or stories? If so, how?

It's made me more cynical. Before Covid, I didn't realize just how callous and eugenics-driven most people are.

That has absolutely got to come out in my writing, in ways that wouldn't have happened if I'd started writing before the pandemic.