Mel Starkicker

Wlw romance and romantic comedy. High angst, slow burn, very character focussed. HEA is guaranteed, but my definition of HEA is broad.

Definitely the latter. Years of academia and teaching, has made it fairly easy for me to talk about my writing in 30 sec, 3 min, and 30 min pitches (lots of practice with the dissertation). But talking about myself, selling myself, not something I've ever built up an enjoyment or muscles for.

Or you start looking at places to "drop a flyer" and see something like this:
them: I love ABC type books
you: Hey, that's me!
them: But I hate XYZ tropes
others: Yeah, me too, XYZ are the worst
you: [looking at book with XYZ]
others: terrible writers use XYZ
you: oh...okay, I'll show myself out

Mostly I feel lost. I've never been particularly good about selling myself, but as this is going to become a necessity now that WIP 1 is mostly ready to go out into the world, I'm stuck trying to figure out how the heck I do that.

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Given that I write queer romance novels, I usually aim for HEA endings.
That said, my definition of HEA is perhaps broader than some & can include happy for now or happier ever after.

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Inspired by WIP 3, The First Lesbian Book Club.

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That anyone will reference Pericles makes me happy! It's probably one of my favs just because it's so underrated compared to the others!

At the rate I'm going this year, I'll be on my 3rd bingo card before summer, so I'll definitely need the list 😊

Congrats!!! 🤩

You are on my bingo card, but under a different category though

Wooo! I'm on Jae's Bingo list this week! Check out the entire list of new-to-you authors at jae-fiction.com/new-sapphic-...
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If you're talking Shannon's explanation, she's wrong. She doesn't speak French, but knows that Jackie doesn't want to engage with a fan and comes up with a lie. She didn't even know that Jackie could speak French & assumed she'd just keep her mouth shut. lol
I do explain other French moments though

Thank you. I play around with bilingual characters quite a bit. Both Izzy (WIP1) and Jacqueline (WIP2) are bilingual English/Canadian French. Liv (WIP3) is bilingual Norwegian/English.

I am in a zombie situation, but at least I am not blind... so there's that

Then, and only then, I send it to other people to read in the hopes that they will have "hey.... wait a minute" moments (or rather, that they won't, but because they don't exist rather than they don't see them).

When I write something that is unresolved in that chapter, I find the resolution chapter and make a note to resolve it. If I don't know which chapter it will resolve in, I make a note where it pops up. After I am finished writing, I go through these notes and make sure they are all resolved.

Outlining, plotting, and flow charts that show causality. I spend a lot of time thinking, acting, or talking about plot; I make use of a lot of notes in my document, & then, when finished, re-reading it making notes along the way >>
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Feel better!

From WIP 1.

The brick must be used...

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Their removal was triggered by the rework. There was no longer a need or a place for these characters. They are (happily) a history that was never written for Shannon or Jackie.

That said, I also had to introduce 2 new characters that were unplanned to deal with the ramifications of that change

So many! WIP 2 was originally a lot more ambitious than how it came out. With that ambition came a few more characters that were sketched, named, ready to go, then scrapped when I reworked it. (1/2)

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But plotting/outlining/character mapping is important before I start. It helps keep inconsistencies to a minimum, which makes my life easier in editing.

My mood matters because I don't force myself to write. I let my inspiration dictate where/what I write. If what comes next isn't interesting, I find the thing that is.
I've had good ideas for earlier in the book show up because I jumped ahead & the characters decided on a different direction!

WIP 2 I did in order from chapter 1 to the end. There were a few moments where I jumped ahead as inspiration struck, but mostly I wrote in order. I plotted that one, too, but there were also surprise chapters that popped up.

I do both & it entirely depends on my mood & the story.
WIP 1 I wrote out of order. It was easier to write Julie first, then Izzy. I did the intro, conclusion, & intimate scenes last. I knew how everything connected because I plotted it out (1/4)
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Me and Izzy (WIP 1)

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#WIPSnips *media*
Fucked up love interests have fucked up pasts.
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Hello #sapphicmoon! Here's a bit of a translated idiom, replacing birds with fish and stones with hooks. It just feels like it fits better for my nautical characters.

From A Prayer for the Pirate Queen 🏴‍☠️ 💜 ⚓️ currently in third draft revisions

From WIP 2.

Jacqueline is living through Marshall McLuhan's theory.

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From WIP 3, aka: The First Lesbian Book Club

That's one way to get rid of someone...
Fish, murder (sort of), & it's at Union Station, which is nearish Lake Ontario

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From WIP 1.

I offer this snip with no further context

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