scribble scribble

[Mercy Zephyr she/her]

I'm a new author. I just posted my first piece under this pen name, and at the same time lost my day job, so now I get to figure out how to get my output up to pro levels quickly so we can stop being afraid of how to pay the bills. I'm a Native ace transgender woman (she/her), a wife to a great guy who transitioned at the same time I did, and a grandmother. I live in a fairly rural and inaccessible area, which limits my ability to travel around and rub elbows with editors and other authors. 

I currently write transgender romance/whatever at various heat levels. The first one was medium heat, since the squishy wiggly bits needed to do dramatic work. The one I am drafting right now falls into 'Clean and Wholesome' because it makes no sense to include the slippery bits in context of the frame narrative of 'reminiscing to another character' --- and to my amusement, it might bleed a little bit into Inspirational once it gets out of my hands, which might cause a bit of amusing metaphorical swapping of paint.

My family wants me to write Historical Fantasy using the prehistory of the tribe, including the monsters, as a setting. I worry about how marketable that would be - I might be able to get a grant to write it, but I don't know how to sell the finished product and I don't know how I would build a large piece yet. Nor do I feel like I understand Fantasy, since so often it seems like set dressing.

Given all that, I am still trying to figure out what to read next, given my background and goals. My well is a bit dry this week.

I realize this is an unusually detailed intro, but I don't know how best to ask about some of this in a way that makes sense. My intro has several promises in it that need to be answered/fulfilled. Hopefully I can actually pull those off.

[Silva]

Welcome to the forums!

There are a few writing communities here that you may enjoy joining if that's your thing.

Otherwise/either way, feel free just to hop around and read through other stuff people have written about writing already in threads. Maybe it'll help.

Congratulations on posting a piece!

[kais]

Hey @Mercy Zephyr! 

If you head over to the Reading Excuses forum you'll find a critique group that can help do reads of your stuff. If you're looking to publish small press (so no agent) I can suggest some small presses that are decent and queer owned. A lot of us over at RE are either agented/published or working towards those goals, so it might be a good place to get feedback and meet some people!

[Argent he/him]

Wow, that's a... varied background. Did you run into Brandon from the authorial side of things?

[Mercy Zephyr she/her]

It's mostly because I am trying to find out more about writing. I've been trying to read more good stuff, because if I am going to be aiming to write well, I need to aim high. Sanderson's work comes highly recommended.

"Varied"? How so? 

Agent and publisher would be nice; I don't know how realistic of a goal that is for me so far, given the various bits in my background that are apparently "Varied".  It's hard to find agents and publishers to pitch to from here that aren't doing alaskana, which isn't the biggest of markets imo.