Our @joycereynoldsward has a lovely reflection on lessons learned from years of writing books in a shared universe. She includes thoughts on writing tools, and strategies to bypass certain storytelling impulses.
🤗 Joyce! There are wonderful insights in this piece; please do post future updates here with more promotional detail, so that fellow writers don't miss out!
(We're a great community of readers. We *want* to support each other.)
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https://open.substack.com/pub/joycereynoldsward/p/lessons-learned-from-writing-the
@MLClark thanks! It's not a shared world, though, it's all mine--guess I needed to make that clearer.
In any case, this is how I'm spending my break from novel writing...getting back into writing these pieces. I've been wanting to write like this but the serial fiction etc just burned me out.
Hmm. Now I think I need to contemplate the next meditation (plus there are others simmering...).
I meant "shared world" in the sense you mean - your universe, across many books. So if you thought I meant "open" or "collaborative" world, then I'll try to find better language next time. Cheers!
@MLClark ah, no problem! I tend to default to thinking about shared world anthologies when I hear "shared world." Um, I guess that speaks to my particular circle, perhaps? I have written one story in that type of setting, and have had invites to do others...but it's not usually my thing.
If I had written "in the same universe" instead, there would have been no room for confusion across writing circles, so I appreciate the insight into how the other term was read! I can definitely sharpen that language for clarity going forward.
@MLClark that's how we all learn, for sure...no kidding. I have to have the right prompt to do a collaborative world anthology. I can somewhat do themed anthologies (and have, lessee, five or six or so to my name) but playing in someone else's setting can be hard. I had a Darkover submission invite once, but just couldn't come up with an idea.
Your creative juices seem to be firing most splendidly right now, Joyce! Your posts are positively crackling with ideas. :) Long may this burst of writerly momentum last.
@MLClark thanks! Yeah, it was time to move on. But it just seemed like so much effort to format and send out essays on SendFox. Back on Substack? Even more chill than Medium was.
I don't see myself as an essayist, primarily. I've tried to market my essays and...nah, my short fiction sells better. The essays are just for fun (though I'm toying with the idea of a horse-themed memoir, along the lines of Will James's *Horses I've Known.*)