Rhi’s Comments (group member since Nov 12, 2011)

Rhi’s comments from the Q&A with Rhi Etzweiler group.

One of the other aspects that influenced my writing a great deal and helped me evolve was people-watching. And some college-level classes in communication.

Together, the two helped me see that only a small portion of communication is actually verbal. Showing reaction and response is as much about language and tone of dialogue as it is about gestures, body stance and other small details.

Including them in writing isn't an easy feat, but it's part of what makes the reader connect with the characters. It's part of what makes them come alive and drag the reader down into the story.

And ultimately, that effect is one of the indicators of quality writing, solid story-telling-- the story is a vortex that sucks the reader in and drowns them in this alternate reality so thoroughly they get lost.

Morg wrote: "Well, if it only takes a weird intro get this group back on the active-list, I don't mind at all. And yes, normal's scary. :)"

Oh, I didn't realize it had fallen off... but I was a bit distracted this morning. I actually intended to feed some content in here regularly to encourage discussion and such, hopefully prompt some visibility that way as well. GR wants me to write a short letter explaining why BTB would "interest readers" in order to be considered for inclusion in the GR Newsletter, so I'm sitting over here flailing at the moment.

LOL No, Morg, you don't need to introduce yourself at all. ;) Or, as much as Aleks would need to. Sheesh.

And we're all a bit "creep" in this place, I think.
Normal's boring, though -- and it's the normal people that scare me. I'll stick with "creep" actually. Welcome, guys!

I blather on a great deal. I am also prone to rambling.

Hopefully you will find the content of what I write marginally humorous or insightful or interesting, depending on the thread it's posted under.

Just a warning, that I'm notoriously incapable of writing one-word or one-sentence responses. This is the only warning or hint of apology that I will make in this regard. You've been warned! =D

[ETA: I'm also incapable of staying on topic. Topic titles are recommendations, suggestions, conversation starters, and general themes. I guarantee no relevance of actual discussion subject matter. In any thread.]

Speculative fiction is a broad term that encompasses science fiction and fantasy together -- and horror, even, to some extent. It's anything that isn't contemporary, mainstream, historical, or otherwise reality-based.

The reason I employ it with my writing is because I see a tendency in the content of my writing to blur the line between the two (science fiction and fantasy). I also dislike the label "science fiction" because it implies (to some) that I'll sit and wax poetic about the "why/how" of the functionality of a space travel capable engine in a space ship. It wasn't done in DEoH, and I don't see myself doing it in the near future, either.

Are those stories still science fiction? Absolutely, but I'm more likely to be accused of speculating about the ethical or socio-cultural repercussions of space travel or genetic cloning and/or bio-engineering than I am about FTL drives and laser guns. Or sonic cannons. And it's information that I'll only include if it moves the plot forward in addition to enriching the story.

When I was a child, my favorite "speculative fiction" series was Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. Sure, it started out sorta fantasy-- but through the course of the series it unfolds into this twisted science fiction world. I'm glad that the "specfic" label has developed to encompass and more fully embrace the blended nature of stories like this. While I grew to dislike other aspects of her storytelling, I have clung to a few of the conceptual approaches that she was responsible for introducing me to.

I too get lost in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of bookstores, on the rare occasion that I can't resist the urge to go in. I try to stay out as much as possible, though, because every time I go into a brick-and-mortar bookstore, I drop $100 easy on purchases.

There are a slew of stories on my writing desk, waiting for their turn to be told. I do tend to write slowly, though. DEoH was the exception, not the rule, in terms of speed.

This is thread is started to provide a link to the #soldierporn tumblr as well as the main page and archives of gay #soldierporn content on my website.

The gay-centric content ends around the time DADT was revoked. The tumblr content, however, is ongoing and includes more general news links as well as an increasing focus on human interest stories. It's taken some time but I've begun collecting "soldier stories" that discuss the experiences and fallout of active combat zones.

Starting this discussion thread to provide links to the All Things Trans tumblr and the blogpost titled Ones and Zeros: Breaking Past Binary.

Please feel free to ask questions or post your thoughts regarding the content.

Lisa wrote: "If you had to put BTB into a genre, where would you put it?"

I think Riptide's done it justice with the "urban fantasy" label. It's the best that could be done. It has murder and mystery elements, and paranormal elements. There are also romantic/erotic elements in it, but as a whole the book doesn't fit into the "tropes" that identify those genres.

The biggest issue this presents is that readers don't have any idea what to really expect when the best I can do to describe my writing genre is "speculative fiction."

I guess that's why I came up with that particular quote (quality writing is genreless). You can always expect quality writing from me. I can't make any guarantees about genre or comfort zones, but it'll be well written! :)

@Amara: I do! I figured it was time I did.

@Lisa: Agreed, and that's one of the reasons why I elected to do this. While BTB doesn't fall in the M/M genre, I think that what's been going on recently demands a bit of decentralized discussion, so to speak. People need to feel safe, and comfortable, enough to ask questions and have constructive conversation without fear of being attacked or denigrated.

I hope this venue remains a place where anyone, and everyone, can do so.

@Brendan: you're welcome, thanks for joining us!

Feel free to quote me. :) I can't recall exactly when that one cropped up. I think it was during a discussion of genre labels for BTB. I abhor attempting to put my own writing into boxes, about as much as I do writing a synopsis or book blurb. The latter are getting easier, but the former only gets more difficult.

There's a dual facet to it: you can find quality writing anywhere -- someone asked me what genre I liked to read, I don't care what genre it is, I just want to read quality writing; the other half of it is that most stories that are well written, are well rounded, demonstrating aspects of a variety of genres. Sometimes so many that it's impossible to truly box them into a single one.

I talk about a few influences in some of the interview content I've done, but this is a thread to bring it all together.

If you have questions, please ask! I'll get the discussion going...

What influences me can vary greatly depending on the nature of what I'm working on. Some influences, though, are universal. Growing up, my father had Reading Evenings. We'd gather in the living room, crowded on the floor with pillows and blankets, and listen to him read the entire Lord of the Rings series to us. He started with the Hobbit, and went straight on through.

The content of what he read wasn't the influencing factor. It was the way he read, the voices he used -- his Gandalf and Hobbit and Gollum were eerily close to what is in the movie, how strange is that? -- and the quality of the storytelling. I have no idea how often he paraphrased, but he made the story come alive.

It was that experience of being drawn into the story by that energy in the narrative that most strongly influenced my writing style.

This thread is for questions and discussion about BTB.

This thread started out as a discussion thread for DEoH, but has evolved into a conversation about Dom/Brian slashfic. So we're gonna go with it...

Any questions about writer process and related subjects? Ask away!

Hello, everyone!
Please take a moment to introduce yourself.