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Blog: Metal Rat

Erin Penn

Image created by Jeff de Boer Sculpture

Happy (Chinese) New Year – The Year of the Metal Rat (as of January 25).

Rats like their shinies – so they bring opportunities to earn money. A great year for new beginnings for long-term projects or strengthening existing projects. But, like the rat is clever, you need to be clever when starting the new things. The projects should be carefully planned, not just a “ooh, shiny”. You need to outsmart the cat. Invade the castle. Win the war. Get the cheese.

Hmmm. Cheese.

Not only are rats resourceful and clever, but they are also brave. This is the year to put on armor and change the world. Again, through planning. 

Voting in the presidential election is obvious, but hardly the only step. You want the world to change – participate. Write material which changes people views. Instead of a dozen unknowing microagressions, be purposeful in your writing. Add people of color, of different sexuality, of different political views, of different strata, of different ages. Make everyone real. This takes a lot of risk, because you need to meet these other people and get to know them and write them right. Put on that metal and pick up the sword and be Brave and Daring like a rat.

Be careful because Metal not only brings persistence, strength, and determination, it also brings rigidity – setting people in their ways. When you stand up for something, make sure it something worth standing up for.

Good luck in this year of the Metal Rat. I hope your New Year’s Resolutions are going well.

Use today to reflect. Clear out the resolutions which were poorly planned and re-attempt the ones which you want to reach. This is the year to do it. Be clever. Be brave. Be strong.

The Rat is behind you.

Writing Exercise: Genderless

Erin Penn

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At my first college job, I ran into my first transgender situation. It was weird. This is because at the time Transitioning or anything LGBTQA+ was all hush-hush. Since the job required secret clearances, the person transitioning sent out a public announcement to the company about the upcoming surgeries and hormone therapies. In the company, being gay or having an affair didn’t matter so much as wanting to hide being gay or an affair – because then Spies could use that to blackmail you and steal secrets. To maintain their job, the person let everyone know.

And that helped shaped my view of the community. There was nothing wrong with being who you are; be up front and open about it. In college I also ran across the concepts of living together without marriage (ever), gay and lesbian relationships, bi-sexual, and polygamy. 

Later I learned about asexual as the internet let people know they weren’t alone with that rare variation of human sexuality.

In college, I also learned about hate and racism and gender crimes and all that horror. That shook my world far more than discovering my personal sexuality didn’t match other people. I just don’t get hating a person for who they are.

Well, I do. Being on the autism spectrum (and female), I’ve been the brunt of a lot of attacks varying from microagressions to firecrackers being thrown at me.

But you can’t change being on the spectrum. Learned behavior modifications control the majority of it – but I will never be “normal”. Why would I throw stones at anyone else for something they are born with?

At the end of the year (2019), I published the flash “Dumped“. The main character is the same as in “Lost Doorknobs” (2016). I’m not sure what the order of the two stories should be yet. I would like to continue this story line and eventually have the POV character start a romance instead of the present dumpster fire with the ex-.

The story is harder to write than most because I am endeavoring to have the POV character be genderless/not gender defined. I don’t know if they were born male or female, and in the end, it doesn’t matter because their genitals do not define them.

Have you ever written something with a character from the LGBTQA+ community, one that doesn’t match your sexuality?

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a flash from the LGBTQA+ community. Preferably asexual, transitioning, or genderless/gender queer. (Romance and Urban Fantasy has given most writers a fairly good handle on Lesbian, Gay, and Bi, as well as Poly relationships. But if you haven’t explored those variations in your writing, go for it.) The main character cannot match your personal sexuality.

Have them in a normal situation. Don’t have the flash centered around a hate act. Make them a person who is just dealing with something everyone deals with. For example, an ex- who is stalking them. Maybe making a dinner and a relationship bump when one member of the couple wants a child really bad (such as is in Special Night).

Did their sexuality change the story? What did you learn about yourself writing the story?

Flash: Hellhound Puppies

Erin Penn

Image courtesy of the Internet Hivemind

A friend of mine posted the above on her Facebook page. I responded, and then it devolved. Below is the result.

First Response:

The hellhounds leap past the others (demons), knocking me down.

“Snuggles – good puppies!”

“But they’re hellhounds.”

“Puppies want belly rubs?” (Rubbing bellies)

“bbbbbut”

 

Second response:

Much later – Young Demon checks in with an overseerer.

“Hey, I’m here to torture” (he looks at name on sheet and says it).

“Again? When will they learn? Look just grab a piece of flame and wait out the decade and go back.”

The hothead rakes the burnt-out demon with his eyes and sneers, “Some of us still got what it takes. Where is my ‘client’?”

Underworld weary, the overseer just waves in a direction. “There.”

“Why is it surrounded by hellhounds?”

The older demon looks over, squinting his eyes against the smoke. “I think they are playing fetch.”

A skull gets thrown and a dozen hellhounds run after it snapping and snarling, with one staying at the client’s feet guarding. The skull was wrong; white bone, but it wasn’t human. The hounds come trotting back, one with the skull in its mouth. The human plays a little tug-o-war until the hound lets go and then gripping the horns curling at the temples gives a big swing and lets it go again.

The young demon clears his throat, “So, where did it get the skull.”

“The last demon sent to torture it. The human said ‘Kibbles’ and pointed at the torturer.”

“You know, I think I will just sit here and enjoy the flame for a while.”

(words 246; first published on FB 6/17/2019; published on website 1/26/2020)

Other Cool Blogs: Lucy Blue Writes 10/9/2019

Erin Penn 1 Comment

Photo by Nery Zarate on Unsplash

Hey you, yeah, YOU.

So how is that New Year’s resolution to write more coming?

I know, I know. January is COLD, and you have to recover from the holidays, and everyone is back at work demanding why the things that needed to get done on a schedule are behind like half the workforce hadn’t been off for two weeks of the last six.

You are exhausted, stressed, and miserable – maybe even feeling a real cold coming on.

I get it. Believe me.

So does Lucy Blue. Back in October, she wrote a post Ways to Keep Writing When You Can’t. Look them over and see if you can get back in the saddle on those resolutions. Remember, just because you slipped doesn’t mean you have failed.

Meme created by Erin Penn

WRITING EXERCISE: Comment below what your New Year resolution is for writing and how far you made it before your first slip. What do you plan to do next?

***

(1) Keep the momentum going from NaNoWriMo 2019 – at least an hour in chair every day, doing at least 500 sellable works. (2) Finish and publish two books this year. (3) Keep up on blog and vlog and patreon.

Tax start put a dent on this right from the start – but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to continue to try every day this year. This is my year!

Author Spotlight: Jay Requard

Erin Penn

Amazon Cover

In-your-face, action-packed, down-and-dirty, sword-and-blood fantasy wanted? Got you an author right here: Jay Requard. Yes, he is a fantasy author, but it isn’t the high-elf, long-quest version over green and fantastic landscapes.

My relationship with this author started when I read his Saga of the Panther through the Thief of Destiny omnibus. If you like things in smaller packages, the individual novellas are available as Thief of Shadows, Thief of Secrets, & Thief of Nations. This storyline builds – so stick around to the end.

Initially when I read Shadows, I was “meh, typical sword&sorcery action-adventure light on the sorcery”. Each novella actually is three short stories so it is easy to pick up or put down.

Then I read Secrets, “oooh, political intrigue and layers to the world. Characters all have their own motivations. The good not completely good and the bad not irredeemably bad. Perfect for a thief-hero. Plus all the action-adventure in a African-like setting. This is good.”

Finally I hit Nations. This was beyond good and stepped into amazing. Moments during the reading felt like I was diving into a new hero mythology from the times of legends – The Odyssey and Beowulf.

Now here is the fun part for me. I am working with him on his next series, the Salt Songs, which follows a group of sea marauders from The Curse of Shallow Bay to The Silver Queen. It’s set in the same world as the Saga of the Panther, but you don’t need to read the one to enjoy the other. The action of the two novella series happen in completely different areas on the planet.

The Curse of Shallow Bay will keep you on the edge of your seat – the raiders’ trireme is surrounded by salt water and the crew about to die of dehydration, being inexplicably  anchored in the opens waters of Shallow Bay. The captain and crew fight for survival against creatures and each other, not sure if the cause of the curse is from within or without.

Look for the novellas to come out in late 2020!