Unicorns: Fierce and Not So Fantastical
When I shared initial chapters of Being Alien with my Sin City Writer’s Group for feedback, I first explained how this novel was set primarily in Scotland. One participant inquired, “Will it include unicorns in addition to aliens?” Unicorns? Those silly little ponies, those fantastical creatures favored by girly girls? Why would a novel set […]
Superheroines that Glow Green in the Night
It’s the six month anniversary of the launch of this Luna Moth Woman blog, so let’s talk Luna moths. Perhaps it all came about from pinning towels to the shoulders of play clothes as kids, with visions of being Batgirl as our “capes” flapped behind us while we saved the world from our front yards. […]
Lady’s Liberty: Hijacked on a Hypocritical Highway
I’d like to write about fun stuff like intergalactic travel and fierce feminist adventures. I want to promote my latest Other Worldly novel with entertaining tidbits and titillating trailers of fabulous and fantastical destinations. But skies have grown ominously cloudy and driving conditions for women in America have become even more hazardous. It’s hailing male […]
Eschew Limits of Another’s Imagination
Recently I read something on social media that spoke to me quite succinctly: Don’t restrict yourself to the limits of someone else’s imagination. In one sentence, this summed up how I’d felt since I began drafting my Other Worldly series about aliens among us. I’ve come to call it genre alienation, this lingering notion that […]
When Fiction Becomes Reality
Every time I think I might run out of topics to blog about, or issues to weave into my Other Worldly series plotlines, along comes headlines. The real world rushes in, keeping me fuming, or laughing, and therefore keeping me writing. As I said in my author bio for Feeling Alienated, I keep trying to […]
Being Feminist
Rowan Layne, lover of aliens and crusader for otherworldly rights who uses her mighty pen and passionate voice—and sometimes a pointy-toed shoe—faces a few bumbling misogynist aliens in Being Alien, fourth novel of the Other Worldly series coming soon to online bookstores. Rowan’s initial reaction is utter disgust and disappointment that bigotry and stupidity are […]
Creating Beloved Alien Characters
We all want and need to be liked, and readers want to fall in love with a beloved character. This is not to say that all literary characters must be loveable, or that all loveable characters must be perfect. Counterintuitively, it is often quixotic quirks that make a character come alive, and become beloved. One […]
Licensed Brothels: Another Target to Control Women
One of the Nevada businesses hit hard by the COVID pandemic were brothels and the women who work in them. As in legalized prostitution. Brothels were forced to cease operations in 2020 per government edict, though there’ve been many attempts to shut them down—by morality fanatics far too obsessed with consensual sexual activity of others. […]
Inherent Subjectivity of Morality in Character Development
Recently I read an article in a writer’s magazine about using “moral dilemmas” to make literary characters better. It said that “a character without an attitude, without a spine, without convictions, is one who will be hard for readers to cheer for and easy for them to forget.” I wholeheartedly agree, except where my position […]
Using Your Voice Despite Silencing Rules
It’s back-to-school time for kids, and for adult authors it might be time to actively participate in writing seminars, groups, and other learning opportunities on the craft of writing. Do we hop onto that school bus full speed ahead, or proceed with caution at the risk of curbed creative license? An instructor or fellow author’s […]