Saying Hello

[JF]

Forwarded message follows, with everybody's email addresses removed so
as not to attract spammers.

-----------

Hey Lisa and everyone,

It was really great meeting you by chance at Neil Gaiman's and Amanda
Palmer's event. I also asked Neil if he could give me some advice on
publishing which I'll be happy to share if I see you all.

My name is Desiree and this is an introduction to stuff I'm working
on :

I'm working on a novel called 'Vo', it is about Vo a scholar who
collects the souls of the dead and brings them to Ieil the land of the
dead, and his arch enemy Rasp the pied piper who lures young souls
away. The story is about an entire generation of doomed young people
and whose side they will choose.

The novel is up for reads up and is being added to as i write more on
my journal.

I am also working on a graphic novel called 'The Dark Nights of Hansel
and Ash' and have just finished the Halloween issue. It can be read on
my journal. I'm looking to publish the comic, but am not sure how.
Anyone who may know how to do this or have any advice please get in
touch with me.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/vincend

I think the idea of a writer's group will be really great, I was just
reading Chuck Palahniuk's book the other day 'Survivor' and even he
mentioned that he could not have completed his book without a writer's
group that he joined. It will be really good to meet other people and
discuss work regularly. Please let me know if we can meet up for a
coffee together and bring our writing and have a workshop I would be
really keen and grateful for this as someone working on a novel.

I'm rather frightened that I'll never publish because I'm not sure
what to do, any advice you may Lisa will greatly be appreciated since
you seem to have attended some really good writer's workshops.

When I came back to Singapore recently from Australia, I concur with
what other people said. I felt like I didn't know anyone who wrote Sci
Fi/Fantasy and it would be a really good feeling to meet other people
who are working on the genre.

Do keep in touch and I hope we can all meet up soon

ps. Lisa the community sounds like a really good idea

I sent this email to Lisa yesterday but thought I'd send it out and
say hello to everyone. Hello to JF also, I just bought smoke and
mirrors two days ago. it is heartening to hear how good it is i think
i will enjoy it

is anyone up for workshopping? there seem to be quite a few people
here interested in fantasy, we could meet up at a cafe with computer
access, so we could plug in laptops. coffeebean or starbucks?

best, des

-----------

Hi JF (and hi Kit Mun!),

Thanks so much, if you could set up a google group for us, that would
be really helpful. Did you guys know there's also a group of SF/
fantasy artists in Singapore? I met them through Elfwood, and there's
a yahoo group, although largely inactive. JF, I wonder if there's room
on your wiki for non-comic illustrators? I'll send that group an
email.

A SF-Wuxia cross sounds very exciting. I love the idea. It's exactly
what I love about this genre, that in weird fiction, nothing is weird.
You can break any genre rules you want.

Did any of you watch District 9 recently, the movie where aliens land
over Johannesburg? I have mixed views about the movie but the very
concept was fantastic, using SF to talk about apartheid and the slums
and crime in South Africa in the way only it could. It made me think
about what SF in Singapore would look like.

Okay, everyone else, do introduce yourself. Don't shy :)

Cheers,
Lisa

-----------

Hi everyone!

Thanks Lisa for getting the group started! Yes, I for one would love
to meet up and chat about stories. I have copied a friend of mine, Kit
Mun, in this email as I think he would love to be in our group.

Bit about myself. I'm a freelance web developer and I've been working
on a graphic novel about assassins in ancient China. I'm also
interested in sci fi and have been plotting a swordfighting/sci-fi
cross genre story, among other ideas.

Like Lisa, I had been been wondering for aeons if I was the only
writer doing the kind of thing I'm doing -- that is until I got active
in starting a community of like-minded creators. It has been a mind-
blowing experience and has allowed me to meet several amazing people
right here in Singapore. I no longer feel alone!

This community of mine consists of a wiki and a mailing list for
Singapore comics creators which has several writers and illustrators
including Sonny Liew. Those of you doing graphic novels can use these
to find artists to work with:

http://groups.google.com/group/comics-creators-sg/
http://comics.storykitchen.com/

With your permission, Lisa, I would love to start a mailing list on
Google Groups, and I'll put you in as a moderator if you like. Maybe
we can also start a website if everyone thinks it's a good idea.

JF

-----------

Lisa Poh wrote:


Hi everyone!

It was really great meeting all of you today at Neil Gaiman & Amanda
Palmer's reading. I thought the session was great and the book really
intriguing. Too bad it wasn't on sale. Saw some of you in the queue
afterwards, hope that wasn't too much of a pain. The Arts House is too
small for someone like Neil Gaiman!

Anyway, here's a bit about me: I'm Lisa, and I've been writing sort of
for 10 years really, but only seriously in the last year or two. I've
been using online critique groups for about two years to improve my
writing, and attended Odyssey Writing Workshop this year (Jun-Jul 09),
where I had a life-changing time. So why I jumped up today was because
I've been going to these writers' talks for a while, wondering all the
time why I don't know anyone else who writes the same stuff as I do. I
guess previously I just never did anything but it but after Odyssey, I
returned home still hungry to have more conversations with other
writers on writing and hopefully even discuss what Asian spec fiction
means.

Also, I've put Jason and Anders in this email. Jason, you guys have
met. Anders is publishing an anthology of science-fiction stories with
Ethos Books either at the end of the year or 2010, and I think this
will make him the first Singaporean SF writer to be published here by
a local publishing house. Woo hoo! If any of you want to know how he
managed that, you can ask him. I haven't heard the full story myself
yet :)

It would be great if you guys could all introduce yourself so we could
hear from each other! I know there's some of you writing graphic
novels, some who write horror (Lovecraftian and otherwise), some who
write SF and some who write fantasy. Some of you just started out and
maybe others have been writing for years! Would love to hear your
story.

Some of you also asked if I was going to start a community. Well, from
having been in a lot of communities over the years, it's been my
experience that these take a lot of work and die pretty quickly, so
maybe we can make this an informal group? I can start a facebook group
if you like so we can keep in contact. And it would be great if we
could meet up to have coffee and chat about, what else, SF, fantasy
and horror. Let me know if you're keen!

Cheers!

Lisa

Some of you asked me what I was talking about by workshops and stuff,
so here goes. Neil made good points about making full use of the
internet--there's really a ton of stuff out there. I've been studying
a bunch of blogs and resources for the last few years, so for any of
you getting started, these are sort of a bunch of things out there
specifically good for spec fiction (SF/F/H) writers.

*Internet Resources:* There's a lot excellent advice and tips on
writing on the net, particularly to be found in blogs where writers
tell you how they write, agents tell you what they're looking for,
publishers ruminate on what sells, etc. John Scalzi, whom Neil
recommended, is awesome and super funny, for a start, even if you
don't like SF.

Aside from writers, there are a bunch of agents, editors and
publishers whose blogs I follow. There's also a lot of free writing
advice out there. One example is Jeffrey Carver's free online course
here: http://www.writesf.com/.

There's also some very inspiring fellow Asians like Charles Tan, who
put Phillipine Spec Fiction very much on the mind of the international
community with his web presence. If you haven't read his blog yet, you
should: http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/.

*Online Critique Workshops:* One of the hardest things for me
personally is to find people who "get" my writing and can give me good
feedback. And yet that's the best way to improve. So that's where
critique groups come in. The two critique workshops where I post my
stuff to get critiqued--they cater specifically only to spec fiction
are Critters (http://www.critters.org/) and the OWW (http://
sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/). Critters is free to join but demands
a weekly quota, while OWW is paying and works on a point system
(essentially these systems ensure that people critique each other's
work).

*Writing Workshops*: I can't recommend enough the intensive experience
of going to a writing boot camp of the likes of Clarion and Odyssey,
which are the two best known writing workshops in this genre. When you
go into one of these, you literally eat, drink, sleep and dream
writing. Actually I'm kidding about sleep, you don't really sleep.

You drink tons of coffee to stay awake so you can finish all your
assignments, critiques and oh, the short story you're supposed to
write each week.

Clarion (http://clarion.ucsd.edu/) is probably the oldest of the
workshops and is a six-week workshop held in San Diego each year,
taught by a number of really good writers who take up residence. It
has two sisters, Clarion West, held in Seattle, and Clarion South,
held in Brisbane, Australia. To apply you have to send in two samples
of your writing, and competition is very, very fierce.

Odyssey (http://www.sff.net/Odyssey/) is another six-week workshop
held in New Hampshire each year. It is taught by World Fantasy Award
winning editor Jeanne Cavelos (she's a really great teacher) and
comprises of lectures and critique sessions. Jeanne's starting online
lessons from next year onwards, so you can try for that if you can't
afford an overseas workshop, but if you can, it's really worth the
experience. To apply you need to write an essay and send in a short
story or novel extract.

*Markets for Spec Fiction: *Some great resources to find markets to
submit your stories to are Ralan.com and Duotrope, both of which are
really up to date and easy to use. Distance should not stop you from
submitting your work because a lot of the zines take electronic
submission these days!

*Books: *There's lots of awesome books, but some of my favourites are
"How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card, "On
Writing" by Stephen King and "Steering the Craft" by Ursula Le Guin. I
love books on writing, so if you know of any really good ones, let's
exchange tips!

Anyway, if there's anything I can help with, do ask! It took me years
wandering around by myself to learn all this stuff, so it might save
you the effort :)

[sharon han]

Hey guys,

I am Jing Han and I'm not sure I'm in the right -lace here, All of you all seem to be awfully experienced writer's and I'm kind of intimidated cause I think I'm the youngest here. I'm still schooling and currently I study in RGS, I don't have much writing experience, except for that one children's book that I managed to publish in primary six cause of the budding writers competition :) if you all want to support and buy, I would be delighted heehee, anyway, I really love reading and writing, though I haven't had much time recent;y due to intense school workload/, but I'm planning to sit down and write properly during the holidays :) oh,. but I dunno if its right for me to be in this group, cause I'm so noob and all, you all are probably thinking what is this kid doing here, eeks. and I would totally understand if you all would prefer for me to leave. Anyway, what I like to  write is basically fantasy stuff, but most of the m are incomplete, I dabbled in a bit of sci fi too, but again incomplete. Generally, the only things I have managed to complete are short lyrical micro-fiction. but not exactly high fantasy, I haven't dared to start out on such immense projects yet. my favorite high fantasy writers are David eddings and le guin :) and I feel quite inadequate cause my writing is really unpolished, :( haha but I;m going to insert two short pieces now and feel free to comment. but it may not really fit into any genre cause its so incomplete. and I havent had time to expend it, the second piece i have high hopes for it to develop it int o something of a high fantasy adventure/ tragedy thing heehee and sorry for taking up your time
 

Regards,

Jing Han

the bird said to the tree: "Oh why are you so tall and stately! with lush green laurels upon your crown, swaying gently under the mischievous tugs of the zephyr."

Tree replied with narry a hurry, murmuring with a sigh, struggling to be heard under the caphanony of birdsongs greeting the coming of dawn: " oh bird, but I am not happy so!"

"and why is that so tree! Does not seeing your beauty reflected in that clear spring you shadow delight you with songs soaring throught your soul!"

"Ah! But the fact is, I do not feel beautiful. Bird you say I am beautiful, the visiting deer exaults my grace and the wistful spring sings praises of my dashing canopy. But I do not feel beautiful. I do not feel beautiful because I am tired so."

"oh tree, let me help you. Such majesty ought not deserve to be seeped in sorrow. I shall be your listening ear and you may pour upon my slender wings your deep melanchoy. Let me then take flight and disperse your symphony of misery to the air currents above."

"Ah bird! the weight of centuries of knowledge creaks on my innocuously strong branches. I may seem strong but I borrowing unseen louse creep through my capillaries and undo me from within. My eremeld leaves hide the numerous parasitic wasp larvae burrowing within. I am weak. weak of will and weak of heart. Tired of seeing the season pass with narry a visitor cept the woodland creatures who come as they will  to take the fruits of my labour. This beauteous spring so clear, so frolicksome of life hath no other companions for me. Am I not the only tree here abouts taller than a young sapling. Ye old willow tree who was my love and life long companion was struck down by the ravages of a summer hail hither months back. Hath I no one to share my days with for I am old beyond time and twas hard for an old soul like me to start anew with friends for..."

Admist the tree's tirade, he realised the bird was gone. he stopped, shocked into silence, stunned by a sense of betrayal. the tree has just got into the momentum of things. he had been silent for over past a century, having no old companion to murmor weet nothings to. his voice rusty from disuse had cracked saying hi. the hidden delight he felt at being approached was smothered.The bird promised to be a friend, yet like all flighty creautres of its kind. It had left without a goodbye. The cracks in the tree's armour broke down, the chinks giving way to the flood of depression. like the wick of a candle his spirit rose to great heights before being snuffed out without a warning. He had felt alive for once, remotely sentient. the loneiness had almost drove him crazy, yet he had tried his best to accept things as they were. Overnight its trees were shed, its branches bare. such was his sorrow. such was his pain.

Next day, the sun rose to a shell of a tree, its spirit gone. Tree gave up on life, the bird was the stick that broke its already whethered back. The empty branches a shadow of its former self

another one, 

She looked out of the window in morose silence, sipping her cup of Chai Frappachino contemplatively. She rolled her tongue over the pool of sinfully sweet ambrosia formed by the hollow of her throat, savouring every delicious drop. Almost reluctantly she swallowed it slowly, letting the liquid gold slither down her throat. She licked her lips in an attempt to capture any remnant drop of beauty captured by the cationic symphony of the flavours of the Chai tea, the intoxicating sweetness, followed by the spicy, milky mint aftertaste. In that plastic cup of cream coloured Chai, the dusky addictive of blended cream and Chai, it seemed to be able to capture, all that is good in this world. It was fundamentally captured sunlight, the softness of violet petals and the kiss of the summer breeze caught and wound into a silken liquid spool disguised at Chai tea. The fragmented images of summer reminded her sharply of her childhood, carefree undisguised happiness in the wild English woods, yet these fond memories were interlaced with threads of sorrow, leaving in her mouth a sour, bitter aftertaste…
The bliss of the summer sun of her cheeps her lips, her dainty earlobes. The delicious warmth coursing through her eyelids, making her world tinged with an orange red even though she was shutting her eyes as tightly as she could. The dazzling delight of flinging her arms forward as if to embrace the sun itself, a form of spiritual rapture only the initiated could understand, spinning round and round, skirts billowing open to resemble an upturned top, trickles of the summer breeze coalescing into a wispy shroud, buffeting all outside influences. Tapping into her spiritual core, the core of her being, she felt more alive than she had ever felt in a long time, delighting in the existence of life itself, the sweet smell of the meadow’s morning dew, the crispy crunch of freshly grown grass, the splatter of bluebells hanging their heads shyly as if they were looking up at you from bashful fluttering eyelids. The lazy buzz of mayflies moving antagonising slowly across the field so slow that one could have reached out and plucked them in midflight anytime. She stared in wonderment of the beauty of the mayflies wings, architectural masterpieces of nature, shimmery gossamers made with a medley of captured morning mist and spider silk sewn together with needles thinner than the hair of an Elven princess. In a stumble of legs and skirts she flopped onto the ground chuckling to herself euphorically. Yet these chuckles slowly transform into hacking coughs and sobs, and finally metamorphosised into full out bawling, before ebbing into silent tears so racked with pain and sorrow that the grass onto which these salty tears fell on, were reluctant to absorb nutrients of it for fear of being a vessel which this grief resides

---

From: JF <jfko...@gmail.com>
To: Speculative Fiction Writers of Singapore <spec-f...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tue, November 3, 2009 8:50:08 AM
Subject: [spec-fict] Saying Hello

[Anders Brink]

Hello Jing Han!

Welcome to the group. What's wrong with being n00b? I was a n00b
before, exactly like you.
I wrote. I showed my friends. Some laughed at me. Others cheered me
on. But nobody could
help me, because back then in school. nobody else had any aspirations
of being published,
and so none of those friends of mine knew anything about submissions,
markets, querying,
editors, or anything like that. I also wrote to the press, but those
people there are dangerous
people. That was my mistake, hope you don't repeat my mistake.

If you hang out with us, you will have friends who understand the
publishing industry. And you
will get a "family" outside of your family. I was in Pittsburgh and I
joined a writer's group as
well as the fan club. Interaction with those "average americans" gave
me a perspective on life
that being an academic does not. There were teenagers my writing
group, as well as astronomers,
lawyers, computer programmers, failed political candidates, hospital
ER nurses, actors, etc.

So don't worry, we won't bite. Writing a lonely business enough that
having a few like-minded friends helps tremendously. And welcome.

And as an introduction to the group, I am Anders Brink. Anders Brink
is my pseudonym. I write and publish Science Fiction. I have a
contract to publish an anthology of SF stories with Ethos. You might
envy that, but I am realizing that there is a lot more to publishing
than signing a publishing contract. I have also written an SF duology
with a friend, which we are self publishing. I am really a scientist
and teacher, so my SF is more "hard" than most. BUT I read tons of
tons David Eddings, J.R.R. Tolkein, Tad Williams, DragonLance, and
others which I have forgotten

Hi, all and thrive.

anders.

[Christopher Hwang]

Hi all,

First I'd like to thank Lisa, and by extension Jason who she dragged
in, for setting this up. Always nice to know you aren't the strangest
person in the room ;)

To the people who mentioned that they weren't sure that this was the
place for them because they were new, or they were more involved with
comics, or they write fan fiction - well this is an entirely new
collective of creative individuals, so its really up to us to decide
whether or not we'll be comfortable here! So far we all know we have
at least one thing in common - an appreciation for Neil Gaiman's work
- and thats a pretty good start ;)

For myself, I have a boring day job, but I'd really like to label
myself as a 'writer'. I've bounced around newspapers, magazines,
copywriting and, in my school years, playwriting ... so all that's
left is to write a novel or ten ;)

I've actually avoided writing groups for a while, due to some bad
experiences in the past. However, I think its past time I got back on
the horse ;) I'm actually quite familiar with the writing workshops
Lisa mentioned at the NG event, and people I know who have attended
Clarion/Odyssey have a) raved about them b) are people whose talent I
respect and c) BECAME BETTER WRITERS.

As for writers I enjoy - well, Neil Gaiman obviously. Also in the
genre I really enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold, Terry Pratchett, Emma Bull,
China Mieville, Ellen Kushner and Connie Willis, just to name a few :)
I'm also a big 'sequential art' fan, avid movie goer, practically full
time guitar hero roadie and complete internet junkie. You may also
have noticed I tend to overuse smilies :P

Th-th-th-that's All For Now, Folks!

-chris-

[sabersger]

Hi hi. Just joined!

I am glad to see a speculative fiction mailing list in Singapore. I
was trying to create/look for one and I feel as if I am taking ages
with it.

Well, a bit about me: I am married, two little girls, a husband who
runs a gaming shop (Paradigm Infinitum) and a neurotic boy cat. I
write speculative fiction (duh) and am currently working on my NaNo
project, an urban fantasy set in Singapore.

Writers who have influenced me: Han May, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer
Bradley, Andre Norton, Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein. Oddly enough, I
also enjoy wargaming and I read Warhammer Fantasy and 40K novels.

I have published stories in Crossed Genres, Semaphore Magazine and
Verb Noire's The Jukebox Bard. I am also a member of Broad Universe.
Haven't attended any writing workshops though. -_-

On Twitter, I run spec_sing so do drop by to say hi.

Warm regards,
Joyce

[JY Yang]

What the subject title says.

Finally getting round to introducing myself, after lurking for a week on this mailing list. Pleased to meet all of you! It feels really great to know that there's an entire group of passionate SF/F writers in Singapore. Marvelous.

My name is June and I currently work as a writer/editor in a comics company based in Singapore. (I've been here barely a month.) Before that, I worked in an animation studio as a writer for two years. It sounds great, but I honestly did not get all that much writing experience while I was there-- if anything, I find that I actually stopped writing my own stuff while I was there! I hope to get back into the writing groove--write some stuff, publish a few short stories in zines, maybe. Perhaps this group will be an inspiration!

I've been completely awful with reading lately, but I do have several authors whose works I uniformly enjoy: William Gibson, Haruki Murakami, Neil Gaiman, Chuck Palahniuk, Margaret Atwood, amongst others. I also enjoyed a fair bit of Clarke/Asimov in my teen years, but it's been ages since I read them. I am a really bad reader, to be honest.

I'm planning to launch a webcomic next year with a group of close former colleagues. It will be somewhat SF/F-ish, and I'll keep you guys updated if/when it comes into being!

Cheers,

June

JY Yang

---

http://misshallelujah.net

[sabersger]

> I've been completely awful with reading lately, but I do have several  
> authors whose works I uniformly enjoy: William Gibson, Haruki  
> Murakami, Neil Gaiman, Chuck Palahniuk, Margaret Atwood, amongst  
> others. I also enjoyed a fair bit of Clarke/Asimov in my teen years,  
> but it's been ages since I read them. I am a really bad reader, to be  
> honest.

Margaret Atwood! I remember reading "The Handmaid's Tale".

> I'm planning to launch a webcomic next year with a group of close  
> former colleagues. It will be somewhat SF/F-ish, and I'll keep you  
> guys updated if/when it comes into being!
>
> Cheers,
> June

*waves* Hehe. Am 'jolantru' on Twitter and LJ. ;)

Glad to see you here.

:)
Joyce

[SarahC```]

> Well, a bit about me: I am married, two little girls, a husband who
> runs a gaming shop (Paradigm Infinitum) and a neurotic boy cat. I
> write speculative fiction (duh) and am currently working on my NaNo
> project, an urban fantasy set in Singapore.
>

I didn't know your husband runs PI!! AAAAAAAARGH. I used to just look-
see and stuff but then, it's usually filled with guys (naturally) and
then awkwardneeeeeess.

Anywho, I'm Sarah. I don't have much fancy credentials but I like
fantasy and sci-fi (I write fantasy more though but then I mix it all
up and at times get steampunk). And okay, I'm one of the municipal
liaisons of Nanowrimo for Singapore, if any of you guys know what that
means.

Oh and part of the Happy Smiley Writers Group in which we named it
obviously because we wanted something happy and not depressing/drama/
historical non-fiction/etc like what we see in the local shelves here
aka we write sci-fi/fantasy/romance/chic-lit/anything fun. You can
check out the book we published at www.twotrees.com.sg and buy it
there but it'll be in the bookstores in the next week or so depending
on the distributor (summary is in the press release there if you're
interested to know what it's about).

Besides that, I write at my blog ( http://www.seriouslysarah.com/blog
) where I write the adventures I have (for writing research) and also
the literary events happening in SG... if they're free cause I totally
don't have THAT much money to attend to every single thing. Pretty
much any fun stuff anyway.

And that's it, I think.

[sabersger]

> I didn't know your husband runs PI!! AAAAAAAARGH. I used to just look-
> see and stuff but then, it's usually filled with guys (naturally) and
> then awkwardneeeeeess.

Yep, he runs PI. ;)

I know it's filled with guys (wargaming tends to be a male-dominated
genre), but we - the female gamers - do exist. Hehe.

;)
Jolantru

[Lisa Poh]

Hi Joyce and Sarah,

Glad to see more Nanowrimo folks here. I'm taking part for the first time this year (of course, I've already fallen dreadfully far behind). I hear there are the write-ins at the Arts House, Sarah, what are those like? Are there enough wall sockets to go around for all the laptops?

Will go follow spec_sing on twitter now...

:)
Lisa

[sabersger]

Hi Lisa. :)

> Will go follow spec_sing on twitter now...
>
> :)
> Lisa

It's actually #spec_sing. :)


Joyce
(Jolantru)

[SarahC```]

Heh, well it's usually enough since we bring those extension cords to
plug in and there's some spots with wall sockets around the cafe too.
It's not TOO many people during write-ins anywho.

On Nov 9, 9:43 am, Lisa Poh <sorat...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Joyce and Sarah,
>
> Glad to see more Nanowrimo folks here. I'm taking part for the first time
> this year (of course, I've already fallen dreadfully far behind). I hear
> there are the write-ins at the Arts House, Sarah, what are those like? Are
> there enough wall sockets to go around for all the laptops?
>
> Will go follow spec_sing on twitter now...
>
> :)
> Lisa
>

[JY Yang]

On Nov 9, 2009, at 8:48 AM, SarahC``` wrote:

Oh and part of the Happy Smiley Writers Group in which we named it
obviously because we wanted something happy and not depressing/drama/
historical non-fiction/etc like what we see in the local shelves here
aka we write sci-fi/fantasy/romance/chic-lit/anything fun.

Oh noes, all the SF/F I write tends to be the soul-crushingly depressing no-faith-in-humanity sort. I suppose I will have to look for a Emo Frowney Writers Group somewhere, then...

[SarahC```]

Hahaha you can write depressive, our main goal is just to defeat the
typical dramatic serious depressive bits where the lady gets enslaved/
sold/whatever and then dies or whatever.

I mean, you KNOW which it is when you look at the local shelves since
I don't need to point at their titles. And they all get sold in
Singapore. They're deemed more "literary" than sci-fi or fantasy and
thus, we totally need to change that in a way to show that YES, people
read the fun stuff too!

[sabersger]

Folks, I think we all strike a balance. ;)


Joyce