@Emma Wilcox that sounds awesome. Feel comfortable sharing your general concept, or just further classification? Gotta love science fiction! Emma, if you were to attempt to define your writing style, what might you come up with?

@Emma Wilcox as long as it works, damn conventions and prevailing wisdom. The classics hardly skimp in that department, I feel they're probably classics for a reason. I like to know the world I'm being drawn through. Too little description causes me to feel cheated. I'm looking for an experience when I settle in to spend time with an author.

You good folks are far more advanced lifeforms than I am. The last time I managed this, I was 19 years old, attempting to write an indie script for a vampire flick. I think I was inspired by the film Near Dark, but that was a long time ago. Back then, I was listening to a lot of Suicidal Tendencies and Dead Milkmen. I could handle that kind of frenetic, unpolished blaze 30 years ago. I put together a soundtrack to accompany the 1st draft, which was almost exactly what I was listening to around that point anyway. Unfortunately the list is lost to time. Alison Moyet's "Only You" showed up, and some friends and I even recorded a Sex-Pistols-esque version of "My Way" to accompany the opening and closing credits. That tape can't possibly still exist... I'll need to check. Now 52, I prefer Jimmy Buffett and latter-day Elvis. When writing, I can handle ambient noise and environmental sounds, but anything structured completely throws me off. I don’t keep the television on low; I don’t have music playing softly. Sometimes, I write outside, sometimes in my bedroom, and occasionally in the sunroom. That’s the best I can manage. Anything too loud, too busy, or too close to a distraction screen... and I’m out of business.

@Eric Sexton you know cousin, I'd lost my taste for it by the time I was 30. I may still listen to Agent Orange, Ramones (however you choose to classify them), and Billy Idol is eternally relevant, but I've put most of my angst behind. *laugh* I'm not up on contemporary stuff. I Really do listen to latter day Elvis most of the time. Of course Queen never gets old. I honestly can't listen to any sort of complex media while writing. Tibetan throat singing or Japanese Shomo, the like, I can do. Generally, however, it's ambient noise, environmental sounds, or as close to silence as I can manage. I chalk that up to head trauma—I don't well tolerate loud noises or a hectic environment anymore.

Good to have you here, Wen. Welcome.

@Patricial Linda then it's time to roll back the clock. If the situation playing out is unsuitable to the story, or if the characters action are strikingly outside of character without reasonable motivation, I have to walk the story back to the last time everything felt settled and right, to the last time I could feel certain I was out of the way. Then, we try again. I'll occasionally go back a bit further and copy the existing material, reconnecting physically and slipping into the proper headspace. Sometimes it's helpful, sometimes it's just a bit of extra work, but I think it's worthwhile.

@Patricial Linda It's entirely a subjective feeling. But then, everything is birthed from my mind. If anyone would know... 😉 The only technique I typically use is the one I have already described. If I feel that I am out of alignment with the heart of the narrative or the core of a particular character, I simply backtrack until I find what I feel to be the prime point of divergence. Then, I dial it back to a still earlier point and begin copying the story over again until the point of divergence. Typing those words again, not just reading, often helps to calibrate my mental focus, emotional resonance, and story compass. As I said before, it doesn't always work, but I believe I'm better for the effort.

@Joseph Jay Simcic , it's a pleasure to see you here. I like your preferred genres—excited to see what you come up with. Best of luck.