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• Post #4237065

  #ScribesAndMakers How difficult is it for you to write characters whose taste in art, books, music, television, etc. are vastly different from your own? Not difficult. But then I tend to write mostly fantasy and historical fiction so it's usually not applicable.

• Post #4237064

  #WritersCoffeeClub Is there something you want to write, but don't think you yet have the skill? A historical fiction trilogy on the life of Æthelflæd (although I’d be keen to continue it with an alternative history where she is the first monarch of England). Unless I kidnap Michael Wood, I don’t think I have the knowledge to do the history justice.

• Post #4237063

  #ScribesAndMakers From soft to hard, where do your tastes fall on the Science Fiction scale? I’m character driven so my tastes are wide. I enjoy the universe-wide stories but also those set in a familiar earth with unfamiliar technology. Frankenstein will probably always be my favourite sci fi.

• Post #4005726

  #ScribesAndMakers July 21: Tell us about a non-fiction book you've enjoyed. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. An excellent book that tells the life stories of the five victims and gives Jack the Ripper none of the limelight.

• Post #3597560

  At midsummer, I visited my folks to help out in the annual sheep shear. https://emmacoxcreates.substack.com/p/midsummer-sheep-shearing #sheep #farming #nature #summer #writing #cornwall

• Post #3484431

  #ScribesAndMakers Share the last line of dialogue you wrote. 'I have always found it odd that people worship the effigy of a tortured corpse.' - spoken by an individual who still hasn't got their head round the practices of this religion that cropped up on their patch 1200 years ago.

• Post #2349617

  #WritersCoffeeClub Share the first line of your current WIP. Everyone: How enticed are you? The bay harbours a flotsam of human corpses. The storm-tossed waves bury them into the depths in funeral shrouds of foam and disturbed sand; their bodies committed to the undertow.

• Post #2230685

  Quick question to the #archaeology mastodons and #histodons. Is this a dandy button? The 3cm diameter and the sun style design suggest it. I’m guessing it’s 18/19th century? Found on a Cornish farm which has had a settlement here since the medieval period. Edit: would help if I attached the photo!

• Post #2172702

  #ScribesAndMakers Ghoti (fish) is a word created to demonstrate the odd pronunciation variations in the English language. Create or share a word you've created. I’ve made up words, but ghoti highlights the variation in pronunciation. I’ve a number of place and character names pronounced different to how they’re obviously spelt. Also, writers borrowing names from real life need to ensure they’re pronounced correctly. I forget which romantasy writer couldn’t pronounce a Celtic name she...

• Post #2149547

  #ScribesAndMakers When did you think of the idea for your current project? Do you remember how it came about? It was during the long process of getting my hearing checked out on the NHS because I had some midrange hearing loss. I played a writing prompt on bluesky which sparked the question: what would the relationship between a siren and a deaf person be like? The idea incubated, and I ended up deciding to set it in 19th century Cornwall using local sea folklore rather than Greek.

• Post #1820841

  #ScribesAndMakers Are you interested in etymology? Is there a word with an origin you find especially interesting? I can’t hear the name Manchester without my brain shouting, Boobtown! Equally, whenever someone is fascinated by something I wonder why they’re into magical penises. I love etymology. There are too many to count.

• Post #1820840

  #WritersCoffeeClub How magical is your work? Magic is usually a feature as I write a lot of fantasy. Even the stories which aren’t outright fantasy and set in the real world often have supernatural elements (considering we live in a world where millions believe in the magic of prayer and unseen entities etc).

• Post #1820839

  No, I can't pick a favourite book. No, I can't pick a favourite character. No, I can't offer you my favourite quote as there are too many of them. All I can say is Terry Pratchett was a brilliant storyteller and if you haven't read a Discworld novel, go and pick whichever one that takes your fancy. #SpeakHisName #GNUTerryPratchett #TerryPratchettDay

• Post #1673348

  #ScribesAndMakers⁩ Our next featured creator has a "love/hate affair with common tropes." What's your relationship with tropes? I don’t mind them as such. But I prefer books which surprise me, so common tropes can let a story down by following well worn storytelling paths and I know the ending before reaching it. This is also why I don’t get the marketing tool of listing the common tropes found in a novel. Why give the story away before the reader has begun reading?

• Post #1673347

  #WritersCoffeeClub Share your current biggest creative frustration. I have two. 1. My monthly cycle means hormonal fluctuations can both fuel and kill my creativity. 2. The nagging feeling that being creative is a selfish/fruitless activity because I grew up in a culture that demands we monetise everything and work ourselves to death.

• Post #1157404

  Today's research rabbit hole leads me to public and religious holidays. I'm currently trying to understand how the Christmas period worked in the 1830's a time long after the Puritan banning of it, but just before it went all silly with the Victorians. #AmWriting #History

• Post #992286

  Who needs chocolate eggs when you can have books! Treat yourself this Easter to ANY book 3-6 April. You'll be supporting independent bookshops AND have a chance to win a £400 digital gift card. My recommendation: E. F. Schumacher’s Small Is Beautiful First published in 1973 and a foundational text of sustainable economics and environmental thought. Today, its message that progress should serve people, not profits is more urgent than ever. https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15876/9780099225...

• Post #979814

  Normally, I'd think the President had his social media hacked or tampered with by a disgruntled employee. But not this President.

• Post #979813

  1. Good weather for an evening gig row. 2. Chocolate eggs were shared amongst the crew. 3. No blisters on my arse (yes, this is a thing if you’re a rower). #ThreeGoodThings

• Post #979812

  James Bond’s No Time To Die is on TV. The writers did blatantly copy the plot of the first Metal Gear Solid game, which did it much better.

• Post #979811

  #ScribesAndMakers Some people have creative work inspired by their dreams. Have you ever had dreams inspired by your creative work? 🤣 Never. I believe my daydreaming brain enjoys a rest overnight and hallucinates solely on the mundane rather than the fantastical.

• Post #979810

  I wasted the day revamping the website and trying to understand substack. I need to go stare at something in the distance to help calm my eyeballs.

• Post #979809

  I’ve done one good deed today and donated blood (bonus: got rid of some of the microplastics in my body at the same time). Now I will go and write to my MP requesting the Govt they kick the American military out of the UK and our airspace.

• Post #979808

  Getting echoes of The Boy Who Cried Wolf at present.

• Post #979807

  "He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilised nation." - Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 I think what we're witnessing is the death of America.

• Post #889404

  Finally! To put it into perspective: they did this for the penis nearly 30 years ago. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/29/full-network-clitoral-nerves-mapped-out-first-time-women-pelvic-surgery

• Post #817661

  Should I stand amid the breakers? Or shall I lie with death, my bride? Here me sing, Swim to me, swim to me, Let me enfold you. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWKJ2FUiAQ

• Post #817660

  Perhaps this is just me. But when new characters turn up in my head to talk to me, I feel like I’ve made new friends and I’m being all sociable.

• Post #817659

  #ScribesAndMakers What's a book that made you see the world differently? How? The beauty of books is you can read the same story multiple times and you will take away different things on each reread. Choosing one is impossible, but if I had to choose I would pick any of the Discworld novels. It introduced me to the power of satire and despite the humour, it never shied from holding up a mirror to reveal the immoral and stupid aspects of humanity.

• Post #817658

  I like discovering new words. Zugzwang is today’s and I feel it nicely sums up the USA government's trajectory.