Diandra Linnemann

#ScribesAndMakers Which book world would you like to live in for a week, and why?

A world in which I would not die at once, hmm ... so "Gideon the Ninth" is out. The "Oryx and Crake" world sounds interesting as well, but pretty dangerous. I think T. Kingfisher could drag me into any world, as long as I could cover and hide and just enjoy nature while everyone else gets to meet the monsters. (The village in "Snake Eater" sounds cozy.)

#PennedPossibilities 1021 — Have you ever co-written a story before?

As a teenager for fun, yes. And I have written stories set in worlds created by others. But real collaboration - I don't know if I am the person for it, I like the company of my own thoughts at the desk.

#WordWeavers 22. If your MC came with a warning label, what would it be?

May cause sunburn and dirty nails.

#PhantastikPrompts 22.05.
Hast du schonmal deine Fantasiewelt mit der echten Welt insofern verknüpft, als dass du in deinem Werk Bezug auf Ereignisse/Gegenstände aus der echten Welt genommen oder andere Autoren/Werke zitiert hast?

Meine Fantasie ist die Fast-echte-Welt, also kommen viele Orte und Ereignisse aus unserer Realität darin vor (etwa das Bonner Stadthaus oder das Viktoriabad, die Bentheimer Burg, ein Hotel in Berlin, das es leider nicht mehr gibt, ... )

#WritersCoffeeClub
May 22nd

How well would your current WIP work as a play?

The story itself could of course be turned into a play, but I have no idea how to go about it. I mean, by the time the river burns and the trees come to life, we'd need one hell of a special effects expert. ^^

#ScribesAndMakers
May 21st

What medium would you choose to depict a visual image of a lake?

Can't I just write about it? Okay, okay, if that's not allowed, I'll take a few dozen snapshots and wonder why I never learned to do watercolors.

#PennedPossibilities 1020: Does your MC consider themselves to be outdoorsy or do they prefer to stay inside?

Bjarne is a semi-dryad and loves to be outdoors. He does have a TV, which he rarely ever uses, and a few magazines and books he never reads. If he cannot be outside, he tinkers with the plants he grows in the back of his place.

#WordWeavers #WritingCommunity

21st May 2026. How do you make your MC likeable or relatable in the first chapter?

With Bjarne, that is easy - he is incredibly kind. Some people told me that Helena from an older UF series comes across as quite arrogant in the beginning (she is, she was raised as daughter of a witch and a god), but she has an interesting way of seeing things. And Andrea from the tentacle novel is miserable in her job and trying to date in her 30s, which many people relate to.

#WritersCoffeeClub 21/5: What targets do you set for yourself? To what frequency?

I have loose targets - an ideal daily word count, finishing a story and a series, sending out a certain amount of stories for competitions each year. But it's no biggie if I don't meet my targets, they're more like inspirations. ^^

#PhantastikPrompts 21. Mai
Benutzt du manchmal Latein? Falls ja: Wobei? Falls nein: Warum nicht?

Nur wenn es Sinn ergibt, bei wissenschaftlichen Namen von Dingen beispielsweise, oder wenn jemand ganz pompös eine Anrufung vermasselt.

Neuer Spar-Trick: Der Reißverschluss an meinem Portemonnaie geht nicht mehr auf. o.o

#PhantastikPrompts 7.5.: "Stell dir vor, deine Geschichte wird verfilmt: Wer würde den Soundtrack dazu beisteuern, wenn du dir das aussuchen dürftest?"

Puh, ich würd wild shoppen gehen. Stevie Nicks, Loreena Mckennitt, Die Toten Hosen, Rosenstolz, ...

#ScribesAndMakers 7 May: When did you think of the idea for your current project? Do you remember how it came about?

The series started out from two ideas ... the imaginary village of Shadow's Fall full of almost-human characters, and the question what a certain character was up to more than 10 years after his first story (where he almost killed his mother). When I sent him to the village and met the weird characters, some of them were just perfekt for stories of their own. 1/2

#PennedPossibilities 1008 — Have you ever had someone translate a story of yours (into another language)?

I have occasionally translated myself (I'm a translator for money, but mostly in the medical field) and enjoy the process very much. I think I'd love working with a professional literary translator, but of course that's expensive (and rightfully so!).

#WordWeavers 7/5: Does your antagonist have any redeeming qualities?

Yes, of course. I don't like writing antagonists who evil around all day because they are Evil(TM). The dryad king is trying to save his family and his kingdom, he's just terrible at choosing appropriate means to do so.

#WritersCoffeeClub 7/5: Do readers need to understand a character's motivations to understand the story?

I'd say a story makes more fun if you understand at least most of the characters, even if you don't share their ideas. If I just sit there mumbling, "And why would you do THAT???", I'll probably abandon the book at some point.

#PhantastikPrompts 06.05.26 Gibt es etwas, wo du sagen würdest: Darin hat dein Protagonist in seiner Welt einen bleibenden Eindruck hinterlassen, über den andere auch vielleicht später noch sprechen?

Bjarne hat mindestens eine neue aufregende Pflanzensorte erfunden. Und er ist einer der Dryadenprinzen. Wenn die Welt das erfährt, wird das im Gedächtnis bleiben. Also, falls sie es erfährt.

#PennedPossibilities 1007 — What is your SC’s earliest memory?

Thomas's first memory is probably of his mother sulking after something his father did (or didn't) do. (She has a right to be extremely upset, but he does not know that yet). Rosalinda's first memory is of candles and black robes. Elli's first memory is of some wild game. Heidemarie's first memory resembles Rosalinda's, but is probably happier. And Helga does not remember her first memory, everything took place so long ago.

#WordWeavers 6 May
What writing-related challenges have you encountered recently?

Time. Always. Or rather, lack thereof. I demand an extra two hours in a pocket each day, to be inserted at random so I can write.

#ScribesAndMakers May 6: Ghoti (fish) is a word created to demonstrate the odd pronunciation variations in the English language. Create a word of your own or share one you've created.

My brain is not up to that before coffee. But semi-related to this, I love when dystopian (or utopian) novels sometimes use wild mispronunciations or misspellings of words we currently use and the reader has to figure out what they are talking about.

#WritersCoffeeClub May 6 – Talk about something you've written which you expected would (or expect will) divide readers.

Ah what do I know? I just make things up. Some people were disappointed that there was no giant tentacle battle in "Lusty Andrea and the Hilarious Tentacles of Death". Some people thought the solution of the first cozy fantasy novel was too cozy (or not cozy enough). I believe my readers are smart, and they will think for themselves, and sometimes disagree with me.

Bücherbummel 2026

Ist schon wieder Bücherbummel? Ja, es ist schon wieder Bücherbummel! Und zwar am Pfingstwochenende in Düsseldorf. Mit vielen Verkaufsständen, Musik, Streetfood und natürlich Lesungen. Ich hab das Programm schon gesehen, es lohnt sich! Und das sage ich nicht nur, weil ich am 25.05. um 16:45 h aus dem "Hirschkönig" lesen darf.

http://diandrasgeschichtenquelle.de/2026/04/30/bucherbummel-2026/

#PhantastikPrompts 30.04.
Postet zwei Stichwörter. Sucht euch mindestens einen Post einer anderen Person und schreibt aus deren Wörtern eine Microfiction.

Mango
Panflöte

Wörter von @Nike_Leonhard@literatur.social: Nadel, Brief

Auf dem Brief stand kein Absender. Er enthielt auch kein Papier - nur eine rostige Nadel. Sie ließ den Umschlag sinken. Es war soweit.

#PhantastikPrompts 20.04.26
Was wünscht ihr euch für eure schreiberische Zukunft?

Zeit und Energie zum Schreiben, tolle neue Veröffentlichungsmöglichkeiten und dass KI und Kapitalismus es nicht schaffen, diese spannende Kunst zu fressen.

#PhantastikPrompts 15.04.
Was für Dinge rund ums Schreiben wünscht ihr euch mit anderen Schreibenden zu tauschen? Ich biete und ich suche ...

Mit Freund*innen tausche ich Hilfestellungen wie Buchsatz (kann ich gar nicht) oder Lektorat, manchmal brainstormen wir, wenn eine*r feststeckt. Wenn ich auf Messen gehe, nehme ich gern Werbematerial von Leuten mit, deren Werke gut zu meinen passen. Und natürlich erzähle ich allen von den tollen Büchern meiner Freund*innen. ^^

#PhantastikPrompts 13. Woher habt ihr eure Ideen?

Interessant wird es doch erst, wenn Ideen auf neue Weise miteinander kollidieren. Ideen wachsen überall und jederzeit. Aber wenn man sie auf unerwartete Weise zusammensetzt, entstehen Geschichten.

#ScribesAndMakers 9 April: Our next featured creator is a professor. Does any of your work involve professors and/or universities?

In "Magic behind the mountains" there is mention of the local university, where you can study witchcraft and magic (and where a famous satanist holds a press conference in the course of the first story). The protagonist went there to get her degree that let her work as a magic consultant.

#PennedPossibilities 980 — Have you ever had your work plagiarized or stolen?

Years ago I submitted a short story for an anthology and never heard back from them. A few months later another writer contacted me to say that my story was in said anthology. There had been no edits, no contract, no nothing. I thought about going after them and decided it was not worth the hassle. Won't work with that publisher ever again.

#PennedPossibilities 672 — What’s the current word count for your WIP?

27,230 as we speak.

#ScribesAndMakers 27 What's a book that made you see the world differently? How?

When I had just learned to read, my mother let me have a horror anthology for grown-ups. She probably thought it was easier to let me keep it, and that I would not read beyond the first page due to the "difficult" language, but I read it and probably did not understand everything and it probably influenced my love of horror. ^^

#WritersCoffeeClub 27: If you had to pick one, would you say writing is a more exciting or cathartic process for you?

More cathartic, probably. It's extremely exhausting and rewarding and feels like bleeding onto the page, but I would not want to miss a word.

#PhantastikPrompts 27.3.: Eine deiner Figuren wird zu einem Konzert oder einer festlichen Feier eingeladen. Wie reagiert sie oder wie bereitet sie sich darauf vor?

Rosalinda wäre überfordert - sie hat noch nie an einem weltlichen Fest teilgenommen. Aber sie wäre auch entschlossen, alles richtig zu machen - und ihre Freunde würden dafür sorgen, dass sie sich trotz allem amüsiert.

#WordWeavers 2026.03.25 —What do you feel thinking about the last scene you wrote?

We are getting to the complicated bit - Bjarne meeting his father and confronting him about his plans for family glory, learning more about his siblings' fate and trying to protect his friend Elli, who accidentally tagged along. I think once it's done, it will be marvellous, but right now it feels like pulling teeth.

#WritersCoffeeClub March 26: How Much of a break or hiatus do you take between works?

As much as is necessary. Sometimes I have several projects running parallel, sometimes my energy only allows for one writing session per week (or month). Sometimes I need to reset my head between projects, which may take a few days or weeks.

#ScribesAndMakers Mar 26
Do you dance or move along to music when you listen?

Sometimes, when the mood is right. I'm not that close friends with my body.