Writing Hashtags

Season's Greetings, Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas. I hope everyone has got the presents they wanted, had plenty to eat, and aren't nursing too bad a hangover. 2018 is almost upon us, and I have to admit that I haven't been too happy with 2017. Working in a full-time job means that I haven't written as much as I'd have liked, and the bulk of my creative output for the year has been blogging and Twitter.

With that in mind, I'd like to talk about a couple of hashtags I discovered in the past few months. There is a big community of hashtaggers, which make the Twitter experience something akin to an episode of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue or a "Scenes We'd Like to See" from Mock the Week. However, I'm specifically looking at a few hashtags aimed at writers.

The first one I'm looking at is #AuthorConfession, which is hosted by Jessica Julien and J.M. Sullivan. Every week, they post a series of questions for each day, pertaining to writing, usually with a seasonal twist depending on the month. One day will usually involve taking a picture, and another will involve shouting out other writers on Twitter to help them build up a network.

Next is #WIPTruthOrDare, hosted by Melanie Thurlow and Heather Hayden. This is similar to #AuthorConfession, but there are two sets of questions each day: a "Truth", which often involves answering questions about works in progress; and a "Dare", which is more about sharing lines based on a particular subject similar to the "Truth" question.

Both #AuthorConfession and #WIPTruthOrDare have their questions set out at the beginning of the month, so you'll know the running themes. For example, October's questions would often relate to Halloween, November's would be about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), while December's have a Christmas theme.

Another one I found was the newly-developed #CharactersTell, hosted by Manuel Arbanassi. In this one, you answer a different question each day, but you roleplay as a character from your story. The questions from the first week were directed at protagonists, the second week was about the antagonists, the third week was dedicated to a secondary character, and the fourth week involves developing a background character to answer questions.

Finally, there were two similar ones: #WritersPatch, hosted by Alexandra VanHorn every Sunday at 10:00 am Central Time (4:00 pm where I am), and #JustAddTea, hosted by Elizabeth an hour later. These sessions are also about answering questions about writing, but there's a lot more discussion involved.

While some writers might not be keen on discussing WIPs, I think these tags are a good way to share ideas and possibly advice, all while developing a bigger network of writers. I look forward to seeing more of these hashtags in the New Year.

Happy writing.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Well, it's that time of year again when Disney releases another Star Wars film. Last year it was the anthology film Rogue One. This year, it's the next instalment in the main saga, The Last Jedi.

Picking up from where we left off, the Resistance have been forced to evacuate their main base, but The First Order are close behind. The ace pilot Poe Dameron carries out a heroic but costly assault on one of the First Order's most fearsome ships, and is demoted by General Leia for his recklessness. After she is taken out of action in an attack led by emo Darth Vader Kylo Ren, Vice Admiral Holdo assumes command of the fleet, but her apparent inaction puts her at odds with Dameron. In another thread, Dameron sends reformed Stormtrooper Finn on an unauthorised mission to sabotage the First Order's flagship in order to help the Resistance escape. Finn enlists the aid of mechanic Rose Tico and the droid BB-8, travelling to a Roaring Twenties version of the Mos Eisley cantina to find a computer expert. Meanwhile, scavenger Rey seeks out Luke Skywalker and tries to persuade the cynical former Jedi to train her in the Force, but soon finds a mental connection with Kylo Ren and realises she has to confront him. Oh, and there are Porgs.

So yeah, there's quite a bit to take in. I've stated previously that The Force Awakens was pretty much a rehash of A New Hope, but that was more or less what people wanted. The Last Jedi, not so much. I did think that Rey's story arc does seem to be re-treading old ground from both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but I will give them some credit in that they try and play with alternate outcomes of the scenarios we knew and loved.

It's quite a long film, and I think some of the brooding scenes could have been cut, but the action is great and I love the snarky humour. I'm also glad that they didn't put too much emphasis on the Porgs.

Overall, it's no Empire Strikes Back, but it is nonetheless a superior follow-up to The Force Awakens.

Right, same time next year for the Han Solo movie.