Suddenly, Turtles

Inky Archive for February 2025

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This is Magic & Ink, where I write about fantasy writing and creative living. In this month’s Inky Archive you can:

• Learn how I’m getting along without social media.

• Find out when it’s a good idea to use “suddenly” in your writing.

• Share your thoughts on building a community of inspiration.

"Words, he decided, were inadequate at best, impossible at worst. They meant too many things. Or they meant nothing at all."

— Patricia A. McKillip, "In the Forests of Serre"

🖋️ February Mutterings

Last Sunday, I paid a morning visit to the local arboretum. It’s been a couple of years since I wandered through the gardens, and I enjoyed taking pictures of things that caught my eye — a patch of daffodils, the branches of a gingko tree getting ready to bud, the glimmer of light on the surface of the little creek that runs through the place. There were dozens of turtles clustered on the banks of the ponds, their heads craned up towards the sky, as if they were praying. In my head, I composed a caption for the photo: Went to church today. Ran into some friends.

Later, after I walked barefoot on the still-damp grass, I sat on a bench and wrote about the absurdity of captioning a photo when I had no intention of posting it anywhere. Since deleting my Instagram and Facebook, I have been trying to detach from the idea that I have to publicly share everything I create online.¹ I can write a poem and leave it in my notebook. I can play a song on my lyre without having to turn it into a YouTube video. I can take a photo of turtles in the sun and edit it just for myself. It’s about the process, not the product, after all. And definitely not about the likes, comments and shares.

The irony, of course, is that while I was writing about all that in my journal I was thinking about how I could turn it into an essay and share it somewhere — and here I am writing a brief version of the very same topic.

My point is that this process of detaching from the grasp of social media isn’t something that happens all at once. My Facebook account was 17 years old when I deleted it, almost a third of my life captured there. I was blogging even before that. That’s a long time to be thinking about how you’re going to present everything you make, everything you think, everything you do to an online audience. I’d like to remember what the experience of making and thinking and doing things is like when it’s just for myself. I’m getting there!

Have you ever cut down or cut out social media from your life? I’d love to hear how it went from you in the comments!

🖋️ Spilled Ink: Suddenly, an Editor Cried Out in Horror

Dropping “suddenly” at the beginning of a sentence is a shorthand way of creating tension due to an unexpected change in circumstances. But it is not meaningful tension, and it can disrupt the pacing of a scene without adding anything of value.

I do think there are appropriate times to use suddenly — usually when tension is already high. For example, someone is watching a tightrope performance when, suddenly, the wire snaps. In this example, the “suddenly” is a release from tension you’ve already established, the cat jumping out at you after you’ve slowly creeped down the stairs to the unlit basement.

When “suddenly” pops out on you in a low or no tension situation, though, it’s like Bilbo opening his door and finding Freddy Krueger there. Sure, it’s startling, but does it carry any real narrative value? Surprises in fiction are better when they are anticipated, at least on a subconscious level, which the crafty writer can do by carefully weaving in atmospheric distractions and clues before and during the surprise, and by depicting the POV character’s surprised reaction after.

So before that knife-wielding assassin steps out from behind the arras, make sure the POV char notices the arras, and the way the moonlight is making puddles of shadow on the floor, and how many things they have on their to-list for the next day, and then when there’s a whoosh of heavy fabric as the figure steps out in front of them, moonlight glinting off the tip of their blade, the reader’s heart will stop right along with the POV character’s, no suddenly needed.

🌟 When is it the right time to hire a developmental editor for your novel? I’m booking slots for spring and beyond. Send me an email to learn more!

🖋️ Catch Up: February in Review

In case you missed it, here’s what I’ve published this month.

On Substack

On My Blog

• What Will You See When You Look Up?

• Nothing But the Clouds

On YouTube²

• Create an Encyclopedia of Your Imagination - Fantasy Writers…​

• Finding Magic on a Gray and Endless Sea​

Tired of listening to me? Here’s some other writers and creators that caught my attention this month:

• ▶️Feel More Alive: How To Go On a Beauty Quest​

How I Broke Up With Amazon: A Practical Guide

A SONG FOR READING

Do Tropes Make Stories Predictable?

Magic in the Middle Ages

Why Realism Matters in Fantasy

🖋️ Chime In: Community of Inspiration

I’m reposting this from the Chat, because: 1) I realize a lot of newsletter readers may not pop into the app to use the various Substack features and 2) only one person responded.³

When I started my Substack I put "community of inspiration" in the description but I don't think I've been super effective of following up on that yet. I'm curious what that phrase makes you think of, and what community features would keep you coming back. Face it, we all have plenty to read, and I'm done with shouting into the void on social media (even Notes feels that way). I crave real connections and real conversations and think that's best done in smaller, more intimate groups, where your voice can actually be heard.

Here's some of the ideas I've had for the Magic & Ink chat space to help allow these genuine connections to form:

• Writing prompts

• Write-alongs

• Notes or Post boost sessions (share what you've published)

• Office hours/Ask the Editor sessions

• Book recommendation "parties"

• Accountability check-ins

• Link sharing - publishing industry, writing craft and/or Forest of Distraction-like inspiration

• Discussion threads on "hot topics" (e.g. Simon & Schuster's no blurb policy, the Neil Gaiman news, Oxford commas)

If leaving a comment is too much of a chore, here’s a poll about venues you can answer just by clicking a button (even in email):

So what do you think? What is of most interest to you? Are there other community/connection ideas you would find valuable and want to participate in? Let me know!

💰If You Want to Support Magic & Ink

Paid subscriptions are on, though the only benefit right now is a discount on developmental editing services, plus the knowledge that you’re helping support my work. I’m working on ideas for premium content and/or community, though, so that will hopefully change in the near future.

In the meantime, if you want to support my work, you can always buy me a chai.

That’s all for this month. I would offer a teaser for what’s planned in March, but that sort of thing never turns out well for me. You’ll just have to watch your inbox to see what I deliver.

That’s it! That’s the newsletter! See you all next month.

Kindly,

Stace

You didn’t really think you were getting out of here without a picture of the turtles, did you?

1. Fortunately, I got over the idea that I need to share every detail of my life online a while ago.

2. Suddenly, I made a YouTube channel!

3. Thanks, Joy!