this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2026
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A community for writers, like poems, fiction, non-fiction, short stories, long books, all those sorts of things, to discuss writing approaches and what's new in the writing world, and to help each other with writing.

Rules for now:

1. Try to be constructive and nice. When discussing approaches or giving feedback to excerpts, please try to be constructive and to maintain a positive vibe. For example, don't just vaguely say something is bad but try to list and explain downsides, and if you can, also find some upsides. However, this is not to say that you need to pretend you liked something or that you need to hide or embellish what you disliked.

2. Mention own work for purpose and not mainly for promo: Feel free to post asking for feedback on excerpts or worldbuilding advice, but please don't make posts purely for self promo like a released book. If you offer professional services like editing, this is not the community to openly advertise them either. (Mentioning your occupation on the side is okay.) Don't link your excerpts via your website when asking for advice, but e.g. Google Docs or similar is okay. Don't post entire manuscripts, focus on more manageable excerpts for people to give feedback on.

3. What happens in feedback or critique requests posts stays in these posts: Basically, if you encounter someone you gave feedback to on their work in their post, try not to quote and argue against them based on their concrete writing elsewhere in other discussions unless invited. (As an example, if they discuss why they generally enjoy outlining novels, don't quote their excerpts to them to try to prove why their outlining is bad for them as a singled out person.) This is so that people aren't afraid to post things for critique.

4. All writing approaches are valid. If someone prefers outlining over pantsing for example, it's okay to discuss up- and downsides but don't tell someone that their approach is somehow objectively worse. All approaches are on some level subjective anyway.

5. Solarpunk rules still apply. The general rules of solarpunk of course still apply.

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Welcome to the 21st writing club update. On pondering this number, I'm reminded that we are currently in the 21st century according to the Gregorian calendar, and that this will be the only century I'll really get to know. But there have been at least 20 other of these things (and I'm told perhaps even more), so that might give one pause / perspective.

My region has been unusually cold for March, which though it's unexpected, I've been trying to enjoy it. Let some of the last cold into my bones so I can bring up the memory when I'm too hot, later this summer.

So this is the monthlyish writing club update where regular participants are encouraged to share progress on their monthly goals and goings-ons. Anyone is welcome to chime in with their own happenings, or comments on each others happenings.

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[–] JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

This month we made progress on editing the solarpunk TTRPG campaign - we're about a third of the way through so far. I also got some feedback from a GM who was overwhelmed by info in the introduction so I'm taking the opportunity to move some stuff to a linked appendix in the back, and to rework some of the first scenes to add sone more interaction. I've been a little unhappy with how 'cutscene-heavy' the campaign is in the opening for a while now, especially compared to how open-world the rest of it is but I was mostly focused on getting everything completed. Now that I've got the 'minimum viable product' I suppose I can make some of those improvements.

Partially to make those content cuts easier, I've started in on the choose-your-own-adventure book version of the story. The narrative-heavy opening is a much better fit for that medium and it gave me a chance to try out twine. I still need to outline all the big plot arcs but I enjoyed setting up the section before the first real split.

Lastly I put together a page on phytoremediation, mycoremediation, and bioremediation for the worldbuilding wiki and started a page on rethinking maps. Speaking of the number 21, the maps page will be our 21st entry!

The various bioremediation practices have been an outsized portion of my research for the campaign, mostly given how hard the info can be to find and parse, but I think I've put it towards a good resource here.

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Twine!! Oh that's a great use of that tool. Actually, I hadn't ever thought of using it for anything other than... making Twine games, I guess, but now that I see this it's obvious it's good for any story that has multiple flows.

[–] JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 hours ago

Wikipedia credits Twine and other story games with at least some of the blame for the decline of the gamebook industry. It really is a upgrade in so many ways - the ability to set and check hidden flags so you don't need as many (or any) "if you have" or "if you've been to" -type checks is a big improvement all on its own. In some ways game books were an awkward compromise between book and game due to the limitations of tech in their heyday. Or maybe in an few different awkward spots on a spectrum from book to game...

All that aside, I always imagined this as a proper printed choose your own adventure book (if I finish it I'll make a bookbinding version anyone can print and bind). Awkward compromise or not I love those books (CYOAs, Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf) and I really love the idea of making a solarpunk one.

I'm not sure yet how I'll do the final section numbering (to replace the twine links) and page layout but I figure I need a functional story before I worry much about that and Twine seems to be a great fit for it. I just wish I could get spell check working on the desktop version.

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 5 points 13 hours ago

So I said I wanted to hit 1 000 words, and if I look at all my little projects I definitely hit that, buttt... in my heart, I really meant on this short story I've been poking it. On that front I wrote (checks) 299 words--started a character sheet for one of my characters.

Anyway, it's better than nothing, so I'll stick to this goal: 1 000 words on my short story. I'll go one further: 1 000 of story, so not just meta or worldbuilding, but actual writing for like people to read.