Jen Telling Stories

A while ago I found myself stuck on a scene in a novel I'm working on. I’m somewhere in that spectrum between planner and pantser, so I had written an outline; but somehow my outlines rarely survive contact with my drafts. It’s like my characters get stage fright; they freeze in place until I can give them the right cues. But this time I couldn’t get them to budge. I have a few strategies for when the wheels get stuck: rethinking the scene from scratch, changing up which characters are in the room, cutting the scene out entirely, etc. But I had recently encountered a piece of writing advice on Tumblr that seemed worth a try. “Let your story be bad for a day. Aggressively bad.” I hoped writing a terrible draft would help me get past that unreasonable desire to write the scene perfectly the first time. Or at least serve as a placeholder so I could move on with the book and come back later. So, I decided to give it a try. And it was horribly, horrendously, nail-bitingly, gloriously ba...

So, I've been working hard on editing my Steampunk Murder Mystery Party, "Death in the Skies!" I'm hoping to release it for sale in the next two months, fingers crossed. I'll definitely keep you updated on that. But I also have committed to write another Murder Mystery Party for the Utah Steampunk Society this fall. I've been thinking that maybe sharing my process on here could help me stay focused on both projects, and maybe even be useful information for some of you; I've had a few people asking me lately about how to write a project like this.  This blog post series is meant to be me sharing the things that I've learned so far in this process, as well as the things I'm continuing to learn as I go. I'll be breaking down different elements that go into making one of these games--many of which are elements that also go into writing other projects, like a more traditional mystery story.  For both of my parties, I've found that I started with...

A few weeks ago I ran a beta test on my Murder Mystery Party. It was a good test; I got a lot of useful feedback from it. The players had a great time and correctly solved the mystery. But I think it’s worth acknowledging that sometimes “got a lot of useful feedback” feels like failing. I do value the critiques I get on my writing, I really do! Feedback is vital in trying to improve at any skill, particularly writing. And I am always grateful when people are willing to give me the time and effort to look at something I’ve made and tell me honestly what they think of it, what I’ve done right, and where I can improve. But—I’m also a very sensitive person. In a lot of ways; I have sensitive skin, I have sensitive teeth, I have sensory defensiveness as a symptom of sensory processing disorder, etc. And like many artists and writers, I’m emotionally sensitive. This comes with pros and cons. For example, it helps me to be empathetic and to appreciate beauty. But it also means that I’m sens...

The Steampunk subculture has intrigued me since college; like a lot of people, I was first introduced to the idea by the long running Girl Genius comic. It's an idea that appeals to me: a mix of history, fantasy, science, and fashion. Steampunk is all about anachronisms: about putting old things together in new ways. I love that.  Do I still need to explain what Steampunk is? I feel like it's much more familiar than it used to be, but the short version is creations (stories, art, fashion, contraptions) that play with the  culture and scientific understanding of the Victorian era — or really anything from the 1800s. The rules aren't terribly strict, and there is plenty of overlap with other genres. But you tend to see a lot of steam powered devices, corsets and top hats, airships and automatons. And it's really, really fun . Maybe sometime I'll write some more about it; there's a lot that can be said just exploring and explaining the genre.  During 2020 I, like m...

So, it turns out not everyone knows what a murder mystery party even is. This came as a surprise to me because it feels like I've always known about them. But after some thinking, I realized that might just be because when I was a kid I found a catalogue with listings for fifteen different themed murder mystery parties. I was the kind of kid who would read the descriptions and try to imagine the plots from that alone. So, I guess I have an unusually long familiarity with the concept.    Anyway, for the benefit of those who have never attended such an event, let me give a little explanation. If you are already familiar with these parties, feel free to come back next time when I start sharing the story of how I come to be writing one.   A murder mystery party is partway between a party, a LARP session, a game of Clue, and community theater. (Don't let that scare you off) There are a few ways to do them, but typically the guests at the party are assigned to the roles...

Hi, my name's Jennifer (or Jen for short), and as the blog title gives away--I love to tell stories. And to read stories. Or watch them, or play them. And especially to write them. I've been writing for as long as I can remember; even before I could physically write, I would dictate stories to my parents. (From this came my first fairytale retelling; Snow White and the Forty Good Men. I had wanted it to be the forty thieves, like in the third Aladdin movie, but my Mom didn't think thieves were good characters for a four year old to be writing about and we made a compromise. Thus, my first experience with editorial meddling.) (Love you, Mom)  I didn't have a handy photo of five year old me dictating fairy tale retellings, but here's a shot of eight year old me dressed up as a cowgirl for Halloween. A document I found in a box of old homework assignments. I don't for the life of me remember where "Silent Sariah Weston" came from as a pen name...