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Tag: Untrustworthy

So, we have all got to start… somewhere. And Untrustworthy is, in a way, where I got started. For it is my first-ever published work!

Just Where Did My Ideas for Untrustworthy Come From, Anyway?

Well, the very start of all of this was the idea of NaNoWriMo. I wanted to be able to write something that I could, perhaps, shop around to a publisher. But at the time, I was only writing fan fiction.

That was, if I recall correctly, 2012. So, I bided my time a bit.

In 2013, the idea leapt into my head and I could not shake it. I put together an outline and was ready for November 1st and my first ever NaNoWriMo.

The World of NaNo as a Novice

As a newbie, and a kind of hardworking over achiever, I overwrote every day. But not by too much. And as the story started to wind down, I came to the realization: I am not going to have enough words.

Egad.

That was kind of terrifying.

But then, I had an epiphany of sorts.

Epiphanies ‘R’ Us

I had very little description of Caboss. And so, I made a decision. The city would have some more to it.

So, I hit upon the idea of a central river. Almost like the Charles River in Boston, or the Danube River dividing Budapest, it would be a mark of going from one place to another.

And, a lot like the wrong side of the tracks in towns cleft by the railroad, there would be a marked difference between the two banks.

It got me to 50,000 and a publishing deal. So, here we are.

Self-Review – UnreliableShort Stories, Road, My Aliens, Last Patient, interview, Surprises, Props, shipwrecked, child, Killing Us Softly, Ditte, Band, three minutes, Longest Night Watch, Nothing Good Ever Happens, Complications, Your Call, Darkness into Light, canaries, gentrification, Cynthia, True Believer, Short Stories, Wilder Bloom, Dish, Gentrification, Mitalisque, kitten, Last Try, Minnesota Wish, Dominick and Angela, Alix, Alix’s Apocalypse, A Chance Encounter in Time, A Crime in Time, A Show for the Galaxy, Aenor the Wanted, Alien Justice, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Babel 2.0, Back, Front, and Side Pages, Camp, Courier to the Soviets, Frozen Assets, Julie's Dollar, Mandy Goes to Aspen, Martin's Choice, Mike’s Grades, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, Saddle Up, Bank Teller, Sarah’s Invention, Small Acts of Defiance, The Future Has No Foundation, The Ides of the Secretarial Pool, Unexpected Help, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, Unreliable, East Side of the Universe, Eros vs Thanatos, Dust Between Our Stars, A Show for the Galaxy, A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults, A School for Scavengers, Frozen Assets, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, 1960s Temporal Crimes, Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline, Walls Came Tumbling Down Again, The End, Will's Dog,

Self-Review – Unreliable

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 23, 2024

Review – Unreliable

My decision to write Unreliable wasn’t just based on the fact that it would be a lot easier than coming up with a new plot for NaNoWriMo 2023, heh.

It was also because I wanted to correct a lot of the issues in Untrustworthy. I was also glad to be able to add to the Untrustworthy universe, and fill it out a lot more.

Background

Tathrelle really had no childhood in Untrustworthy. But she had to have had one! When I scoured the old book, one thing that really leapt out at me was a throwaway line about remembering an earlier life of vagrancy. So, I took this one short line and I ran with it.

Plot

The plot of Unreliable is essentially Tathrelle, Ixalla, Velexio, and Adger before the events of Untrustworthy really kick off.

Before the events of Untrustworthy, Tathrelle runs from a man who reminds her of her father. When she runs into Ixalla, her life changes. And, at the same time, the lives of all Cabossians start to change.

Unreliable Characters

The characters are Tathrelle, Ixalla, Velexio, and Adger. Students aren’t really seen but they are heard. Ixalla’s supervisor, the Lead Instructor, is also present, but this is the person in that position before Untrustworthy starts.

Are the characters truly impossible to rely on? Are they lying to the reader (or, at least, to Tathrelle), or are they simply ignorant of reality?

Memorable Quotes

The fashion of the day—such as it was—was sensible monochrome slacks and tunics, regardless of age or gender or fertility status. The only colors anyone ever wore were various shades of tans and browns. The entire populace of Caboss could blend in effortlessly with the reedy herbs growing on either bank of the Central River if they chose. Tathrelle’s mismatched patched tunic and slacks could fit in even more seamlessly.

But that camouflage was only good for the sides of the river. It did not work for an urban setting. The buildings, as uniform as the people, were all done up in shades of gray, their brutalist architecture spare and lean and efficient with no niceties or flourishes.

The only thing differentiating a school from a medical facility, or a nutrition market was an equally boxy, squarish sign, its letters perfectly, uniformly painted in black against pure white, no serifs allowed.

A Rating That is Anything But Unreliable

The story has a T rating. There is a particularly violent flashback. I am not kidding. You have been warned.

Takeaways

Unreliable answers questions which range from why the Cabossians have such stilted speech to whether a planet with transportation sleighs is covered in ice.

I think what I love the most about it is that I am a much better writer than I was when I wrote Untrustworthy. The proof is in the prose.

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Character Review — AdgerCharacter Review, Josie James, Greg Shapiro, Jazminder Parikh, MD, Johnny Barnes, Dalton Farouk, Peri Martin, Carmen D’Angelo, MD, Dr. Devon Grace, Tommy 2000, Lex Feldman, Velexio, Character Reviews are Coming, Ixalla, Elise Jeffries, MD, Frances Miller Ashford, Marnie Shapiro, Ceilidh O’Malley, Dr. Mei-Lin Quan, Trixie LaRue, Tathrelle, Nell Murphy, Craig Firenze, Adger, Astrid Hennigsen, Benjamin Chase, Bobby/Jerry Brodie, Cyndi Mendez, Dez Hunter, Eileen Bragin, Eleanor Braverman, Judge John Lowell, Keisha Darnell, Minka Lopez, Nell Murphy, Noah Braverman, Olga Nicolaev, Peter Ray, Rachel Gifford, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sally Bowles/TSTO Tiles, Shannon Duffy, Student #17, Tad Lewis, Ginny Carey, TSTITO, Selkhet 3000, complex evil characters, Emma 1000, They Say This is the One, Elston Young, Trinity Hawthorne, Character Creation

Character Review — Adger

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 31, 2023

Meet Adger, One of My Original Characters

Who is Adger?

The final of the four chief characters in Untrustworthy undergoes almost as many changes as Tathrelle does.

Where Did Adger Come From?

By the time I got to this character, I was getting tired of making up alien names. Hence, his name is just the word badger with the first letter off. Er, sorry, character!

The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Adger

Hired by Velexio and various generals to get their military dictatorship in power and then increase their power, no one counted on Adger catching feelings.

Description

Like all other Cabossian men, he’s bald and has three fingers on each hand. A fourth appendage on each hand is his two-part genitals. Otherwise, I have no real description of him, and no thoughts of anyone who I picture as ‘playing’ him.

Purpose/Theme/Motivation

As the world shifts around the characters, Adger’s own purposes begin to change. He goes from being a jerk (in the best description of him) to being more like a lovesick fool than anything else. But he is never a hero and he is never the kind of person who readers would or should root for.

However, at least, unlike Velexio, he has occasional positive-ish moments. But they are few and far between, and they are blink-and-you’ll-miss-them fast.

Quotes {Tathrelle and Adger meet for the first time and things do not go well…}

Adger … turned and smiled at her and bowed slightly. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted,” Velexio said and departed.

Once Velexio was gone, Adger shut the door to the small room. He looked Tathrelle up and down. “You are very interesting,” he stated.

“How so?” Tathrelle’s tone was skeptical.

“And you even told the people to call you by your first name! Do you have any idea what sort of annoying attention that’s going to get you? Ah,” he shook his head, “you are clearly a rank amateur. Still, you are a bit promising, I think.” He came closer to her. “You are an attractive woman. A little rough around the edges, but that may be how and why you were elected in the first place. It seems the people have a certain type of taste in such matters, eh?”

“Taste?”

“Oh, do you honestly believe that you were elected due to your acumen or the like? You had numerous rivals, as I recall. Or have you yourself forgotten that small detail? You may have thought it was an insignificant detail, but, you see, it’s really not. So you were selected by the people, but they hardly knew anything about you – or about any of your rivals, I imagine. But they picked you because,” he came closer, “you have … something.”

“I wish I knew what you were talking about, Adger.”

“Do you not, though? It’s a somewhat earthy appeal, you see. I had not really considered it. I had discounted it, you see, but now that I’ve met you, I think they might’ve been onto something. Of course, you could stand to be better in many ways, but in the basic respects, you’ve got it down pat.”

Relationships

Tathrelle

While he doesn’t get off on the right foot with her initially, he starts trying to make up for it as the story goes on. In fact, considering the changes that he goes through, it is highly likely that the carefully calibrated changes have some collateral damage and are affecting him as well.

As a result, he goes from a sexually harassing lout to, eventually, a person who genuinely cares about Tathrelle. But he’s got a lot of very funny ways of showing it.

Velexio

As Adger’s boss, Velexio should be in charge of him and telling him what to do. And Adger should be listening! But instead, he marches to the beat of his own drum. His reckless actions compound the conflicts and issues in the story.

While Velexio and the generals are the main architects of the misery in the story, Adger is far from blameless. Very far from blameless.

Conflict and Turning Point

When the rioting starts, he is in the thick of it. And while I pattern the rioting after Kristallnacht, his involvement is a lot more like a different incident, the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Considering that I wrote Untrustworthy long before 45 even ran for president, I’m a little nervous about being a bit of a prophetess.

But the changes which he goes through are, essentially, his own damned fault. The guy never knows when to quit, and he pays for it.

Continuity/Easter Eggs

Because there is virtually no continuity between Untrustworthy and anything else I have written, there are no real Easter eggs or the like which you can associate with this character.

Future Plans

I have no real future plans for him, although he may show up in the prequel.

Adger: Takeaways

Unlike Velexio, who is essentially purely evil for evil’s sake, Adger has some layers to him. But he never uses his talents or intelligence for anything beyond the most selfish of motives. And in the prequel, he’s even more of a willing participant.

Adger — the lackey who does the most damage so the powers that be don’t have to get their hands dirty.

Want More of Adger and the Rest of Untrustworthy?

If Untrustworthy resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how an alien society devolves into fascism.

Character Reviews: Untrustworthy

Untrustworthy Universe

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How to Create a Writer Website: Writer SEOWeb design, Start a Writer Website, Writer SEO, Writer Website Design, Writer Website Copyright, Writer Website User Experience Design, Mobile Design, What to Write About, Website Planning, Technology to Help You With Writing, Website Plans, Website Speed

How to Create a Writer Website: Writer SEO

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 30, 2023

No one will know about your awesome writer website if you don’t start to pay attention to writer SEO.

And without all the connections on your website you could be making, guess what happens? You miss will out on sales. And you may also miss out on places where you can appear and promote your book. Or libraries where you can have your book.

Note: this is an overview and not the details of any form of SEO, even writer SEO. That would take up a few hundred blog posts at least.

Why Does Writer SEO Matter?

Have you ever wondered how and why the results you get in a search are in the order they’re in? Yes, some of this has to do with paid advertising. But budgets are not infinite. Or, at least, they aren’t for most of us.

But SEO is, in a way, a form of free advertising. Optimizing for search means your post gets placed further up on search results. And that’s good. But is it good enough?

Page 1 or Die

Writer SEO - Sweet Brown saying, ain't nobody got time for that, illustrating the concept of writer SEO
Preach, Sweet Brown.

We live in a hurry-up, impatient, “ain’t nobody got time for that” world. And a good 90% or more of us never bother with the second page of search results!

So, while positive changes in position are nothing to sneeze at, they do not truly matter unless you’re on page 1 of results.

If that seems unfair, odd, and maybe even a reason why the human race is doomed, well, I’m with ya on that.

Yet our preferences do not matter.

Ads Are Outta Control!

But… there’s one problem with writer SEO or really any kind of SEO. We’re all gunning for page 1. And that means that the competition is fierce.

There’s you, me, and large corporations with insanely big budgets. There are people who’ve been doing SEO since before it had a name (or at least it feels that way).  So, how do you compete?

I Got an Itch for a Niche

Exxon is enormous! Their annual ad budget may very well be more than everything I have ever made in my life. And probably ever will.

But they’re not competing in the writing space. Even if their CEO decided to write a book, they would not be my competition. And they might not even really be my competition if their CEO decides to try their hand at writing something in the exact same genre as me.

Is James Patterson my competition? Well, not exactly. Yes, we are both writers. But that’s where the comparison stops. Now, Patterson does write science fiction. But are we really in direct competition? For one thing, a lot of his sci fi stuff is aimed at teens. Mine … is not.

So, maybe I don’t have to worry about him, or at least not too much. Same with JK Rowling and Stephen King, particularly as they don’t really write in my genre.

I’ve Got a Niche to Scratch

Amazon is great about having separate categories which match a ton of niches. Consider horror. Even if vampires, werewolves, wendigos, mummies, and serial killers were all in the same novel or film, so what? They all still have their own sub-niches (if you will) within horror.

Science fiction has a number of well-known niches:

  • Space opera – this is like Star Trek. My novel The Enigman Cave fits this niche, as it’s also following people on a spaceship.
  • Dystopian – this is like Ready Player One. My novels Mettle and Untrustworthy both fit this niche, even though they’re set in different places.
  • Science fiction noir – this is like Blade Runner or I, Robot, where cops and science fiction mix. My Obolonk and Time Addicts trilogies both fit. This is not a large genre and Amazon does not have it as a filter. But the good news is that there might not be a lot of competition…
  • Time travel – this is like the old TV show, The Time Tunnel. Time Addicts fits this niche.
  • Historical science fiction – now, this one’s tricky.

Issues with Historical Science Fiction

Science fiction isn’t normally set too far in the past. Even Stranger Things just goes back to the 1980s.

Without getting into Steampunk, one of the only examples I can think of are the films Time After Time (where HG Wells himself has to chase Jack the Ripper in the modern era) and Somewhere in Time (1970s playwright Richard Collier goes to the turn of the 20th century via hypnosis and falls in love with actress Elise McKenna).

In both stories, someone in the present is writing about the past. It makes sense that it would be a vehicle for a time travel story.

My Real Hub of the Universe trilogy fits this niche of a niche, which is so small that Amazon doesn’t list it as a genre (although at least GoodReads does!). And looking it up often means you find science fiction books written earlier in history, such as The Island of Dr. Moreau.

As a result, when you put that kind of work onto Amazon or the like, your tags and keywords had better be pitch-perfect and utterly on point.

Your Writer Website and Your Niche(s)

I’m not the only author who writes in more than one niche. In fact, many authors who do so will use a pen name or even several pen names.

So, for someone like me, writer SEO means looking at competition in all of these niches. And it means looking at the keywords which the more successful posts (the ones at the top of search, which don’t necessarily belong to bestselling authors) are using.

Keyword Research for Writer SEO

People who do SEO for a living are researching keywords pretty much all the time. It’s a fancy way of trying to determine what people are looking for. If you can give it to them, then you want them to be able to find you. The closer what’s on your website matches their search, the higher up (usually) your content will be in search engine results.

Google’s mission is to match seeker and website owner as closely as possible. Because if a person has a good experience with Google, they’re more likely to use Google than, say, Bing. As a result, Google can charge more for its advertising (and yes, unfortunately, paid ads are dominating the first page of search results. So page 2 can get some love after all—but never settle for anything lower).

Synonyms and Intent

To use an example a different form of art, consider film. Or cinema. AKA movies. Or pictures. AKA Hollywood or Bollywood or the Oscars or BAFTA awards, etc.

What is the difference in intent between these two searches:

  • movie for kids not Disney
  • classic cinema for children

Now, they both pull up lists of movies for the younger set. But the first is more likely to pull up articles about The Land Before Time, whereas the latter might pull up blog posts about The Red Balloon. Between the two searches, the first is more likely to pull up animation, too.

Now consider your books. I’ll use the Time Addicts trilogy as an example.

  • time travel with robots
  • science fiction noir in the far future

Both searches would fit this trilogy. The first gets a lot more hits. But the latter pulls up much more closely-related stuff. And if I change the first one to time travel with aliens (which would also fit Time Addicts), it gets me TV programs about ancient aliens.

What’s a better set of keyword phrases (kwps) to target? Probably some mix of these:

  • science fiction noir
  • sci fi noir
  • science fiction set in the far future
  • time travel noir (although currently there are two kinds of returns on this search which are coming up a lot)

Writer SEO, Searches, and Your Buyer Persona

Who’s your ideal reader? Your ideal customer? You have got to market directly to them. And you will need to write your blog and pages, etc. with that person in mind. If your ideal reader didn’t finish high school, then a term like movies is more likely to work than cinema. And if your ideal reader is female, you may want to toss in terms like feminism or strong female character.

If your ideal reader is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, then you will need to use terms which will apply—but I would caution you to be careful here. Terms evolve quickly. What was acceptable in 1999 is not necessarily going to fly in 2023. And for God’s sake, don’t try to reclaim a slur unless you would be a subject of said slur.

Writer SEO: Takeaways

Like I said above, this barely scratches the surface. Try tools like Keywordtool.io, answerthepublic.com, and MarketMuse (or Surfer SEO, Ubersuggest, or AhRefs) for more advanced ways to better target your ideal reader.

Want More of Writer Website Development?

If my post on website speed resonates with you, then be sure to check out my other articles about how to create a writer website.

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Get your author website going the smart way and use SEO! #amwriting

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Character Review — VelexioCharacter Review, Josie James, Greg Shapiro, Jazminder Parikh, MD, Johnny Barnes, Dalton Farouk, Peri Martin, Carmen D’Angelo, MD, Dr. Devon Grace, Tommy 2000, Lex Feldman, Velexio, Character Reviews are Coming, Ixalla, Elise Jeffries, MD, Frances Miller Ashford, Marnie Shapiro, Ceilidh O’Malley, Dr. Mei-Lin Quan, Trixie LaRue, Tathrelle, Nell Murphy, Craig Firenze, Adger, Astrid Hennigsen, Benjamin Chase, Bobby/Jerry Brodie, Cyndi Mendez, Dez Hunter, Eileen Bragin, Eleanor Braverman, Judge John Lowell, Keisha Darnell, Minka Lopez, Nell Murphy, Noah Braverman, Olga Nicolaev, Peter Ray, Rachel Gifford, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sally Bowles/TSTO Tiles, Shannon Duffy, Student #17, Tad Lewis, Ginny Carey, TSTITO, Selkhet 3000, complex evil characters, Emma 1000, They Say This is the One, Elston Young, Trinity Hawthorne, Character Creation

Character Review — Velexio

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 3, 2023

Consider Velexio, One of My Original Characters

Who is Velexio?

I needed a true villain character for Untrustworthy. This was a character who would have exactly zero redeemable character traits. Enter Velexio.

Where Did Velexio Come From?

I realized I needed a villain for whom the reader could never possibly have any sympathy. Adger, at least, is someone doing things for love. Or at least lust. But not this guy. Nope. Never, ever this guy.

The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Velexio

While I do not really have a back story for him, my intent for 2022 NaNoWriMo (and possibly also 2023 NaNo, if I end up with too much material and not enough November), is to create a prequel story for this universe.

As a result, a lot of his motivation and history will come out in that prequel novella. But there isn’t a lot in Untrustworthy itself.

Description

Velexio, like all Cabossians, is bipedal, but his genitals are a part of his hands. Both men and women can get pregnant, and the main idea behind this society is what it prizes. Caboss only prizes fertility. Same-sex unions give rise to sterile offspring—and that simply will not do.

But he does not have to worry about any of that. His two fertile children neatly prove his virility.

And so he has no problem looking down his barely existent nose on the sterile members of the population.

Purpose/Theme/Motivation

When we first see him, he is already in a position of power. But as the timelines shift, so do his roles. However, he is never truly out of power or out of control.

Quotes

“Now, I do not have to tell you that things are rather dire indeed,” Velexio began. “The war is going rather badly, and we are definitely losing. Gentlemen and, uh, Tathrelle, we have been approached by the Cavirii about our terms for surrender.”

“Sir?” asked Tathrelle, “have they shown their faces yet? I know the people are most anxious to see what a real Cavirii looks like. There have been so many ridiculous rumors; I am sure no one really knows what to believe any more.”

“Uh, no, they haven’t,” Velexio said. He sighed. “I would like to speak without interruption now. It’s, it’s unfortunate, you see, for our Jacarollium mining operations have risen in efficiency to 26 percent.  We’d hoped to utilize it in our weaponry, but I am afraid that might not happen. And the percentage of steriles in the population is at 58 percent. All those potential soldiers! They could use that weaponry, I am sure of it. I, it’s rather troubling, and the people will understandably be alarmed.”

The general who was seated to the left of Tathrelle said, “It might mean rioting. We cannot have that. Order must be maintained, at all costs, for the security of Caboss.”

“All too true,” agreed the general on the other side of Tathrelle, “We cannot tell the people the details.”

“But that’s my job,” Tathrelle protested. “They elected me for the singular purpose of telling them the truth about the government – about how it’s run, about how things are going and all of that. If we outright lose the war, it’s going to affect everyone. You cannot tell me not to tell them.”

The general across from her, looking very smug, said, “You heard it; there’ll be rioting if we tell the people. We’ve got to be subtle about this sort of thing. You cannot just blurt it out, as if you were a child telling a secret in a schoolyard.”

“Do not, no, do not tell them all of it,” Velexio cautioned. “In fact, let’s do this, Tathrelle. I’d like for you to tell them that the war is going well and that the Cavirii are in communications with us and that the government needs to concentrate on those communications, so details will not be forthcoming.”

Outside, the disembodied voice intoned, “All steriles are strongly encouraged to volunteer for military service. Pregnant males are identified with orange clothing as they are carrying steriles. Females who are carrying steriles are strongly encouraged to voluntarily self-identify that they are carrying steriles by also wearing orange. Parents voluntarily sending their sterile infants to military rearing and service will be fairly compensated for their sacrifices. Remember, a self-sacrificing citizenry is a happy one.”

Tathrelle looked aghast at Velexio. “Are you suggesting that I lie to the people?”

Relationships

He definitely had a wife before the start of the book, but I have nothing about her. As the Cabossian society continues to slide inexorably into fascism, it becomes harder to be single, even if you’re a widower. So, he decides to pick up women. But it doesn’t go exactly as he plans.

Tathrelle

Because he has worked with Tathrelle, he knows her fairly well and can at least determine if he thinks they are at all compatible. Due to the application of a certain drug, he has about as much of a memory of older timelines as she does. He knows what she has been, and just what she could be.

The drug and the idea of memories crossing timelines, rather neatly predicts Time Addicts.

Ixalla

He doesn’t even know Ixalla and, when he comes onto her, she has fallen on hard times. But just like Pygmalion with Galatea, all he wants is to remake her. He wants no barriers to his enjoyment. He won’t allow for any.

Conflict and Turning Point

Just like with the other characters, the turning point is the rioting. As an alien Kristallnacht erupts, continues, and eventually dies down, he changes. Beyond being a man who wants political power, he turns into a killer. And into someone who wants to control, well, everyone. If absolute power corrupts absolutely, then it’s even worse when it crosses multiple timelines.

Continuity/Easter Eggs

Like with the other characters in the book, there isn’t a lot of continuity to tie him to any of my other universes.

Future Plans

He will—like the other three main characters—be a part of the prequel story, which I am tentatively calling Unreliable. I am toying with the idea of making that one multiple-POV, much like Mettle. His point of view will likely be as ruthless as I have been writing him all along.

Velexio: Takeaways

Every story needs some sort of a villain or at least some kind of an obstacle. This character absolutely takes to the villain character arc.

As my writing has improved, I can see that he should have more depth to him. Something, anything redeemable at all about him would have made for a better character. But in all, for a story I wrote when I had a lot less experience, I think he turns out well enough.

There is nothing easy about him.

Velexio — what, you didn’t think fascists only came from Earth now, did you?

Want More of Velexio and the Rest of Untrustworthy?

If Untrustworthy resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how an alien society devolves into fascism.

Character Reviews: Untrustworthy

Untrustworthy Universe

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Writing Progress Report – Fourth Quarter 2022

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on December 29, 2022

Progress Report – Fourth Quarter 2022

How was fourth quarter 2022 for writing? It was a continuation of third quarter 2022, more or less.

So I spent fourth quarter 2022 preparing for and writing for NaNo, and then I was going to be editing The Real Hope of the Universe , but that has had to wait for next quarter. So there was that…

Fourth Quarter 2022 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on NaNoWriMo. Either I was preparing for it, or I was writing it. NaNo this year consisted of two prequel works. One was for the Real Hub universe (that one got very long) and the other was for the Obolonk universe, more specifically as a Time Addicts prequel. These are called The East Side of the Universe and The Dust Between Our Stars, respectively.

Then on Wattpad I posted on the WattNaNo profile and nowhere else. Also, I gave up running the Star Trek profile. I just plain do not have the time any more.

Milestones

Also, I have written over 3.4 million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). Another 120,000 in original words, and I will have finally surpassed fan fiction. Yeah, I really did write that much fan fic! The below is but the tip of that particular iceberg. So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

• Dinosaurs – 40 reads, 9 comments
† How to NaNoWriMo – 25,946 reads, 340 comments
• My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 983 reads, 133 comments
† Revved Up – 59,435 reads, 531 comments
• Side By Side – 17 reads, 2 comments
† Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 15,812 reads, 592 comments
• The Canadian Caper – 506 reads, 37 comments
† The Dish – 250 reads, 24 comments
• There is a Road – 189 reads, 28 comments
† WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,967 reads, 45 comments
• WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2019 – 1,845 reads, 10 comments
† What Now? – 2,764 reads, 104 comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

A True Believer in Skepticism, published in Mythic Magazine.

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

Darkness into Light, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

WIP Corner

So my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent – this is the second in this trilogy. What happens when time is tampered with and manipulated in all sorts of ways? It’s the ultimate in gaslighting, for one thing.

Time Addicts – Everything is Up For Grabs – as the timelines smack together and continue to diverge, it gets harder to tell the “real” timeline from all the newer fake ones. And what if some of the changes are for the better?

Fourth Quarter 2022 Prep Work

So currently, my intention, for 2024’s NaNoWriMo, is to write the third trilogy in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So a lot of this year has been spent on that. I have no name for this one yet.

For 2023 NaNoWriMo, I have decided to create a prequel for two or three more of the five main universes: Obolonks (while the Obolonks and Time Addicts are in the same universe, I just plain want to write two separate prequels!), Untrustworthy, The Enigman Cave, and Mettle.

If 2023 NaNo goes like 2022 NaNo did, then whichever one I do first will end up sticking to the script and complete relatively early, and then the second one will … meander.

If I had to choose two which would fill the bill in that fashion, it would either be Untrustworthy + Obolonks or Mettle + Enigman Cave. This is mainly because the first in each pairing are relatively well-defined, whereas the second of the pairings? Eh, not so much.

So, I anticipate a lot of fun and perhaps a little confusion. But it’s all good! And if I play my cards right, I can do the final pairing in 2024 and put off prepare the third trilogy till 2025.

Fourth Quarter 2022 Queries and Submissions

So here’s how that’s been going during fourth quarter 2022.

Reprint

Coming right out of the blue, Mythic Magazine wants to do a second Best of Mythic and chose A True Believer in Skepticism!!! Yay!!!!

In Progress

As of fourth quarter 2022, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

• I Used to Be Happy – Gemini Magazine
† Justice – Adbusters
• Mettle – RAB
† Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – A Thousand One Stories
• Who Do We Blame for This? – Sonder Review

But the truth is, I suspect all of those are ghostings at this point. I don’t honestly have the energy to submit right now.

All Other Statuses

So be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for fourth quarter 2022 which were not in progress.

Stats

So in 2018, my querying stats were:

68 submissions of 19 stories

† Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
• In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
† In Progress: 10, 14.71%
• Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
† Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
• Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

So in 2019 my querying stats were:

23 submissions of 11 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)
† Acceptances: 4, 17.39%
• In Progress: 11 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 47.83%
† Rejected-Personal: 4, 17.39%
• Rejected-Form: 3, 13.04%
† Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 4.35%

2020 Stats

So, in 2020 my querying stats were:

37 submissions of 12 stories (so 9 submissions carried over from 2019)

• Acceptances: 3, 8.11%
† In Progress: 7, 18.92%
• Rejected-Personal: 12, 32.43%
† Rejected-Form: 4, 10.81%
• Ghosted: 11 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 29.73%

2021 Stats

So, in 2021 my querying stats were: 5 submissions of 5 stories (so 5 submissions carried over from 2020); 100% Ghosted.

2022 Stats

So, in 2022 my querying stats were:

6 submissions of 6 stories (so 5 submissions carry over from 2020 and 2021), plus 1 reprint!

† Acceptances (reprint; still waiting on it): 1,14.29%
• Rejected-Form: 1, 14.29%
† Ghosted: 5, 71.42%

It can be pretty discouraging and hard to go on when virtually nothing new comes up which is positive.

Fourth Quarter 2022—Productivity Killers

So it’s work, what else? I am working on a ton of things and then have to switch to fiction writing. And that isn’t always easy, and there’s no end in sight.

My focus right now, also, is to continue to redesign and overhaul this blog and website. So, that’s the priority, and creation will wait for it, and editing.

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Character Review — TathrelleNew Cover of Untrustworthy by JR Gershen-Siegel, New Cover of Untrustworthy, Tathrelle, Ixalla, Adger, Velexio, Untrustworthy universe

Character Review — Tathrelle

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 28, 2022

Consider Tathrelle, One of My Original Characters

Who is Tathrelle?

When I first started to come up with the story which turned into Untrustworthy, I needed a heroine character. My original plan was for her to be the biggest driver of the action. But as the background of the book kept changing, so did my attitude toward her. She took on a more dual heroine role with Ixalla.

Where Did Tathrelle Come From?

In essence, this character first came about because I came up with her name. I loved the idea of a very feminine name like this, which doesn’t feel like it has any sort of history or etymology. I am particularly thrilled because even now, years after I started writing Untrustworthy, you can only find her name as a part of the blurb for this book.

The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Tathrelle

Her backstory enters the book in little bits and pieces. But you only get back to what is likely the day right before the book starts. Without plunging into spoiler territory, she is just plain not what she seems.

But when we first meet her, she’s just won an election. Tathrelle is to be the representative of the common people, their sole voice in the government.

Description

When the book starts, she has brown hair and kind of reddish brown eyes. She also has fewer fingers than we do. And her genitals aren’t in the same place as ours are.

Er, why?

Because she’s not a human at all. In fact, no one in this novel is. She’s a Cabossian, a bipedal species with two genders and two separate types of existence. All that matters on Caboss is if you’re sterile or fertile.

Untrustworthy solely takes place off Earth, and the characters have no inkling that humans so much as exist.

Purpose/Theme/Motivation

Probably her strongest motivation is to tell the people the truth. As the story unfolds, the government gives her more and more required phrasing in her speeches. While they don’t actually dictate everything she has to say, they do horn in on it.

Quotes

The general who was seated to the left of Tathrelle said, “It might mean rioting. We cannot have that. Order must be maintained, at all costs, for the security of Caboss.”

“All too true,” agreed the general on the other side of Tathrelle, “We cannot tell the people the details.”

“But that’s my job,” Tathrelle protested. “They elected me for the singular purpose of telling them the truth about the government – about how it’s run, about how things are going and all of that. If we outright lose the war, it’s going to affect everyone. You cannot tell me not to tell them.”

The general across from her, looking very smug, said, “You heard it; there’ll be rioting if we tell the people. We’ve got to be subtle about this sort of thing. You cannot just blurt it out, as if you were a child telling a secret in a schoolyard.”

“Do not, no, do not tell them all of it,” Velexio cautioned. “In fact, let’s do this, Tathrelle. I’d like for you to tell them that the war is going well and that the Cavirii are in communications with us and that the government needs to concentrate on those communications, so details will not be forthcoming.”

…

Tathrelle looked aghast at Velexio. “Are you suggesting that I lie to the people?”

Relationships

She has a relationship of sorts with the other three characters with the most “screen time”, as it were. That is, Ixalla, Adger, and Velexio.

Tathrelle and Ixalla

We first meet Ixalla early in the piece. She’s married to Tathrelle, and theirs is a loving, sensual kind of marriage. They’re considerate to each other, even though their statuses are very different. Ixalla is a schoolteacher, about to go on maternity leave. But her wife has just won an election to be the people’s representative voice is a militaristic government.

But once their circumstances start to change (again, I am doing my best to avoid spoiling the book!), Tathrelle learns that her position with the government is more as a checked-off box. She’s a token ordinaryish citizen, a canary in a coalmine composed of an alien cabal/junta. But when this happens, Ixalla’s stature rises. A gifted, dedicated teacher, Ixalla complements Tathrelle and together the two are stronger than apart.

Adger

A coworker of Tathrelle’s, he quickly cultivates an obsession with her. And once he starts to get the means at his disposal to change his circumstances with reference to her, he starts to do so immediately. Ethics? Who needs ’em? Amirite? Adger would absolutely say something like that.

As the story continues on, Tathrelle’s status lowers, but Adger’s rises. Much like Tathrelle becomes closer in status to Ixalla, she also becomes closer in status to Adger. But no matter what he tries, he’ll never have the kind of easy, loving relationship with Tathrelle that she has with Ixalla.

Velexio

General Velexio is the leader of the military junta controlling the Cabossian government. Unlike the other three major characters, his status never changes and he remains Tathrelle’s boss. And all he wants to do is manipulate her.

Conflict and Turning Point

For Tathrelle, the turning point happens when she finally starts to learn the truth about what is going on around her. Life is continually changing, and it is most definitely not improving. At the climax of the story, she learns why.

Continuity/Easter Eggs

Given that this is a standalone novel and none of the characters are human, there’s very little to tie the novel to my other universes. About the only connection is the time element, which is also present in the Time Addicts inner trilogy within the Obolonk universe.

Future Plans

I honestly don’t have any for her, and I kind of can’t. About the only thing I can think of is to potentially write of her past, or maybe Ixalla’s? This is also a difficult universe for prequels. We’ll see.

Tathrelle: Takeaways

This character started off with strength but was quickly overwhelmed by the events in the plot. As a result, I wrote her meeker and more submissive. In Untrustworthy, the changes in society are also reflected by the changes in Tathrelle herself—the main character after all.

Tathrelle and her story get a much-needed expansion in the prequel! #staytuned

Want More of Tathrelle and the Rest of Untrustworthy?

If Untrustworthy resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how an alien society devolves into fascism.

Character Reviews: Untrustworthy

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Self-Review – UntrustworthyUntrustworthy universe

Self-Review – Untrustworthy

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on April 21, 2022

Let’s Look at Untrustworthy

Untrustworthy is my first-ever published novel.

Background

Much like a fan fiction novel called Reversal, it begins with a dream. And that makes perfect sense, as a dream inspired it.

And the dream, originally, was of seeing scenery change before my eyes (I have had this same dream before, and have written about it before, yet in different ways every time).

Yes, I am well aware that this is a cliché.

Plot

As Tathrelle begins the part of her life related by the story, the reader sees flashbacks of what seems like a dream and then seems like an earlier existence. However, the older life gets cut short in favor of the new.

Tathrelle’s waking life, instead, centers around her wife Ixalla, and the children they are about to have. Past is prologue.

The Cabossians, a species made up by me, can have children in any combination, so long as both parties are fertile. Hence both mpreg and all varieties of marriage (same- and mixed-sex) figure in the plot.

Furthermore, Tathrelle’s new job drives a lot of the action, as she has won an election and represents the people in what obviously starts off as a military dictatorship. Also, in the background, a disembodied voice tells the people what to do.

The first statements come out more as helpful hints and requests, such as to thank the public transportation driver or set the thermostat to a particular setting.

But that’s all about to change.

Characters

The main characters are Tathrelle, Ixalla, Velexio, Adger, and Students Number Five and Seventeen, along with a character just referred to as the unknown girl. The scene is solely on the planet Caboss, in the Central City.

One thing that surprised me as I wrote is that the main character, Tathrelle, did not turn out to be my favorite. Instead, that honor belongs to Ixalla. Ixalla was originally not much more than an expository mouthpiece. She really took flight when she became a revolutionary.

Memorable Quote

Ixalla yelled to them all, “This is the very last vestige of your privacy, and it is going up in smoke! You are all voluntarily giving it up! And for what? Is it for some vague notion of security? For the new requirement that anyone who is fertile is not just privileged, but that they are – we are – somehow, now, required to prove our fecundity? What will we have to prove next?”

Music

The inspirational song for this book is Bastille’s Pompeii. Years later, and I am still incapable of hearing the song without thinking of the book, and vice versa.

Story Postings

Unlike any other works in this blog (as of now), this story is for sale. It is not truly ‘posted’ anywhere. Even on the NaNoWriMo site, all you can find is a very short snippet.

Rating for Untrustworthy

The story is Rated T.

Untrustworthy Takeaways

Without giving away more of the plot, I think the story is okay but the truth is, I have written better since then. However, it is a great first effort for publication. Furthermore, I feel it works in some ways to get me into the publishing game, but then what?

I feel the book had pretty good promotions but not great promotions. I know it has more reviews than a lot of other indie works, but not as many as others. Sales come few and far between.

In the meantime, I write about different things.

Can Untrustworthy serve as an entrée for diverse works such as the space opera of The Enigman Cave, the science fiction detective stories in The Obolonk Murders and its successor series, the Victorian urban fantasy of The Real Hub of the Universe and its two sequels?

Or the odd science fiction dystopia of Mettle?

Stay tuned, and thank you, as always, for your kind and unwavering support.

Untrustworthy has been good to me. But it’s tough to make it a hashtag! #amreviewing

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Character Review — IxallaNew Cover of Untrustworthy by JR Gershen-Siegel, New Cover of Untrustworthy, Tathrelle, Ixalla, Adger, Velexio, Untrustworthy universe

Character Review — Ixalla

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 8, 2022

Consider Ixalla, One of My Original Characters

Who is Ixalla?

When I first started to write Untrustworthy, the idea what that Tathrelle was going to be the main character. But I fell in love with Ixalla. Now, Tathrelle is still the protagonist. But her wife became something more while I was writing her.

Where Did Ixalla Come From?

The circumstances under which I wrote Untrustworthy are maybe a little odd. The main idea for the book came to me in a dream, as some of my book ideas have. But initially, the only ‘face’ I saw was Tathrelle’s.

In fact, there originally wasn’t a lesbian relationship. But as I got to know the characters and the plot (and keep in mind, I was writing this during 2013 NaNoWriMo, so everything happened a lot faster than it usually would), Ixalla started to take on more importance.

The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Ixalla

The truth is, there isn’t much of one. Unlike Tathrelle, Ixalla just kind of appears fully formed, as if she was the armored Athena springing from the head of Zeus.

When the story starts, all we really know about her, apart from her being pregnant, is that she’s a schoolteacher. She teaches the Tenth Form which is meant to be the high school level.

Description

Without giving away too much of the plot of Untrustworthy, Ixalla’s appearance does change within the context of the story. When we first see her, she has blonde hair and blue eyes. But later, she has brown hair, and reddish eyes.

Oh, did I mention that she’s an alien?

Yep, Ixalla is a Cabossian. There are no humans in that book. None!

So, there’s really no actress who I can point to and say, “That’s Ixalla.”

As for how she sounds, the aliens in this book have very stilted speech—and that’s the idea. They’re aliens. They shouldn’t be talking, acting, or looking like us.

Quotes

“Student Number Five!” Ixalla exclaimed, “I will remind you of the rules. You are referred to by a youthful number and not by name, and there is a very good reason for this. It is because students have varying degrees of wealth and status. By using your youthful number designations – and those are your classroom designations, and not your actual numbers, which will come when you are of age – we can educate everyone, regardless of whether their parents are in the government or drive a transportation sleigh. As a result, you cannot speak about what either of your parents does, or even if both of your parents are male, or they are both female, or if they are mixed. I trust I make myself clear? Or would you prefer having the Lead Educator explain it to you again?”

Relationships

Ixalla’s main relationship is with Tathrelle. But as the book goes on, Tathrelle is essentially taken away from her. When Ixalla leaves, an authority officer flirts with her. But it’s nothing serious.

And even later, she essentially adopts two lost children. One is just called Student Number Seventeen, whereas the other has even less of a designation. I just called her the Unknown Girl.

Conflict and Turning Point

Even though she’s technically not the main character, Ixalla essentially picks up the main thread of the narrative. She acts as the main character whenever Tathrelle is off-screen. Hence the conflict for her is virtually the same as Tathrelle’s—something is changing their world, and those changes are not for the better.

For Ixalla, the turning point comes when she arrives at the school drunk and yells at the Tenth Form. She starts off as an outsider and spectator and the kind of person who doesn’t get involved.

And then she becomes a revolutionary.

Continuity/Easter Eggs

This work has the least amount of continuity with my other works, as it kind of can’t. The characters are far too different and the scenario is way too dissimilar. Hence there’s little to no continuity with her, or cross-referencing.

One of the closest characters to her in another universe is possibly Elise Jeffries in Mettle. Elise is just as intelligent and is also a not-so-main character who gets a lot of airtime anyway. But that’s about where any similarities end.

Future Plans

Again, without getting into spoiler territory too much, I can’t have future plans for this character because the book is, at heart, a tragedy.

But I love her spirit, how she goes from being domestic and intellectual to a street smart, resourceful, scrounging survivor.

Ixalla and Future Inspiration

For this character, I think the main form of inspiration I can get from her is the idea that a character can even surprise the writer. You may have certain plans, but it’s the character’s voice and the character’s desires that will win out in the end.

Ixalla showed me that she was more than just a place to bounce Tathrelle’s thoughts off. And once she had showed me that, she became three-dimensional.

Ixalla: Takeaways

For this character, perhaps my favorite bit about her is that she was never intended to be this big and this vital. But after a few days of writing her and Untrustworthy, the genie was out of the bottle, and she became more.

Ixalla—for when you need a revolutionary in your prose.

Want More of Ixalla and the Rest of Untrustworthy?

If Untrustworthy resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how an alien society devolves into fascism.

Character Reviews: Untrustworthy

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