Jon Sparks
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jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
Jon Sparks
@jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.8K following 1.9K posts
After more than 30 years, and 60 books, as an outdoor writer and photographer, I’m now fully focused on fiction with the Shattered Moon series. AI-free (and I mean free).
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#WIPSnips
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has no instances of 'steel’, and just two of ‘iron’.
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…that’s a bit unusual. Although they’re also in a wider sense part of the same project anyway.
#WordWeavers 4/11: Are you working on one or several projects? What’s your preference?
Right now, Book 7 is in the hands of my partner so I’m not touching it and instead l’m 100% focused on Book 8. But…
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#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 4/11: What's the funniest thing you've ever written?
Well, I left a note for the milkman once that was pretty witty…
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#WIPSnips
No more ‘spooky week’, which may make it easier for me.
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has four instances of 'nice’, which doesn’t feel like too many
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…of the time spent thinking/daydreaming. (“I hallucinate gently for a living.” ― Terry Pratchett)
#WritersCoffeeClub 3/11: How much of your writing time is actively spent putting words on the page?
Define ‘writing time’. If you mean time actually sitting with pen and notebook or laptop or iPad, then most of it. But that takes no account…
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…looking at nature, looking at the sky, and trying to figure things out for herself.
Deprived? She would never use the word.
#WordWeavers 3/11: What was your MC’s childhood like?
Jerya grew up as an orphan in a remote village carved out of sandstone. She taught herself to read and had read all of the community’s 23 books at an early age. She spent a lot of time on her own…
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#WIPSnips
'Spooky week’ may be tricky for me, not my thing, but we’ll see how we go.
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has no instances of 'cobweb’, but 7 of ‘dust’.
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#WordWeavers 2/11: Share something unusual about one of your characters’ lives.
Jerya didn’t know who her parents were until she was 20. Now, around 30 years later, her 18 year old daughter is meeting her grandmother for the first time.
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…have a formula for character growth, and I wouldn’t want one.
#WritersCoffeeClub 2/11: What makes character growth believable to you?
Characters and their growth are central to my writing; I often feel like they’re telling me their stories and I just have to write them down. But I don’t…
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#WIPSnips
'Spooky week’ is tricky for me, not my thing.
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has no instances of 'ancestor’, but 6 of ‘grandmother’—and MC meeting hers for first time at age 18 is a big moment.
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…fiction, I’m writing the stories I find in myself. I don’t know how I’d maintain my authentic voice any other way. And perhaps this helps explain why handing over any part of the process to AI is complete anathema.
#WordWeavers 1/11: Describe a perfect reader for your story (i.e. who is the story for?)
I’ve had wide experience of writing with a set of readers in mind, e.g. photography enthusiasts without a vast amount of technical knowledge. But when it comes to…
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…that’s a time when it’s particularly useful to have a few bits to break up the pages of people talking.
#WritersCoffeeClub 1/11: What do you need to amplify in your work?
Probably circumstantial details, the little observations that ground a scene in a particular reality. I tend to forget this especially when I’m writing intense dialogue, but…
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In fact, correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember there’s no mention of a monster in the original ‘Frankenstein’: the word Mary Shelley uses is ‘creature’.
May as well show off having actually read it.
#WIPSnips
'Spooky week’ may be tricky for me, not my thing, but we’ll see how we go.
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has no instances of 'monster’, but we do have ‘creature’—and a Halloween bonus mention of bats.
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…loudly demanding I write their story, and that’s advanced by leaps and bounds.
#WritersCoffeeClub 31/10: In terms of writing, how did this month go for you?
Well, I’m not quite as far along as I had hoped with final tweaks to Book 7… but there’s a good reason for that, as the main characters from Book 8 have been…
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