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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 17h

Corrin is as Corrin does

Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 19h

Aha! I had forgotten about this! This was a little bonus card that went out with @yourpaperquest.bsky.social’s edition of The Light Of Kasaban.

This is the recipe for Saya’s Shoe Leather Soup, serves up to 15 hungry child wizards.

A bit of lore that didn’t make the final cut of the book.

Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 1d

The Monsters We Feed was the result of a bunch of challenges I set for myself:
1) Weave a story out of one tiny piece of lore from my world
2) Make an MC who can’t wield a sword & has no magick
3) Make it 1 location
4) Make it noir
5) Make it a 40k world novella
I failed at #5😂

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 1d

I sometimes use adverbs. Not very often. But more often than never. And when I do, I use them amazingly.

Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 1d

I have too many wips based on these side characters as it is. My brain can’t handle more 😩

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 1d

Lmao this is my point Adam! Side characters lead to spin-offs that only distract us from the project we are supposed to be working on. 😂

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 2d

You don’t need to create a name and backstory for every single side character that appears in only 1 scene and is never mentioned in the story again

Is what I say to myself after spending all day doing that very thing

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 2d

Living in the desert means saving a lot of aspirational advertisements for really badass jackets that you will never ever have a chance to use

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 2d

None of my stories have HEA (bittersweet ever after at best…so BSEA?) but a lot of my works lately are turning out to be straight up SEA. Maybe with a sprinkle of hope on top but sad

Apparently The Last Gasp Of Midnight wasn’t a fluke. I’ve only just begun to hurt your feelings

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 4d

There will be bad days. Days where you question yourself. Days where you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. Days where you feel like you don’t belong.

But keep your chin up. Keep going. Keep doing what you love to do. You will find your way.

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 5d

This fight scene I’m working on is taking after The Last Gasp Of Midnight and The Monsters We Feed in its use of…unconventional weapons 😂

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 5d

Being solo dad today is surprisingly conducive to drafting this final fight scene

My little warriors are contributing the fight choreography

Though mini-daughter is throwing me for a loop since none of my characters are supposed to be dual wielding battle axes in this scene 🤔

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 5d

I can’t decide which is worse:

not having the inspiration to write when you have the free time to write

or having the inspiration to write while you are stuck at work all day

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 6d

Going out with a bang on the last edit of this beast. Worked out that the final touch I’ll be adding is a tiny bit of brutal combat in the middle of an already 110 page finale

30 paragraphs ought to be enough to get out the fight I’m seeing in my head

So let the countdown begin

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 7d

The cute giant dog content in this manuscript shan’t preclude the grimdark violence content.

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 10d

Very excited to help celebrate wirh @spotlightindie.bsky.social!! Happy year one of supporting indie authors!

Spotlight Indie @spotlightindie.bsky.social · 10d

Our Big Indie Weekend is nearly over, but before we wrap up, we're inviting some friends over to celebrate one year of Spotlight Indie. Join Holly and Frasier, plus @thomashowardriley.bsky.social, @alethearlyons.bsky.social and @tdevens.bsky.social at 9pm! youtube.com/live/glKdXsC...

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 15d

2yr old daughter just walked in wearing her favorite snow white costume and unprompted told me that when she grows up she wants to be a daywalker so she can chop vampires up with her sword

So now that I’ve won parenting I’ve got to figure out what to do with the rest of my night

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 15d

me: *writes multiple books after years of practice & hundreds of drafts having learned thousands of little tricks of writing, plotting, editing & publishing*

anyone: do you have any writing advice?

me: um, what? hmmm *taps chin* how to write? how to write? how to write?

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Reposted by Thomas Howard Riley

Bill Adams - Willow Wraith Press author/owner @williamjadams3.bsky.social · 23d

I know there's still a week left, but Tuesday, Sept 23rd at 8pm CST, we will be chatting with @thomashowardriley.bsky.social about his book, The Light of Kasaban for Willow Wraith Press' Indie Book Club. Come join the chat!

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Reposted by Thomas Howard Riley

Bill Adams - Willow Wraith Press author/owner @williamjadams3.bsky.social · 22d

Hey indie book fans on #booksky, Willow Wraith Press' Indie Book Club book of September is The Light of Kasaban by @thomashowardriley.bsky.social!

Here's my review for this awesome book!

Don't forget, we are talking with Thomas tonight at 8pm CST!

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Reposted by Thomas Howard Riley

Spotlight Indie @spotlightindie.bsky.social · 20d

@thomashowardriley.bsky.social is the author of We Break Immortals, The Monsters We Feed, The Light of Kasaban and The Last Gasp of Midnight. Recently described himself as 'profoundly silly'. You can find Thomas here: thomashowardriley.com

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 17d

Editing fun:

It just doesn’t hit the same during an emotional scene when your main character feels hopless instead of hopeless

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Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 19d

As much as it frustrates me how long it takes to write & edit & publish a book, I am eternally grateful for that time because I tend to keep coming up with badass ways to improve the story all the while

Sometimes a VITAL element of the story only reveals itself on the final edit

Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 20d

Weird fact: I have synesthesia so to me letters have colors & textures & ‘vibe’

Because of this, the way letters are arranged in characters’ names impacts their personalities in my writing

I’m not remotely qualified to determine how weird this might seem to anyone else

Thomas Howard Riley @thomashowardriley.bsky.social · 21d

Relief is noticing in the final copy edit of your manuscript that the sequence of events might be out of order and you panic thinking you’ll have to chop up and reassemble the whole book, only to remember that you already did that and this is the correct sequence