Episode 2 - Lady Rosemary by Alex Waits
Allister: Welcome to Battle Hardened. On Writing Battle, stories live and die according to the decisions of anonymous judges.
Kearston: But vote count is not a measure of story quality.
Allister: High scores feel great! Duel wins lead to final showdown appearances and honorable mentions.
Kearston: If you participate and you have received either honor, that is something to be proud of. However, at Battle Hardened, we want to mine for hidden treasures.
Allister: We are interested in stories that blew us away.
Kearston: Those whose value goes beyond their vote tally.
Allister: Diamonds in the rough.
Allister: And we're back! Alright Kearston, so how lonely is your gym bag lately?
Kearston: Oh, my gym bag mocked me today, but I did go yesterday and I'll be going tomorrow. But I did not go today.
Allister: Seems like you've been going a lot though, then getting some running miles in.
Kearston: I have, yeah. I've been trying to get miles in on the treadmill. So I've been making progress by working my way towards a 10k at the end of October. Gonna do it. What about you? Do you have anything that you're working with goal-wise?
Allister: Yeah, I've got some goals for this year for sure. I'm trying to hit three plates on bench and four on squat and five on dead. So we'll see how close I get to any of them, but I'm getting there.
Kearston: Yeah, and my goal is just to finish the 10k. I have zero interest in being fast.
Allister: Okay, so this is interesting to me. Do you consider yourself a runner?
Kearston: No but—
Allister: Because I do. You're more of a runner than I am right now, even though I've run a marathon before. You're out there doing it. And so it circles back to writing. For me, it's a yes or no question really, is being a runner part of your identity? Is being a writer part of your identity?
Kearston: Well, I would agree. I do feel like being a writer is a part of my identity, although I don't usually talk about it with people that are not already writers themselves. But I don't feel as though I'm a grown-up writer or an accomplished writer or a real writer. I feel like a baby writer.
Allister: You don't have to go out and run a two hour marathon to consider yourself a runner, right?
Kearston: But I do like the quote that you have about instead of being imposter syndrome, that it's just brilliant con man and just faking it until you make it. Because I do think that having that mindset is so important for success and anything that you do because it can become so easy to get back down and negative thoughts. And I think that that kind of switch of, nope, I'm just gonna fake it until I make it. I'm gonna fake it to myself is a really positive way to look at it and would probably be more beneficial for my self esteem if I did that.
Allister: I guess for me, it's hard because I don't really see it as a dichotomy. I see it as a progression or a journey like we were talking about with the training. I'm all about gradual adaptation and a customing your body, your mind to these things that we want to do. And you just work on it.
Kearston: I know, I am. Enough about me! What are we listening to today?
Allister: The contest was Fear 2025 in the mystery genre with a character prompt of rival and an object prompt of ticket stub. The maximum word count was 1000 words of which Alex used 992.
Kearston: And there are no content warnings for this story. Without further ado, still away and enjoy.
Allister: A Letter by Lady Rosemary Vane of Bath, from an Undisclosed Location, Regarding One Wintry Night in 1753
Hannah Fulwell: My darling husband, I cannot describe the horror I felt at Handel’s latest opera premiere in London. While you spent the first intermission with your paramour in the box once reserved for the two of us, I was thrust into hell itself— a ransom note given me by an unwitting servant, demanding my entire inheritance for the safe return of my dear infant son! I was to procure the first two thousand pounds by the end of the performance— an impossible task. Furthermore, I was to remain at the opera house and maintain a guise of normalcy. My failure would seal my son’s fate, the note concluded.
Fighting my rising hysteria, I fled to the dressing room of my loyal companion, tenor extraordinaire Andrelli, for aid. Andrelli examined the note as I flung myself upon his couch, narrowly missing a nearby wine bottle in my distress. I steadied myself with the hope that if this monster was swiftly exposed, my son could yet be saved.
Andrelli recognized the violet seal on the note-– he had seen an identical design used by his professional rival, the perpetually-morose Cardoza. So once the second act began, I slipped into Cardoza’s dressing room untroubled (for you know of my reputation as trustworthy to everyone at the opera) and discovered the exact stamp inside Cardoza’s vanity.
Andrelli once said that Cardoza’s nasally vocal quality is the result of turning up his nose at the world, thinking himself entitled to things he does not deserve. Would his sense of entitlement drive him to kidnap a helpless infant? O God above, where was my little darling?
At that moment, Cardoza himself entered the room. He expressed outrage at this breach of privacy, conjecturing that it was yet another ploy by Andrelli to sabotage him, but when he noticed my trembling hands, he composed himself and offered me some wine. Had Andrelli treated me cruelly?
I replied in the negative and asked about the origins of his stamp. He confided that this seal is used by all members of a certain secret society in London. Only one other member was present tonight, he informed me, and while he couldn’t reveal his identity, he was certain this person could never wish my son harm.
I found Andrelli in the wings, and he scoffed at Cardoza’s claims, calling them “a contemptible fabrication by a contemptible performer.” At that moment, Cardoza stalked past us, and shot us a withering glare. “Contemptible,” Andrelli repeated, loud enough for Cardoza to hear.
The second Intermission came, and Maestro Handel called for a toast in the reception hall— he was to announce the new leading male singer of the Royal Opera House. He had been so plagued with admirers that he failed to procure his own wine glass, so I gave him mine. Had I been less weary in spirit, I might have mourned giving it away— that wine was a thank-you gift from Andrelli for my influence in securing him the promotion over Cardoza.
If that physician had not so readily recognized the signs of poison in Maestro Handel and acted accordingly— but I need not tell you what a grim fate would have befallen the Maestro.
And to think, that glass was meant for me!
It became clear that whoever this would-be murder was, they acted not out of indifferent greed but personal loathing for me. Why else would someone take my beloved child for ransom, only to kill me before demands are met, if not to torment me before ending me? They wanted me, not impoverished, but extinguished. Would Andrelli, my only comfort in your abandonment, betray me after all I had done for him? And why?
Maestro was carried home and his assistant stepped in to conduct the third act. Despair took hold as the music plunged toward the opera’s conclusion. Would my successful death have saved my son? I would gladly drink that poisoned wine if only I knew it would deliver my child to safety.
As the final scene played, I stepped onto the balcony for some air. Cardoza, having finished his role for the night, joined me briefly, and seeing my wretchedness, assumed it concerned the mistress now occupying my former seat in our your box. To my surprise, he took my hand.
“I suppose,” he said, “that’s the difference between us. When Andrelli” – he spat out the name– “cheats me, I can find another occupation in Vienna or Rome. But when your rival usurps your rightful place in your husband’s heart, you have no recourse.”
He placed a piece of paper in my hand. “Andrelli asked that I give you this. Found it by the wine bottle, he says. Not only does he swindle me out of advancement, he treats me like an errand-boy.” He muttered another curse about Andrelli before departing, but my thoughts were too demanding to comprehend it.
You must already know what he placed in my hand: a ticket stub, smudged with violet wax, spelling out the box reserved for its owner. A box we both know well.
At that moment, dear husband, I knew my child would live. I knew that he was in safe, though unscrupulous hands, because while you would gladly dispose of your wife, you wouldn’t touch your own heir, would you?
The rivalry between Andrelli and Cardoza is nothing to what has festered between you and I. Above wealth, above love, you crave admiration and influence— things you held before your affair. In your blaming of me, attempting to destroy me in spirit and body, you have undone yourself. You lost the loyalty of many in treating me so disgracefully, Maestro Handel despises you, and half of London distrusts you.
I will embrace playing as your rival. You are ruined, and my son and I are safe. I have beaten you at your own game, and you will never find us now.
Sincerely,
The Wife of a Man With Nothing
Kearston: I am so glad that I did not try to power through and narrate that story. That was fantastic work by Hannah. And now joining us is the author, Alex Waits. So Alex did not get to hear Hannah's narration of her story prior to sitting down and interviewing with us to talk about it. And the first time that she gets to hear it is going to be when she listens to the podcast.
Allister: Okay, so first and foremost, is that your dog in the profile picture? And if so, is it a boy or girl? What's the name? Tell us about them.
Alex: Yes. That is my dog. His name is Wilbur. And he was named such because when he came into the shelter, he was extremely overweight. So they named him after the pig in Charlotte's Web. We got the weight off. He's doing great. He's at a very healthy weight. But the name stuck. He is extremely melancholy. But he is just a big sweetie and he's an old man. So he is living his best life in a retirement home, which happens to be our home.
Allister: How old is Wilbur?
Alex: We're not sure. He was a rescue when we got him from the shelter. They said he was at least eight years old and we've had him for close to four years now, so he's getting up there.
Kearston: Other than writing, of course, what do you do for fun?
Alex: It's actually very convenient because I studied classical music in high school and college. And so I do opera, musical theater, ballet, both for fun and I've done professional stuff.
Allister: Who's your favorite classical artist then?
Alex: As far as music artists. That's so hard. I love Bach. Just number one, he was very formative for modern music as we know it, but his life was just incredibly interesting. So as far as just reading about somebody's life, I like hearing the stories about him and his 10 million children.
Kearston: Really? I don't know anything about Bach.
Alex: I don't remember how many kids, but it was over 10.
Kearston: Oh, jeez.
Allister: So he was prolific in more than one area in life, huh?
Alex: Seriously!
Allister: Do you listen to music when you write or do you just prefer silence? What do you listen to if you do?
Alex: So, honestly, I would probably be slightly more productive in silence, but I don't like to. So I try to stick with instrumental, because if it has words, it does distract me. So I just try to pick something that matches the vibe of what I'm going for or the mood. And so sometimes it'll be accurate to the time and then other times it'll be obviously modern for a historical setting, but it gives the mood and takes my emotional space to where I want the story to be.
Allister: Help you get in the mindset.
Kearston: I'm a weirdo. I listen to ASMR while I'm writing. I like the scratchy sounds.
Alex: Some people love that stuff and I can't stand it. I thought it was a joke when my sister-in-law told me that that was a thing. I did not believe her till she showed it to me and then I was like, turn that off, please.
Kearston: The mouth sounds do not do it for me; that just grosses me out. but head scratching sounds? Oh my gosh, it's so relaxing. So I met huge reader and I love adding books to my TBR. Have you read anything recently that you just loved?
Alex: If you have a time on your hands, I just finished the Stormlight archives. But if you're looking for [cough] not spending the next three months, I read Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Kearston: Okay.
Alex: I was reading that while I was writing this mystery, and I would say that was probably the best coincidence to happen because I was studying the Queen of mystery while I was writing a mystery. So if you can time it like that, that was really helpful for me.
Allister: And that was coincidental?
Alex: It was coincidental. I was reading it for book club when I got the draw for mystery and so it just worked out really well.
Kearston: That is just wonderful synchronicity.
Alex: Yes. It was great.
Allister: Did you say you hadn't read any Agatha Christie before?
Kearston: I have not. Yeah, no, I have not. I had a boss at a prior job. I would take meeting minutes, and I was very detailed, and he was like, this is like Agatha Christie. And I didn't realize that at the time that he actually meant it as I was creating a mystery for him to unravel in the notes.
Alex: Oh, well.
Allister: Do you have a favorite Agatha Christie novel?
Alex: Roger Aykroyd might be my favorite so far. Because I figured it out right when I think she wants the reader to figure it out, and it just led to such a satisfying ending.
Allister: Yeah, when you figured out for yourself, it is a huge feeling of satisfaction. And I noticed a lot of readers pointed that out in the comments that they were really satisfied with how you structured your reveal and the hints.
Alex: Yes, and honestly, that's why I was so thankful that I was reading Agatha Christie at the time. Just to look at, how did she achieve this and how can I, in a very rudimentary way and then 1000 words try to emulate a very miniature version of that.
Kearston: Yes, a mystery in a thousand words was a challenge.
Alex: For sure.
Allister: And you did as well, right, Kearston?
Kearston: I did. We were actually in the same house.
Allister: Oh, were we?
Kearston: We just didn't battle.
Alex: Which one was yours?
Kearston: Mine was Alarm Bells. The wedding photographer who had the groomsman in a bush.
Alex: Oh, okay.
Kearston: I did a cozy mystery. Before the next cozy mystery. Oh, and I was not familiar with mystery at all, because I didn't really read it. So I had to do a lot of research going into it, figuring out what all of the beats were. It sounds like you were fairly familiar with some of it. But was there a lot of research that you had to do to figure out how to tell a successful mystery?
Alex: Yes, it's always good to, just see what the experts say because even if I think I have an idea, I am by no means an expert. And so, just looking online and saying, okay, what are the essential beats? Am I missing any of these? And trying to figure out the steady drip of knowledge, and insight for people. That that's something I didn't understand when I was younger, that I'm trying to find the balance of more is. I think Alfred Hitchcock explained it in the lecture once, the difference between surprise and suspense, and how suspense can give you twenty minutes of tension, versus surprise gives you five seconds of shock. And how that knowledge can make the difference between five seconds of satisfaction and twenty minutes of satisfaction.
Kearston: That's great advice.
Alex: So really trying to emulate that and seeing what are, what are some of the strategies. What does that look like on paper for people like Agatha Christie?
Kearston: Now, I murder darlings left and right, and I keep an entire graveyard on my working document. Was there a specific piece of information or a line or anything in your story that didn't make it into the final cut?
Alex: There was, and I thought I put it in my graveyard, but I went to find it yesterday and I couldn't find it. So I can't read it to you. But because the story was so plot heavy, every single line had to further the plot, but I really wanted to keep one line that gave physical description of the atmosphere because there's none of that, in there really you have to infer it from the setting the title, which is why the title so long I was trying to get as much information out there as possible. But one line where basically it's right after she has read the note and how the crystals and the chandeliers and the colors have gone from bringing pleasure to bringing mockery. All of a sudden it's not reflecting her mood, but contrasting the mood. And it was so much better than what I just said, but I couldn't find it. So it's dead dead.
Kearston: Yeah, we've mourned it's loss.
Alex: Yes. We've moved on.
Kearston: Oh no! Now, in some of the comments you had made mention of a backstory with the paramour as well. Was that something you'd written out? Or just something that lives like as backstory in your mind?
Alex: It lives on the outline and character development part of my document. Because that was another thing that I had to cut was a lot of the potential motivations for the other characters. So we could have had more red herrings, but I just did not have the time. I had to keep it very concise to just a few people, but in order to develop her, I had some stuff written down that I wanted to share when people would comment about that. I considered telling them, but that I thought if I come back to this, they might not want to know.
Allister: Spoilers! Are you willing to share with us?
Alex: Yeah, if you want.
Kearston: Of course. Yes.
Alex: She is Lady Rosemary's best friends sister, but that connection is not made known to Rosemary because she's like, my best friend knows that his sister is sleeping with my husband, but—
Kearston: Okay, so Andrelli knows then?
Alex: Yes.
Kearston: Oh, that adds so much fun layer to it.
Alex: He knows his sister is sleeping with Rosemary's husband, but he neglects to tell her that's his sister, because he knows his connection with Rosemary is advantageous to him, because she's influential with the people in charge of the opera.
Allister: And I only picked this up from the comments, but she so she Rosemary is also sleeping with Andrelli, right?
Alex: It was left intentionally vague, but Andrelli is not interested.
Kearston: Why would that be?
Allister: So was she faithful or unfaithful?
Alex: No, her relationship with Andrelli is more about making a statement against her husband. He is the gay best friend, if I have to spell it out.
Kearston: I was I was picking up what you were laying down there. I was, I was just waiting for it to come out in full words.
Alex: Yes. But I also liked the idea of people wondering and not knowing. Because it's more fun to make up a story in your head than have it explained sometimes.
Kearston: So was he sleeping with his counterpart that he ended up usurping for the role then? Okay. No, because he made the comment about being cheated—
Alex: Nope.
Allister: Back to the paramour. A few comments also mentioned just wondering if she was the kidnapper. So she plays the role of a red herring. But did you ever consider making her the perpetrator or was she always set up that way?
Alex: I did. This is, this is one of the places where I took a page out of Agatha Christy's book. Whereas I normally reverse engineer my stories, I decide the conclusion first. I purposely fleshed out the characters before deciding who actually did it. And I considered her, but she seemed obvious. And she's already not a good guy in, in our story. And so I wanted to add a little bit more complexity to a person that's not already painted as a bad guy becoming an even more bad guy. I find that more interesting. So I figured she could have her vice and we'll give the big bad vice to somebody else.
Allister: She's a really interesting character to think about. She had this big role that you cut out. I'm almost wondering if you ever considered cutting her out entirely on the flip side?
Alex: No, she was one of the people that I knew I wanted in there because I had the feeling that some people would automatically assume that it was her and would be hard pressed to be convinced that it wasn't. And so I think she did her job pretty well based on the comments.
Kearston: How did the ticket stub make it to Andrelli was it from his sister then?
Alex: It was the husband that dropped it when he was putting the poison in the line in Andrelli's dressing room.
Kearston: I was curious whether or not it was two separate drops or if they were one in the same? And was the husband also hoping to kill Andrelli as well or was he just going for the wife?
Alex: That would have been a happy byproduct for him. He was mainly going for his wife and in doing so he accidentally drops the ticket stub.
Kearston: Okay.
Alex: And the ticket stub also had the purple wax that associated him with the secret society that Cardoza knew about and he was a fellow member of.
Kearston: You had so many fun little things in this story that you were able to weave together. You had the adulterous husband, the musical rivals and this secret society. What was your process like creating this story? Because it sounds like you spent quite a bit of time planning it out.
Alex: The prompts just fell into place in a story more easily than the other story that I've done. So a lot of it felt like it wrote itself as far as the place and the time. And the prompt of rivals really intrigued me because it was something that very quickly in my mind developed not only as a singular character, but as a theme. And so exploring the rival could be Rosemary against her husband. The rival could be the paramour. The rival could be Andrelli or Cardoza. Exploring those different layers led to a lot of the story itself. And then for some reason I had it in my mind that a secret society would be really fun because that was really intriguing to me. And then I had 10,000 ideas because I always overshoot and create a story too complex and then I have to bring it back. But then just tying those pieces that I knew I wanted to keep tying those to one another and then distilling that until we have a tangled web was was a lot of it. Almost like a syllogism of this person connected to this. Reading it and thinking does this make sense no I'm confused let's go back. No one's going to get this.
Allister: That's an interesting part of it to think about is a lot of people talk about have this consistent habit of overshooting your consistent habit of undershooting and trying to fill it in. Do you find yourself frequently ending on one side of the other of those word counts?
Alex: I always overshoot. I don't think I've had a single single story that I didn't feel like I was not in over my head with my ideas.
Kearston: You must be pretty excited about this 2500 that we have coming up.
Alex: Yes. I'm more excited than my calendar is because it looks like a lot of work, but we'll see if I jump in on that.
Kearston: Allister and I are both contest gremlins and we do a lot of them. Do you do other contests as well or is it primarily Writing Battle?
Alex: I've done Writing Battle and NYC Midnight. Those are the only two that I've done so far I've looked at a couple of others. But I have to pace myself.
Kearston: Yeah, the time commitment, especially when you have a little one, it can definitely pull away from that or just make you go crazy with super late nights.
Alex: Yes, for sure.
Allister: You talked about your outline a little bit. Do you do plot all your stories out? Do you mostly plot your stories out? Do you pants most of the time?
Alex: I am very much a plotter. I have had to pull back on that with pantsing. I'm trying to move on the spectrum more to the middle, but I definitely lean more toward plotting.
Kearston: I also am a plotter.
Alex: Okay.
Kearston: Allister?
Allister: Oh, I'm a panster all the way. Discovery writing. That's me!
Kearston: And I have a very detailed outline. I'll get my prompts and I'm like, inspiration has struck! When the prompts came to you, you sound like you were kind of excited. How did you feel about genre? All of that. Did you do any rerolls?
Alex: This was not a reroll. It was surprising how quickly the story started falling into place. I've been around the opera world, the ballet world, the theater world. And so when I saw the ticket stub, I immediately thought of, you know, live theater. And then rivals also felt like such a natural fit because the auditioning world can be brutal. And so that was my original thought was two auditionees, two people vying for the same role. And from there, we got Andrelli and Cardoza. And then it just kind of expanded.
Kearston: I love it when it falls into place. It's fantastic.
Alex: Yes, the last two stories I've written, I've felt like I've had to wrestle them into submission, but.
Kearston: And that'd be brutal.
Allister: I've only written one period piece before. And for me, the vocabulary and syntax were such a huge challenge to dial in. I would like to know how much research you had to do in that area, as far as setting the story and 18th century London and getting the voice to fit so well.
Alex: I read a lot of old books and I read a lot of historical fiction. So the main thing was every now and would verify that the word was around at the time. I did find that the more I leaned into their style of speaking, it saved me words because one big word counts as one word versus three small words . It was incredibly advantageous for that reason to lean into older style English.
Kearston: Well, that's fun and convenient.
Alex: But it was also a challenge finding the balance between something that's not going to be so older English that I'm losing the readers and it feels like it's trying too hard. Trying to find that balance.
Allister: Exactly balance. Yeah, it's a hard one to strike with period pieces in particular and just voice in general trying to come up with any unique narrative voice is so hard. It's one of the hardest aspects I've found for writing because you just write with your own voice. Trying to write with someone else's voice, whether it's a period piece or an accent is tough. I thought you did a great job.
Alex: Well, thank you. It was a lot of fun to explore.
Kearston: It was a lot of fun to read.
Alex: Yay.
Kearston: I really enjoyed it. Is there anything that you've learned by doing writing competitions that you'd like to share that has really, I don't know, made you a better writer.
Alex: Appreciating the prompts and the limitations that they bring because creativity thrives under limitation. Because when I was first told, you can't just write whatever story you want, at first it felt like, oh, well, you're cramping my creativity, but it's actually a conduit for it. And so if you can see it that way, that can help with a mental block.
Kearston: I agree. That can really push you outside of your comfort zone. And I know I've ended up writing in genres and characters and doing things that I would never have done if it hadn't been for a competition.
Alex: And they never would have existed if you hadn't gotten that prompt. But it gives you something beautiful that never would have existed without it.
Kearston: Do you have your stories published anywhere? Have you submitted anywhere? Or is there anywhere that we can read more of your work?
Alex: I haven't done any submissions. They should all be visible on Writing Battle.
Kearston: And then if you had any questions for us?
Alex: Oh! Well, we were talking about plotting and pancing. So, Kearston, you're a plotter.
Kearston: I am
Alex: And Allister, you're a pantser. So, Kearston, do you find yourself overshooting with complexity and having to reel it back? Allister, is that the same for you? Because I'm wondering if pantsers tend to have more room to fill it in versus plotters. We tend to overplan. I'm wondering if that's true for you all. This is my...
Kearston: I do. I will overplan it, but I have learned a secret. In my head, each scene, and I tend to do my stories in kind of progressive scenes, but each scene is about 250 to 300 words. So, knowing the word limit for that specific story helps me figuring out just about how much plot I can fit into it. So, for 100 words, it's like a quick moment. I can't really put a whole lot into it. I'm kind of nervous about the 2500.
Allister: I just watched the word count as I write. Honestly. And so, I never overshoot by much because I'm just like, okay, I'm working on the conclusion, denouement, whatever. So, I've got 100 words left or 250, whatever it is. Yeah, maybe sometimes it feels rushed, but that's what we write drafts for. Right. So, I'll just write a lot of drafts.
Kearston: He does.
Allister: Yeah. A lot of beta swaps, trying to find the right balance, but I just keep an eye on that word count as I'm exploring the story and the characters and the world. And try to keep the pacing in mind and that word count in mind as I'm approaching the finish line. I haven't had any problems with overshooting. Okay, so you got a lot of compliments about the epistolary format and pulling it off really well. But one thing people asked in the comments was why is she writing this letter?
Alex: Out of story, because I tried to write it in third person, past tense, and there was no way I was going to get that information I wanted to get into a thousand words. And so, changing the format to a story allowed me to get away with skimming over a lot of information. And allow the character voice to do some extra interpretation. In universe, she is letting her husband know why she has disappeared and the fact that he will never see her again and to gloat because she is petty. And rubbing it in his face a little bit.
Kearston: I loved her sign off. It was sassy.
Allister: Yeah, the ending was phenomenal. And my read was that she was gloating.
Alex: Okay. Good.
Kearston: So. Was there a favorite piece of feedback that you received?
Alex: Hmm. I really loved the guesses. Because that gives me information on what they've picked up on, especially the subtext. Because if it were obvious, they would just say, I love how you did this. But when people start guessing, that tells me what they've picked up on that they didn't realize was, was even in the subtext or a red hearing. And so that, that just gave me really good feedback as well as it was just really fun to see. Because that tells that was telling me that people are enthusiastic and they're getting into the story.
Kearston: So what were your intentional red herrings?
Alex: The fact that the letter is written to the husband and she starts with my dear husband. The intent is when you first read my dear husband, she saying that in earnest and then by the end pick up on, yeah, she's being sarcastic. The, the secret society was a red herring because there were two possible people and Cardoza's confidence that the other member that's present here would never do such a thing was unreliable information. And then I originally had some red herrings for Maestro Handel himself. And then obviously the paramour, just her existence was enough.
Kearston: Absolutely.
Alex: So I gave her a break. I figured she had enough.
Allister: Are you working on any novels or anything? Are you just stick to contests? "Just."
Alex: A few works in progress. Nothing that I feel confident enough about.
Kearston: Did you have any other questions for us?
Alex: Who whose idea was it to do the podcast?
Kearston: Allisters.
Alex: Okay. How long?
Kearston: He asked on like March 17th, March 18th or something.
Alex: Okay.
Kearston: And so we got that first episode out really quickly.
Alex: Yeah, y'all got Addison fast.
Kearston: Addison does happen to be one of our friends.
Alex: Awesome. Well, I enjoyed that one so much.
Allister: Yeah. He's great. Okay. I thought up one more question. So. Do you ever do you try to chase the unicorn or the dinosaur at all?
Alex: Oh, I am a unicorn hopeful, but. I'm paying too much money to write a story to sacrifice for unicorn. So I try not to reroll. And I like the fact that those prompts are there to stretch you. So I try to really let them stretch me before I reroll, but I don't, I don't have a streak yet. I have rerolled. So. I lean unicorn hopeful.
Allister: Unicorn hopeful. I like that.
Kearston: I'm going either way. I would love a dinosaur. I'd love a unicorn, but if I'm going to reroll and going all rerolls so that I can go for the dinosaur.
Alex: I can see that.
Allister: Nice. Well, thanks so much for joining us.
Alex: Yeah!
Kearston: And you go by Alex right? Not Alexandra.
Alex: Yes.
Kearston: Alex, thank you so much for joining us on Battle Hardened. You have been a joy to talk to.
Alex: This has been so much fun. Thank you so much for asking me. I was so excited—
Kearston: I'm so glad.
Alex: —to see Allisters comments and I'm just really honored, and it's just such an honor to know people love my story.
Kearston: We definitely did.
Allister: It did bring us joy.
Alex: I'm so glad!
Kearston: Yes.
Kearston: All right. Well, thank you so much.
Alex: Absolutely. Thank you.
Kearston: Bye.
Kearston: Okay, we had a very good conversation with Alex. Was there anything that we didn't touch on in the interview that you wish we had?
Allister: Character arcs and how they grow or regress are such an interesting challenge for microfiction. How do you even fit an arc in a thousand words or less?
Kearston: Absolutely, especially in the very short word counts—50 words, 100 words—it's hard. You're either doing character or plot, depending on word length. And for me, I tend to focus on character-driven stories and don't often do plot-driven stories. So I usually look at what is the starting point of my character and how are they changing from the beginning of the story to the end of the story. And I like to see that progression. So there's usually at least a mini arc for my character that ties into the overall plot arc, but not everybody does that, and it's not always necessary.
Allister: True. And I liked what you said about how sometimes you have to choose between character development and plot development. And that's one of the things that really great writers do in these contests, when it's a short word count, is find ways to make. Things do double duty, but it is easier said than done.
Kearston: So Alex was saying sometimes you just need to write it and stuff will fall into place with her approach moving from plotter to panster to finding that middle ground. And I agree with that. For me, it was the opposite. I started off as a panster, figured out that I was a plotter and I'm somewhere in between really depending on the story length. If it's over 500 words, I have to do some kind of plot, some kind of outline. And if it's under that wing it, have you felt that there's anything for you that there's those story length that you need to give it a little bit more thought in terms of word count.
Allister: Even with the 2500, I still just did discovery writing. I had an idea where I wanted it to go and then I tried to make it work and it didn't really play out the way I expected it to. I thought I would be able to cram a lot of humor in there and play these characters off each other with their inherent conflict because I got possession and monk. So conflict is built into the prompts.
Kearston: Absolutely.
Allister: But it didn't really end up being as funny as I wanted, and I ended up pivoting more to trying to make it heartfelt. That's one thing I've learned about comedy is a lot of the best comedy does hit you in the feels somewhere. I read a lot of Christopher Moore, for example, and the first book I read of his was lamb and it doesn't have any real emotional moments that I remember anyway. But then I read dirty job and honestly, even in the first page, he really hit me in the feels and I almost had to put it down for a little while, but it had some really good emotional moments that weave in with the comedy and make it linger more. It makes the jokes feel more worth it when the whole story coheres into this journey that feels like that emotional resonance helps you grow.
Kearston: So one of the things in the interview that I really liked was Alex's take on Alfred Hitchcock and how she had kind of summarized the quote from the interview that he did, where she talks about the difference between surprise and suspense and how suspense can give you 20 minutes of tension versus surprise, just giving you five seconds of shock. And I think keeping that in mind as you're building out a story is really interesting. So I thought that was a fun takeaway from our conversation with her.
Allister: Yeah, absolutely.
Kearston: He talks about a bomb going off under a table versus knowing a bomb is there. It's a cool quote. We'll put it on Patreon.
Kearston: And then the way in which this story was written was epistolary and I'm not sure everyone is going to know what that terminology is. I had to Google it. So epistolary fiction is just fiction in the form of a letter or journal entry. And I think that was interesting how she decided to tell the story.
Allister: Agreed. I think it can be multiple letters or multiple journal entries.
Kearston: Oh, yeah, no, agreed. It can be messages, logs, transcripts, blogs, transcripts… Really any other type of communication.
Allister: And that's the structure for this is how you lose the time war.
Kearston: So I'm so curious. I have not read anything by Agatha Christie, but I did look at her entire catalog after a conversation with Alex. And I do think I'm going to read the murder of Roger Ackroyd that she had been reading while writing this story. Have you read anything by Agatha Christie?
Allister: I've read a few of her books, but I honestly, it's been so long. I couldn't tell.
Kearston: And there's a lot.
Allister: Yeah, it's a huge catalog.
Kearston: She was a prolific writer. Now, you have not read that Stormlight Archives, correct?
Allister: I read the first four and then it was so long between four and five that I started relistening a couple times and I just keep getting distracted. I do audiobooks for them, which is really nice because for a book that long to be able to do 2x speed or 2.25 is amazing, because even as it is, I keep getting distracted and losing the thread. If I'm ever going to have any hope of catching back up, it's going to be audio.
Kearston: And I also primarily do a lot of audiobooks so that I can listen while doing a lot of other things, like housework and driving.
Allister: If I'm looking at a paper book, that's all I'm doing. And it's just really hard to carve out 12, 15, 20 hours to read that book.
Kearston: I'm going to do it while I'm making dinner dishes and folding laundry.
Allister: Exactly. But if I just have to sit there and do it, fitting that into my schedule with the kids and lifting, and writing and stuff.
Kearston: It's not going to happen. So I've added it to my TBR. I just don't know when I will actually be getting around to Stormlight Archive.
Allister: It's a big commitment. For you, what's your playback speed? Do you have a max?
Kearston: I won't go above 2.5, but I cannot listen at one speed. And I know that there is so much debate about this speed in which you should listen to an audiobook, but I'm a very fast talker. So when I listen to narrators and they're talking very slowly and intentionally with fantastic enunciation, I want to crawl out of my skin, so I have to speed it up.
Allister: Have you listened to any good audio yet? For Verdant Owl?
Kearston: I have a few that I usually go to because they are not Americans. And I really enjoy listening to their stories because of their accents, and also, they're generally good storytellers. But yeah, I've listened to a few that I've enjoyed. What about you?
Allister: Yeah, if it's on audio, I have a chance, this contest. Otherwise, not looking good.
Kearston: And I didn't do an audio for this go-around.
Allister: Oh no.
Kearston: I did not. The difference with the pro versus peer is that you have a lot more time to prepare for debrief on the peer battles because of the actual duels that you're doing. Whereas when you do pro, you're lucky if you get 24, 48 hours after you submit to when debrief starts to open.
Allister: Yeah, that's so hard. You gotta turn around the audio, the cover, all this stuff. Or just share with out and then add them later. But on the flip side, it is exciting to start reading stuff.
Kearston: And I've noticed the delay for momentum increases the longer the word count is, although I did feel like a thousand words was kind of a sweet spot. And I think people were really getting into the thousand words, but I think the 250 were going to see a lot of momentum and debrief.
Allister: Yeah, it's easy to fly through 250s, and honestly, end up writing more feedback than the story sometimes.
Kearstons: Yeah, absolutely.
Allister: It just doesn't take that long.
Kearston: The 2500 was a slog.
Allister: Seriously, and huge apologies for not doing return reads, not really doing any reads for this contest. I'm just backing off and avoiding the burnout.
Kearston: And it's so easy on debrief, especially the larger word counts to get burnt out.
Unknown: Oh, yeah. It's easy to hit 100,000 plus words of material that I read on these. I'm not cranking through novels in real life, but on writing battle, I'm basically reading novel length amount of material in any given contest. And it's really fun with the wide variety of material.
Kearston: We'll just say that debrief is the reason that you have not been able to finish any of the books that we've started for book club.
Allister: Yeah, there we go.
Kearston: It's been really hard. And then we just had another competition that we finished.
Allister: Yeah, and another one coming up. Twisted starts next week, right?
Kearston: Yeah, it's going to be exciting. 50 words, 100 words, and then a thousand. Those are all very fun, different lengths. And so far, I've only done side quests where they've been at the 50 words. And it is so much fun to try to get a whole story into 50 words.
Allister: Yeah, that's tough.
Kearston: Well, that's when you move into Alex's trick where you go back to the older English and use the very big words that cover the meaning of a lot of smaller words.
Allister: Speaking of 100 words, talk about the drabble we did.
Kearston: So the three prompts for the first Battle Hardened drabble off were music, rain, and be witching. And it was interesting that people were trying to guess which of the two I had written, and we both took a romance approach to it. So it just was interesting, the rationale behind people's guesses and who had written which one.
Allister: Well, yeah, it was 50-50, but then someone voted on the one they thought was less likely to be you.
Kearston: Laughing
Allister: That was fun.
Kearston: It was fun, and those are still up on Patreon.
Allister: Which is free to join.
Kearston: For Writing Battle, that was your first writing competition, correct?
Allister: Yes.
Kearston: Did you see an ad or did you hear about it from someone else? How did you join Writing Battle?
Allister: Yeah, I saw an ad on Reddit. What about you?
Kearston: I actually started writing competitions through Forest and Fawn, and I saw an ad on Instagram. And from there, I found a small community on Discord, and they were talking about Writing Battle, so a few of us joined.
Allister: Yeah, writing groups are great. I've definitely enjoyed using Discord to try to grow community. It's definitely got a different flavor than forums or anything like that.
Kearston: Absolutely. And this podcast has a Discord as well.
Allister: Feel free to join.
Kearston: Absolutely. We'd love to have you. Come and talk stories with us. Okay, one last thing. What was your favorite part of the episode?
Allister: Wilbur. Yep. Star of the Show.
Kearston: Wilbur, I know that's such a fun story. I loved hearing about the Chunky Dog.
Allister: And it looks like that's all we have time for today.
