Sapha Burnell's Blog

“Now I deliberately hid the difference in me, away from the eyes of men in the outer world who might guess, intrude, and ridicule the strangeness in me. Then, for a while, its silence became shaming, and I began to seek it only in the times just before and after the offices and the singing of the Mass, when the sound of the chant would lend its own auditory beauty, clarity and spiritual power to bring my silent world into liturgical time.”

— THE JOURNAL OF HILDEGAARD VON BINGEN BY BARBARA LACHMAN

Originally posted on Medium.

Manuscript Illumination with the Annunciation in an Initial R, from a Gradual, Public Domain

Reading Hildegaard’s journals, as imagined by Barbara Lachman, my silenced shames seem pedantic. Elementary, or non-essential. A woman in Twelfth Century Germany receiving visions clung to, as if they were a hidden second blood pumping through her heart. Theorists wonder at whether she suffered from migraines or synesthesia as a cause, but Hildegaard knew her strangeness. As an herbalist and healer, as a mystic she interpreted her symptoms in the worldview of the fantastic. Through our post-modern lens, seeing an intelligent 12th Century woman, whose knowledge on herbs and medieval medicine were strong enough for her to write scientific and medical works, may seem strange in tandem with her spiritual tomes. While scientific advancement clarified and shifted a gargantuan amount since the 1100’s, with the knowledge she could access, Hildegaard’s Curae were sound. She was neither a luddite nor overwhelmed by the purely spiritual.

How strange for readers now, to see a woman of intelligence also be a woman of faith, when the separations between the spiritual and the rational seem as insurmountable as a woman seeking autonomy in medieval Europe?

For Hildegaard, in the powerless garb and form of a woman, she lived on the good graces of the Catholic Church and the patriarchs enrobed within. Too vocal a woman, too obscene or outside the veil, would she be seen as a demonic influence? A heretic thrown from every security she’s known? The balance between her capabilities, her visions and the allowances doted upon her was, in Lachman’s reimagined journals, a constant strain. What possible complaint could I possess, born and raised in North America’s 20th & 21st Centuries?

My childhood world was one of constant daydreaming, imaginative plays in my inner world until Gran huffed and inevitably told me to stop pretending. Stop being so dramatic. There seemed an eternal veil between my widened eyes and compatriot children in class, a veil which remained outside junior academics. The disconnect between a wealthy imaginative life and the realities of a society built to create harmonic, everyday life tore at my soul like clothes, which never fit. Sweater sets bought by a mother, who dressed me like her, jeans fought for in younger days, t-shirts instead of blouses. I could and did put on the appropriate attire for the occasion, suits and suit dresses, skirts, kilts, uniforms.

I hid and reacted to reality as if from behind fractured glass, distorted and astounding. Like Hildegaard, I feared ridicule of my strangeness. Covered my creativity and gender fluidity in a self-shamed silence until it took more years to write a book like NEON Lieben than all its’ predecessors waiting their turn. Perhaps NEON Lieben is too revelatory of my inner complications, of characters who are villain, hero, faulty people in mind-bending situations constantly seeking redefinition.

Now, purple and pink hair, a masculine cut to my suits and open authorship, the shames and traumas of the past need to crumble. How can one both hide in shame of their non-traditional self, and encourage others to read a book, which also struggles with like identities? As Lieben discovers her sense of independent self, so may I. As Fester’s body shifts from the shame of boyhood to the glory of her rightful female self, so may I stand in androgyny and be blessed. As the Assets Kate, Clive, Arun choose their gender like clothes, so may I relish the fluidity of gender’s concepts and allow the shame of silence to shift in an ever present hope beyond Hildegaard’s ‘liturgical time’.

Yet, the freedom to choose one’s representation of gender is still not sacred. Women are not equals, people within the LGBTQA community are not free in all places in this world. The microcosm I grew up in was not accommodating to gender identity crises beyond the power of prayer to ‘fix’ one, or the promised joys of marriage, babies and a quiet life. I kept silent, let the cause of my shame be covered over with bizarre, but lonely behaviours. Words, which shouted, locked behind silence.

Hildegaard’s strangeness brought her through history, a woman who commanded her presence (within the patriarchy) and eventually allowed her strangeness to drive generations of spiritual seekers. Be my muse, Hildegaard. Attack me with the reversion of silence, to allow our strangeness no shame.

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Welcome to Episode 2 of We Aren’t Dead Yet, a podcast throwing magic missiles into the ttrpg, gamer and speculative fiction sphere and seeing whether we come out alive at the end.

Every Thursday will be WADY Day, a celebration of something gamer, literature or culture shocking with three friends who found each other online via World Anvil and went “Hey! Let’s talk”. We found out we all have a lot to say and different approaches to the same questions.

We have a veteran Dungeon Master, an award winning World Builder & Media Producer, and a bestselling cyberpunk + mythpunk author, here to snark, speak and speculate on fiction, creative professions and games.

TODAY’S EPISODE… HOW WE WRITE SHORT FICTION!

Join us as we dive into the fascinating world of storytelling and explore the unique approaches we took in crafting the short stories featured in our anthology Macabre and Monstrous, A Horror Anthology of Eldritch Space, Myth Monsters and Forest Frights. All three of us wrote stories for Macabre and Monstrous, Emily with cosmic horror & body horror inspired Fell Plumes with Lark and Mech, two lovers acting as couriers in the fringes & Salvager’s Loop, where elderly salvager Corven finds a lucky score… maybe not the right kind of luck, there Corvs. KS hits the monster mash creature feature with Harvest of Horror and the rise of Aichil, the Demon Tree, while young Wizardess in Training Tenya and her mentor Aunt Myra bake bread and take names. Sapha lands with The Lamia, a mythological monster released in Vancouver on the trail of a wounded Caleb Mauthisen. The fall of Carolee from loving Irish-Catholic mother to the Fairy Queen’s assassin happens in the novella Whiskey and Sinners Blood.

In the podcast, we share anecdotes, challenges faced during the writing process and the collaborative efforts that went into creating a collection of stories that cover a range of horror genres.

If you want to support We Aren’t Dead Yet, please subscribe to become one of our Not Dead Knights and consider a paid tier, purchase something from our Merch Store, buy Macabre and Monstrous, our first anthology of horror stories and shout out about We Aren’t Dead Yet on social media.

Have a question you want to ask about the episode, the writing sphere or table top role playing games? Hit us up with comments on substack, down in the comments section below, or by throwing a question up on X @usurperkings or @e__armstrong.

Every little bit helps.

Cheers for now,

We’ll see you next week, for how to build more complex female characters!

Hosts: Sapha Burnell, K. S. Bishoff, Emily Armstrong

Audio Production: Emily Armstrong

Music: Jazzy Abstract Beat by Yrii Semchyshyn

Permalink

Welcome to Episode 1 of We Aren’t Dead Yet, a podcast throwing magic missiles into the ttrpg, gamer and speculative fiction sphere and seeing whether we come out alive at the end.

Every Thursday will be WADY Day, a celebration of something gamer, literature or culture shocking with three friends who found each other online via World Anvil and went “Hey! Let’s talk”.

We have a veteran Dungeon Master, an award winning World Builder & Media Producer, and a bestselling cyberpunk + mythpunk author, here to snark, speak and speculate on fiction, creative professions and games.

TODAY’S EPISODE… MAGIC SYSTEMS IN LITERATURE & TTRPGS!

We gab about Soft versus Hard Worldbuilding for magic, why Magic Realism is an outlier (also why you need to read A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez if you already haven’t), what magic means to fiction, character, setting and plot and plenty more.

Dazz brings in her tenure as a long-standing Game Master to talk Game Design and helping players figure out magic for themselves, while Emily talks player experiences.

It’s a tempting and tremendous bunch of ideas wrapped around the WADY enthusiasm.

If you want to support We Aren’t Dead Yet, please subscribe to become one of our Not Dead Knights and consider a paid tier, purchase something from our Merch Store, buy Macabre and Monstrous, our first anthology of horror stories and shout out about We Aren’t Dead Yet on social media.

Every little bit helps.

We’ll see you next week, for writing short fiction out of ttrpg world builds!

Permalink

I love Avatar The Last Airbender. It’s one of my favourite cartoons, a series I watch at least once per year with my spouse. We named our dogs Zuko and Iroh. We figure out what kind of Kung Fu & like martial arts were used as inspiration, being huge martial artists ourselves. This inevitably leads to some living room Ba Gua.

This review was also inevitable, when I heard Netflix was going to put out a proper live action show (sorry, not sorry, M. Night). My first looks were hopeful, the casting seemed right, the actors excited and the costumes appeared impressive (a bit unworn but impressive) to my costumer’s eye.

We binged the entire 8 episode series in two sittings, and therein is the first indication this review, while generally positive, is not glowing.

We did One Piece’s live action in one.

While Avatar The Last Airbender’s live action season did capture a significant part of the magic of the original, it was not as fun. Yes, this was marketed less to kids and more to those who loved the original when they (we) were kids. Gallows humour being what it is, I can’t help but find some of the characters less endearing, less entertaining than the original.

This is no fault to the actors, who for the most part did fantastic performances with what they were given.

Why did we lose all childishness from Aang, but for one scene he and Katara splash in the water? Why was Iroh not throwing more Uncle-Joke zingers? Where was Katara’s passion? Her temper? Kiawentiio was a fantastic Katara, I would have liked to see more of her passion and spark.

The characters seemed rounded of their edges, with highs and lows sanded down. The stakes were the same in both series, but I found Aang’s urgency more flagrant in the animated. Katara’s desperation to learn water bending more vivid. Sokka’s growth from misogynistic older brother to centered woman-respecting warrior missing.

Instead of humbling himself and asking on his knees for Suki to teach him, after some re-education in the talents of Kyoshi Island’s female warriors, Sokka is an awkward but avid learner immediately. This damaged one of the best lessons in the show.

Iroh was fantastically acted, with great nuance by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, but he too seemed flattened out, kept inside a dour docility which culminated in Uncle Iroh being less the morally righteous hero and more another grey shadow in the midst of the show. I wanted him to defend the Moon Spirit harder, to help save her. I wanted to see his ambiguity, where his loyalty to his nephew is stretched by his desire to see the Avatar save the world.

Aang, while physically acted well by Gordon Cormier, was disappointingly pushed into immediate ‘be the Avatar’ mode, by a script which gave Cormier none of the space to inhabit any of Aang’s fun side. I felt bad for the kid. Aang is such an awesome role, and he both looked the part and did a fantastic job with the script he was given, but that script did him almost as dirty as Bumi.

What the living heck did they do to King Bumi?

I understand in the adjustments from kid’s cartoon to an older audience, changes are inevitable and I accept many of the changes the story lead and producers did. The way they combined 20 minute episodes into 50+ minutes each was commendable. This was never going to be a shot-for-shot remake of the original, even if the difference in run time is around 10 minutes. But by the Lion Turtle’s Great Mossy Back, what the heck did they do to Bumi!?

This utter chaotic force of Earth bending, with a special kind of genius turns into a bitter old man, who blames a child for an absence which, once seen, can only be defined as ‘not his fault’? Bumi came across as a fearmongering tyrant, embittered and complacent, instead of the bedrock of Omashu with his off-kilter creativity.

It would be one thing if Aang intentionally put himself and Appa into a time stop for a century as a coward’s pursuit, but this was not the case. While I recognize the people like Bumi who thought their friend would save them would be disappointed, in execution it felt more like everybody they met was kicking Aang while he was down. Yes, we have sentiments in the original show, especially around the episode The Storm, that worked because it built on that backstory, then let it lie. But every episode, the hammer returned to smash the nail so far down the head it crafted a crater. As if the point was to make him feel apologetic, when he was already pushing as hard as a twelve year old could, to make things right.

Which, again, brings me to the missing urgency.

Why didn’t Aang start to pick up Water Bending with Katara? Why wait until they got to the Northern Water Tribe? If he knew from the first few breaths how dire things were and how he had limited time before tragedy struck, why wait?

Aang said he wanted to push, but never followed through. He needed to get to the North, but decided to stay in Omashu a few days. None of this lent credence to the urgency and tone expected from the original.

A more serious tone could have been sustained far better with that urgency and fluctuation of emotion respected.

Dallas Liu did a fantastic job of bringing Zuko to life. I found him passionate, quiet, missing a little anger in comparison to his animated counterpart, but a fabulous Prince Zuko.

My least favourite characters in the live action shocked me: Mei & Ty Lee. I loved those dichotic Fire Nation youths, for different reasons. Where was Ty Lee’s optimism and acrobatics? For that matter, what was Mei? Their characters were scoured and placid. Props in scenes which should have made me sympathetic for an Azula I didn’t care for, with none of the danger and cunning I remembered beyond a surface level of the punished but diligent daughter. Yes, she was fierce, but she lacked the psychotic edge, even if she did calmly smile at the flames of traitors’ sudden pyres.

Azula is the definition of a threat. A true believer in her father’s vision and in the Fire Nation’s expansionist goals, her confidence was her best weapon and she seemed more overtly wounded here (something we saw as she broke down through Book 3). I needed Azula to come across differently than her brother, the Avatar, Katara, and the rest, and she didn’t. Everyone was all awash of grey, with less rough edges to create less excitement, less trepidation and less substance.

At least she wasn’t Commander Zhao, who I half expected to start selling Uncle Iroh on his newest Fire Vitamin scheme, but if he got in now, could save the 20% enrollment fee. Zhao was a dangerous threat in Avatar. And while he’s still a threat here, he doesn’t have the same gravitas or menace. I found him almost comedic, a fire nation evangelist derping through thinking he could become the next Fire Lord. It was disappointing to see Ken Leung’s talents used that way.

And yet, there were fun moments. The martial arts was impressive and I loved the combat scenes. Seeing Air Benders fight en masse? Epic. Loved it. The Northern Water Tribe was also done well. Sets, overall artistic interpretation of the cartoon to live action? Perfect. Costumes? Fantastic. Appa? Excellent! Was it worth seeing? Yes.

What the live action, while good and definitely well done, lacked, was the balance of extremes.

There can be no balance in a show when everybody is broken in similar ways. The extremes were less apparent, less risky. Threats were systemic instead of personal choice. There can be no fluctuation of levels, no highs and lows in tension and emotion if everyone is dealing with the same level of distress.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be watching the original cartoon.

I love Avatar The Last Airbender. It’s one of my favourite cartoons, a series I watch at least once per year with my spouse. We named our dogs Zuko and Iroh. We figure out what kind of Kung Fu & like martial arts were used as inspiration, being huge martial artists ourselves. This inevitably leads to some living room Ba Gua.

This review was also inevitable, when I heard Netflix was going to put out a proper live action show (sorry, not sorry, M. Night). My first looks were hopeful, the casting seemed right, the actors excited and the costumes appeared impressive (a bit unworn but impressive) to my costumer’s eye.

We binged the entire 8 episode series in two sittings, and therein is the first indication this review, while generally positive, is not glowing.

We did One Piece’s live action in one.

While Avatar The Last Airbender’s live action season did capture a significant part of the magic of the original, it was not as fun. Yes, this was marketed less to kids and more to those who loved the original when they (we) were kids. Gallows humour being what it is, I can’t help but find some of the characters less endearing, less entertaining than the original.

This is no fault to the actors, who for the most part did fantastic performances with what they were given.

Why did we lose all childishness from Aang, but for one scene he and Katara splash in the water? Why was Iroh not throwing more Uncle-Joke zingers? Where was Katara’s passion? Her temper? Kiawentiio was a fantastic Katara, I would have liked to see more of her passion and spark.

The characters seemed rounded of their edges, with highs and lows sanded down. The stakes were the same in both series, but I found Aang’s urgency more flagrant in the animated. Katara’s desperation to learn water bending more vivid. Sokka’s growth from misogynistic older brother to centered woman-respecting warrior missing.

Instead of humbling himself and asking on his knees for Suki to teach him, after some re-education in the talents of Kyoshi Island’s female warriors, Sokka is an awkward but avid learner immediately. This damaged one of the best lessons in the show.

Iroh was fantastically acted, with great nuance by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, but he too seemed flattened out, kept inside a dour docility which culminated in Uncle Iroh being less the morally righteous hero and more another grey shadow in the midst of the show. I wanted him to defend the Moon Spirit harder, to help save her. I wanted to see his ambiguity, where his loyalty to his nephew is stretched by his desire to see the Avatar save the world.

Aang, while physically acted well by Gordon Cormier, was disappointingly pushed into immediate ‘be the Avatar’ mode, by a script which gave Cormier none of the space to inhabit any of Aang’s fun side. I felt bad for the kid. Aang is such an awesome role, and he both looked the part and did a fantastic job with the script he was given, but that script did him almost as dirty as Bumi.

What the living heck did they do to King Bumi?

I understand in the adjustments from kid’s cartoon to an older audience, changes are inevitable and I accept many of the changes the story lead and producers did. The way they combined 20 minute episodes into 50+ minutes each was commendable. This was never going to be a shot-for-shot remake of the original, even if the difference in run time is around 10 minutes. But by the Lion Turtle’s Great Mossy Back, what the heck did they do to Bumi!?

This utter chaotic force of Earth bending, with a special kind of genius turns into a bitter old man, who blames a child for an absence which, once seen, can only be defined as ‘not his fault’? Bumi came across as a fearmongering tyrant, embittered and complacent, instead of the bedrock of Omashu with his off-kilter creativity.

It would be one thing if Aang intentionally put himself and Appa into a time stop for a century as a coward’s pursuit, but this was not the case. While I recognize the people like Bumi who thought their friend would save them would be disappointed, in execution it felt more like everybody they met was kicking Aang while he was down. Yes, we have sentiments in the original show, especially around the episode The Storm, that worked because it built on that backstory, then let it lie. But every episode, the hammer returned to smash the nail so far down the head it crafted a crater. As if the point was to make him feel apologetic, when he was already pushing as hard as a twelve year old could, to make things right.

Which, again, brings me to the missing urgency.

Why didn’t Aang start to pick up Water Bending with Katara? Why wait until they got to the Northern Water Tribe? If he knew from the first few breaths how dire things were and how he had limited time before tragedy struck, why wait?

Aang said he wanted to push, but never followed through. He needed to get to the North, but decided to stay in Omashu a few days. None of this lent credence to the urgency and tone expected from the original.

A more serious tone could have been sustained far better with that urgency and fluctuation of emotion respected.

Dallas Liu did a fantastic job of bringing Zuko to life. I found him passionate, quiet, missing a little anger in comparison to his animated counterpart, but a fabulous Prince Zuko.

My least favourite characters in the live action shocked me: Mei & Ty Lee. I loved those dichotic Fire Nation youths, for different reasons. Where was Ty Lee’s optimism and acrobatics? For that matter, what was Mei? Their characters were scoured and placid. Props in scenes which should have made me sympathetic for an Azula I didn’t care for, with none of the danger and cunning I remembered beyond a surface level of the punished but diligent daughter. Yes, she was fierce, but she lacked the psychotic edge, even if she did calmly smile at the flames of traitors’ sudden pyres.

Azula is the definition of a threat. A true believer in her father’s vision and in the Fire Nation’s expansionist goals, her confidence was her best weapon and she seemed more overtly wounded here (something we saw as she broke down through Book 3). I needed Azula to come across differently than her brother, the Avatar, Katara, and the rest, and she didn’t. Everyone was all awash of grey, with less rough edges to create less excitement, less trepidation and less substance.

At least she wasn’t Commander Zhao, who I half expected to start selling Uncle Iroh on his newest Fire Vitamin scheme, but if he got in now, could save the 20% enrollment fee. Zhao was a dangerous threat in Avatar. And while he’s still a threat here, he doesn’t have the same gravitas or menace. I found him almost comedic, a fire nation evangelist derping through thinking he could become the next Fire Lord. It was disappointing to see Ken Leung’s talents used that way.

And yet, there were fun moments. The martial arts was impressive and I loved the combat scenes. Seeing Air Benders fight en masse? Epic. Loved it. The Northern Water Tribe was also done well. Sets, overall artistic interpretation of the cartoon to live action? Perfect. Costumes? Fantastic. Appa? Excellent! Was it worth seeing? Yes.

What the live action, while good and definitely well done, lacked, was the balance of extremes.

There can be no balance in a show when everybody is broken in similar ways. The extremes were less apparent, less risky. Threats were systemic instead of personal choice. There can be no fluctuation of levels, no highs and lows in tension and emotion if everyone is dealing with the same level of distress.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be watching the original cartoon.

Welcome to Episode 2 of We Aren’t Dead Yet, a podcast throwing magic missiles into the ttrpg, gamer and speculative fiction sphere and seeing whether we come out alive at the end.

Today’s episode… How We Write Short Fiction!

Join us as we dive into the fascinating world of storytelling and explore the unique approaches we took in crafting the short stories featured in our anthology Macabre and Monstrous. We share anecdotes, challenges faced during the writing process, and the collaborative efforts that went into creating a collection of stories that cover a range of horror genres.

If you want to support We Aren’t Dead Yet, please subscribe to become one of our Not Dead Knights and consider a paid tier, purchase something from our Merch Store, buy Macabre and Monstrous, our first anthology of horror stories and shout out about We Aren’t Dead Yet on social media.

Every little bit helps.

We’ll see you next week, for how to build better female characters!

Every Thursday will be WADY Day, a celebration of something gamer, literature or culture shocking with three friends who found each other online via World Anvil and went “Hey! Let’s talk”.

We have a veteran Dungeon Master, an award winning World Builder & Media Producer, and a bestselling cyberpunk + mythpunk author, here to snark, speak and speculate on fiction, creative professions and games.

Hosts: Sapha Burnell, K. S. Bishoff, Emily Armstrong

Audio Production: Emily Armstrong

Music: Jazzy Abstract Beat by Yrii Semchyshyn

Episode 1 of the We Aren’t Dead Yet Podcast talks about Magic in TTRPGs and sci-fi/fantasy & magic realism literature.

Welcome to Episode 1 of We Aren’t Dead Yet, a podcast throwing magic missiles into the ttrpg, gamer and speculative fiction sphere and seeing whether we come out alive at the end.

Every Thursday will be WADY Day, a celebration of something gamer, literature or culture shocking with three friends who found each other online via World Anvil and went “Hey! Let’s talk”.

We have a veteran Dungeon Master, an award winning World Builder & Media Producer, and a bestselling cyberpunk + mythpunk author, here to snark, speak and speculate on fiction, creative professions and games.

TODAY’S EPISODE… MAGIC SYSTEMS IN LITERATURE & TTRPGS!

We gab about Soft versus Hard Worldbuilding for magic, why Magic Realism is an outlier (also why you need to read A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez if you already haven’t), what magic means to fiction, character, setting and plot and plenty more.

Dazz brings in her tenure as a long-standing Game Master to talk Game Design and helping players figure out magic for themselves, while Emily talks player experiences.

It’s a tempting and tremendous bunch of ideas wrapped around the WADY enthusiasm.

If you want to support We Aren’t Dead Yet, please subscribe to become one of our Not Dead Knights and consider a paid tier, purchase something from our Merch Store, buy Macabre and Monstrous, our first anthology of horror stories and shout out about We Aren’t Dead Yet on social media.

Every little bit helps.

We’ll see you next week, for writing short fiction out of ttrpg world builds!

Permalink

SAPHA BURNELL IS HOSTING A 3 HOUR VIRTUAL WRITERS WORKSHOP LIVE ON TWITCH THIS THURSDAY, JANUARY 11TH AT 1:30 - 4:30 PM PST.

Watch the live workshop to engage in economy of assets for short fiction, what the types of short stories are and what they mean to you (and publishing aspirations), and be part of a vibrant writing community workshopping ideas, stories & writing live on the air.

All you need is a pen and paper, word processor or doodling app (dealer’s choice), and an internet connection from which to watch Sapha’s Twitch stream.

Want access to the Downloadable PDF + Printable, and the workshop VOD? Sapha’s Ko-Fi & Substack Members, Twitch Subscribers & Patreon Patrons receive exclusive access to the VOD after-the-fact!

Not ready to be a member? Downloadable PDF + Printable will be available for sale via saphaburnell.com & ko-fi.com/usurperkings.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, BEAUTIFUL MACHINES! LET’S GET WRITING…

We’re cranking out our first 3 hour workshop of the year with a bang, and introduction to short fiction! This Thursday, January 11th live on Twitch, I’ll be running down the short fiction forms and leading us all through a process of figuring out the character, plot and setting for a short story.

We’ll workshop our ideas live, with plenty of feedback, so come with a notepad and pen (or word processor open), to get inspiration and clarity on the best practices for short story writing, form and economy of assets.

For those of you who subscribe to my Twitch, or are members via Ko-Fi, Patreon or Substack, a free downloadable PDF + Printable will be available alongside the workshop’s recording.

Not subscribed/donating? The PDF + Printable will be available for purchase via saphaburnell.com or ko-fi, and make sure you’re in attendance live!

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

Short Fiction: What is it? What’s the difference between flash fiction, short story, novelette, novella…

Economy of Assets: Condensing ideas to avoid overwork & confusion.

Worldbuild in Miniature: Sci-Fi & Fantasy in Short Fiction.

Character Builds + Prompt Workshopping

Setting Builds + Prompt Workshopping

Plot Builds + Prompt Workshopping

Keeping to the Assets + Group Workshopping

Revision (time willing)

ABOUT SAPHA BURNELL

Sapha Burnell is an amazon bestselling cyberpunk, magic realism, genetic engineering sci-fi author & poet, whose published body of works includes novels NEON Lieben, Char & Ash, Son of Abel, short fiction Macabre and Monstrous, Future’s Lens, Warped Lens, Lenses, and poetry Usurper Kings. Cerebral, punky and pugilistic, Sapha’s prose has been called ‘jaw-droppingly beautiful’, ‘I never knew science fiction could be this beautiful’ and ‘an insane, diabolical rollercoaster’.

With a decade of magazine & small press editing under her eyeliner, Sapha surges into the short form with one eye on editing and the other on writing kickass prose. This workshop is number one in a monthly series happening the first Thursday of the month via her Twitch & YouTube channels.

Image by Pixelsbykris

FREE CRITIQUETHURSDAYS 1 PM PST - 5 PM
Fridays 3 PM - 4:30 PM

Please use the sign-up below to get your spot, we go mostly by a first-come first serve basis, taking into account total word count & time restrictions. What I provide is a first-sight glance (think live Beta Read) into the structure of your work, and global advice of basic sentence structure/nature.

This isn’t an alternative to a professional edit. It is meant to be constructive and entertaining, and tailored as much as I can to an individual’s comfort levels & needs.

Twitch S.O.S Supercharged on SupportersFirst THURSDAY 2 PM PST - 5 PM

The first Thursday of every month, I’m giving those who support me financially by Twitch Subscription, Ko-Fi donation/membership, Patreon or paid Substack subscription the ability to choose my workshop topic.

We’ll have a special SOS stream, where we deep dive into literary theory, creative writing, publishing or hot topics in the publishing world today, chosen by you, my Beautiful Machines! These SOS sessions will have dedicated supporter-only threads in the discord server, where supporters can chat 1 on 1 and continue the education.

Ko-Fi Patreon Substack

Side Note: I offer professional editing services. Please visit vraeydamedia.ca for a rate card & 25% off all editing services, when mentioning Sapha Burnell.

Paid Beta-Reading & Mentorship services are purchasable via Ko-Fi.

CRITIQUE GUIDELINES

Pieces should be no more than 2,000 words per Thursday/Friday editing sessions. We may split longer pieces into multiple sessions (one per stream), especially if the critique is running long.

No children’s lit, graphic horror, erotica, torture, SA/CSA or overtly political content.

Trigger Warnings for large-scale issues (murder, sexuality, self-harm, etc) preferred.

Constructive comments in the chat. All of us are at different places in our creative identities, and we’re here to support each other.

If you don’t know where someone is at: ask.

If someone asks you to stop? Stop.

Sign ups during the stream will be pushed to the back of the queue, in deference to the people waiting.

If at any time the critiqued person wishes to halt a review, or move on to another topic in the review, there are Critique-Only rewards in the twitch chat for this purpose:

Critique Only: Next Work, Please! You've given me plenty this critique round, feel free to close up the critique of my work and move on to someone else's. Thanks! (A soft exit)

Critique Only: Next Point Please! Sapha, thanks I got it. Next point, please! Move along to something else on my work. (New part of critique)

Critique Only: STET If at any point the one whose work is being read wants the critique to stop, no questions asked, hit this and Sapha will move on to the next work on the list. (FULL STOP)

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Let’s keep chill and have fun, folks!

The other night, I got the absolute kick-ass experience of being interviewed by the duo over at Midnight Madness Musings. Lord Cephas and The Earl of Florida are two consummate fellow nerds, purveyors of wrestling (go AEW), Star Wars and old school Transformers.

They also love literature, so coming onto their show was a breeze.

It was fantastic to sit down and laugh through two and a half hours of filming, which will be broken up into several parts for this amazing interview on their brand new series Awakening Authors.

We talked introductions, early childhood inspiration and the shock of Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie. The original animated Transformers. With the wicked soundtrack and the heartbreaking moment Optimus goes dim. Weird Al singing “Dare to be Stupid” (something Earl took to heart), and symphonic power rock when Rodimus Prime figures himself out. There was chatter about GI Joes (I will forever love Scarlet and Snake Eyes), and the differences growing up in Canada watching American cartoons.

Newsflash for the American 90’s kids, you missed House Hippos and Short Circuitz.

Canadian kids television was regulated to allow less advertising than our Southern counterparts. This meant things like Heritage Minutes, bizarre early cgi short films and the wonder of the House Hippo to fill the 8 minute gap every 30.

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One clarification I wanted to make was with House Hippos. On air, I mentioned they were three minute long segments. Once we finished recording, I immediately went to find the video on YouTube, and shock! Awe! The full commercial was one minute long, not three. Such a fundamental experience of childhood took only sixty seconds to form. On repeat multiple times a day, of course.

I’ve put it below so you too can share in the magic that was House Hippos. The mystical creature I still feel put out by them not being real.

Thank you, Concerned Children’s Advertisers for giving us this attempt at critical thinking, which created Canadian folklore.

Another gobsmacking moment was discussing Short Circuitz, the Miramar Productions early CGI short films licensed by YTV to be played in lieu of commercials. This was also known as Imaginaria (1993), and followed their Minds Eye (1990) and Beyond Minds Eye (1993) CGI pioneering shorts.

These were truly an artful mindfuck. We might not have had as much commercial interruption telling us to buy the new Barbie doll, but we had Love Found, a short film about a masculine bird attempting to catch the eye of a pearls-wearing feminine fish creature, before taking a header into the glass barrier to not only shatter it, but somehow have both creatures and their compatriots survive.

Thank you for reading Beautiful Machines by Sapha Burnell. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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My love of surrealism and absurdism comes from these slim few minutes replacing Bop It or other such commercials on Canadian children’s television. If this doesn’t explain the way I approach fiction, I don’t have an answer. I’ve added the one we talked about most right here, so you too can share in The Mind’s Eye.

It’s amazing to be able to find media like this, from the pre-internet times. Thanks to E-Clips for saving these from the laserdisc format they were kept on, lest they become lost media. (If you want to hear Emily, Dazz and I talk lost media, We Aren’t Dead Yet did an episode glancing at it, with more to come)

I can’t wait to see what else comes out of the interview, we had so many amazing moments, talked mythology, role-play forums, dealing with tension online and the reasons behind the Judge of Mystics Saga main characters Caleb and Tuija.

Oh, and how rebellious it is to portray Ares, Olympian god of war as something other than a massive douche canoe.

If you haven’t read Earl’s novel Aegis, I suggest you go forth and dive into the psychologically driven superhero science fiction yarn of a man named Kyle becoming, failing then reigniting as a super hero.

And if you haven’t read Char & Ash, please consider it! I think my book is neat.

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