iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 16h

What book are you busy reading (or writing) as it gets chilly outside? 🍂 #booksky #amwriting #queerfantasy #indieauthors

An autumn-themed background with leaves. Foreground text says "Autumn: The time to curl up with a book full of hunky men with swords and a thousand-yard stare."

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 29/09/2026

While waiting for feedback on vol 1 from betas, I crossed 200 pages on my first draft of vol 2 yesterday! 🤩 (I know that "page" is not a real length metric, but, hey, I got 200 of them!) #queerfantasy #lgbtbooks #amwriting #progressreport

A snippet of a screenshot from macOS pages with a WIP work that shows the page count, showing 203 pages and 66k words.

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 28/09/2026

The soldier tells flirty things to the prince in orcish—a language the prince doesn’t understand. When asked about what it means, the soldier refuses to answer, or tells him it means something else. 🧵 #writersky #booksky #queerfantasy #lgbtbooks

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 28/09/2026

And was it an innocent lie? Or something more sinister? 🤨 #writerq #writingq #writercommunity #writersky

A decorative background with lines and ink blots. The text says: “Fellow Writers, what’s something your character has lied about?”

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 28/09/2026

The soldier, who is rather famous across the land, is openly gay and few bat an eye, although some choose to ignore this when making their advances. The prince has been courted by men before, and it raised some eyebrows, but not because it was by another man. 🧵 #queerfantasy #lgbtbooks #booksky

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 27/09/2026

Hi! A new queer fantasy author on the scene here, with a debut coming out later this fall! 👑 pampered elven prince X foreign orcish soldier 💥 couple off to a rough start 🌈 steamy, passionate MM romance ⚖️ equal parts romance / plot 🌑 dark secrets, political conspiracies 🎭 aims for laughter and tears

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 26/09/2026

Teacher: All right, class. Today we’re going to be learning about Roman numerals. Me back then: Ugh. What a waste of time. When are we ever gonna use this? Present me, numbering the chapters in my book: Fuck. #indieauthor #amwriting #selfpublishing #booksky

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 26/09/2026

My two leads help each other with these! The prince asks him for help with combat training. Although he has talents, he can barely hold a sword. The soldier is a horrible dancer. At one point, the teacher / student dynamic between them switches for a bit. #amwriting #queerfantasy #indieauthor

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 26/09/2026

We know they're perfect to YOU, but what's an example that makes them imperfect? #writerq #writingcommunity #booksky #amwriting

A text on a paper texture decorated with lines and ink blots that says: "Fellow Writers: What's that one thing your character CAN'T do?"

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Reposted by Balthazar Howle

DD Ward ..."Interim Pirate Queen" @ddwardiswriting.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Have you talked about your book yet today?! Drop and give us... Title: Captive of the Crimson Countess Genre: Dark Sapphic Romantasy Word count: 110k+ Funniest moment: see the snippet below 🔗: www.patreon.com/collection/2...

Captive of the Crimson Countess

The Vampire: Countess Erzabet Battoria menaces the warrior: Lady Blair Wander. In the background Princess Nadia weeps, the scars showing on her back.

Hester stared at Blair, not blinking. Blair thought Hester looked as though she were in shock. Blair crooked her mouth into a smile, she dropped into a bow.

“Thank you for your kind words. I hope you enjoyed the show.” Blair looked at Hester. “I hope you all enjoyed the show.”

Hester made a small noise, and then whispered, “You have an eyeball on your face.”

Blair ran a hand over her face and found the offending bit of monster gore. She removed it and tossed it aside.

“Thank- you Hester.”

Hester nodded wordlessly.

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 25/09/2026

me while drafting: yes 😊 more words! ✨ there's no such thing as too many, the more the merrier 🤩 every single one of them is important and beautiful! ☀️🌈🌸 me while editing: 🔪 #amwriting #selfpublishing #indieauthor

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 25/09/2026

I love closed-door AND also smut, but I also genuinely believe that you can have a compelling story and character growth with spice on page. Spice can be additive, showcase your characters and their dynamics, and enable their growth! Would you read a story like this? #BookSky #lgbtqfantasy

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 24/09/2026

Some of my side characters you might want to meet... My debut is coming out later this fall! #queerfantasy #lgbtbooks #amwriting #indieauthor

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 23/09/2026

When I write Acts 1 & 3, I'm locked in. I know where I am and where I need to go. I'm focused. Determined. Let's. Go. When I write Act 2, I turn into one of those people at the airport who have apparently just left their house for the very first time. #amwriting #indieauthor #selfpublishing

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 23/09/2026

It's surprisingly fun to write scenes involving conflict! Although I generally seek out feel-good stories to relax, there's nothing I enjoy more than writing a tragic scene 🎭 On the other hand, any kind of "a character enters a new location" kind of scene kicks my ass. #amwriting #fantasywriter

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 22/09/2026

CW: Death The soldier has to train to the point of exhaustion every night to be able to fall sleep, because he grieves a close friend and struggles to understand what led to his death. Sometimes things start out bad and then only get much, MUCH worse… #queerfantasy #indieauthor #lgbtbooks

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 22/09/2026

The prince adores art the most, of any form! Unlike his father’s court, it’s an area where he feels like he can contribute and get the recognition he seeks. But even though it‘s a source of joy and validation, it’s also an excuse for not facing his shortcomings. #queerfantasy #amwriting #selfpub

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 21/09/2026

The soldier longs for peace, but only if it comes with the revenge he seeks so badly. At least at the start of the book… The prince doesn’t long for adventure as much as defying the (lack of) expectations of those around him. But in doing so, he ends up on an adventure eventually. #queerfantasy

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 20/09/2026

The main couple of my debut has it mostly figured out, but the second volume will include a lot of this! My favorite is a certain side character who’d never consider being anything other than straight, suddenly questioning everything he ever assumed was true about emotions and intimacy 🌈

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 20/09/2026

Using text-to-speech on your own book doc for editing: Pros: Helps you find subtle issues you wouldn’t notice just re-reading the text. Cons: Feels a little masturbatory to listen to a bad audiobook of your own writing when folding laundry. #selfpublishing #writing #editing #indieauthor

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 18/09/2026

Yay! Your Main Couple Just Got Together! 🥳 …now what? Some #writerthoughts about closing out the romantic arc🧵

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 15/09/2026

Some #writerthoughts for today: We authors in the self-publishing space face a lot of pressure. The path to discovery is cold, dark, quiet and uncertain. 🧵

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 13/09/2026

Just another day of dragging my characters through unspeakable emotional hell while being a person that breaks down over writing an e-mail in real life ✨ #amwriting #selfpublishing #queerfantasy

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 11/09/2026

I tend to showcase a very limited, sometimes misleading impression of that character, and then slowly unravel that as I go on 😏

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 11/09/2026

Just got back to drafting with vol 2 and instantly got reminded of the luxury of having something to work with, as opposed to staring at a blank page 😅 definitely took that for granted before!

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 11/09/2026

Just got back from the shop; apparently one of the parts of my brain is set to "come up with a hundred new ideas for stories" instead of "finish the shit you have today" and it's gonna cost a fortune to fix. #amwriting #indieauthor #selfpublishing

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 11/09/2026

There’s a scene where the prince seeks guidance from one of his servants, who was like a mother to him when he was growing up. It was originally going to be much longer and expanding on her past. I kept the original and might use it as a bonus content after I publish 😊 #queerfantasy #amwriting

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 09/09/2026

When I was on a word count hunt with my debut I almost cut out an entire character because I didn’t know that most of the reason behind the 160k words were tons of fluff. So glad I kept him now. He brings so much heart to the story ❤️ #indieauthors #queerfantasy

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 07/09/2026

Writing Act 2 is the stage of building IKEA furniture when you're sitting in a pile of unlabeled parts, what you have in front of you looks nothing like the final product and you're 99% sure THAT screw is in the wrong place but you don't have it in you to go back there and fix it yet. #amwriting

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 06/09/2026

A word for encouragement for all my fellow invisible writers ❤️ #selfpublishing #indieauthor #amwriting

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 03/09/2026

Thanks to my beta readers, I've just learned that the word "stubble" is uncountable. How did I put together a whole-ass book without knowing the very basics of its language escapes me. #amwriting #selfpublishing #indieauthor #writersthoughts

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 02/09/2026

*me to my characters* “Alright guys, I don’t really have anything ready for the next chapter yet, so we’re just gonna watch a movie today.“ #indieauthors #amwriting #writerthoughts

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 01/09/2026

Currently working on a story of an elven price falling for an orcish soldier on a diplomatic mission 😊 a queer, m/m focused, fantasy with strong open-door romantic elements. Coming out this fall! ✨

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 31/08/2026

My favorite thing to do is to be like “I love my characters so much 😊❤️✨” right before putting them through absolutely inhumane amount of emotional torture. #amwriting #indieauthors #lgbtqbooks #queerfantasy

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 27/08/2026

Writing outside of your native language is genuinely terrifying. The other day I used the word “perplexity” and I still wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweat, expecting someone from The Oxford Dictionary to assassinate me in my sleep. #writing #esl #indieauthors #amwriting

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 26/08/2026

Introduced a new character in this chapter I’m writing. Spend weeks trying to figure out who she is and what she is like and when she finally made it onto the page, she just told me herself! I sometimes wonder if my characters even need me to be here. #writing #indieauthors #authors #selfpublishing

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 20/08/2026

It‘s crazy that writing is both tiring and recharging. A brief writing session just pulled me out of a complete mental standstill. It‘s easy to get lost in selfpub, with all the admin, marketing… Remember why you started this. Allow yourself to love your book, and for it to love you! #indieauthors

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 19/08/2026

Polyamory. Love the concept, hate the word. I always write “polyaRmory” by mistake, which is, of course, when you have multiple rooms in your house that are dedicated to storing weapons. #writing #romanceauthors

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 17/08/2026

me: *turns off light to go to sleep* my sleep paralysis demon: everyone is going to track and count every usage of “said”, “smirked” and “nodded” in your books and judge you as a writer and as a person #indieauthors #writing

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 17/08/2026

*finally finishes writing the problematic chapter* *crushes the laptop on forehead like an empty beer can* #indieauthors #writing

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 16/08/2026

Writing spicy scenes is hard. It’s like navigating a word-choice boat in a triangle of “too flowery”, “too clinical” and “too smutty” and trying to float it without touching any of the sides. Kind of like a reverse Bermuda Triangle. A Spermuda Triangle, if you will. #indieauthors #romancelandia

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Reposted by Balthazar Howle

C.Quince🌈 Author @cquince.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Yay, pre-orders open! 🥳 if you love Dark Fairytales, Historical Fantasy, and Gay Romance, step this way Kindle & Apple books2read.com/u/bzYoz9 Order direct from my small queer publisher (and read it a few days early!) ninestarpress.com/product/at-t... ATBOD - Sept 8 #queerbooks #lgbt #booksky

A thumbnail of my book as an ebook, against two crossed swords, a shield, a green background, and thorny rose bushes.
My cover artist is Kalimpaszmadar.

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 11/08/2026

If my book doesn’t sell, is it really my fault for doing a bad job at marketing? Or, OR, is it the readers’ fault for not being able to sense out my book telepathically? #indieauthors #selfpublishing

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 09/08/2026

My writing routine is essentially me trying to cram my word count goal into the 3-minute sweet spot that I get between “fighting lack of energy by drinking a gallon of caffeine” and “being too unfocused and overstimulated from said caffeine”. #indieauthors

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 07/08/2026

Recently saw Epic: The Musical for the first time. Not only did I love it, it's such a beautiful showcase of how impressive indie art can be and how far you can take it. As someone pursuing self-publishing, I find it beyond inspiring #epicthemusical #indieart #indieauthors

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Balthazar Howle @balthazarhowle.com · 02/08/2026

“Is your romance fade-to-black or open-door?” We have industrial lighting and the door is in the woodchipper where it belongs. #queerfantasy #indieauthors #lgbtbooks

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