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Stephanie Wood Franklin

@insertscenehere.bsky.social
250 followers 574 following 589 posts

She/her queer disabled Latinx geek. Storyteller with a day job. Married with kitties. Author of The Infinite Library a.co/d/00UOxww4 www.insertscenehere.com

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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 8h
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 30: Wrap Up This has been really helpful for getting some thinkythoughts out about the current WIP, so thank you very much for the prompts! It's also helped me keep a steady writing streak for the month, which is the first time I've done that in years.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 29: Intro/Extro/Ambivert I am decidedly an introvert. There are a handful of people who don't count as "people" in terms of the number of spoons it takes to spend time with them; everyone else costs so much energy.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
You're not wrong, sadly.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sorry, should probably explain. It's illegal in that my brain refuses to acknowledge it as food anymore & the idea of eating it makes me feel ill. It's autistic shorthand.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My breakfast safe food has become illegal. The next 2-100 days of finding a new safe food are going to SUCK.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 28: DNF books I used to finish everything I started or at least tell myself I would, which was exhausting & not that fun. Life's too short & there are too many good books to stick with books that don't keep my attention.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 27: Research I try to research specific elements for the world before I start writing (see: ancient Incan mythology for the current WIP) & make notes as I draft unless it keeps me from moving forward. Lots of web searches & library time (thank God for @libbyapp.com)
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
One of the unexpectedly bad parts about being out and about alone? Not having someone else who can confirm if you locked the car. #anxiety
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 26: Snippet A little different one - my MC created a prayer to awaken belief in the Incan goddess of air Mama Wayra & since he's more comfortable with Christian liturgy, he's/I've stolen from a Methodist prayer at Pentacost. (The lines in bold are said in unison.)
The screen is full of text, written out almost like a poem, with nearly every other line written in bold. I’m not sure where he got this from, if it’s something that he found in some of the pre-War archives he seems to be able to access or if he came up with it on his own, but there’s something about it that feels right:

Great goddess, Mama Wayra,
we confess that we have sinned
against you and against our home.
Your Spirit gives open air,
but we have preferred enclosure.
Your Spirit gives wisdom,
but we have been foolish.
Your Spirit gives clarity,
but we have preferred our own vision.
For the sake of our world, forgive our folly
and enable us by your breath
to serve you in peace and hope
to sanctify our home again. Amen.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 25: Music I've been inspired by lately I'm getting ready to go on a trip with my mom which will involve a fair amount of driving so I'm putting together a Mom Playlist; it's reminding me of all the classic rock songs that I've always loved (esp. the Eagles).
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Have you talked about your book yet today?! Drop and give us: Title: The Infinite Library Genre: Literary Fantasy Mystery Word Count: 71,000 Funniest moment: Does shepherd's pie have shepherds in it?? 🔗: a.co/d/0clRniWt (Amazon) bit.ly/4vLvEDD (Kobo)
a.co
The Infinite Library
Amazon.com: The Infinite Library eBook : Wood Franklin, Stephanie: Kindle Store
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
So. Somehow between looking for an ATM & getting a flu shot, I think I sold a copy of my book & got a pharmacist willing to give free flu shots to the unhoused communities served by the churches in my conference. On accident. This is what happens when I leave the house, I guess.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q6: Nothing new, though I have a blog at www.insertscenehere.com I'm currently re-reading all* of the Discworld books in publication order & posting about them, among other random posts. *Not including the ancillary books - just the core books by Terry Pratchett (GNU)
insertscenehere.com
Insert Scene Here
Storyteller with a day job
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q5: Maybe remind me that things don't have to be perfect & I might not suck as a writer? (I mean, I still may very well suck, that's always a possibility, but the fact that I might not suck would be good to remember, too.)
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q4: Once again, sleep would be fabulous. A friend's wedding is on Saturday, which should be fun & will mean that I have to be finished with her wedding present by then & can move on to a different craft project (finally!).
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q3: That's a really good question & I don't know that I have an answer this week. "Joy" is an awfully strong word. A nice cup of tea or two have brought comfort - that's gotta count for something.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q2: Some feedback from a friend about my WIP has me questioning if I should continue writing it, as everything I'd been excited about is apparently not interesting or it doesn't make sense. I'm not sure if it's worth continuing.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q1: Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Family health stuff leading to planning travel (apparently I'm the family travel agent) & realizing my pick for book club this week was maybe not the best & spikes in pain & feedback on the WIP making me want to trunk it & & & yeah. This week's been hard.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Running late due to book club this week, but hi! I'm Stephanie Wood Franklin (she/her), the current WIP is codenamed Voltaire & is "working through religious trauma with archeology & magic" (though that's...in flux). This week's been hard. #WeeknightWriters
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 24: Interesting fact about my WIP's world history Because the air pollution has caused major health issues, most people live & work underground & travel through "hamster tubes." Techs who manage the air filters have incredibly short life expectancies.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 23: Grammar rules I struggle with Commas & dashes! I just follow the vibe & how it sounds in my head when I throw them in, both willy & nilly. (I studied theater for many years, so I hear my writing more than reading it & put the pauses in where they sound best.)
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 22: Autumn TBR My TBR order changes due to book club, library holds, and vibes, but as of today the next ones are The Silence of the Girls (Pat Barker), The Deadly Detective Agency (Ann Parker) & This Book May Cause Side Effects (Helen Pilcher).
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember (think I screwed up the hashtag yesterday, oops) Day 21: Power-hungry character in WIP My MC is a professor of anthropology who's focused on "making a name for himself" and "leaving a legacy," & his current plan involves starting a religion. Like you do.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
QWERTY "helping" with a bead project and Nef taking over my footrest
A white and brown tabby sits in a large Walmart bag on top of some tubs of beads. His head is sticking through a handle of the bag, which was removed right after taking the picture.A black cat flops in a blanket folded on top of a box. A white spot on her belly is just visible.
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Reposted by Stephanie Wood Franklin
Alan Baxter @alanbaxter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Ways to help authors you love: - Review their books. - Share their posts. - Tell people about their books. - Learn the true name of the universe and manipulate it to make their book a bestseller. - Get your library to order in their books. - Ask local events to book them for appearances.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
#FantasyIndieSeptember Day 20: Words I Overuse Things "tend to" and "seem" a lot in my stories. My characters also "have a feeling" entirely too often. It's irritating for me to read when I'm editing, so I know it's irritating to read for readers.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 19: Snippet Image from Scrivener below, text in the alt text:
Dr. O shakes his head, but not in disapproval. "It's not your fault, Mike," he says kindly, and I'm instantly on my guard. He's never this nice. I've had him as an advisor or a professor for six years now, and he's never been one to let the slightest mistake slide. This is not the slightest mistake - this is the kind of thing that could have blown up his entire plan for posterity in one fell swoop, and I missed it. "Hey, it's not your fault," he repeats, putting one hand on my shoulder and squeezing. "Breathe. You're OK. I know you're panicking, but you're OK."
Ah, the panic. Sometime my sophomore year my system decided to treat every small inconvenience as a deadly threat and send my adrenaline into overdrive. I was late to class? Everything is awful and I'm going to die! Missed a line on a homework assignment and so didn't get all the points I could have? Going to die. Sweats, difficulty breathing, muscles tight, ready to run screaming into the void at the slightest provocation. Dr. O was the first professor to actually witness this embarrassing situation and help me figure out what it was, and help me find ways to combat it. He must be seeing the signs right now, because he pushes me into a desk chair and kneels down in front of me.
"Just focus on your breath, Mike." He takes an exaggerated breath in and I mimic him without thinking, then let it out slowly the same way. After a few cycles of reminding myself how to breathe (because of course I forget how to do that in the midst of everything), I look him in the eye.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 18: Pet Photos Behold, QWERTY and Nef on their favorite beanbag chair! (QWERTY is the tabby, Nef (short for Nefertari) is the black cat using him as a pillow)
A white and brown tabby looks at the camera while a black cat curls up with her head resting on the tabby's tummy, eyes closed.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Can I add in refunds for the medications that have made my mental health worse? I've got a few of those on the "No, we're never trying these again, I don't care if it's the last thing on the list" list.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q6: I've got my book The Infinite Library out on Amazon and Kobo! A cross-genre group of fictional characters has to figure out what's destroying the library of all narrative. Amazon: a.co/d/0clRniWt Kobo: bit.ly/4vLvEDD
The book cover for the book The Infinite Library by Stephanie Wood Franklin. The top half is red with the title in white text; below that is a black bar with the author's name. The bottom half is a photo of a set of bookshelves with the books organized to make a portal into another room.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
There's something about that little dopamine hit of crossing something off the list, I tell ya.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q5: Honestly just being here online and letting me have an online community of writers is a fantastic thing. I'm trying to make better use of social media, and having things like this has been great for seeing things other than, well, *gestures to world on fire*
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q4: Oh, sleep, you fickle wench, if I could get more of it I would be a happy camper. Also figuring out how to make someplace other than my office a little more useable would be glorious.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q3: Someone I don't know read and rated my book on Goodreads!! A human with no reason to be nice to me gave my book 4 stars out in public and everything!!!
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q2: Specifically, nothing I can put my finger on. There's been the chronic pain, but that's, y'know, chronic. I have some issues with keeping up the house, which is an on-going issue that occasionally flares into being a Problem.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#WeeknightWriters Q1: I'm hanging in there (a la the poster with the kitty in the tree). I've managed a 14-day writing streak, which is the longest I've managed in literal years, & I have an appointment with the headache clinic (next month, but it's on the books)!
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 17: Book my MC would write My MC is an academic, so he would definitely focus on the type of books that he could use as texts for his classes. Given the research he's doing in my book, his would be focused on Incan mythology.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 16: Flash Fiction/Poetry Days grow short, air cools, Summer youth gently gives way. Autumn age glows warm. (I forget how hard haiku is, sheesh!)
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
WRITER ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Someone I don't know has not only read my book, but they've rated it on Goodreads. They gave it 4 stars, which feels better than the 5 stars my friend gave it because this reader doesn't have to be nice to me.
static.klipy.com
Kermit Kermitreee Screaming
ALT: Kermit Kermitreee Screaming
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The book I was reading had an open parenthesis, and nothing to close it. I had to find the close to that clause, so I started reading between the lines, searching for that final bit of closure. The closer I looked, the further into the clause I got, and the further I fell into the Rifts until
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 15: Describing me "A chubby, middle-aged woman in a patterned dress squints at an-fashioned computer screen as she types on a loud keyboard. She's constantly adjusting her glasses - why hasn't she gotten the implants yet?" - POV (grad student)
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 14: Lessons Learned With this WIP in particular, I've learned how to turn a mistake into an opportunity. A bit of bad research led to an entirely new plot thread & threat because I took a beat before deleting everything & starting again.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Noooooo!
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 13: Organized My MC is sort of organized. He tends to come up with an idea & figure out/stumble upon a plan from there. POC is less organized - he works on the edge of panic most of the time. Me? I'm an admin by vocation, so I organize things OK-ish in my private life.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 12: Snippet Screenshot from Scrivener below, text in the alt text:
Gesturing, Dr. Oberman continues.  “Look down there.  Look at how empty the streets and the sidewalks are.  When I was a child, no one could move for all the traffic on these roads.  Now, the only people you see outside are in hazmat suits, driving golf carts as they go from one filter to another.”  He’s angry now, and he begins to pace between the window and the chairs where there rest of us sit, entranced.  “People are terrified of a leaking window!  People refuse to let their children out of their homes without a full filtration mask!  And people who can’t afford to have their filters fixed, well, they just shut themselves up in their homes and hope not to infect anyone else!”  He stops abruptly in front of Dr. Ibarra’s chair, and makes a pleading gesture.  “Don’t you see?  They need some kind of beacon of hope, and this can be that beacon!”
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 11: Books that remind me of fall The first one that comes to mind is Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery - it's the third of the Anne of Green Gables books and the one where she goes away to college. I should read those books again. They're good comfort reads.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 10: Knowledge or Power MC wants power in the form of name recognition. He's determined to be someone whose name lives on forever & will find a way to make that happen, because it's a form of immortality. He wants enough knowledge to make it happen and not a drop more.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 9: Magic MC & POV aren't the ones with magic - the goddess they wake up has all the power. She's a goddess of the air & upon waking cleans some of the contagion from the air immediately. She has the ability to fix everything, but not the inclination just yet.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 8: MC and school My MC is a professor at the University, so safe to say he's a big fan of school in terms of giving him a place to work & (ideally) make a name for himself. My POV is MC's grad student who's in school to avoid having to go into the real world.
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Stephanie Wood Franklin @insertscenehere.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
#FantasyIndiesSeptember Day 7: Surprise in WIP I realized that I had made a fundamental mistake in my research (thinking there wasn't a certain kind of god in the pantheon I'm basing things on) & it's turned into a major plot point that makes things stronger. It's now a feature, not a bug.
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