Eolas Pellor
eolaspellor.bsky.social
Eolas Pellor
@eolaspellor.bsky.social
Author. Born in the UK, grew up in Canada. Earned 4 degrees. Taught for nearly 3 decades. Writing seriously since 2023.
https://sites.google.com/view/eolaspellorwriter/home#h.tarw5zu9jdl5
People who aren’t frightened are either complicit or clueless.

And at this point in time, there’s no excuse for being clueless.
January 24, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
I think the biggest revelation was when I realized I could use my own plotting structure instead of trying to force myself into existing models. I studied a bunch of them and developed my own 6-part structure that works for my brain and my preferences. (1/2) #pretendpanel
#pretendpanel, once again, cannot wait to hear your answers to this one...

January 24th: Is there a significant change you can remember that was like a huge revelation for you? (whether in your process, or between drafts, whatever)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 24, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel 24

#TheDragonblood: At first, I wasn't sure how to justify the travel between worlds that starts off the portal fantasy story, since it didn't seem to fit with how the portals otherwise work in this story. (1/2)
#pretendpanel, once again, cannot wait to hear your answers to this one...

January 24th: Is there a significant change you can remember that was like a huge revelation for you? (whether in your process, or between drafts, whatever)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 24, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
The biggest by far was the one that motivated me to get into the biz, that without an audience I was a daydreamer not a storyteller.

Then later at a workshop we examined contrast rather than conflict and that's really helped me build strong characters.

#PretendPanel #WriterSky
#pretendpanel, once again, cannot wait to hear your answers to this one...

January 24th: Is there a significant change you can remember that was like a huge revelation for you? (whether in your process, or between drafts, whatever)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 24, 2026 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
The revelation that had the biggest impact on my writing (and my career) was the decision to stop sitting on the fence and go "all in" on indie-publication. That one decision unlocked my imagination and gave me freedom.

judylmohr.com/2024/07/26/g...

#PretendPanel #WritingCommunity #WriteSky
January 24, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel
I'm pansting. There are always huge revelations that I never saw coming, and sometimes they are so intense, that I might just pace the room and curse, or sit in disbelief, or cry, or... I never know what's coming and it's a rush and a thrill,a storm of emotions when that scene unfolds.
#pretendpanel, once again, cannot wait to hear your answers to this one...

January 24th: Is there a significant change you can remember that was like a huge revelation for you? (whether in your process, or between drafts, whatever)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 24, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
Tomorrow, the Democratic Party of Evanston members will vote to endorse candidates.

Unfortunately, the DPOE misrepresented us on the ballot, didn’t tell us, and still has not issued a formal correction.

So we’re doing it ourselves:
January 24, 2026 at 1:49 AM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
Police arrested about 100 clergy demonstrating against immigration enforcement at Minnesota’s largest airport Friday, and thousands gathered in downtown Minneapolis despite Arctic temperatures to protest the Trump regime’s crackdown.
Minneapolis' icy ICE rally sees 100 clergy arrested as thousands protest 'federal occupation' | Fortune
Rev. Elizabeth Barish Browne was among the protesters. “It’s definitely chilly, but the kind of ice that’s dangerous to us is not the weather.”
fortune.com
January 24, 2026 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
Use Real Time! Permanent Standard Time approximates natural solar time, for best sleep and circadian health. Ditch Daylight Saving Time!
January 23, 2026 at 11:34 PM
#pretendpanel #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

I'm probably not going to succeed as a writer. That could be frigid temperatures and SAD talking, but the fact is that the publishing industry is in flux, people are trying to replace the actual craft of writing with AI and...
🧵...2
#pretendpanel, once again, cannot wait to hear your answers to this one...

January 24th: Is there a significant change you can remember that was like a huge revelation for you? (whether in your process, or between drafts, whatever)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 24, 2026 at 2:20 PM
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Since lots of "experts" make free with their writing advice (and usually charge for it) I thought I'd offer mine:

1) Write what you want. There's no point writing stories you wouldn't want to read.

🪡....
January 24, 2026 at 10:35 AM
The king is hatching his plots against Feilim. Oínin has been publicly humiliated by her abusive husband. Can the queen help either of them? Pt 2 of "The High King's Captain" is now available on Substack
#ReaderSky #BlueSky #WriteSky

open.substack.com/pub/eolaspel...
The High King’s Captain (pt 2)
A Tales of the Celtic World
open.substack.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel
So until recently I might have said no to this. And perhaps regret is a strong way of putting it. But now that I am more experienced as a writer, I look back on some of my floundering with my first novel project and I feel a pinch of, yes, perhaps, regret.
1/2 >>>
Good evening #pretendpanel! Hope your January is going swimmingly. Today, let's discuss...

January 23rd: Was there ever something you changed about your process, or even in a single draft, that you later came to regret?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 23, 2026 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel I did once regret letting constructive feedback change my ideas so much that the resulting story became a far cry from my original intentions. Once I realized this, I started over. Now everything is shaping up to be a story I want to tell, that I'm excited about.
Good evening #pretendpanel! Hope your January is going swimmingly. Today, let's discuss...

January 23rd: Was there ever something you changed about your process, or even in a single draft, that you later came to regret?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 23, 2026 at 11:52 AM
#pretendpanel #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

I started writing the novel I'm about to query as a dual POV, and ended up eliminating the one POV entirely. If' I'd left it in the manuscript would have been about 180K words, which I think is absurd, so I don't regret taking it out
Good evening #pretendpanel! Hope your January is going swimmingly. Today, let's discuss...

January 23rd: Was there ever something you changed about your process, or even in a single draft, that you later came to regret?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 23, 2026 at 12:08 PM
A king consumed by paranoia. An ambitious underling eaten up with envy. And two people caught in the middle.
#ReaderSky #BookSky #WriteSky

open.substack.com/pub/eolaspel...
The High King’s Captain (pt 1)
A Tale of the Celtic World
open.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:31 PM
#WriteSky #ReaderSky #WritingCommunity #novella #historicalfiction

The High King decides that Feilim, the commander of his guard, is a threat, and turns Murad Feilim’s lieutenant against him using the young man’s jealousy for his wife Oínin as a tool.

open.substack.com/pub/eolaspel...
The High King’s Captain (pt 1)
A Tale of the Celtic World
open.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 6:52 PM
#WriteSky #ReaderSky #WritingCommunity

The first part of my historical fantasy novella is now up on Substack. If you would like a high romans set in the Celtic Dark Ages you might enjoy this.

eolaspellor.substack.com/p/the-high-k...
The High King’s Captain (pt 1)
A Tale of the Celtic World
eolaspellor.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
Some perspective: The S&P opened down -1.3% on Trump's Greenland saber-rattling. That's $750 billion of wealth destroyed -- roughly equal to estimates of the value of Greenland.

And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.
January 20, 2026 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel
My first 'novel', Corangelus, has been through 4 major edition revisions, and within each edition is 1-3 drafts at the very least. I've lost track over the (18!!) years that I've been working on this idea.

Contrast that with the one which replaced it...

1/2 >>>
#pretendpanel, I will get to your answers from yesterday shortly, thank you for your patience. Meanwhile...

January 17th: How many drafts, then vs. now? (see image and/or alt text for further prompting if needed)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 17, 2026 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel Depends. My fic on AO3 only gets one proofread per chapter before it gets posted.

Original stuff, I'm intending to do two or three drafts. Our feedback process for the Auckland Queer Writers Anthology (out February!) had three draft rounds, then an editing round!
#pretendpanel, I will get to your answers from yesterday shortly, thank you for your patience. Meanwhile...

January 17th: How many drafts, then vs. now? (see image and/or alt text for further prompting if needed)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 17, 2026 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
This is the longest thing either of us have ever written, so it's hard to compare! We are on draft 3 of book 1, meaning the plot of it is being worked on for the third time. Every chapter ends up getting multiple drafts within each book draft.

Before, my longest stories got 2-3 drafts #PretendPanel
#pretendpanel, I will get to your answers from yesterday shortly, thank you for your patience. Meanwhile...

January 17th: How many drafts, then vs. now? (see image and/or alt text for further prompting if needed)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 17, 2026 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel January 17th: How many drafts, then vs. now?

For me writing is the crazy river flowing. Redrafting is the hard shovelling in of banks, to keep it on track. Adding shrubs and trees. I redraft a lot. After every chapter or replotting.

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
#pretendpanel, I will get to your answers from yesterday shortly, thank you for your patience. Meanwhile...

January 17th: How many drafts, then vs. now? (see image and/or alt text for further prompting if needed)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 17, 2026 at 10:59 AM
#pretendpanel #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

It's pretty much the same as it ever was. In my first draft I'm just playing with ideas, plot elements, characters...until I settle on the final balance of elements. Usually about 5 - 7 drafts in total, and lots of tinkering.... 2
#pretendpanel, I will get to your answers from yesterday shortly, thank you for your patience. Meanwhile...

January 17th: How many drafts, then vs. now? (see image and/or alt text for further prompting if needed)

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 17, 2026 at 11:02 AM