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
#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
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#PretendPanel
Desperately trying to keep it fun.
At the same time, I’m working to improve. That means learning about good practices. I’m not slavishly following genre conventions, formulas or beat sheets, but I’m trying to be mindful of them while at the same time experimenting.
#WritingCommunity
#pretendpanel, tell me...

January 16th: Where are you now with the writing process? How has that changed?
e.g. keeping it fun / currently learning processes / adherence to learned processes / breaking out of outgrown processes / something else?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 16, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#pretendpanel

I used to be in the mind set of 'first draft needs to be perfect' now I try to think of it more as fun writing. The pernickety stuff is a Future Tara issue.
#WritingCommunity #Writers
#pretendpanel, tell me...

January 16th: Where are you now with the writing process? How has that changed?
e.g. keeping it fun / currently learning processes / adherence to learned processes / breaking out of outgrown processes / something else?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 16, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#PretendPanel I think at this point I'm currently trying to adhere to learned processes. At my core, I am a discovery writer/pantser/whatever you want to call flying by the seat of your pants. I've been trying to structure my drafts, at least roughly, before I start them. I think it's working out.
#pretendpanel, tell me...

January 16th: Where are you now with the writing process? How has that changed?
e.g. keeping it fun / currently learning processes / adherence to learned processes / breaking out of outgrown processes / something else?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 16, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
#Pretendpanel

Always experimenting and growing. I hope to never settle into a groove... at least not to the point I can't break out. Give me the slick, muddy tracks. Let me slide all over the road.
(And yet, maybe stay sort of in the direction of the road?)

Currently? Editing. Researching pubbing.
#pretendpanel, tell me...

January 16th: Where are you now with the writing process? How has that changed?
e.g. keeping it fun / currently learning processes / adherence to learned processes / breaking out of outgrown processes / something else?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 16, 2026 at 2:52 PM
#pretendpanel #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

Currently I'm reassessing. I spent August 2024 -- August 2025 trying very hard to sell my stories and query my novels. I also tried to adjust how and what I write to suit what seemed like it would sell. Now I'm reflecting on it all
#pretendpanel, tell me...

January 16th: Where are you now with the writing process? How has that changed?
e.g. keeping it fun / currently learning processes / adherence to learned processes / breaking out of outgrown processes / something else?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts
January 16, 2026 at 2:42 PM
#TarotCards #WitchySky

No one seems to see my hand-drawn tarot cards. Day 4

The Emperor: stability, structure, protection, authority, control, practicality, focus, discipline

Also: domineering, rigidity, stubbornness, authoritarian, reckless
January 15, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
Greenland PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen:

"If we have to choose between the US & Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU."

"Greenland does not want to be owned by the US. Greenland does not want to be governed by the US" he later added.
January 13, 2026 at 7:50 PM
#BlueSky #Tarot

No one seems to see my hand-drawn tarot cards. Day 3

The Abbess: inner wisdom, mystery, secret knowledge, intuition.

Also: hidden secrets, superficiality or glib ness, performative spirituality.

Question: Do you trust your instinct or your intellect which may be mislead?
January 14, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Eolas Pellor
HAPPENING NOW: In federal court in MN, DOJ is struggling to articulate why a person following an ICE vehicle — so long as they are obeying traffic laws — can be stopped for "reasonable suspicion" of a crime.

Judge Menendez sharply questioning that contention.
January 13, 2026 at 4:28 PM
#Tarot #TarotCards

The Magician: resourcesfulness, inner or hidden powers, manifesting new realities, changing employment or occupation.

Also: frustrated potential, manipulation, wasted talents.

Question: If we seek too hard for what is hidden, does the search hold us back from progress?
January 13, 2026 at 2:09 PM