Jon Sparks
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jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
Jon Sparks
@jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.8K following 1.9K posts
After more than 30 years, and 60 books, as an outdoor writer and photographer, I’m now fully focused on fiction with the Shattered Moon series. AI-free (and I mean free).
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jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
Another glimmer of hope…
OpenAI copyright case reveals 'ease with which generative AI can devastate the market', says PA
A judge’s ruling that legal action by authors against OpenAI for copyright infringement can go ahead reveals “the ease with which generative AI can devastate the market,” according to the Publishers A...
www.thebookseller.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:29 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 12/11
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has five instances of 'shirt.
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
There was nothing else to delay them on the way up the strath. One step into the entrance of the Defile, a moment in its chill exhalation, and they unanimously agreed, though it was still early, to take lunch a short way back, in the sun. They found the pool significantly lower than before, barely reaching mid-thigh on the taller ones, so they dared to retain their shirts and carry their rucksacks normally. Only Peri was at real risk of soaking her load, and when Tor looked back after following Aliénor through, she found Zenzeya and Alessu bearing it between them, while Peri was ahead, not wading but swimming. It made for a faster passage, but she paid for it when the water got too shallow and bare feet met the rough stones.
November 12, 2025 at 9:15 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 12/11: How can writers ensure the focus is on the work and not the writer?
Interesting: every book publisher I’ve worked with (ten of them) has requested an author bio; so have many magazines. Fair enough for guidebooks & photography… #books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
November 12, 2025 at 9:11 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WordWeavers 12/11: Choose a book from the real world that would be a perfect match for your antagonist.
Perriad’s real world, or the one we call 'real'?
If it’s the latter, she would hate every single book ever published, as none of them even mention the…
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
November 12, 2025 at 9:10 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
A ride a round an island—one that's the perfect size for a not-too-taxing circumnavigation in a week.
Cami de Cavalls, Menorca
A ride around an island
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:11 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 11/11
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has zero instances of ‘burger’; I didn’t even have to look. But that’s OK, I’d rather have a decent sausage any day of the week.
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Evisyn shrugged, swallowed a mouthful. "This is delicious,… I can do campfire cookery, every Peripatetic needs that. But it's making porridge or frying sausages, nothing complicated." "I wouldn't call this complicated," said Jerya. "It's the cheese that makes it so tasty, I reckon. The milk's from sheep reared up on the back-slope of the Wold. Puts me in mind of my childhood, when the only milk we had was from goats." She poured more cider, and Evisyn took a sip of the pale, fragrant, almost floral-scented drink before asking after Jerya's husband and daughter. "They've gone to Skilton. Well—" She glanced at her watch (Dawnsinger-made, as Evisyn knew well). "—They should be back by now. But they could still be at the stables, talking with Mav and Vireddi. Things to sort out…"
November 11, 2025 at 7:03 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WordWeavers 11/11: Describe the mood of your story using colours or sounds.
Well, if there’s only one mood in the whole thing, it’s not working.
It’s the rustle of autumn leaves underfoot, the hiss of approaching rain over the…
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November 11, 2025 at 6:57 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 11/11: How accessible is your work?
I never set out to write in a ‘difficult’ way; I leave experimental forms to those who are interested. But my characters sometimes deal in complex concepts, and I have to use appropriate language….
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November 11, 2025 at 6:56 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
Continuing this serialised novel of murky goings-on in the great outdoors.
The Kanchenjunga Manifesto—Chapter Ten
A serialised novel of murky goings-on in the great outdoors.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:16 PM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips 10/11
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has five instances of ‘local’.
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
Why, then, should she be shocked, even a little, to find male slaves being treated just the same, for the use of female owners and their guests? I thought I knew all the indignities that can be inflicted on people; but I should have known there'd be more. As much as anything, what grated was the utterly casual way Meridès threw out the offer—in front of the men themselves, and in front of her young daughter too. But she had not come to Sessapont to argue the morality of local customs. Not this time, anyroad, she told herself. What, then, would be the most graceful way to decline the proposal? "I am a married woman," she said. "Bless you, Your Grace, are we not all married? And women of the world, too. Do you suppose your husband would scruple to accept an equivalent offer when he travels without you?" She laughed. "I am certain sure my husband has no qualms."
November 10, 2025 at 7:42 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WordWeavers 10/11: MC POV: Name one thing you’ve never done but really want to.
Jerya: I sailed on the Levore on my honeymoon, but it was just an overnight trip in well-known waters. I hankered then to keep on sailing, too…
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November 10, 2025 at 7:38 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 10/11: What have you recently learned which will have a big impact on your work?
Life is a process of continual learning and all of it feeds in some way into the ferment from which stories emerge. But as to identifying…
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November 10, 2025 at 7:37 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has nine instances of ‘picture’.
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Tor took a moment to parse the double negatives. "You said I should ask for royalties for the portrait of Vireddi, the other illustrations." "You absolutely should, and we’ll talk about it with Papa when we get home. But that means we also need to think about how you get paid. Just as we had to work out how Vireddi could have access to the money her books make." "I’m sure I won’t be earning that much." "Maybe not right away, but… one day, who knows? Of course it also depends… I suspect there’s most money to be made in portraits of the nobility, maybe pictures of their hideous mansions." Tor smiled. She’d never heard Mamma express real admiration for any house grander than Kirwaugh, or the near-replica they’d built at Skilthorn. "But I’d be surprised if you wanted to do that all the time."
November 9, 2025 at 7:50 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 9/11: How does the means of publication change a work? print? digital? audiobook?
I don’t differentiate much between print and ebook, but audiobooks do give a qualitatively different experience, being so dependent on the quality…
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November 9, 2025 at 7:46 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 7/11: Talk about a character from another's work who stuck with you.
My choice of author won’t surprise friends, but book/character might: Itale Sorde in Ursula K Le Guin’s Malafrena. A young man in early 19th century Mitteleuropa whose…
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November 7, 2025 at 1:10 PM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has 12 instances of 'movement’.
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
"Seems to me the current’s carrying us at a good rate anyway. Why’d’they need the sail too? Looks like it’s nothing but trouble." Aliénor was right there, thought Torvyn from her perch on the steps to the little fore-deck. The twists and turns of the river meant the wind-direction, as they felt it, was rarely constant for ten minutes at a stretch; the crew had hardly got their breath back from one manoeuvre before they were trotting to the ropes again, re-setting the sail, sometimes swinging the whole thing, with its heavy boom, from one side to the other. She was doodling with a pencil, trying to see just how few lines would suffice to catch their movements, the stretch and bend, the straining curve of a muscled back. But she was not too preoccupied to catch Peri’s reply. "If we were just drifting, they wouldn’t be able to steer. You have to be moving through the water for the rudder to work."
November 7, 2025 at 6:41 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WordWeavers 7/11: What community or group does your MC belong to?
Jerya has been a girl in Delven, a Dawnsinger, a slave, a regular employee (secretary and governess), and then by marriage a member of the aristocracy. You might say she has complex affiliations.
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November 7, 2025 at 6:36 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has just one instance of 'penultimate’.
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
"For which you deserve credit. But at Kendrigg you swore a Pledge, did you not?" "I did, Senior Tutor." "And I’m sure you recall the penultimate line…?" "I shall conduct myself at all times in accordance with the rules and practices of the Guild." "You see the contradiction, I’m sure. No Dawnsinger wears any form of jewellery. There is a measure of flexibility in the matter of clothing—its cut if not its colour—but other adornment, if I can call it that, is limited to trim at collar and cuffs—gold for Masters, and so on. Tell me, do you have any suggestions as to how we might resolve this?"
November 6, 2025 at 8:08 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 6/11: Do you make use of unconventional punctuation?
No, but I do like to use the full toolkit that regular punctuation offers, including em-dashes and semi-colons. I have low tolerance for books that, for instance, use commas…
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November 6, 2025 at 7:55 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WordWeavers 6/11: How is the antagonist’s community/group perceived by the people in your world?
The Dawnsingers are still widely respected in the Sung Lands, but the old reverence is slowly fading and the Guild is having to adjust accordingly…
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November 6, 2025 at 7:53 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has five instances of 'trail’.
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
Finally a repeated question from Raëval shook her fully from her reverie, and she attended to the discussion about weather and time, the latest reports of trail conditions and which water-sources were still flowing at this end of the summer. She joined in the considerations of what food they could and should take from the refuge’s stores. She went up with the others to the dormitory, shook and folded the blankets, stowed the last of their belongings in their packs, joined in the grumbling about the weight, reminding everyone that they were always heaviest at the start and that they’d already done the steepest climb, up from the Defile.
November 5, 2025 at 7:53 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/11: Is the idea of a work requiring a takeaway 'moral' old-fashioned?
The tricky word here is not ‘moral’ but ‘takeaway’. Framing it as it was done in Victorian children’s books, literally ending with ‘and the moral of the story is…’;.
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November 5, 2025 at 7:23 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WordWeavers 5/11: What community or group does your antagonist belong to?
Perriad, main antagonist of the series so far, belongs to the Guild of Dawnsingers. Though it sometimes looks as if she thinks the Guild belongs to her.
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
November 5, 2025 at 7:22 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WIPSnips
Book 7 of The Shattered Moon, working title ‘The Principle of Detachment’, has no instances of 'steel’, and just two of ‘iron’.
#books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity
It took a little while before the shifts and eddies of the crowd of Dawnsingers and Sojourners allowed Torvyn to get close enough to study the engine in more detail. She pulled her sketchbook from her satchel and sat on a handy bollard. She realised at once that it was cold iron, not warm stone, but a few minutes’ mild discomfort was a small price to pay. As she began studying the engine and making the first marks, she was also watching the lad—about her own age, she thought—who was tending the engine, wiping here, adding a drop of oil there. He looked up. “I hope you’re not plannin’ on buildin’ a copy from that.”
November 4, 2025 at 6:54 AM
jonsparksauthor.bsky.social
#WordWeavers 4/11: Are you working on one or several projects? What’s your preference?
Right now, Book 7 is in the hands of my partner so I’m not touching it and instead l’m 100% focused on Book 8. But…
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November 4, 2025 at 6:49 AM