What did I set out to do withSpearhand Faring?
WritingSF proved a smoother process than writingCWKB. I began with more experience writing long-form verse. I knew things like: if I write the version formatted for conversion into an epub file first, it’s easier to turn that automatically into the version formatted for conversion into a PDF than it is to do it the other way around. (Guess which way around I approachedCWKB!)
Considered in lines-per-day terms,SFhad a slower writing process. I lacked the barelling momentum with which I hammered out CWKB. Not sure where that came from; maybe Kin-Bright was beamed into my brain from space.
Because about forty percent ofSF uses alliterative half-lines, it took more effort, and I couldn’t simply sit and slam down more material whenever I wanted. I also struggled more to keep up the rhythm of at least one hour’s focused writing each evening. One big factor there is just that I spent the majority of 2025 pretty ill, and endured major surgery at the end of April.
SFtweaks the plot of Malory’s Tale of Gareth around a bit. Over the centuries, many readers have felt that Gareth marries the wrong sister. The way Lyonesse talks soundstsundere to anyone who’s done their time in the anime mines. This similarity seemed ripe for exploitation. No doubt that exploitation is anachronistic. But it is also—and more importantly—funny.
SF also offered more chances to explore background facets of Taru society. Since the poem’s conceived of as something composed much earlier thanCWKB, before the fall of Tar, and reprising the idea of the literary demake, something of the flavour ofSFshould interface with my reworking of theFinnsburg story in Book XI ofCWKB. But, by the same token, the narration assumes background facts of Taru society even more, and expresses them even less.
Lackname is, in our terms, trans. This fact comes up several times, but obliquely: narration wouldn’t spend space detailing the point in a society which finds the point unremarkable. In conventional Taru society, class and martial capacity do much of the work gender does for us. I don't offer this system as a model for imitation. Tar is clearly no utopia, indeed it sits closer to the opposite! But I show slices of the system as a model with which to stretch the mind. That’s one reason why this facet of the poem goes untagged on itch. I think that categories such as ‘trans writing’ better suit stories more tethered to real-life trans experience, stories which set out to do different work.
SF also let me write a little more about name and fame. It is an aristocratic story, though one might suspect it perhaps circulated among those who aspire to nobility more than among those who have it. I’ve remarked before that I don’t believe thoroughly egalitarian narrative is possible. But the premise did allow me at least to mention the unnamed masses, as Lackname’s social context during his time at court.
By and large, I thinkSpearhand Faring did what I wanted it to do.
Next, I’ve a collection of shorter alliterative-verse poems to publish, and I’m hoping to experiment with Twine. I feel wary about going into too much detail! The, like,bittiness of writing for something like a Twine game will prove a challenge. But we shall see.
Giant robot adventure, in verse.
| Status | Released |
| Category | Book |
| Author | Thaliarchus |
| Tags | LGBT,mecha,No AI,poetry,Romance |
| Languages | English |
| Accessibility | Color-blind friendly,High-contrast,One button |