As a cisgender person who has only truly known and loved a handful of gender non-conforming people, I have been reluctant to center my voice on how to write about gender identity. It is not a topic I feel I should be taking up space to talk about, however, after learning that over the last five years, cis authors have somehow cornered the market on writing trans narratives in fiction, I realized that it was time for me to speak up.

Put me in, coach!

For most cis authors, our initial understanding of trans identity has been fueled by cisgender privilege, Christian upbringings, and decades of media misrepresentation. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that there are remnants of transphobia, trans misogyny, and cis sexism still coursing through our veins. These biases have the potential to reveal themselves in unintended ways when attempting to write about gender identity, which can lead to real-world consequences for gender non-conforming communities. 

I want to assume that most cis authors who attempt to write trans characters do so in the spirit of inclusion and a desire to affirm trans people, but it’s alarming to realize that the majority of published and acclaimed novels about trans identity have been written by cisgender authors. These novels are then consumed by cisgender readers who accept them as gospel instead of recognizing that they are clumsily written transition fantasies that have been shoehorned into the Cinderella story.

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Stop It!

Cinderella is the perfect analogy for understanding trans narrative tropes. It starts with Cinderella, or better yet, Transition-ella, who finds themselves struggling to be accepted by their family and community. Since Transition-ella is a trans person, they are put through gratuitous violence, shame, and suffering, without addressing the systems in place that fuel anti-trans violence. Transition-ella’s suffering ends when their cisgender fairy godmother shows up to teach them how to be a “real” woman or man. Cue the voyeuristic montage of gender bootcamp that culminates in the achievement of hyper-femininity or hyper-masculinity (you can only choose one). This enables Transition-ella to achieve the ultimate goal of hetero romantic love, and they live happily (hidden) ever after in an unchanged anti-trans world. I feel my eye twitching.

Life Beyond Gender Transitions

By solely focusing on the “before” and “after” of transgender identity, this type of narrative can border on fetishism. I certainly do not mean to suggest that family and community acceptance, violence, trauma, and transitioning are not realistic themes, because they are. However, I am frustrated that they have become so formulaic that they have begun to reinforce the very transgender stereotypes those same authors set out to work against. 

I believe that when cisgender authors incorporate trans and gender non-binary perspectives in their work purely for personal gain, without credible research, or compensating, and acknowledging members of the community, they are engaging in cultural appropriation. We don’t have to look far to find several members from gender non-conforming communities begging cisgender authors to stop engaging in these tactics. To read about my views on cultural appropriation, read my last column It’s Messy In the Middle: Unpacking Cultural Appropriation.

The Messy Middle of Gender Identity

While I still believe there should not be limits placed on art, expression, creativity, or imagination, I also believe that there are stories that we have to recognize are not ours to tell, especially when the stakes are so high. Within the US, trans women continue to be murdered and assaulted at alarming rates. Trans people continue to struggle in their fight for civil rights, access to healthcare, and basic survival. Do you believe that you can craft a character in the messy middle of gender identity? Can you make visible all the invisible ways that gender identity functions as a system of power and privilege in our lives? Can you craft worlds that include trans joy, resilience, and courage while facing insurmountable odds? If you have answered a resounding yes to each of these questions, I look forward to reading your work, and please be prepared to be held accountable.

Colice Sanders is a blogger and motivational speaker. Colice writes YA, poetry, and memoir. Her blog areasontorise.com chronicles her journey of radical self-acceptance through the lens of childhood trauma. You can reach her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!

The post It’s Messy in the Middle: Rethinking Transgender Narratives appeared first on DIY MFA.

But did you know you can use games to help with your writing? Collective storytelling games come in many forms but I find the most useful for writing are tabletop games that involve roleplaying. When running tabletop games, I put a lot of effort into world building and I want to share some ways collective storytelling games can help with your world building as a writer.

The World

When I create a campaign for my table, I have an idea of the story I want us to explore. In order to ground my players in that story, I will build a map. To build a world map I start by taking a handful of polyhedral dice and dropping them on a blank piece of paper. I trace around the dice to create the shapes of continents then add details like cities, rivers, lakes, forests and mountains. If you don’t have dice, you could use small pebbles, buttons, or coins. I highly recommend getting a set of polyhedral dice though. You can find beautiful sets of many colours and materials and they make the most satisfying sounds when rolled.

I do the same when I’m writing a story set in a world that isn’t our own. This visual representation of my world inspires me to think about how the regions interact with each other, what resources they have, and what their cultures are like. It helps to ground the movement of your characters within your world, and it’s fun to do!

Cities, towns, and settlements 

Creating maps for prominent locations, like cities, helps me maintain consistency when writing in those settings. The visual aid is an easy reference to see where a certain house, tavern, or church is in relation to the rest of the city.  

Recently I’ve found a really enjoyable way to create maps for cities, towns, and settlements is to play a game called The Quiet Year by game designer Avery Alder. It’s a fun and interesting game in which players take turns drawing cards from a standard 52-card deck. Each card represents a week of a standard year and comes with a prompt that encourages players to think about the community, infrastructure, and culture of a settlement. The city comes together as players add features to the settlement map, create community challenges and victories, and establish the attitudes prevalent within the community. The game is designed to help you tell the story of a community built after the collapse of society, but can be helpful to inspire the construction of locations in any setting.

This collaborative experience can be really fun to make locations in the world of your writing as well. The best way to approach the game for this purpose is to explain the way you picture your world and then give your players free rein to play the game. You don’t have to keep everything that comes out of it and they may inspire you to write something you never would have imagined otherwise!

The Campaign

Tabletop games are usually run in sections. A single game session is called an episode or an adventure. A group of game sessions that resolve one smaller part of the overarching story is called an arc. All the game sessions that make up the time the party has spent in the world you’ve created (ideally resolving the overarching plot) is called the campaign.

Campaigns are gratifying to create and run because you get to watch your friends become heroes or villains as they navigate situations they would never encounter in their real lives. You all get to explore alter egos and build empathy as you consider life from another perspective. Campaigns give you experience creating engaging conflicts for your players that you can use to help write a larger work. 

If you set a campaign in the same world as the story you’re writing you’ll have to populate it with NPCs (non-player characters) that your players like to interact with. That is a great beginning to creating side characters that feel fully realized and will help you write in their voice. 

While running a campaign your players will ask you questions about your world and you will have to answer them. This is an excellent way to perfect your world and add detail in corners of your world that you hadn’t thought of on your own. 

Running a campaign requires that you create conflicts for your table to encounter. Your characters can face these conflicts in your writing and you can redesign them to account for loopholes or solutions your players came up with that you did not foresee.

These tools are easy to employ in fantasy works because many of the best known tabletop games are created for fantasy settings, but there are games for many genres from pulp fiction, to horror, to thriller and more.

I hope I’ve inspired some of you to try some collaborative storytelling games. I’ve loved them since middle school and I’ve found aspects of myself I may never have realized through them. I know that you’ll encounter some great people in the community of collaborative storytelling and you will deepen the friendships you already have. As a bonus, you’ll add tools to your writing toolbox that are invaluable in world building!  

Have you ever used tabletop games in your writing?

Kris Hill is working on several genre fiction novels because she has difficulty sticking to writing one project at a time. In her daily life she attempts to navigate the corporate world as a data analyst. When Kris is not working, she can be found sprawled on a couch reading or running tabletop adventures for her friends. She lives in Canada’s capital city with her husband, her best friend, and four cats.

The post World Building Using Tabletop Games appeared first on DIY MFA.

Cherae Clark graduated from Indiana University’s creative writing MFA and was a 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow. In addition to writing, she has had various jobs as she’s traveled the world, including: personal trainer, English teacher, editor, or some combination thereof.

When she’s not writing or working, she’s learning languages, doing P90something, or reading about war and post-colonial history. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in FIYAH, PodCastle, Uncanny, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies and she is now one of the co-editors at PodCastle and editor of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) Blog.

In this episode C.L. and I discuss:

• How to identify which character is the protagonist and whether there can be two.
• The relationship between magic, religion, and technology and how she uses it.
• Different ways to handle conflict and the approach she takes in her writing.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About C.L. Clark

Cherae Clark graduated from Indiana University’s creative writing MFA and was a 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow. She’s been a personal trainer, an English teacher, and an editor, and is some combination thereof as she travels the world. When she’s not writing or working, she’s learning languages, doing P90something, or reading about war and [post-]colonial history. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in FIYAH, PodCastle, Uncanny and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Now she’s one of the co-editors at PodCastle and editor of the SFWA Blog.

You can find C.L. Clark on her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

The Unbroken

Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.

Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.

Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 354

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 354: Character, Conflict, and World Building in Fantasy – Interview with C.L. Clark appeared first on DIY MFA.

Ellie Cypher grew up in Northern California, received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior from UC Santa Cruz and got her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of California Davis. She has lived and worked all over the world from New Zealand to Tasmania to the United Kingdom.

When she is not writing, you can find her spending her time caring for all manner of creatures great and small, dreaming about traveling, drinking too much coffee or generally wandering about the beautiful Smoky Mountains with her husband and eleven-year-old black lab.

Today we’ll be discussing her debut novel, a YA fantasy titled The Girl from Shadow Springs.

In this episode Ellie and I discuss:

• How the first line is usually what pops into her head first and inspires her to write the book.
• Why the arctic wilderness was the perfect backdrop for her novel as it has “a sense of being alone in a void…massive expanse and insular isolation”.
• What part language, vernacular, and modulation of voice play in stretching the boundaries of the speech characters use and building the world around them.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Ellie Cypher

Ellie Cypher grew up in Northern California, received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior from University of California Santa Cruz graduating with Highest Honors in the major and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of California Davis. She has lived and worked all over the world from New Zealand to Tasmania to the United Kingdom. When not writing, she can be found spending her time caring for all manner of creatures great and small, dreaming about traveling, drinking too much coffee or generally wandering about the beautiful Smokey Mountains with her husband and eleven-year-old black lab.

You can find Ellie on her website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The Girl from Shadow Springs

The Revenant meets True Grit with a magical twist in this thrilling and atmospheric debut fantasy about two teens who must brave a frozen wasteland and the foes within it to save their loved ones and uncover a deadly secret.

Everyone in Shadow Springs knows that no one survives crossing the Flats. But the threat of a frozen death has never deterred the steady stream of treasure hunters searching for a legendary prize hidden somewhere in the vast expanse of ice. Jorie thinks they’re all fools, which makes scavenging their possessions easier. It’s how she and her sister, Brenna, survive.

Then Jorie scavenges off the wrong body. When the dead man’s enemy believes Jorie took something valuable from the body, he kidnaps Brenna as collateral. He tells Jorie that if she wants her sister back, she’ll have to trade her for the item he thinks she stole. But how can Jorie make a trade when she doesn’t even know what she’s looking for?

Her only source of information is Cody, the dead man’s nephew and a scholar from the South who’s never been hardened by the harsh conditions of the North. Though Jorie’s reluctant to bring a city boy out onto the Flats with her, she’ll do whatever it takes to save her sister. But anything can happen out on the ice, and soon Jorie and Cody find they need one another more than they ever imagined—and they’ll have to trust each other to survive threats beyond their darkest nightmares.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 345

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 345: Language as World Building in YA Fantasy – Interview with Ellie Cypher appeared first on DIY MFA.

Meg LaTorre is a sci-fi/fantasy author, YouTube darling, and founder of iWriterly. She is also the creator of the free query critique platform, Query Hack, co-host of the Publishable show, and blogger for websites: Writer’s Digest, Savvy Authors, Writers Helping Writers, and so forth. Formerly, she worked at a literary agency, and she has a background in magazine publishing, medical and technical writing, as well as journalism. For more information about Meg, subscribe to her YouTube channel or follow her on social media. You’ll find all her links on the show notes page.

Today we’ll be talking about her latest book, The Cyborg Tinkerer.

In this episode Meg and I discuss:

• How having a rebellious nature allowed her to write the kind of Steampunk novel she wanted to read.
• What aesthetic elements of the novel help portray issues of “otherness” and discrimination which are integral parts of the narrative.
• Why she chose the indie publishing route and how other authors can learn from her experience.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers.

About the Author

Meg LaTorre is a science fiction and fantasy author, YouTube darling and founder of iWriterly, creator of the free query critique platform, Query Hack, co-host of the Publishable show, and blogger (Writer’s Digest, Savvy Authors, Writers Helping Writers, et al.). Formerly, she worked at a literary agency, and she has a background in magazine publishing, medical/technical writing, and journalism. 

To learn more about Meg, subscribe to her YouTube channel, follow her on Twitter and Instagram, sign up for her monthly newsletter, support iWriterly on Patreon, or visit www.iWriterly.com.

The Cyborg Tinkerer

In a deadly circus competition, even hearts are on the line. Gwendolyn Grimm intended to seduce men and women across the galaxy while working as a ship tinkerer on the finest vessels in the Crescent Star System. Alas, terminal illness is a buzzkill. When a life-saving opportunity struts into her life dressed in a pinstripe suit, she is made an offer she can’t refuse: become a cyborg and work as a tinkerer for Cirque du Borge, the once renowned cyborg circus.

The problem is, a new law has banned the creation of new cyborgs and becoming one means execution if caught. Thus, no one cares to see the wonders of man and machine anymore.

Ticket sales continue to fall as the circus announces a competition to determine which acts will perform for the emperor on his home planet—an opportunity with the potential to save the circus from bankruptcy. But the competition has deadly consequences. Losing acts have their cyborg implants forcibly removed, and those who survive the extraction are banished from the circus.

As the tinkerer, Gwendolyn is forced to perform the revolting task of removing the cyborg implants from the losing performers. When she falls for both the man running the competition and a woman competing in it, she must decide who to protect. But can she risk having to harvest the people she loves the most? The Cyborg Tinkerer, comes out November 17, 2020.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 331

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 331: Writing and Indie Publishing a Steampunk Novel – Interview with Meg LaTorre appeared first on DIY MFA.

The catch, of course? Developing that list of questions can be HARD. Even if you’ve worked on your book for years and know it inside out, you may wonder which ideas or questions will prompt deep and insightful conversation among readers . . . or where to even start with making your list.

But here’s the good news. You already have an excellent place to start: your book’s literary themes.

Yes, knowing your book’s big ideas is key to creating a fantastic list of thought-provoking questions. Don’t worry if you haven’t thought about the themes before, though. In this post, we’ll offer suggestions on which storytelling elements (a.k.a. sources) to review and what questions you can ask yourself so you can identify the themes and figure out what, in your opinion, is most important for your audience to talk about.

Review Your Book’s Plot or Structure

With fiction books and some memoirs, the plot can be a treasure trove of discussion question possibilities. The big events that move the story forward are often the juiciest ones to analyze, especially if the protagonist’s choices or actions cause those events to happen. But sometimes, other plot points that seem less significant are just as noteworthy because of the themes they unearth. Chances are those themes will be the same ones that are explored in the more major events.

How you tackle your review of the plot for discussion question ideas is up to you. You can start with the main plot points, such as the inciting incident, the end of Act I, or the dark night of the soul. Or you can focus on your favorite moments of the story, including game-changing revelations or meaningful exchanges of dialogue or interactions between characters. However you approach this process, use the suggestions below to brainstorm potential discussion questions based on the plot (thought don’t feel obligated to create a question for each of these):

• How is this event significant or meaningful to the overall story? What theme(s) is demonstrated in this event?
• What do the protagonist, the antagonist (if one exists), and supporting characters do during this event? How does this tie into the theme(s) explored?
• What scene(s) may draw conflicting opinions from readers? Could readers have different thoughts on the theme(s) emerging from this event?
• What events may shock or surprise the reader? If so, how and why? How does this impact the way in which any theme(s) is explored?
• How might the reader be able to relate to certain plot events based on their own experiences with the theme(s) explored?
• What else is interesting or important for the reader to consider regarding this event?

Now, what if you’re writing nonfiction that has a clear structure but no plot, so to speak? (A great example of this is Susan Cain’s Quiet.) Instead of looking for plot events, choose the most salient moments in the book—arguments you make, examples or anecdotes you share, notable facts or quotes from other sources—and see what themes emerge. Then determine which of the above questions you can reframe for your purposes. At the same time, remember that your discussion questions aren’t meant to quiz your audience about the details of your book. Rather, invite them to consider how the information you share impacts them and the world at large, as well as why it’s worth discussing in the first place.

Revisit Your Characters

If there’s one storytelling element that readers LOVE talking about most, it’s the characters they “meet.” We can’t help but gush about who our favorite characters are and why, or share memorable snippets of that character’s dialogue. So why not encourage your readership to talk about your characters by means of your discussion questions?

Just as the plot’s events illustrate your book’s themes, your characters—especially the protagonist—will be moving, breathing examples of those big ideas. Each character’s actions, decisions, motivations, thoughts and speech, and lessons learned don’t just reveal the themes. They influence those overarching concepts from the very beginning. So as you look to your characters for possible discussion questions, ask yourself—or maybe the even the characters themselves—any of the following:

• What is the protagonist’s motivation or goal? What theme(s) does it demonstrate?
• What kind of journey does this character take (externally and internally) during the book? How does the character change between Page One and The End? What theme(s) emerge from this arc?
• How do the protagonist’s relationships with other characters (e.g., love interest, mentors, family members, friends, the antagonist) influence the book’s themes? What about these relationships or interactions is critical for your readers to talk about?
• What attributes, actions, or choices from the protagonist or other major characters could draw conflicting opinions from readers? How could this create an in-depth group discussion, regardless of whether it reflects a specific theme?
• What character revelations may shock or surprise readers? If so, how and why? Do they reflect any of the story’s themes? Regardless, how could this foster an interesting discussion between readers?
• What are the most important pieces of dialogue from the book? Why is each quote significant? What theme(s) does each quote reflect?

Other Storytelling Elements

Plot and characters aren’t the only sources of theme in your book. Nor are they the only seeds that can inspire discussion questions. Other crucial elements can reflect the themes and lead to engaging discussions among your readers. So as you review your book for possible questions, consider what else influences your story’s themes besides the first two elements we covered. Here are a few suggestions:

• Setting: How does the book’s setting (location, time period, etc.) influence the themes? What events, characters, etc. are featured specifically because of the setting? (If you’re writing fiction or nonfiction that’s historical in nature, setting-related questions are a must for your questionnaire.)
• Worldbuilding: If you’re working on speculative fiction, what aspects of the story world (e.g., government/power structures, religion, magic system, culture) influence the story’s themes? How do these aspects play a pivotal role in the story? What will readers remember most about this world when they finish reading your book?
• Symbolism: What objects act as symbols? What theme(s) does each one represent?
• Title: Why did you choose your book’s title? Does it hint at any of the themes?
• Other Repeating Elements: What ideas or elements appear repeatedly throughout the book? Why are they important? Which theme(s) do they influence?

Here’s a great example of repeating elements: When I was editing Julie Jacky’s memoir On the Other Side, one aspect of the book that moved me was how Julie’s journey of healing and forgiveness after childhood sexual abuse was full of mentors, from mindset coaches and therapists to spiritual mediums and even her chiropractor. Sometimes Julie had sought out their help and guidance. Other times, she had serendipitously received what she needed at the time. So when Julie later asked me to develop book club questions for On the Other Side, I included a question about mentors, asking readers to talk about the impact Julie’s mentors had on her and to consider the mentors in their own lives.

Meaningful Questions Lead to Meaningful Discussions

Obviously there’s more to consider than the book’s themes when creating discussion questions. For example, how should you phrase your questions? And how many should you include? No matter what, it’s a good idea to check the books you own (especially ones in the same genre as yours or that explore similar topics and themes) to see how the author or publisher handled their questionnaires. This can help you gauge how long you’d like your list to be and how to write your questions in a way that sparks the reader’s curiosity.

Above all, remember that your goal with discussion questions is to get your audience thinking about your book in deeper ways than a simple reading would. So how many questions you ask and how you word them isn’t as crucial as what you ask your readers to think about. Using the book’s themes to help you craft your questions will help you ensure that they touch on topics or ideas that are meaningful to you and your characters. And by doing this, you’ll increase the chances of nurturing equally meaningful conversations among your readers.

Have you created discussion questions for your book(s)? If you have, how did you develop those questions? If you haven’t, what plot point(s), character(s), etc. would you ask your readers to talk or think about? What themes would they discuss as a result? 

Sara Letourneau is a freelance editor and writing coach who lives in Massachusetts. She’s also a poet whose work has appeared in Mass Poetry’s Poem of the Moment, The Aurorean, The Avocet, The Bookends Review, Golden Walkman Magazine, Soul-Lit, and other journals and anthologies. She can often be found performing her poems at local open mic nights, reading good books, roaming the shores of Cape Cod, and enjoying a cup of tea. Learn more about how Sara can help you with your writing at Heart of the Story Editorial & Coaching Services. You can also connect with her at her writer website, Twitter, Goodreads, or Instagram.

The post Creating Discussion Questions Using Your Book’s Themes appeared first on DIY MFA.

Grains of truth

Ever since the development of agricultural societies and the domestication of wild grains, some form of bread or cereal has been part of every diet: unleavened flatbreads (including things like tortillas in the Americas); loaves created by the use of yeast to produce a rise; boiled cereals, such as what we call oatmeal or cream of wheat.

Today, we’re all accustomed to industrially-produced flour, but in the past, the basic ingredient of bread was ground between two stones. The process often resulted in tiny stone chips and some amount of grain husks remaining in the flour. So the quality of one’s bread depended on the care that was taken to sift the flour. In the 12th-16th centuries in Britain, for example, there were even specific names for the bread that indicated either the type of grain used or the quality of the flour 

Paindemaine (and the slightly later term “manchet”) was the finest white bread, made from wheat flour that had been sifted three or more times – so it was expensive and generally eaten only by the rich. No breaking a tooth by chomping down on a tiny piece of rock for the aristocrats! ?

Wastel was also a good quality bread made of wheat flour; but most often, the flour had been sifted only a couple of times, so it was just a bit riskier to the teeth.

Cocket was a very early name for a lower-quality white bread, and the term appears to have been completely obsolete by the mid- to late-1400s.

If your characters were from the lower classes, they might have eaten tourte, which contained both the husk and the flour, or horsebread, in which the flour included ground beans, lentils, or peas along with any type of grain. Clapbread was either barley bread or oatcakes.

And don’t forget the trencher. A thick slice of stale bread was often used as a plate. At the end of the meal, diners had a choice:  eat the trencher themselves, give it to the servants or the poor, or feed it to the dogs or other domestic animals.

Flaked cereal as we know it today didn’t emerge until the end of the 19th century. Boiled cereals based on oats and wheat were long known simply as porridge. Another sort of boiled grain – grits – is of Native American origin and thought to have originated with the Muskogee tribe in the 16th century. Hasty pudding – a thick, boiled-grain concoction that often had raisins or currants and a sweetener added, to make it a dessert – originated in England from where it was carried to colonial America and adapted to be made with corn as well as wheat or oats. When made with corn, it might also be known as corn meal mush, if not sweetened, or Indian pudding if made as a dessert.

Meat and veggies

Meat on the table every day is a relatively modern phenomenon, largely made possible by the advent of refrigeration. Prior to that time, meat had to be eaten before it spoiled, or it had to be preserved in some manner – salted, dried, smoked, cured. In many cultures, the lower classes only had meat as small bits in a mostly vegetable-based soup or pottage. But all cultures developed methods for preserving meat. Is your story set in the American frontier of the 19th century? Jerky or salted meat were the preferred methods of providing protein for long journeys or for the winter months when game could be difficult to find. Be sure to investigate what meat was prevalent in the locale of your story. Was it wild game? What sort of game was hunted? Did people eat more fowl or fish than meat?

Greens, root vegetables, legumes – these exist pretty much everywhere in some form or other. Find out which ones were commonly available and which were delicacies in the place and time of your story. Is your story set in the rural American South? Poke Salad really is a thing – not just the title of a 1968 song. If your setting is Central America, people ate tomatoes as far back as 500 BC. The Spanish and Italians adopted them into their cuisine right away when the conquistadors brought them back from the New World in the early 1500s. But in France and northern Europe, they were thought to be related to deadly nightshade (and therefore poisonous) until much later in the century – cultivation in Britain began in the 1590s. And don’t forget – no potatoes outside Bolivia and Peru before the mid-1500s. If you’re writing about the Inca Empire, let your characters enjoy all the potatoes they’d like. But Europe and the rest of the world didn’t know about them until the Spanish brought them from South America.

The spice of life

We take spices for granted today and even complain if our local grocery is out of ground nutmeg when we’re stocking up for holiday pies. Not so in the past, at least in western societies. When spices had to be brought from the east by caravan, they were terribly expensive and so generally only attainable by the wealthy, who typically stored them in locked spice chests. You may be able to just make out the hasps for a small padlock in the picture. 

Food at war

Is your historical fiction set in war time? Supposedly, Napoleon once said, “C’est la soupe qui fait le soldat” (The soup makes the soldier). And feeding the troops has always been one of the great logistical problems of war. During World War I, British General John Monash is reported to have said, “It takes a couple of thousand men and horses with hundreds of wagons, and 118 huge motor lorries, to supply the daily wants of my population of 20,000.”

Depending on the time of the war in your narrative, what the men ate and what it was called might be very different. As an example, let’s just look at the US Army from World War I through the Vietnam War. In WWI, the threats to fresh food came not just from the rats and vermin that infested the trenches, but also from the risk of gas attacks, which would poison the food. So the army devised Trench Rations, which were meat of some sort (corned beef, salmon, or sardines) in sealed cans and crackers or hard tack, also canned. Multiple cans packed in a canvas bag were issued to each soldier. They were bulky and heavy to carry. The Reserve Ration, which came later in the war, added a packet of pre-ground coffee, some sugar, and a bit of salt.

By World War II, the main form of combat meal was the C-ration, which consisted of one meat unit (either meat and beans, meat and potato hash, or meat and vegetable stew) and one bread-and-dessert unit, each unit in a separate can. A soldier’s daily sustenance was 3 C-rations. The K-ration came in a box, 3 boxes per day, each marked as “Breakfast,” “Dinner,” or “Supper.” Note the little keys to open the canned meat.

K-rations were intended to be used by airborne assault troops, tank crews, and others on short-duration missions.

By the time of the Vietnam war, these rations had been replaced by MCIs (for Meal, Combat, Individual), which included a bit more variety in what they contained – though the ubiquitous cans were still present. Despite having a different designation by the army, MCIs were still popularly called C-rations. Today’s MREs (Meal, Ready-to-eat) didn’t appear on the scene until 1980.

Tip of the iceberg

As I said at the beginning, this is just the tip of the iceberg. What did the caravans on the Silk Road do for food?  What was served in the dining cars of passenger trains in the 1920s in the US? In Europe? What did people eat to try to survive during the Irish potato famine? What was the diet of the Crusaders during their journey to the Holy Land? Did they eat the local food once they’d arrived? What was the diet of the Hawaiian islanders when Captain Cook landed there in 1778? 

No, you don’t need to know the answer to all of these questions and the hundreds more any of us could think to pose. Just ask the right questions for your narrative and serve your characters proper meals.

Pamela Taylor’s inspiration for her first book turned out to be that final straw that pushed her to leave the corporate world behind for the world of words and imagination. Now an author and an editor, she loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and has been on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Contest for three years. You can learn more about her books at secondsonchronicles.com, and about her editing services at editing4you.com.

The post Creating Authentic Details: Food appeared first on DIY MFA.

Fonda is a recovering corporate strategist, black belt martial artist, and an action movie aficionado as well as the author of several highly acclaimed books of fantasy and science fiction, such as the young adult sci-fi novels Zeroboxer, Exo, and Cross Fire. 

Her work has been nominated for several awards, including the Nebula and Locus Awards, and been featured on Best of Year lists such as NPR and Syfy Wire. She also won the Aurora Award, Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award, twice in the same year for Best Novel and Best Young Adult Novel. 

Fonda’s latest writing project is the fantasy/crime drama series the Green Bone Saga. The first book in this series, Jade City (which I am loving!), won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the second book in the series, Jade War, has just been released.

So listen in as Fonda and I chat about this amazing series, and the numerous strategies and decisions that go into crafting the world of your story.  

In this episode Fonda and I discuss:

• How to choose the right way to build your world.
• The “iceberg effect” of worldbuilding.
• How to put your reader into the middle of your story from page one the right way.
• Using a fantasy element to make your story feel more real.
• How to manage the powerful tool of multiple point of view.

Plus, Fonda’s #1 tip for writers.

About Fonda Lee

Fonda Lee is the author of several highly acclaimed books of fantasy and science fiction, such as the young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo and Cross Fire. 

Fonda’s work has been nominated for the Nebula, Andre Norton, and Locus Awards, and been named to Best of Year lists by NPR, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s Books, and Syfy Wire. She also won the Aurora Award, Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award, twice in the same year for Best Novel and Best Young Adult Novel. 

Fonda is a recovering corporate strategist, black belt martial artist, and an action movie aficionado. Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, she now resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband, two children, and a scruffy mutt.

Her latest writing project is the new fantasy/crime drama series the Green Bone Saga. The first book in this series, Jade City, released in June of 2018 and won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the second book in the series, Jade War, is now available from Orbit Books.

To connect with Fonda check out her website at www.fondalee.com.

Green Bone Saga 

Book 1: Jade City

Family is duty. Magic is power. Honor is everything.

Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for—and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion.

Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon’s bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation.

When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone—even foreigners—wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones—from their grandest patriarch to the lowliest motorcycle runner on the streets—and of Kekon itself.

Jade City begins an epic tale of family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of jade and blood.

Book 2: Jade War

Magic divides. Power corrupts. Family endures.

On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years.

Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich—or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals.

Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival—and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.

Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.

If you decide to check out the books in the Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee —Jade City and Jade War—we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 262

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 262: Inside the Mind of a Worldbuilding Junkie — Interview with Fonda Lee appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-262-fonda-lee/feed/ 0 https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-261-aileen-erin/ https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-261-aileen-erin/#respond Wed, 17 Jul 2019 12:30:05 +0000 https://diymfa.com/?p=33570 Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Aileen Erin on the show. Aileen is half-Irish, half-Mexican, and 100% nerd. From Star Wars (prequels don’t count) to Star Trek, she has a severe fascination with the speculative and supernatural.  This fascination led her into writing, but after Twilight, Aileen was told... Read more »

The post Episode 261: Writing and Publishing the Indie Way — Interview with Aileen Erin appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Aileen Erin on the show.

Aileen is half-Irish, half-Mexican, and 100% nerd. From Star Wars (prequels don’t count) to Star Trek, she has a severe fascination with the speculative and supernatural. 

This fascination led her into writing, but after Twilight, Aileen was told that nobody wanted to read another vampire or werewolf story. She didn’t agree and wrote one anyway. She proved her critics wrong as her independently published Alpha Girl series, has sold over 1.5 million copies.

She earned a BS in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, and went on to earn her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She has since founded an independent boutique publishing house Ink Monster.

Aileen’s latest novel, Lunar Court, is the eighth installment of her USA Today bestselling series Alpha Girl, and is available now.

So listen in as Aileen and I chat about this awesome fantasy series and how to successfully write and publish your books through indie publishing.

In this episode Aileen and I discuss:

• Using reader input to help you decide what story to write next.
• How to change the point of view character throughout a series the right way.
• Planning your world organically.
• The series strategy in indie publishing, and why it works.
• Producing a book as an indie boutique publisher from beginning to end.

Plus, Aileen’s #1 tip for writers.

About Aileen Erin

Aileen Erin is half-Irish, half-Mexican, and 100% nerd—from Star Wars (prequels don’t count) to Star Trek (TNG FTW), she reads Quenya and some Sindarin, and has a severe fascination with the supernatural. 

This fascination led her into writing. However, after the success of Twilight, Aileen was told that nobody wanted to read another vampire or werewolf book. She didn’t agree and wrote one anyway, proving her critics wrong with her independently published Alpha Girl series, selling over 1.5 million copies.

After earning  a BS in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, working as a commercial editor in Los Angeles and writing after hours, Aileen decided to leave Hollywood to dedicate more time to perfecting her literary craft. She went on to earn her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and subsequently establish her independent boutique publishing house Ink Monster, in 2013. 

Since then, she’s hit the USA Today bestsellers list twice with her Alpha Girl series, and a spin-off series based around one of Alpha Girl’s characters is also being shopped around for a TV show.

In March of this year, Aileen released a brand new series called Aunare Chronicles. The first installment, Off Planet, sold out of print before release day and was picked by iBooks to be in their “Best Books of March” in the YA and Sci-Fi & Fantasy categories.

Her latest novel Lunar Court is the eighth installment of her bestselling Alpha Girl series, and is available now.

Aileen Erin lives with her husband in Los Angeles, and spends her days doing her favorite things: reading books, creating worlds, and kicking butt.

To connect with Aileen check out her website at inkmonster.net

Alpha Girl 

Book 1: Becoming Alpha

Tessa McCaide has a unique talent for getting into trouble. Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind.

But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves. 

Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into one of “them” and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent.

When vampires attack St. Ailbe’s and her visions pinpoint an enemy in their midst, Tessa realizes that boy drama and her newfound canine tendencies might just be the least of her problems.

Book 8: Lunar Court

Chris is the guy Cosette always wanted.

Fun. Funny. Lighthearted and sweet. Chris always manages to find beauty and laughter, even when fighting a chapel full of demons. He’s exactly what she needs. Except he’s a werewolf and she’s a member of the Lunar Court—the only fey court that holds sway over the werewolves. Even on his best day, Chris isn’t strong enough to last a few hours in the Lunar Court without becoming a slave. No matter how much Cosette’s heart wants him, she knows she has to let him go.

But when Chris goes missing, Cosette realizes how much she has to lose if the worst happens. Except her mother—the Queen of the Lunar Court—won’t let her go after Chris. Being forced to stay at court is dangerous for Cosette. Assassins keep coming after her, and unless she accepts a mate, it’s only a matter of time before one of them kills her.

Cosette is the girl Chris has always dreamed of.

Chris sees through the tough facade to the girl exhausted from a lifetime of fighting off assassins and court politics. She needs a true friend, someone who she can be herself around, and craves solitude. The same solitude that Chris craves. But he knows he’ll never be enough to survive in her world. So, when Eli—a mysterious archon—requests his help, he figures why not? The guy might be a little shady, but he needs every distraction he can get.

But when Eli says that Cosette is in trouble, Chris is more than ready to play by Eli’s rules. At least until Eli takes him to the Court of Gales. Chris knows he’s about to play a very dangerous game. Bargaining with the fey is something only a desperate person would do. But what wouldn’t Chris give up to save Cosette’s life?

If you decide to check out the books in the Alpha Girl series by Aileen Erin —Becoming Alpha, Avoiding Alpha, Alpha Divided, Bruja, Alpha Unleashed, Shattered Pack, Being Alpha, and Lunar Court—we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 261

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 261: Writing and Publishing the Indie Way — Interview with Aileen Erin appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-261-aileen-erin/feed/ 0 https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-259-dan-stout/ https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-259-dan-stout/#respond Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:30:13 +0000 https://diymfa.com/?p=33564 Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Dan Stout on the show. Dan is an author who writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server... Read more »

The post Episode 259: Crafting a Police Procedural in a Fantasy World — Interview with Dan Stout appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Dan Stout on the show.

Dan is an author who writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller. 

Dan’s stories have appeared in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Nature, and Intergalactic Medicine Show and his debut novel, Titanshade, a noir fantasy thriller, is available now.

So listen in as Dan and I chat about this amazing book and how to combine the plot of a police procedural with the worldbuilding of fantasy. 

In this episode Dan and I discuss:

• Character driven stories vs. issue driven stories.
• How to set a speculative fiction world in a “retro” time period.
• Following predictable story tropes in unpredictable ways.
• How to discover your author’s Achilles’ heel.
• Presenting the world of your story to readers in an authentic way.

Plus, Dan’s #1 tip for writers.

About Dan Stout

Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller. 

Dan’s stories have appeared in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Nature, and Intergalactic Medicine Show. 

His debut novel, Titanshade, is a noir fantasy thriller available now from DAW Books.

To connect with Dan check out his website at www.DanStout.com.

Titanshade

This noir fantasy thriller from debut author Dan Stout introduces the gritty town of Titanshade, where danger lurks around every corner.

Carter’s a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It’s also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city’s future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs.

But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. The pressure’s never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter’s investigation leads him into conflict with the city’s elite. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 259

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 259: Crafting a Police Procedural in a Fantasy World — Interview with Dan Stout appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-259-dan-stout/feed/ 0