Welcome back to It’s Messy in The Middle, where we reflect on ways to craft complex characters and build dynamic worlds that readers with underrepresented identities can connect with. For the past year, I have been anxiously sitting on the sidelines, trying to determine if I should address gender identity in this column. While I… Read more »
We all play games. We use games to break the ice, pass the time, or as a buffer in awkward family gatherings. I use games (especially tabletop games) to make new friends, and deepen my understanding of the people in my life. Games show people at their best and at their worst. They reveal hidden… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing C.L. Clark. 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,… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ellie Cypher. 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… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Meg LaTorre. 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… Read more »
Do you love talking about the books you read with friends, classmates, or your book club? (I know. All of us word nerds love to do this, right?) So maybe you’ve noticed, either online or in the back matter of some of the books you own, that authors or publishers sometimes share discussion questions for… Read more »
What our characters eat depends on when and where they lived, their position in society, and, to some extent, what they were doing. So getting the food details right is one way we can fully immerse readers in our story. In the space of this article, I can’t begin to cover global evolution of foodstuffs… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Fonda Lee on the show. 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,… Read more »
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 »
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 »
