#writing trick

Somany people deal with trauma. It’s talked about a lot nowadays, “mental health matters,” therapy,” other buzz words. 

But a lot of the time people don’t talk about the ugly sides of trauma. They talk about being tired and needing to love and care about oneself. 

Butthey don’t talk about the toxic behaviours people with trauma often have to fight against. 

For example, a surprisingly common one: Lying. 

When people talk about impulsive liars it’s pretty much always in a negative light. These are people who have no respect for others, no consideration for the truth. But impulsive lying is a sign of mental health issues. It can stand on it’s own but I often see it linked with past trauma. 

If somebody was abused at some point, perhaps lying was the only safe option, and even if that abuse is over getting back into the habit of honesty is difficult. 

The lies may not be big. 

“Did you do this task?” 

No. But instead of saying you forgot and will do it in a second, you say yes,because in the past saying no was dangerous. Most of the time  you then do the task and it’s fine, but sometimes something pops up and your lie is revealed and the person you lied to feels betrayed and you are left wondering, “why did I say that?” Why lie to the person you trust? 

Sometimes the lies can be bigger. You might lie to your therapist about the abuse because you’ve been trained to do so. You might lie about your salary because somebody taught you your self-worth depends on the money you make and you’re scared they’ll leave if you aren’t worthy enough. Maybe you’ll lie about not being fired from your job or many, many other things. 

Trauma can lead to impulsive lying because there was a time in our life the truth wasn’t safe. 

Lying can lead us to lose relationships and further isolate ourselves. 

This is a side of trauma I feel people don’t discuss enough because impulsive lying is seen as such an “evil” trait. But in writing it can make for a lot of heartbreak, a lot of tension in relationships and is an interesting huddle for character’s to get over. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

If you’d like to be an ARC reader for my second book (basically receive a free digital copy in exchange for leaving a review once finished) then you can sign up in the application in the link above! 

So, I wanted to let my eyes rest from so much screen time today and started a journal. A little notebook I had laying around and some black ink. But I didn’t write a journal of my experiences, instead I wrote a journal from the perspective of one of my characters and her experience learning alchemy. 

At first it just seemed fun. I made some changes to my hand writing so it better suited her, made a first page saying “property of… and return to…” 

I started doing some world building as I figured out the basics of alchemy. 

As I wrote the world became bigger, early on in the journal she writes where to buy containers for potions, in doing so she draws a little map. On the map there is a diner and pub but instead of naming the pub it says “problem pub” and has a little drawing of a knife. 

Makes sense given at the time of writing this journal the character would have been captain of the guard, she isn’t going to know the name of every pub in the city but she will remember the pub somebody got stabbed in and in her personal journal make reference to it as such. 

It’s world building as I figure out the alchemy system and talk about the effects of different potions on different magical species. 

But it’s also character building as the information isn’t objective, there are comments in the margins about how she potions are similar to tea and both taste bad. About how magic shouldn’t be the solution to everything and she brainstorms for other possible solutions. 

On the second page there’s a comment about blaming Henry in the scenario that she were to spill potions on the king’s recipe book. 

Because the journal is written by a character I know not to be perfect, I don’t mind making mistakes and crossing them out. It gives the journal character. 

I highly suggest this as a cool exercise with the bonus of being able to use one of those many empty journals you have sitting around! 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Hey! Would you like to learn about the character who wrote this journal (Elizabeth)? She shows up in my book series Dear Dragon, it’s available with the link above but if you don’t want to buy the book, I’m going to be doing ARCs soon for the second, so feel free to sign up under the ARC application form! Thanks a bunch and have fun writing!   

1.- I mentioned in part 1 about the connection to a character. How we don’t always mourn over character’s but instead we mourn alongside other characters, purely out of empathy. Well, taking that a step further, mourn a villain or an unlikable character. 

For example, you have a daughter who’s dad is perhaps an alcoholic and slightly abusive, he’s a bad person and instead of help him she prioritises her own well being. As an audience we agree with her. But when her father dies she will not only mourn him, but in part blame herself, and also in part hate herself for feeling bad for a person who treated her so badly. This is an example I think we’ve all probably seen in media before, but you can have character’s dislike each other for a million less serious reasons and this still works. 

2.- Don’t let the others know. When we as readers see a character die, but the main group isn’t there to witness it, they are searching and searching, believing the dead character to be alive, and as a reader you are waiting for them to find a body or some kind of evidence of their passing. 

You are both dreading the moment but also want it to be over with. 

3.- If the character has a pet that the other character’s have to take care of. An animal that doesn’t understand the concept of death and still waits at the door for their owner to come home. Say no more. 

4.- Denial. When a character refuses to believe their friend or family is dead. No matter how much they are told, no matter how the evidence points in that direction, until one day, one fateful chapter, undeniable proof is presented and all that grief they put on hold finally comes crashing in. 

Sorry for the super short post. I have a question to answer sometime soon but this has been sitting in my drafts waiting for me to think of a couple more things and I thought it was a good time to finally publish it. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Also, I want to thank every single one of you who follows me, or likes and reblogs my posts! I just hit over 500 followers on this little blog and it’s the most followers I’ve ever had online. It’s really exciting and I’m super happy you enjoy these tips and tricks. 

Here’s a few tips to making a break up heart breaking for your readers and not only the characters: 

1.- Make it slow. We all know the slow burn for getting together but breaking up can be just as slow. It starts with mild annoyances that grow into frustrations that turn to bickering that turn to shouts that turn to “some space” that turn to a “break” that turns to a break up. 

2.- They do everything right. They listen to each other and try to understand, they go to couples therapy. They try to get the magic back by going to old date spots. They try everything they can think of to ensure the relationship works. But sometimes people are just too different, sometimes those differences don’t compliment one another in the right way. 

3.- Make it hard for them to be together at all. Especially if there’s an established friend group or even worse if there are children. I love exes that can be friends in books, especially those that are slightly bickery but not much. But if you want it to hurt, show the awkward and painful first phase of a breakup. Show the formation of two sides, and a friend group breaking up or children having to chose their favourite. 

4.- Show them struggling individually. Show the gaps once filled by the other now empty. Show them learning to live alone again. Show them having to do the task the other once helped them with. Show everything they lost because when you learn to live with another and that person leaves, you need to learn to live again. 

This was a bit short. But I think those four points are powerful. Any more ideas?

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

So, I felt like I needed to do a post but did not feel like thinking too much. So I’m going to do a quick walk-though of the paper journal I’m using for my current WIP. 

My current WIP is a standalone Young Adult Fantasy that popped into my head one night, I thought, “I’ll add it to the list and probably never come back”… it had other plans and now I’m kind of in love again. 

So, I thought I’d start a little journal to help me let out some of that love and creativity without it evading my other WIP’s space too much. 

FIRST PAGE: The working title, obviously and an otherwise blank page. There’s a reason for this and it’s not the typical skip the first page many artists face. It’s where I throw random post-its with ground-breaking ideas. “So and so is totally the bad guy’s daughter in disguise” “they’re adopted!” “insert emotional scene here” and so on so on. 

It’s a blank canvas, just like my new book. 

SECOND PAGE: The list page. Right now it’s a list of character names and location names. Because if I can’t remember my own name there’s no way I’m remembering all of theirs. 

THIRD PAGE: The badly drawn map with literally only four towns on it. The four relevant towns. I’ve done a post on maps, I believe in the act of adding as it happens, blank canvas. So many blank canvas’ (glances guiltily towards the literal pile of canvas’ I purchased but never felt secure enough in my abilities to use)… moving on. 

FOURTH AND FIFTH PAGE: A quick explanation of the two important kingdoms with bullet points relative to the narrative and some adorable watercolours titles. 

UP UNTIL PAGE THIRTEEN: Character sheets. One page per each important character. I have their full name, some bullet points and a watercolour first sketch I plan to compare to a later designs when I actually get a feel for each character. 

PAGE FOURTEEN AND FIFTEEN: “Things I google while writing (minus grammar or synonyms).” Because I find this absolutely hilarious to look back on later. Like seriously, it won’t make your writing any better but as a writer tip, do this. You’ll thank me in a year’s time when you’ve forgotten the silly stuff that goes into a book. 

LAST PAGE FOR NOW: A quick scene written in pen in an old notebooks ripped out and glued in, inspired by a random writing prompt on TikTok because writing short stories or AUs can be really good for learning more about your characters. 

So that’s my current writing journal. Does it make my writing better? Honestly, not much. Most of my important bits and bobs I keep digital because I can lose my own hand if I really put my mind to it. But the creativity is fun. Writing a book is more about the journey than the outcome so why not make that journey as fun as possible? 

My writing journal is about combining my passion for writing with my others passions such as scrap-booking and watercolour. It’s about stepping away from the screen for a second because although I love the digital era and all it’s done for me, sometimes my eyes just need a break. 

So this is me telling you to start a writing journal not for others, not even for your writing, just for you. 

I hope you’re having lots of fun writing whatever your current project is! 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

What have you done that involved your writing without being your writing exactly? Any other fun ideas to make writing a part of your other hobbies? 

And wow is this a hard pill to swallow. But it’s true. 

A good protagonist is going to have character, that menas they’re going to have opinions, stances, and we all know how that goes. 

This is also just fun life advice, you got an opinion? That’s great! It also means someone somewhere doesn’t like you for it, like it or not. 

As usual, I’m going to use an example. 

So,I believe in writing not only as a way to tell stories but as a way to cope and deal with reality. One thing I had to deal with a lot in reality is an upbringing that taught me to be quiet. If I cried, I was being dramatic. If I said I was in pain, it was never as bad as I made it out to be. When I said I was being bullied, they were probably just messing around. 

A lot of kids go through this. It’s not right but it is what it is. We can do little more than learn form our parent’s mistakes. 

Because of this, when I went into my book Dear Dragon, I knew I wanted to stray far from that. I made a parental figure who was always open to listening, never invalidating and always ready to help. Don’t get me wrong, he makes plenty of mistakes, but this isn’t one of them. 

Because of this I have a protagonist (Itazu) who is extremely open about her feelings and opinions. Most people I find have enjoyed her, in fact I’ve had several people tell me their fave part of the book was her and that made me infinitely happy. However, I did have a couple of people who found her unbearable. 

And I totally get where they’re coming from. There’s a point in the book where Itazu is kind of restricted, and she is not happy. And she is expressing that frustration while most of the other characters under the same restrictions either never bring up their feelings, do it on rare occasions or in agreement with her as a pose to commencing the conversation. 

They saw her as selfish, as self-center. Everything is about her. 

And I get where they are coming from, she never invalidates anybody else’s feelings and she expressed understanding of contrary opinions to hers. But she still is expressing her feelings. 

And I love that about her. I love how she is unforgivingly honest and open. I love that she’s got feelings. 

Itazu is a good protagonist because she’s open, because she’s expressiveand because she is opinionated. She’s also not going to be for everybody precisely because of that. And that’s fine. 

A good protagonist isn’t for everybody. 

Plus, don’t think that an unlikable protagonist takes away from a book. I’ve read plenty of books with protagonists I couldn't’ stand, but had to acknowledge were good characters and part of a good story. Sometimes it can even be a breath of fresh air. 

So, stop worrying about what other think about you, your protagonist, your character and heck even your book. If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for other people, you just have to find those people. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

I’m sorry if the example wasn’t great. A lot of my writing advice is just me mumbling over problems I find when writing, but I also can’t spoil future books while talking about it so I had to perhaps simplify too much. 

But anyways, can you think of any books you didn’t like the protagonist off despite it being a good character? Give me some controversial MC book recommendations please! 

You’ve probably all seen the typical post about how consent in sexy and cool and the phrase “can I kiss you?” is way more attractive than any sudden surprise kiss. 

And I agree, but I also acknowledge that consent comes in many forms and those words aren’t the end all be all of consent. 

So, as someone who’s been in two relationships with differing levels of consent, let’s talk about it. 

Obviously, everybody is different, consent changes for different relationships this is writing advice not life advice. Sit down and talk to your significant other if this is something that concerns you! 

Kisses with consent are sexier. And not just because of the consent. 

My first boyfriend would often kiss me suddenly and without consent (that isn’t the reason we broke up… but it definitely didn’t help matters), and they were awkward. Because here’s the thing, if I’m just minding my own business and suddenly someone else’s tongue is in my mouth well, my reaction is notgoing to be kissing back. It’s pulling away or awkwardly freezing. 

Knowing what’s coming up, is helpful in a relationship. 

At the start of a new relationship, verbal consent is key.Not only at the beginning but also during, if you’re going for a long kissing session, stopping for a second and asking, “are you still comfortable?” or “mind if we continue?” are useful. 

But later on in a relationship these verbal cues fade. They don’t disappear, I still walk up to my boyfriend and say, “mind a kiss/hug?” but we do have alternatives. 

For example, simply kissing the air in his direction is an easy way to initiate. 

Looking your partner straight in the eyes and opening your arms up to signal the desire to embrace. (Warning can also end in raised brown and slowly walking away). 

Touching one’s cheek if we’re already cuddling. 

And many more! 

We’ve been in a relationship for five years. We know each other and we know that these actions signal consent. New couples need to learn each other and their signs. 

There are also things we do not ask consent for because it’s a given. For example, kissing on the cheek when my partner walks past me at the desk or comes up behind me while washing dishes. Hugging when we first see each other after a couple of days apart. Or many other numerous things. 

Again, after five years together, I’m one hundred per cent comfortable with touch from my boyfriend, despite being kind of sensitive to it from anybody else (even handshakes and pats). Because of this, he has my consent, but I always have the ability to take it away. 

And that’s perhaps more important than the initial consent itself! If I’m anxious because of an exam and touch sensitive, I know I can take back that consent, tell him to please not touch me. And he will. That’s more important than him asking in the first place, for me, personally. 

Also, all of these points go two ways. Both parts of a relationship should be asking for consent. Consent is a two way road. Nothing can happen without TWO consenting individuals. (I mean, two or more or whatever, love these days fits no mold and I’m totally here for it). 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Can you think of any other non-verbal signals for consent? I’ve only listed here one’s I experience but everybody is different! 

Hopefully most of you do not know the pain of losing a loved one. Statistically, we all lose loved ones, grandparents, parents, friends, pets… it can be difficult. And everybody deals with grief differently. 

There’s not really a wrong way to write the effects of a character’s death over time. But I’m going to do a quick list of some things I’ve experience in my own life so you can perhaps mix and match with other’s and get a more realistic feel. 

1.- A year later, I still flinch when I say “my parent’s house” as a pose to “my mother’s house”. It’s weird, because I don’t flinch or feel pain talking directly about my father, but those moments of normality that are no longer true, they sting. 

2.- It can really dampen cool moments. I should graduate this year from university. And everybody talks about bringing their parents. I chose not to participate in the formal event. I don’t want to wear a pointy hat and be handed a piece of paper in red ribbon, I don’t want to look down and know that somebody is missing. 

3.-Grief at weird times. At 1 in the morning on the first of 2022. I had this sudden realisation hit me, that 2021 was the first full year my father wasn’t around. And I felt like I was going to break down right then and there on the roof terrace of my flat playing with fireworks with my roommates. I held myself together and cried myself to sleep later that night. These very sudden realisations come and go as they please. 

4.- I hoard things he gave me. I hoard things that he once used. I have a book about birds that I’m never taking the bookmark out off because he put it there. Most of the things I hoard are insignificant, but once somebody is gone, well, literally everything they gave you is irreplaceable. Because they can never ever give you something else. 

5.- Spirituality. So, this may be controversial even if it certainly shouldn’t be but, I’m extremely atheist. Very science driven, very, death is it. One day we’ll all die and every thought we ever had will be gone and that’s it. Simple. I’ve never ever doubted that. But the death if somebody so close has definitely been the closest I could get. Do I stand outside alone at night staring up at the sky and whisper to the people who are no longer with us? Yes. Do I think anybody can hear me? No. But I can’t stop my soft whispers, they’re comforting, because admitting the very last words to my father are forever frozen in time is such a strange feeling… so I’ll continue whisper into heavens I don’t believe in. 

So… this was a heavy post. I’m very sorry if this was not enjoyable. I hope all of are you doing well. Death is a difficult thing to deal with and although it never truly goes away, it is less prominent, it is something we learnt to live with. Besides, how would we ever get motivated enough to finish a book if time weren’t limited? Let’s be optimistic here for a moment! 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

No human is perfect and the questions of good and bad is an ongoing debate. 

But I’m not a philosophy major so I’m not going to get into that. Instead I’m just here to discuss some ways characters can do bad things without changing sides.

1.- Ignorance, of any kind. Sometimes we do bad things because we know no better. This doesn’t make it okay, but it does separate somewhat our actions from our intentions. 

Now, when it comes to ignorance an interesting thing to note is there are different kinds of ignorance, here are the ones I can think of: 

     1.1.-Induced ignorance. Somebody in a character’s past or present has purposefully tricked your character. They believe something because they are ignorant and that ignorance is not accidental. 

    1.2.-Voluntary ignorance. This is something lots of people, probably including you, definitely including myself, experience. This is where the information is readily available and clear, but there is in some way a choice to not engage. An obvious example of this is companies, there are a lot of terrible unethical companies, and a quick google search for any company, celebrity, you name it, will tell you. So when we enjoy something it’s tempting to… just not want to know. 

     Now with that example you probably think modern day society, but we can see this in any fantasy setting too. A kingdom where a certain behaviour is harmful, there are whispers in the street of the consequences yet the main character doesn’t pause to listen.They glance at the signs, sigh and turn around, not wanting to hear the explanation. Refusing to learn. 

     1.3.-Pure ignorance. Something isn’t obvious, the information isn’t available, everybody is ignorant to it. It’s just bad luck. People will argue that with more research but… we can’t research everything especially in a fantasy environment (where pretty much all my stories take place) and there was nothing pointing to needing to research. Everything was going so well! 

2.-Second up is, for the greater good! Does this need further explaining? Is killing bad? Yes, but are there times where the alternative is letting others die? Yeah. And this doesn’t need to be killing the bad guy necessarily. I kind of love the trope where a curse, too much power or something means that a good guy must die. Usually it’s the protagonist and they prove it’s not true and there’s another way but… what if there isn’t? What if it’s a side character and your protagonist has to make the decision to end them, something inherently evil, but for the greater good? 

This situations aren’t fair but… c’est la vie. 

3.-Not greater good but… lesser good. Because sometimes character’s are selfish and being selfish is not the same as being evil. The other day my friends group posed the question of who would you save if only one could live, your pet or a random three year old. It was surprisingly split down the middle. And I consider all of the people at the table good people. And after throughout arguing I could understand both sides. 

Offer up this same decision to your character, their sister who is in some way involved in this whole fiasco of a plot, or some random stranger? Let them choose their sister. Let some random stranger die for no reason and know that an innocent person died by decision of your protagonist. Yet they’re not evil, just selfish. 

4.-By accident. I hate it when we have the “clumsy” protagonist who never is clumsy. Let them accidentally shoot a weapon they didn’t know was charged and deal with their boyfriend having an arrow stuck in their shoulder! 

Shooting your boyfriend is evil (unprovoked obviously). 

Accidents do not make you evil. 

So those are my four ways to do evil without being evil. 

Note I as usual probably used extreme examples (death, death everywhere!) but breaking a belonging that is beloved to somebody, stealing from the poor, polluting the environment or supporting the evil overlord are all evil behaviours too! I was taught to exaggerate when making examples and for some reason that advice stuck in my heart and created the drama queen I am today. 

I hope these inspired you to try something new in your current story or a later story. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

So, what’s the most evil thing a “good guy” in one of your stories has done? 

Shifters: basically species that shift. In my books I have several. Dragons shift between human and dragon form. Werewolves have several forms and vampires too. 

One of the problems with writing this kind of species is it can feel like a cop-out. Yeah they’re dragons, but when that’s not convenient they don’t have to be! 

So, how do I personally fix that? 

Well, there’s a couple of things. 

The first and main way is by never letting them be fully human. They have what they refer to as a human form, but they don’t necessarily pass. They have slit pupils, claws and fangs and occasionally strangely coloured hair (dragons). Vampires too have fangs, white hair and red eyes. Werewolf’s have fangs and claws. They may have two legs, two arms, and a human face but not human is going to mistake them for one of them. 

Plus it goes further than that. (From here on out I’m going to focus mostly on dragons as an example which are the species I work the most with in my book). My character’s don’t only have fangs, they use them. When angry a normal person might glare but dragon’s will growl or snarl. They’ll show their fangs and remind people they are capable of far more harm then appearance would suggest. 

They exhibit behaviours such as basking in the sunlight. 

They are often shown drinking freshly boiled tea without giving it a moment to cool down. 

Sitting almost inside the fireplace on a cold day. 

They may walk on two feet, but while writing I make a conscious effort to never let them be human, because they’re not. If I wanted to write humans I would. And I do. There are characters who are humans who are shown in contrast to them. 

And on the other side of the spectrum, why do they shift? How does that work? How does that change their culture? 

I don’t make a species into a shifting species if there isn’t a good reason. 

Shifters in my book exist due to history, basically any intelligent species is a descendant of fairies. Humans are fairies who no longer posses any magic. Fairies have a humanoid form which is why many species also receive that form. 

Dragons used to shift mainly for mating purposes. But as time went on the human form with their extendable thumbs and smaller size was perfect for much work that goes on. 

Nowadays dragons us their human and dragon from almost indistinguishably, it’s often just a matter of preference which form one will take during their downtime. Although some older individuals do consider the dragon form to be the superior form and look down on the youth who choose to bask in the sun in their two legged form. 

Making sure shifters feel natural in the world you create is important. Suspension of disbelief is hard to pull of but probably on of the most important parts of being a fantasy author. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

I hope this helped. What kind of a shifting character are you working on? Or what is a shifting character from media you enjoyed? 

Like I often repeat, I write YA fantasy. 

Most of my writing time goes to “Dear Dragon” which at the moment is one book but part of a larger series. As a series there’s a lot going to happen. And something I find frustration with long YA series, is when character’s spend book after book with just the one single big arc. 

It drives me insane. 

Not always, but often enough. Because character’s grow and learn, and they don’t always grow and learn in the same direction. 

Let’s say your character needs to learn to believe in them self and realice they are the leader the revolution needs (cliché but works as an example), do they really need six books to realice this? Maybe the answer is yes and you have a good reason. But consider this: how much more interesting would it be if they realised they were a capable leader, they begin to lead, and because of this they stop paying attention to others and have to learn to let other’s help out? 

One character arc can lead into another. 

Or perhaps new problems pop up out of nowhere with new arcs. 

I also want do a quick throwback to how character arcs happen before the books begin, character arcs can sometimes go on in the background with side characters and character arcs will continue after the book ends. 

I mentioned it in a post once upon a time and I stand by that. Often times we believe the most interesting characters are the ones that grow and change during a story, but to use an example everybody knows: in Harry Potter, many of the most interesting characters are teachers or grown ups who have already grown and learn very little over the course of the books. 

Character’s can also take breaks from their arcs to pursue some other lesson. Or character’s can learn something then unlearn it only to learn it again (don’t go over the top on this, but sometimes it can make a point even more powerful, a good example of this is Zuko from atla, he changed but when given the chance to redeem himself in his father’s eyes cannot help but take the chance. It is only once he is back that he realises this isn’t truly what he wants and changes sides properly!) 

Character arcs do not have to be linear. They do not have to last forever and they do not have to be standalone. 

Have as many arcs as you need. 

Let them wonder away from the arc then wonder back. 

Let them realise that the things they’re trying to learn isn’t worth it. 

Let character’s be more like real people. Sometimes it can be way more interesting than a walking lesson. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

What are your favourite character arcs from media? Or better yet, what’s your favourite character arc you’ve written? 

For me it’s perhaps a draw between Henry Warren and Elizabeth Owen. They both grow a lot in different ways and often together. 

I chose to use the wording grow up without money here, because poverty is relative. I mean, so is money but words are also limited. 

To offer up context, I’m basing this of my own experience and I grew up having very limited amount of money at my disposal, but I was never lacking in food or a roof or anything like that. But there are a couple of things I’ve done my entire life, still do, and I realised, not everybody does. So let’s talk about some of those stuff for writing sake. 

1.- I am constantly comparing. When I got my first job at 16 (and I mean 16 and a week, I did not wait long), everything I wanted had to be worth the time. A computer? I would love one, a cheap but functional one is 200 euros, I earn 5 euros an hour so that’s about 40 hours of work. I’m going to use a computer for many, many hours so… worth it! I also compared things to donuts, because the four park of donuts was 1 euro so a computer would be 200 packs of donuts. 

This is something I still do. Which is problematic because my current salary is 3 euros an hour, and I need to buy food. So I’ll be in the supermarket like, yeah, that’s cheap and all, but 3 euros is one hour of my work and I don’t take long to eat it, so… ya know.

My boyfriend has to constantly remind me, that’s a stupid way to think, but it’s hard and I don’t think I’m anywhere close to being able to turn it off. 

2.- Over-analysing every single purchase. It’s okay for big things, it’s a small problem when you’re analysing phone chargers with a fifty cent price difference, the durability of face masks or watching twenty minute YouTube reviews about a cheap pack of scented candles because, going back to point one “one euro fifty is half my salary and if this candle doesn’t deliver the amount of hours it has promised I will regret it later”. 

3.- Over-purchasing things on sale. It’s counterproductive to the goal, but I mean, come on, if the donuts cost 50 cents instead of a euro, how can I not buy it? What do you mean I don’t eat donuts? That’s because they’re expensive, so I best buy seven packs while they’re cheap. You do not need to know the amount of canned goods I have accumulated through sales. And yes, they last for ever. But yes, they also occupy space in my tiny kitchen. 

4.- Anxiety from throwing things away. Literally anything, I have to find a use for it, I have boxes of literal rubbish, which, yes, I do use in crafts. I have food in my fridge (in closed containers obviously) that went out of date long ago but throwing it out causes so much anxiety that I just leave it there until my boyfriend can come up and get rid of it for me. 

If I get free headphones with anything, do I need them? Not at all, will I hold on to them as though they were the best thing to ever enter my house? Yes. 

5.- If you get the chance to get something for free, but it requires a choice, expect a lot of analysing. Even if it’s a stupidly small amount of money. I had a couple of euros in Google credit from doing surveys and I don’t know how many hours I spent analysing the PlayStore for the best choice of games. (I got the game threes for a euro, honestly, good investment, very enjoyable). 

6.- Free is free. Are Google Surveys worth my time for the credit they give me? Yeah, actually, I’d recommend it if you are an android user. But I’ve also written 10k word stories on a subject I did not like for 4 dollars, not even euros. I’d say this was a low point, but I fear I’d still take the job today. I don’t actually have more money coming in then I do going out. Which is normal because I’m a student and my income comes from an internship that I do part time for practically no salary. I know it’s normal and I can make up for it later, but I feel as though if I don’t do the work I am offered, even if it’s not fair, by turning down any money, I become culpable of my situation. So, any offer for money, I’ll take. Even if that goes against my morals (minimum wage), against my health (waitressing jobs in the summer that push me to my limits) or just plain common sense. 

I know a lot of people are like this. And, I have to point out you should value your time. But, if you can’t, if you need to do the job, at the very least, try not to feel guilty if you didn’t do that good of a job. That writing job for 10k, they asked me to rewrite it, claiming my quality wasn’t high enough (I’d already done several revisions and there was open communication, however the deal was for a first draft which is never going to be the highest quality). And I put my foot down, I explained that I was earning less then 50 cents an hour and I wasn’t going to put more hours into it. Thankfully they still paid my my well earned four dollars, but I think the ability to put foot down was more valuable than the money this time. 

7.- When something breaks it can easily cause burn-out or emotional breakdowns. I’m living in an emotional breakdown this year, and part of that is because my ipad (which I am super proud of because I bought second hand years ago for next to nothing) is struggling. It’s very old now, the battery is on the way out, updates are done, and it has several glitches. I depend on my ipad for taking digital notes for university and I don’t think I could go back to using a pen and paper. But the idea of buying a new one is absolutely terrifying. To the point where if I actually stop to think about it, and realise it’s like a year of my income, well, I get physically ill. 

In fact, money is probably the biggest cause of mental breakdowns for me. Even when I’m doing well financially. Because I know what it’s like to eat less than recommended portion sizes in an attempt to save a couple of coins. I know what it’s like to track every single cent. 

8.- The fear of having nothing never really goes away. The fear that if I make the wrong financial decision, I will lose everything and somehow end up homeless or unable to buy food… it’s a stupid fear. It’s pretty much impossible because I have family, I have friends. But… it’s something I cannot shake. It’s fear that follows me everywhere. And I can’t say that this fear will never go away, because I’m a student, I have never truly grasped financial stability. But I can’t imagine a life without it. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to go to the supermarket without flinching at the prices, but I don’t think I’ll ever truly be at peace with money. 

You know the expression: Money won’t buy happiness? Of course you do. Did you know studied have actually been done and it’s kind of true? It’s true over a certain point of money. Which, makes sense, obviously. But I always think about this expression, because people say it to me when I’m obsessing, and I get angry with them. Because I’ve always been beneath that line, more money has always meant more happiness, because it’s always meant further stability. 

But it’s a stupid thing to be angry about. Because yes, they are being ignorant, but the truth is, people who say this, probably have never lived bellow that line. And that’s good. I think it’s good that there are people out there who get to grow up without that stress. 

And it’s important to realise in today’s society, there are a lot of people who are rich in a way that is wrong. But there are also a lot of people who may feel rich to us (us being the people who are bellow this line), but they aren’t really the problem. The middle class isn’t the problem, even if they are comfortable. And if I truly start going on about financial inequality… well, we’d have a couple more posts because I study finances and am specialising in ethical finances including inequality, so, I’m going to leave it here. 

I hope these eight observations are useful to your writing, or just interesting in general. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Also, if you find yourself lacking in money and don’t think you’re spending that much, please keep track of your money? Excel is a great tool and you will surprised! 

If, money causes you a huge amount fo anxiety like me and you do not too much financial trouble, please stop keeping track of your money and just occasionally check your bank balance because the obsessive control is causing you more harm than good at this point. 

Love you all and have a great day! 

I recall reading once a post here on Tumblr, one of those sci-fi ones, and it talked about languages, about when writing aliens people often gave the whole species a single language even though humans have a bunch. And it was interesting insight. But one I kind of glossed over seeing as I’m not a big sci-fi fan. 

But I remembered it today and it got me thinking. 

When we write fantasy and we make different kingdoms with different fantasy languages, we also often make this mistake. You see, the assuming that a country only had one language is kind of flawed. 

Personally, I live in Spain, here we have one primary language which is Spanish, but depending on the part of Spain you’re in they will often have a co-official language, where I live it’s Valenciano (pretty much identical to Catalan but there’s ongoing argument over that I don’t want to get into). 

It’s both similar to Spanish, but at the same time closer to French, Italian or Portuguese. 

There are places like Canda where depending on where you are they speak French or English. 

It’s not one country, one language. 

It’s not one country, one culture either. 

Countries have sub-cultures. And depending on what part of the country you are from, it will be different. 

Where I live in Spain, there is different cuisine to the center of Spain. We have different holidays, where I live in Spain we have mountains and beach but that’s not true of all of Spain. There are parts of Spain with a different climate. Even family relationships change. 

So, how do we apply this out fantasy kingdoms? So, as usual, I write YA fantasy so I tend to simplify stuff. In my own book there is the culture of the kingdom the book takes place in, there is a monarchy meaning there are laws that apply to everybody. But as well as that there are sub-cultures. 

My book takes place a lot in Aerradra, it’s the city where dragons lived. They have their own cuisine, they have holidays only they celebrate, they have their own architecture and even a local government for matters that they are allowed to change without the monarchy’s approval. 

Among the people living there, there’s Emily who’s humana and grew up with a different culture. In one of the short stories in my story “Love, Coffee and Dragons” we see her forget a holiday AGAIN. Because it’s not a holiday she’s accustomed to. 

This is sub-culture. A very simple example because I don’t want to have to explain too much, spoil anything or what not. 

But the point is, culture so much deeper than kingdoms and countries. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

What culture do you experience? 

This isn’t a fun or interesting fact but, I take a lot of notes. 

I take notes in class for university. 

I annotate the books I read because I know no chill. 

I take notes during meetings because how in the world do people remember stuff? 

I take notes about my book, create maps, timelines and random facts upon random facts. 

I take a lot of notes. Both out of necessity and just, really enjoying note taking.  

Just look at this school notes from a couple of months ago! 

I love note taking. 

So, as someone who had tried many different note taking methods and you know, goes to university with lots of different people, here are some random things I’ve noticed: 

1.- There are two kinds of people where it comes to note taking, typing or writing. This can also depend on the class and the teacher, but usually people who type are the kind of people who take note of EVERYTHING. Every word the teacher, team leader, whoever says, goes onto paper. 

Personally, this method does not work for me, but I know a lot of people do this in the moment and then later read them and creates diagrams and stuff. I can get behind that, I just never have time for this later on. 

People who do paper notes tend to be more picky with what they write because they don’t have time to get it all down, thereby they will be paying closer attention to get the right stuff down. They still might need to tidy it up later, depends on how neat they’re handwriting is. 

2.- Everybody’s note taking method will change when they are taking notes for other people. Perhaps you make it more neat, perhaps things you already knew and wouldn’t otherwise write down get written down. 

When I’m taking notes for other people I will color code everything. Because my notes are digital I have unlimited colours, so every single number in a practical exercise can be traced through colour. 

My best friend in uni will write everything down where usually she only takes note of what she cared about and my other friend will tidy up there hand writing. 

It’s like when people act different with a camera on them, same principle. 

3.- Some people use art in their note taking. As a kid I did this a lot, next to almost every word I’d have a picture, I claimed it helped me remember. But really it was probably because doodling helps me pay attention and I’m used to getting in trouble for it as a kid. But I know people who do this to make there notes more visible because that’s their prefered study method. 

4.- Some people like to keep all their notes in one place, they’ll do this by using post-its and having all the writing inside the textbook, or writing on a printed out version of the PowerPoints. 

Other people do the opposite, they’ll have a notebook for theory, a notebook for exercises and the book. Having it all together just makes it too overwhelming. 

I love how different our brains can be. It’s amazing. 

5.- Another reason hand written notes are sometimes preferred over digital can be readability. So, reading printed word can sometimes be difficult, I can’t keep track of what sentence I’m on, the letters get mixed up and I have no visual recollection of what the page looked like after. I rarely struggle with my own hand writing. 

I know this is random and specific, but for these kind of oddly specific details are what really sells characters. 

6.- Once you get to your last year in university, you don’t care about how professional or unprofessional you look. I have no problem covering my laptop with kitten stickers, I have no trouble doing an exam with my dragon pen. The first year of uni it felt like everybody was trying to look “normal” or “professional”, but each passing year we gives less cares and have more fun with our time here. So don’t bother to hide your character’s creativity, take notes on pink paper with purple ink and cute pen. 

Do perhaps keep in mind that professors won’t let you hand that in. We’re talking notes not homework. 

 EXTRA: Not exactly about note-taking, but about perception. If you take beautiful notes and your sat somewhere professors can see you, expect them to take note. I’ve had plenty of teachers ask me about my methods, ask me what I do with it at the end of the year and make comments in class about how I must be extremely appreciated by my classmates when they miss class. 

I also asked for notes often by classmates. 

So if you’re making a character who is very academically inclined, might be worth noting. Also, I treat my notes a bit like an art. They take a lot of time and effort and I know from experience, if you share notes, they will get everywhere and to everyone so I tend not to share. Unless with my very close classmates I usually just explain what was given in typed text. 

I’m not saying everyone is like this, but I know a good few people who are protective of there notes. So if your character spends a long time taking very high effort notes, it’s worth noting they may not be open to sharing. But I mean, you’ll know your character better than me. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

I’m thinking of doing a whole por on University and academic life, but at the same time I know Spanish Universities work kinda strangely in comparison to other countries and I don’t want to confuse people. But what would you guys like? 

We don’t see much disability in fantasy, only a handful come to mind. And not all of them are good. 

When writing disability I used to go by a rule, do not cure it past what the real world can. 

So, if someone is missing an arm or leg, yes you can use some kind of prosthetics, but those prosthetics should still have some of the real world issues actual amputees have to deal with. Otherwise, what’s the point? Other than it being a part of the character’s design? Not much.  

And although there’s nothing wrong with doing some things only for aesthetic, it isn’t quite the representation I think we should striving for. 

However,a lot of people break this rule and still make very good disabled characters. 

The most obvious example is Toph from Avatar. (Minor spoilers ahead) She’s blind, yet she can see. Not with her eyes, but with her feet, through her bending. It’s a cool and creative idea but, does it not miss the mark? Most would say no. Most see Toph as an inspiration. So, why doesn’t it miss the mark? 

Well, it took me a while to understand but I think the key is it isn’t a 100% cure. Yeah, she can see with her feet when on the ground but she still faces a lot of problems. 

She can’t see when off the ground (on Appa). 

She can’t read. 

Swimming is also a blind spot. 

She doesn’t lack disability, she faces it with a new and creative way. 

The other thing is Toph’s disability isn’t there to represent the struggled of the disabled in a phhysical sense. Instead it’s there to represent how society treats the disabled. Toph’s family treats her like a helpless child when in reality she is capable of a lot. This is an experience  a lot of disables people face in there day to day life. 

Sometimes, it’s okay to interact with disability (in a fantasy world) in the way that suit your narrative. But please make sure to do your research, I never get tired of saying it. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

What are some good disables representation in fiction you can think of? 

Privilege is something thrown around a lot these days, and mostly, for good reason. 

We all have it. 

If it’s not the colour of your skin, what’s in between your pants, your sexual orientation, your wealth or your health, it’s one of the other hundreds of things I could list. 

I am extremely privileged, I’m white, my first language is English, I can talk and read, I have a roof over my head and many others things. 

But I’m also at a disadvantage in a lot of other areas, my hearing and sight are both pretty bad, I constantly struggle with metal health, I’m fortunate enough to have a job but it isn’t well paying enough to remove the stress of money, my health is in constant ruins and, well, many other things. 

The same goes for every character we make. 

I read a lot of books where the author focuses in on the disadvantages a character faces, and it makes sense, that’s often more a cause of conflict, but they rarely take but a second to acknowledge that which they do have. A family that loves them? A stable job? Good health? 

I always find it weird when people say something then do another. Reflect your values in your work, in your art, if you believe in the philosophy where we should take a step back and be aware of our place inside society, do so in your art too. 

This also goes the other way, feel free to take a priviledged character and show the disadvantages they face. It’s a pretty common trope to show the rich kids with absent parents. That’s a disadvantage, it’s usually shown as though related to the privilege but I don’t think it’s necessary for them to be related. 

Why do people always choose absent family for the rich kid as their disadvantage? There are so many good ones out there! Health problems, both physical and mental, discrimination of any sort with the added bonus of it always being lessened due to their financial status, disfuncional relationships because nobody is completely free of the risk of an abusive dick, being incapable of passing at school despite the expensive tutors, having an ill pet… 

If you like that trope there’s nothing inherently wrong with it of course, I just yearn for some more variety. 

So, how can we incorporate privilege and disadvantages into our stories? As so often happens, I’m going to go over a quick example from my own book because it’s easy. 

Itazu is the main character in my series Dear Dragon. 

Relevant Privileges: Her father is both loving and wealthy having a good job, because of this there is no true expectation from her, she’s pretty free to do as she wishes. She’s a dragon and thereby more physically durable than humans. 

Relevant Disadvantages: She’s a dragon, one of the last of her species with all the social issues that entails. (I’m simplifying so as to avoid spoilers for second and third books, sorry). 

The relevant disadvantages obviously move the plot forward at many points. But that doesn’t mean her privileges are ignored. In fact, they are bought up often, sometimes more obviously than others. It’s bought up through reminders like: “Your Father won’t let that happens.” “Henry will take care of it.” “You’ll always have a place to go”. And from her father himself: “You can count on me for anything.” 

This is a treatment many other characters in the book (specifically the male lead), don’t get. And it is something that sticks out. 

My intention when showing this is several: 

1.- Make sure the audience understands that all the accomplishments in the books are not the protagonist’s alone. She has a support system and that does a lot for her. 

2.- Show that it’s not all or nothing. You can are both in a situation of privilege and disadvantage. A good character reflects reality. 

3.- Split the audience. And this is the most complicated to understand. Mostly because the goal isn’t truly to split the audience, but to understand that a good character, a realistic character, will not be liked by everybody. We all know somebody who was absolutely charming and did nothing wrong! Except for some weird reason you can’t explain, you hated them. No character is 100% likeable to everybody (except for some atla ones but I mean there had to be some kind of dark magic in the creation of that show, too perfect), and I don’t want anybody to hate my character’s because they’re boring. I want them to be hated because there is something about them you don’t like.

I’ve got a whole post coming out shortly about this last point that goes way more into detail so stay tuned! 

From what I’ve tested Itazu can sometimes be disliked because, “She complains about her disadvantages while having more privilege than other characters”. A perfectly valid critique. If not one I personally believe in. I and many readers find Itazu’s willingness to acknowledge both her disadvantages and her privileges not letting either one get in the way of the other is a perfectly enjoyable character trait. 

Itazu is bullied at one point for who she is, and she doesn’t treat this any less seriously because she gets to go home to a loving father. 

She receives plenty of love from her father, even though he isn’t a dragon and can’t fully understand her. And she at no point sees her father as less loving due to this lack of comprehension. 

Use both. 

And I seriously hope I got the point across because I do now know how ot express these thoughts why now. 

Please, I’m begging you if you made it this far, did any of that make sense to you? Please tell me. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Hey, it’s Christmas Eve on Friday, I hope all the students out there are holding in! Remember, not long left! I hope all of you have amazing holidays, and some extra time to read! 

Also, I did a post but my ebook is currently on sale in the US and UK! It’s about dragons. YA Fantasy. Anyway, that’s all! Sorry for rambling, love you all! 

Ones I haven’t seen as often but apply myself. 

1.- Bedtimes stories you tell to children, or lullabies. They can be based in location or species. They can tell us about the world, history, beliefs or something specific about a creature. It can be fun to think of their origin, how they’ve changed over the years and both the meaning that was lost and the meaning that was added. 

2.- Fashion choices. I often let fashion be different for different creatures. I usually create a practical outfit that makes sense historically within the context of my world and then evolve it until I get to the present day of my story. Preferably splitting of into branches and allowing more options. It can tell us about a specific species, about their history and about how the climate has changed, or how they moved locations at some point and had to adapt their clothing to a new climate. 

A very simple example of this from my own book would be the mage’s cloak! Link to a longer post about it. Basically, mages would wear a simple one piece fabric that was easy to then set an illusion over, no wasting time mixing trousers and tops. Over time some mages stopped using illusions, seeing the outfit as acceptable. It became a staple, you saw the cloak, that wasn’t a human but a mage. And then younger generations began personalising the material, instead of boring black, white or brown they started using floral patterns, adding in cool sleeves or hoods! 

Initially, it was practicality, but it evolved. 

3.- Think about what each species does for fun! I often read YA fantasy where the stakes are so high there is no leisure, no downtown, no fun, no hobbies. But this is a great opportunity! What’s popular in your world? Books, plays, board games, long walks, playing sport? Seeing characters just chill can be a great change of pace and allow for some insight into their lives and the world they live in. 

4.- What is imported? And why? Sometimes imports are just practical, we don’t have wool here (unlikely, sheep are literally everywhere, but you get the point), wool is good for clothes, we import it. But other times it’s more complicated. 

Perhaps a species moved across the country at some point, but they were accustomed to a certain type of tea, fruit for certain festivities, so on, so on, and habit dies hard, so, importation becomes a thing. 

So those are my four world-building tips for today. I’ve said it before and will say it again, there is no master list, not check list, world-building is something you can figure out as you go in most genres (some epics may requiere more prep time). What’s important is to keep track of what you’ve said and stay consistent, but you don’t need to know everything before going in. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

How’s your world coming along? 

Misleading your readers can be super important in writing! Especially if you want a plot twist that works, sometimes foreshadowing can get a bit obvious but throw in some red hearings and you’re back on track. 

When it comes to unreliable sources, there are a ton, but it is preferable to choose one that your readers will believe. For this I mostly use characters, see, most readers will believe the protagonist or important side characters when they say something. They won’t even question it. But there’s a lot of reasons your main character may not be telling the truth. 

They might be retelling an explanation they made up in their head a long time ago and can’t even remember was made up. 

They might have been lied to. 

They might of misunderstood something they were told.

They might be talking to a child and simplifying or lying for their protection. 

Andif you don’t say anything, people will assume whatever they say is true. But characters are allowed to make mistakes. 

Remember, if you have an all knowing neutral narrator, they can’t straight up lie. But character’s aren’t all knowing and often think they are. 

Another form of unreliable information can be extracts from books, or essays. Books are full of misinformation! Either because of politics, interests or simply new evidence coming around. How many things were supposed to be true until proven otherwise? And students can be terrible! The amount of lies I’ve told in my essays purely from misinterpretation is terrifying. 

For both of these you have to be careful. If every time you pull out a book it’s all lies, well, readers aren’t dumb, they’ll pick it up quite quickly. If it is mostly true, with a couple of lies spread in between the pages, now we’re talking. 

You can also combine the two. A characters reads something in a book, tells others, they believe it and go with is as though true. Nobody ever corrects the misinformation. The reader certainly won’t be suspecting anything at that point. 

Anyway, I hope this was useful. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

How have you tricked your readers? 

1.- Talking too much. Specifically, with adults. I see this a lot with hyperactive children. But a lot of us don’t grow out of this and I want my representation! Plus, this can be very fun and useful! You can use it for exposition and world building. It leaves plenty of room to hide small details. It also can give a lot of context about other character’s around them. 

When they start talking word after word for about a hundred words more than necessary to say they  are happy, do the other character’s seem entertained? Annoyed but say nothing? Annoyed and say it? Do they look like they’re not listening? Do they look like they’re listening but later on we find out they’re just really good at pretending to listen? So many possibilities! And how does the original character react to this? 

2.- Being terrible with names. I mean, as someone who once forgot the name of a co-worker I saw every day and had been working with for years, it’s kinda upsetting when character’s in books just hear it once and remember. 

Especially when I’m just dying to be reminded this character’s name because I forgot. It’s not only a very relatable character flaw, it’s useful for reminding readers of who’s who! Something a lot of authors don’t do enough of (including me, I know my characters better than my co-workers, so of course it’s obvious to me). 

3.- Hoarding. Not like to the point where’s it’s dangerous and a problem that needs to be solved, but to the point where you have a shoe box full of receipts from seven years ago for stuff that never had a guarantee. To the point where you have leaflets from concerts you went to at the age of ten and can’t throw away “because of the memories!” To the point where you have magazines because, “look at the pretty pictures! I can use that in scrap booking somewhere… some day.” Or stickers from when you were five years old that won’t even stick anymore. 

Again, lots of people do this, it’s relatable, but also, it gives you lots of opportunities to show us stuff about the character, about their past and how they’ve changed with time. Natural exposition baby! 

4.- Gets anxious when there’s too much noise, or too many people. Not as a plot point, not as a symptom of autism or something. Just normal, over stimulation. Because over stimulation can happen to anybody, and our ability to withstand it is different. 

This too can be useful, it can be a good way to separate two characters from the group. “Oh, I’ll go with her, you guys stay, don’t worry!” 

Also, it’d be nice to see a character realise the environments not good for them, communicate that calmly and leave before over stimulation. Like, you think after years of this shit I don’t know before things get too bad? You’d be right sometimes, but not all times. Sometimes I know my limits, and I never see that in media (if you know any media that does do this, tell me!). 

5.- Having zero sense of direction. Because after four years I still manage to get lost on my own street if I come in from a direction that isn’t the one I use every day and again, I want representation. 

Plus, you can have character’s get lost (especially in fantasy worlds with no GPS) as a way to discover new locations or send other characters to find them. 

I hope you found at least one of these ideas useful. Or, they inspired you to think of other good and not often seen character flaws. 

I want to state that I’ve used the word character “flaw” but that might not be entirely accurate for some of these I just can’t think of a more accurate word right now. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Which one of these can apply to one of you characters? What flaws did I miss out? 

So, if you’re not new around here you may know I’m bilingual, was born and raised for the first six years of my life in one country and then got to experience another. Both a privilege and kind of traumatic. But as such as I have experience with differences in cultures. 

I’m not going to however be talking about any real culture. I mostly write fantasy and I’m just going to be talking about some ideas for differences between cultures that you can use to make your own cultures more realistic. Because lets be honest, a lot of things we just assume are the same everywhere.  

I was going to do a list, but if I did I’d probably take far too long so instead I’ll probably be doing several of these. For today, we are talking about: Food but more specifically, meals. 

Food is probably one of the first things people think about when thinking about differences in cultures (or maybe I’m just hungry). It’s easy to understand and makes sense as different locations have access to different produce.

But more than the food itself, I always find it more surprising the difference in consumption. So, where I was born, we’d usually have three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and supper. 

Where I currently live however it’s far more typical to have five meals a day. Breakfast, snack, lunch, evening snack and supper. (Snack and evening snack are actually called almuerzo and berenar, but I  don’t think there is an exact translation to English). I have quite happily adopted the evening snack, going for a coffee/tea and some bakery good is amazing. But I still after fifteen years cannot do the morning snack, it’s just too many meals. And this has always been shocking to my coworkers, classmates or friends who tell me off for “skipping meals”. 

The other thing is times at which meals are consumed. Supper where I currently live is usually around 9pm. Where I come from it’s like 5pm. My boyfriends is always shocked when we go have supper with my grandparents at 5pm, “it’s not supper, it’s a very large evening snack,” he will claim. 

Then there are things like with whom and where you have meals. Who prepared the meals. 

Where I come from, eating out is a luxury, despite being a country with far more economic power.Where I currently on the other hand, eating out is almost a routine. It’s a matter of prioritisation, you might have cheap shoes but you still have to go out for lunch everyday with your coworkers because it’s expected of you. 

The conclusion and most important point I want to make is: there’s a lot more to food, than what you’re actually eating. 

So, maybe take a break from staring at maps and figuring out the climate and produce and the meals that could be made with it, and broaden your culture with simpler yet significant details. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here. I’m going to be doing a sale on my ebook real soon for Christmas/my birthday! (I’ll be doing a post, don’t worry). 

What interesting meal differences are there in your culture?