With all the talk about inclusion these days, I wanted to mention the many ways we can celebrate our differences and begin the journey of walking a few steps in each others’ shoes. When someone shares a meal or recipe from their culture that sounds odd to you, instead of responding with disgust, say, …
Diversity is trending. I hear people say that all the time. “What’s this diversity thing? Can I get in on the action? Hey, maybe I’ll write bout X because that’s what everyone is looking for right now!” I’ve seen the dismay of some people at how diversity is seen as a “flavour,” instead of a …
One thing I’ve been sitting on is trying to explain the challenges of worldbuilding when you’re coming from a culture that isn’t the “default” seen in your genre, e.g. as mine with fantasy. I’ve mentioned before that my worldbuilding is a love letter to the Philippines. As a colonized country, the Philippines lack a unifying …
Read more “Worldbuilding Challenges When You’re Not the Default”
So, first, a few updates and announcements to get out of the way. I’ll be embarking on another round of edits for The Xiaran Mongrel next week. It’s going to need a lot of edits. I’m not the kind of writer who takes pride in clean first drafts and am pretty happy to just have …
I‘m not sure if this is a character flaw, but I don’t like to write or read about completely happy stories. Not to say that I don’t like my happy endings (I do!), but I seem to relate more to stories where the characters have to struggle. I’m not a fan of pure escapism stories …
