Today, July 6^th, is International Kissing Day. It’s an unofficial British holiday (now worldwide, apparently) designed to promote the emotional, psychological, and physical benefits of kissing. It can actually help reduce stress. It can even share germs in a way that boosts your immune system. (It can also have the opposite effect, so be careful who you kiss.)

Anyway… Romance in fantasy fiction.

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The Romantasy Genre

There’s no doubt that romantasy as a genre is HUGE right now. For those who don’t know, these are romance books with the whole relationship arc and happily ever after thing set in a fantasy world with fantasy tropes aplenty. Romantasy has developed popular tropes of its own. There are a lot of enemies to lovers tales (rival kingdoms, assassin and target), fated mates stuff (beyond werewolf shifters), forbidden romances (fae/human pairs), morally gray love interests (shadow daddies), and powerful heroines (hidden magic powers).

I read a lot of comments online about how people are getting tired of young, sassy (or whiny) female love interests who can’t resist the dark fae prince even though there’s suddenly a whole kingdom that will perish if she doesn’t master her bloodline’s powerful magic. Of course, there are TONS of people still buying these books.

If I ever decide to write one, it’ll probably be with a tired 40-something who is decided NOT the chosen one.

Romantic Subplots in the Fantasy Genre

This is something that I think about more often, and it’s usually a “Should I or shouldn’t I?” type of thing.

Sometimes characters just fall in love, and you really can’t do anything about it. I don’t think romance is the default for all people, though. I sat here for a few minutes, drinking my coffee and wracking my brain for some of my WIPs (works in progress) that have romantic subplots.

I have one novel where there’s a guy with a crush but an establishing relationship between two others. It hardly comes into things until the end though. And… bringing it back to the holiday… no one even kisses.

Which brings me to another whole discussion: physical intimacy on the page. Now, I write steamy sex scenes and even erotica under other pen names. I have no problem exploring the full gamut of human (and other sapient creature) relationships. Some people don’t like that. Some people think it’s wrong. Some people are prudes.

Sometimes, though, sexy times get shoved into stories where it’s really not necessary – not even for a genre marketing purpose. I mean, if you’re writing a romantasy or a steamy contemporary romance, you need to put sex in there. Readers expect it. If not… make sure it’s not gratuitous.

Anyway. Happy International Kissing Day. I hope you have someone to reduce stress and share beneficial germs with. If not, you can read about it and fantasize instead.

Anyway… When building worlds and magic systems, I tend to add deities quite frequently in my books. I could explore the ‘whys’ of this at some point, but not today. The ideas of gods and goddesses floating around influencing things and helping to create magic makes sense. Well, it makes sense from a realism perspective.

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People tend to make up reasons why stuff happens when they don’t understand it. If the people in your fantasy world don’t know why someone can shoot fireballs or someone else can read minds, they might just blame it on the deities. That is pretty much how religion starts, right? Well, that and someone powerful trying to stay in control.

I won’t get into that right now either.

Does Your Fantasy World Need Religion?

Who am I to say? I’m sure there are some writers who work in gods and goddesses because they themselves believe in some Earthly ones. It’s just part of their worldview. Some may even put in one specific god(dess) because they’re trying to push their agenda or align their stories with what they believe is true and right.

For the rest of us, religion in fantasy worlds often makes sense politically or socially (see the above comments about control and power). It’s also a useful way to create a magic system.

In one book I’m working on right now, there’s a goddess who controls the flow of existence, basically. Her skilled followers use the power (innate and learned) to manipulate and use that flow to do magical things. Could this be done without a goddess behind it? Sure. It’s a bit like Chinese philosophical chi, which has nothing to do with a deity at all. For the purposes of my book, the goddess makes sense.

How Do You Go About Creating a Fantasy Deity?

In general, I ask myself three questions:

· What purpose do they serve?

· Does belief in them affect the world?

· How do they manifest or influence things?

The pantheon (or single god(dess)) you create needs to exist for a reason in your world, just like all other elements. It could be guidance, control, humor… There are a million reasons. They could be incidental, such as one member of the adventuring party kisses his god’s amulet before a fight or another says a prayer before drinking ale.

Believing in them should affect the world in some way. Even the small evidence mentioned above does something. They slow things down at important moments. They make other characters get frustrated or feel guilty about their excessive ale consumption. If you’re talking about more comprehensive religions, they obviously affect the world (or part of it) in big ways. That control and power thing again, which could be for good or evil.

Finally, do the deities in your world actually show up and do stuff or make things possible? In my one story, the goddess makes it possible for certain followers to heal people. Without her ‘flow power’ (that sounds ridiculous), they’d be down to questionable poultices and hot tea.

I’m a planner when I write, especially when it comes to the basics of world-building. If I don’t write stuff down, I’ll probably forget it (Hey, I’m getting old!) Organizing purpose, world affects, and powers when creating the religious aspects of the world makes just as much sense as figuring this stuff out for the rulers, economy, social mores, etc.

First thought… Wow, that’s boring! Very mundane. Sounds like the type of thing a teacher would give to kids for some busy work on a Friday afternoon.

Let’s see what I can do with it. As usual, 15 minutes of free writing and posting it unedited.

The Snake In the Grass

“Mm—” The word ‘Miss’ was on the tip of my tongue, ready to call out to the woman who just dropped her wallet in the middle of the sidewalk. I bit my tongue instead, the sharp tang of blood on my teeth for a second before I swallowed it down.

The wallet lay open in my hand, a couple bills fanning out slightly, an ID I didn’t need to look at to know whose it was, and a debit card with the faint edge of trees printed on the plastic.

And one of those plastic photo inserts. The first one showed a boy of about twelve forcing a smile. The second showed a coiled black snake in a messy yard, the grass grown high enough it was obvious no one had mowed that week. Maybe the boy was supposed to. Maybe it didn’t matter.

There was nothing that unusual about the snake. I get them in my own garden sometimes. And there wasn’t anything too unusual about the fact that there was a foot in the picture too. Surprise feet when taking photos top-down weren’t odd either.

I don’t know why I was trying to justify the normalcy of it. There wasn’t anything normal at all. It wasn’t a foot. A black, shiny, cloven hoof stood there, tamping down the grass in a wide arc, and I tried to figure out how the person took the photo to get a hoof in there.

From the back of a horse? You’d get the horse, not just one hoof. And why wouldn’t the horse freak out about the snake right in front of it anyway?

I glanced up, but the woman was so far down the sidewalk that I could only make out her green hat anymore. She’d miss her wallet, no doubt. I tilted my head to peer into the billfold section. It was only fourteen dollars, but no one really carried cash anymore. I thumbed the debit card to the side. There was a folded piece of paper I had no business looking at, so I didn’t.

My gaze strayed back to the photo. The snake. The hoof. Then I saw something else that hadn’t registered as anything before: a shadow. It stretched out across the messy grass like you’d expect on a summer afternoon.

Now, shadows can do funny things. They don’t have to look human depending on the angle of the sun and… other stuff. I’m not a scientist. They didn’t usually have horns though, right?

A breeze hit the back of my head, and I whirled around as if it meant something. The sidewalk behind me lay empty and still. The leaves on the sad birch in front of the laundromat didn’t move. The sound of traffic seemed to fade out. I turned back the other way just in time to see someone duck out of sight around the far corner.

…. That was 15 minutes and it certainly wasn’t very interesting! Still, my fingers and brain are warmed up for the day.

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Did you experience any fairy shenanigans yesterday? Do you ever?

Coming across this holiday made me think for a moment about the fantasy fiction I write. I don’t think I’ve ever written about a fairy or the fae court or anything. It’s much more popular these days in Romantasy, which I don’t (yet) write. (I’ve considered it, as I write romance under other pen names already.)

The whole idea of the fae court is a lot more intriguing than Disneyfied or flower fairies. They’re sweet, but I don’t do sweet too often.

What common classic fairy elements do you put in your fantasy?

Wings are a must, even if they’re hidden magically for a while. The whole hierarchical structure of the court is important. Fairy tricks, bargains, and questionable agreements seem a lot of fun to explore and write. Humans shouldn’t accept gifts or give their names. Changeling babies that tie well into the idea of portal fantasy.

The problem remains… I don’t need any more ideas!

Yes, this has been done many times before. It’s probably why my much younger self thought it was a good idea. I’m not super happy that I have such a prominent cliché, but it absolutely works for the (new version of) the story. He’s also partly an assassin, which is another issue.

What’s the point of me calling out my own novel like this? Well, I still really love the story as a whole. I think it has some unique elements and is generally entertaining. Also, it’s on its fourth or fifth draft and probably pretty close to being done.

I have a problem finishing things.

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Maybe I should ask when it’s okay to use cliches? Maybe I should be stricter with what I include in a novel I intend to publish. I don’t know. Sometimes you just have to let things go instead of trying to wedge them into a place called perfection. (Perfection doesn’t exist!)

Instead, I’m going to explore the idea of royal bloodlines in general. They’re important. That’s usually how the crown and control get passed down. If there’s a stepchild (bastard and illegitimate aren’t very nice words, are they?), especially if it’s the mother’s biological child and proven not to be the king’s, they’re often not in line for the throne.

In my book, there’s another son who is both the heir and much less suited to continue his father’s style of rule. I think that makes things a bit more interesting. Is that cliché? Maybe.

Why am I not scared of cliches?

It’s not that I want to put a book out that is one after another. That’s why I’m editing quite extensively and changing some fundamental things about the plot, the world, and the circumstances of the book. Some are comfortable, though, and some just happen. Every time a royal bastard shows up, there’s no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

When I say everything starts with plants, it’s because that’s where life comes from. There might be some places where there are no plants, such as in underground cavernous worlds where everything runs on mushrooms. In most cases, however, fantasy worlds have plants.

Why The Types Of Plants Matter

All food sources start with plants whether you’re talking about animals or whatever humanoids populate your world. They also make oxygen, but most world building for fantasy fiction doesn’t get into the nitty-gritty like that. It would be a bit ridiculous if we had to explain how our characters breathed.

And a lot of stories, we don’t explain what they eat either. There might be some mention of stew in a tavern, a hunk of dry bread thrown to a prisoner, or a grand feast in a king’s hall. It’s perfectly fine to default to Earth plants and just carry on with the rest your plot.

If you’re really into world building, however, plants matter an awful lot. It all goes back to a kind of ecosystem.. Is it a prairie with a lot of grasses? Then you people will probably raise cattle or some other sort of herd animal. Are there massive trees? Then every single building will be made of wood. The types of plants matter because they affect every single other thing that your created civilization does from building to beliefs to the economy to even magic.

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Coming Up With Fantasy Plants

Again, it’s perfectly fine to stick with Earth plants and ecosystems. Readers are familiar with these and will feel comfortable in your world. Also, there are tons of different environments and types of plants on earth, see you have a lot to choose from. The more you know about the real world, the easier it is to create a believable and unique fake one.

So, the first thing to consider is if you should bother coming up with fantasy plants at all. I’m a strong proponent of not calling a rabbit a smeerp. False exoticism doesn’t do anyone any good. If your world has a plant which grows symmetrical rows of grain at the top, harvestable in the autumn, and regularly ground into flour for bread, there is absolutely no reason to call it bloogadi instead of wheat.

My general rule for making a plants is to keep them limited to just a few options and make them important to the world in some way. For example, I have a broadly spreading tree that lives in the southern plains of one of my books has bright red seedpods used for ceremonial food, dyes, and as an intoxicant once fermented. The propagate through linear root systems and are thus also used as navigational aids in some cases.

Why did I create these trees? Because it’s fun to create stuff and because they serve a unique purpose in the story I’m writing. Could I have used in earth plant? Sure, but then I would’ve missed out on the process of fantastical thinking.

A lot of fantasy world plants that have nothing to do with Earth ones are magical, ceremonial, or extremely rare. This is perfectly fine, of course, as the plant itself becomes an element in the plot instead of a normal part of the world. Keep in mind that it could be a heck of a lot of fun coming up with imaginary parts of the world too.

It’s about writing, and oceans can play a big role in that realm, too. First of all, many made-up worlds have oceans. I’ve never actually written about pirates, but they need oceans. I have a sea monster or two lurking in a couple of my stories, and those are quite interesting.

The Fear of the Deep, Dark, Depths

There’s a certain amount of fear that most people have about the dark depths of the unknown, and the ocean symbolizes that perfectly. Thalassophobia and the like. I’m pretty sure I have that, although pictures and videos don’t bother me. I’ve even played Subnautica without much trouble. Get me in a deep lake or the ocean, however? Nope. There are definition THINGS down there, and they want to eat me.

In horror fiction, the ocean can play a huge role as itself. I actually have a work in progress that features it: a novella called “The Angler.”

An excerpt from “The Angler”

The journey ended at last with his shoes in the sand, the clapboard behemoth at his back, and the far deep sea before him. Fourteen months earlier, this would have included Emery’s open smile, a grasped hand, a kiss to seal all things forever more. He sucked salt air between his scarred lips and swiped the hair out of his eyes with the twisted, melted thing at the end of his right arm.

It’s not really about the feat of the ocean, but of something horrific lurking in it: a sea monster and a memory.

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Icebergs: Death and Writing

Icebergs can be scary. Just ask the people on The Titanic. You combine the dark depths with the frozen northern wastes and things get even more grim.

When most people talk about icebergs and writing, however, they’re using them symbolically. The iceberg method (Or, I guess it’s not really a method… it’s more like a fact of writing) states that only a very small percentage of everything the writer knows about the story shows up on the page. Like an iceberg only shows 10% of itself above the water, we don’t put every single thing we’ve researched, planned, or know on the page either.

If we put everything in, it would probably be boring. No one wants an in-depth study on weather patterns in 16^th century Scotland or precise explanations of how octopuses breed. Readers don’t want to know everything about our characters either. Implying stuff so they can infer things is much better. Helps people stay smart, too.

Keeping stuff beneath the surface often makes it more effective. At least, I hope it does, since that’s the way things work in my novella.

Something moved under the quiet ripples of evening. Something shadowed the surface. A faint blue light glowed near the rocks then vanished. Robert watched, the screams echoing in his mind, but the light did not reappear. Eventually, he turned his back on the water and retreated inside the house.

A vegan punk rocker gets contacted by their cousin who wants to talk for the first time in a decade. What is the childhood secret they shared that the cousin wants to discuss, and how does the vegan’s reaction surprise even her?

“Sprout.”

The voice on the other end of the call sounded a bit like my old Aunt Mary and more like that one actress from that kids show… you know the one. With the high school girl who fought zombies? I hadn’t heard it in years.

I’d never admit to watching that show. I mean, zombies were cool enough, but the rest of it was a bit too mainstream for me. Besides zombies are carnivores and meat. Just yuck. I pushed my hot pink bangs back and tucked them behind my ear.

“Sprout, are you there? Michelle?”

I hadn’t heard my legal name in years either. Well, except at the bank and when I accidentally picked up a telemarketer’s call.

“Who is this?”

When she answered, everything snapped back into place. “It’s Carry-Ann, your cousin from Texas?” She said it like a question, and I suddenly had a million of my own.

The only one that managed to make its way out of my brain was, “Why are you calling me?” which was a stupid question, because I really though I knew exactly why she was calling me after nearly a decade.

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I crossed my fingers, silver rings clinking together, and turned down the Sex Pistols before “Bodies” reached the first chorus. I couldn’t deal with that right now. Maybe Aunt Mary was dead. Maybe Carry-Ann wanted to sell me some MLM crap.

She took a deep breath. “I have a son,” she began, and things started to get blurry. “The DNA, well… I have a lawyer, and I was hoping you could maybe…”

She couldn’t finish a sentence, and I couldn’t finish a thought. A swirl of memories spun through my mind, black and red, of late summer days with Uncle in the barn, Uncle on the stairs, Uncle at the door. I looked down at the leather bracelets hiding half the scars. Nothing ever hid the ones in my brain.

Well, that got dark.

Ideas aren’t the problem. I have way too many of those.

Time is the problem. I’m a very busy person, and with personal stuff (caring for elderly parents, disabled son, and an upcoming move), the economy, and my career (freelance writing) going the way it’s going, and all that won’t let up anytime soon. I’m already working on multiple projects for my various pen names.

In the end, I have to look at things realistically. It’s much better for my career to put out another book on a platform where I can earn some money and satisfy existing readers. Building another audience on another site isn’t something I have time or energy for. Or the skills really. Again, I’ve always been bad at this social media stuff.

I still don’t believe I can write well or every be any type of success with fiction. It’s not a matter of thinking I should be earning more. Outside validation is great, but no matter how many people say they like my stuff, the imposter syndrome is still very real.

What Is Imposter Syndrome?

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing something or how successful you are at it. Everyone can get imposter syndrome. It’s the persistent, gnawing belief that you really don’t deserve the skill or any success that comes with it. It’s only a matter of time before someone figures out you’re fooling everyone and exposes you as the fraud you are.

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The voices of doubt and fear are very strong. They don’t have to be loud, and they don’t show up all the time. Sometimes, I actually think “Wow, I’m pretty good at this writing thing!” Most of the time, no. Getting published or making a sale still usually feels like I’m getting away with something.

Imposter Syndrome Mutates

In the beginning of anyone’s writing journey, it makes sense to have doubt and feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. To be perfectly blunt, you don’t… for the most part. It’s easy to believe.

It doesn’t really go away when you actually get better, though. For one thing, there’s always more to learn and there’s always someone better or more successful that you. The imposter syndrome mutates into a new type of monster. You’ve been lucky. People are just being nice. (Ha!) It’s really good at figuring out your weak spots and poking at them.

There I go talking about the syndrome like it’s some monster lurking in the dark. Well, I guess you could say all these self-confidence issues lurk in the dark of our subconscious, right?

It’s an apt metaphor. Monsters are the most effective and the scariest when you can’t really see them head on. As soon as you drag one out into the light and start examining it, it loses some of its power. This feeling of being an imposter in a world full of experts kinda works the same way. It thrives where you don’t look at it too closely. It lurks in the gap between what you’ve actually accomplished and what you let yourself know about how far you’ve come.

Who Doesn’t Feel Like an Imposter?

An interesting thing about Imposter Syndrome is that the people who really aren’t making the effort don’t experience it. Making it’s the cousin to the Dunning Kruger effect. They feel like they’re great at something because they simply believe there’s nothing left to learn. They know it all, so they must be wonderful, right?

It kinda sucks sometimes to know that you need to know so much more. It’s frustrating. I guess the whole ‘ignorance is bliss’ adage rings true. Imposter Syndrome haunts people who give a damn about learning more and improving their craft. We know we’re not good enough yet because there’s still so much space above us we can reach for. That’s actually a really good argument for NOT being an imposter at all.

Can You Cure the Syndrome?

No, sorry.

Well, if you can, I haven’t figured out a way to do it yet. Not completely. Focusing on learning and growing helps because at least you know you’re constantly getting better. Taking time to affirm your accomplishments does too. Mindfulness, practicing gratitude, whatever you want to call it. Staying humble. That doesn’t mean downplaying how good you are, by the way.

What helps?

For many, external validation certainly does. It feels great to get good reviews, acceptances, or positive comments from readers or critiquers. That only goes so far, though. You can’t keep chasing outside opinions forever or you’ll end up annoying everyone.

It’s not like if you just reach 100 5-star reviews on a book, you never feel like a fraud again. You can’t take a class in self-confidence and have it work 100% of the time. There’s no real milestone that destroys the monster forever, even if you set a personal goal and surpassed it. It’ll still be lurking around in the dark just waiting to jump out and grab ahold when you least expect it.

I guess, in the end, it’s just another part of the whole truth about being a writer – or any type of creative professional – that we have to deal with. It’s a strange life sometimes, but it can be really good, too.

LGBTQ+ friendly things have been happening in these stories for a long time. Today, it’s pretty normal to find some non-straight folks in these books. Why? Well, for one thing, we’re here and we’re not going anywhere. For another, we’re still ‘the other’ to a lot of the world.

Way back when, Carmilla had some serious sexual tension with other women. Dracula came along luring Harker into his dark designs. Seduction is a huge thing with vampires, but not always in some monstrous way. Especially today, it’s more about forbidden desires and transformation.

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Folklore witches rejected social norms, hung out, and did all sorts of things (often naked!) with each other. Werewolves symbolize transformation in a big way. Fairies are super queer-coded too in a lot of old stories.

But wait, you might say… All these things are horrible monsters! They’re destroying nice, wholesome people, ruining their lives, and often killing them.

Well, have you seen what people say about us? Symbolism isn’t static. Death is not always death, and destruction of some pseudo-superior, societally acceptable high ground is not really an issue. Back when I was young, the word ‘queer’ was a slur. Not anymore. We can take a lot back and recognize the truth and the good in even the monstrous stuff.

That’s one thing fantasy and horror readers and writers are good at, after all. We’ve always been a little bit better at seeing and accepting the outsider. Let’s keep it up.

Happy Pride everyone. Fuck the haters. They’re the real monsters.

Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.

Sounds good to me! There’s a heavy emphasis in the week’s artwork and community on diversity and inclusion, as there should be. After all, a huge percentage of books banned across the country are those focused on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ subgenres, characters, issues, etc. You know, like ones about scientifically accurate information about gay penguins… or history books that tell true stories about Civil Rights. According to the ALA, 47% of challenges included these types of topics or people.

Who is leading the charge to ban books? The usual suspects, of course. Florida, Texas, and Utah top the list of states. 92% of challenges came from organized groups trying to ban whole lists of titles at the same time. In 2025, 66% of challenges ended up with books being banned.

Hm… 66… only one digit off from that number they claim is from the devil. A coincidence? Ha.

More terrible numbers:

4,235 titles were targeted in 2025, basically tying the record of 4,240 from 2023. There were only about 2,500 in 2022. These people are getting more active, more successful, and more horrible all the time.

Why do people want so many books banned?

Why do you think? Control. Racism. Homophobia. Bigotry. Keeping people uneducated and away from alternate truths so they don’t develop critical thinking skills. You remember the quote, “I love the uneducated?” Well… yeah. They want to keep people that way. It makes them easier to control.

Why am I getting political?

Everything is political in a world controlled by politics. Wouldn’t it be nice if reading books wasn’t? Unfortunately, there are too many bad people out there trying to stop others from learning, growing, thinking, and experiencing unique things.

Literacy rates are dropping. In the past five years, the lowest proficiency level of literacy has gone from 19% of adults to 28% of adults. Roughly 54% of adults read below a sixth-grade level. The average literacy score for US adults has dropped 13 points since 2017.

That’s damn scary.

Let books be. Protect the freedom to read.

It’s a catchy song, and I get stuff stuck in my head far too easily.

The song itself is not about writing, of course, and takes a bit of a dark view of all the sensory information in the world ‘today’ (the today at the time of writing, which has only gotten worse really) and how it both augments and obscures what’s really going on.

That, too, matches how to use description in stories.

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Basic Description Tips

1 – Don’t over or under describe.

A good tip, but not cleanly defined. It’s up to us to figure out what too much and too little are. How do you do this? You figure out what details serve the story and only include those… with perhaps a couple more here and there because they’re awesome or paint a more artistic picture of the world, character, or what’s going on. It’s about pacing, too.

2 – Use all five senses.

Unless your point of view character doesn’t have one sense (i.e., they’re blind or profoundly deaf), use all other senses. Not only does this make things more realistic (even when you’re not writing realistic fiction) and relatable, but it’s a powerful tool in immersion.

People tend to focus on vision. It’s our strongest and most reliable sense. However, smell is the one most closely tied to memories. Touch stands in when all other senses falter.

3 – Specificity = More Immersion

Vague descriptions only work when they’re purposefully vague… like when a character is stuck in a dark basement with ear and nose plugs in and their hands tied and they’re only half conscious. How often does that happen though? If some senses are blocked for any reason, the other sensory information becomes more important. If they’re tied up in a dark basement, the murmur of voices above them and the scent of salty sea air and rotting fish drifting in the window become even more vital to your scene.

Specific doesn’t mean adding more descriptions or making it ‘fancy’ or purple prose. Yes, you usually have to use a few more words, but that doesn’t mean you go on and on. Consider “He sat on the red couch” vs. “He sat on the crimson velvet couch, the gold tassels tickling his ankles.” Which one immerses you in the experience more?

4 – Use the Most Effective Figurative Language

Metaphors and similes can really help you describe things in ways that make sense to the POV character and the overall mood of the scene. Avoid cliches. Don’t go overboard. Don’t mix metaphors unless that’s something your close point of view character would do.

Red as blood is a cliché, but what if a fighter who just came back from a huge battle is trying to describe something that color? It might work for them, but you still have to make it less boring. Make it specific. Red as the smears and splatters of a knife-thrust is much more visceral, both literally and figuratively.

Senses Augment and Obscure

Back to my original point inspired by the XTC song.

When you describe stuff going on in a story, the setting, or the characters, the main point is to augment the experience for the reader. You want them to see, smell, hear, taste, and feel what your characters do or how your world is. That’s immersion, the most powerful magic of storytelling.

But what if you don’t? Descriptions can obscure and trick readers just as easily. The hard part is doing it purposefully in a way that doesn’t actually confuse them. (Curmudgeon’s hat… I’ve seen people in writers’ and readers’ groups get quite confused about examples of this. Maybe it’s the dwindling lack of critical thinking the world’s suffering with? Know your audience.)

How do you use descriptions to obscure things on purpose? Perhaps more important, why would you want to? Stories frequently have hidden things – secrets, mysteries, double agents, red herrings – designed to trick the reader. Think of the sensory information as a magician’s sleight of hand. While you’re waving around a loud argument in the silk-draped parlor, someone’s sneaking in the back door to steal the silver.

Since I’m self-employed, I also wear soft clothes in whatever suits the temperature during the day, too. I’m not a fashionista at all, and comfort always wins out over style. (Well, I have my own personal sense of style, but that usually only extends to weird t-shirts in black, gray, or dark, subdued colors.)

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What is Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day?

To be honest, I learned about it only from one of those ‘Strange Daily Holiday’ sites and haven’t found much else. Some company called Pajamagram launched it as a marketing thing in 2004 and invited people to stay in their PJs all day as a reward for getting US income taxes done.

It appears to have some interest internationally, however. The Guiness Book World Record for number of people wearing one-piece pajamas together happened in China in 2015. There were 1,879 people apparently. The earlier one – only 752 folks – happened in the UK.

Those people weren’t wearing them to work, though. I think a lot of self-employed or work-at-home people do wear what could pass as pajamas all day sometimes. Heck, lots of people wear pajamas out to the store these days, too. (I am not some curmudgeonly old person who gets angry at this, by the way. Wear what you want as long as it covers you up enough for public viewing.)

What Does This Have to Do With Writing?

Well, I’m a writer. Writing doesn’t require any particular uniform or level of professional outfit to get the words down on the page. You can wear anything from a unicorn onesie to skimpy lingerie and still work on your novel, short story, or script. Comfort helps so you don’t have anything distracting to get in the way of the words flowing.

Anyway… Happy Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day. I hope you have the opportunity to celebrate.

What many don’t know is how much backstory they should include and, especially, how to do it so it’s not boring or annoying. Before I get into things, let me repeat that I don’t think I’m the Ultimate Authority on Fiction Writing. Of course not. EVERYTHING in fiction is subjective (Well, not everything… There are rules like what semicolons do or genre conventions.) I spend a lot of time reading, writing, and learning stuff about fiction, though.

Two Main Types of Backstory

You have world backstory – what happened in the world before the plot began. And you have character backstory – what happened to the character specifically. The first is about world-building, and the second is about psychology and human behavior.

Every good book has both but not necessarily written into the story itself. It exists… unless you’re writing some kind of speculative fiction in which the world and character did not exist before Page One at all.

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World Backstory – What Matters and How Do You Share It?

This probably exists more in fantasy and science fiction where the world is decidedly not Earth or at least not the world as we know it now. It’s also more important in historical fiction where readers might not know all the details into life during those times.

You have to find a way to show the reader the world’s past because all that stuff went into creating the world as it is in the present world of the story. (Did that make any sense at all?)

The bad way to share the world’s backstory? An info dump.

Carmok wasn’t always the gleaming metropolitan city on the edge of the Broole Sea. Fifty years earlier, the demon mages swarmed through the region, killing everything in their path. After the war was won, it took twelve years for the rebel commander Serine to rise to power. It took another twenty for the agricultural economy to regrow enough to support the art and architectural guilds.

Boring! This isn’t a history text book. Granted, this isn’t a huge info dump. It’s just one paragraph. It’s still kinda boring. Also, it’s probably not important for the events in the book itself. If it is, find a way to mix the details into the plot.

The iceberg comparison is real. Most stuff stays hidden.

Most writers have heard about the iceberg theory of writing. About 90% of the stuff that affects the story remains hidden (About 90% of icebergs are underwater.) It simply doesn’t matter if twelve years passed before Serine took over unless you’re writing specifically about related people or events. If it’s simply twelve years later when your characters visit Carmok, they’re going to deal with how it is now.

Same thing pertains to historical fiction. You could get wrapped up researching hemp growth and rope production, but that won’t matter one bit if a highwayman is tying up a count he waylaid on the journey to his country estate.

Character Backstory – The Past Makes Them Who They Are

I’m a huge fan of learning about human behavior, psychology, and sociology. Stuff affects who people become as they grow up and experience life. Your childhood really does influence your adult beliefs, thought processes, fears, goals, and everything else.

In a book, none of that really matters all that much! (Again, as long as the story isn’t about your character growing up or overcoming specific trauma.)

Maybe Serine became a warlord because her parents never loved her and her evil uncle groomed her to be a weapon of destruction. That might be interesting IF Serine is the main character who undergoes some sort of redemptive arc. It’s not at all necessary if your character has to live under Serine’s tyrannical rule.

How to Share Backstory

No info dumping. Blend the backstory into the current story. Bring up stuff only when it needs to be explained. Trust your reader to get things without over explanation.

Exposition – Telling the reader important stuff – backstory included – midst the active part of your plot.

· Keep it short

· Keep it pertinent

· Make it from the character (or narrator) point of view

· Don’t shove it into the action

· Avoid “As you may know…” kind of telling

· Let readers infer stuff from what you share

“Your family owns all this land?” he asked, eyes widening at the rows of pepper plants that stretched toward the horizon.

She nodded and tucked her hands in the patch pockets on the front of her dress. “Oh yes, claimed it right after the war, my grandfather did. It took a while for the plants to grow again. Too much blood in the soil, Gramps always said.” She pointed off to the right. “The battle for Carmok Hill happened right there.”

“And it’s not odd?” he asked, “knowing so many died right where your peppers grow?”

Laughing, she grabbed his sleeve and steered him back toward the house. “It was years ago. No one’s haunting our peppers.”

Flashbacks – Psychological ‘journeys’ your character goes on, which are triggered by a specific thing in the present that sends them back into memory. They are not just scenes out of chronological order!

· Use a reasonable and character-specific trigger

· Show the flashback as an active scene

· Have an appropriate return to the main flow of the story

· Make them emotionally impactful

She snitched a slice of pepper from under her mother’s knife and popped it into her mouth before any chance of scolding. The heat burst on her tongue, almost painful, and brought her back to the first time Gramps offered her a slice in the far fields.

“Life comes with pain,” he said as his pocketknife excised a chunk of red flesh and scraped the seeds onto the ground. “But it also comes with sweetness.” He looked far afield as if seeing something other than the rows of plants surrounding them. “That’s why we fought here, and that’s why so many died.”

The same burning juice ran across my tongue, and I blinked back to the kitchen and my mother’s low chuckle. “You’ll burn your lips off one day, deary,” she said and slid the peppers into the pot.

Okay, I wrote these in about five minutes and didn’t bother editing or anything. They’re not the best examples of sharing backstory that ever existed. I don’t think they suck, though. You get a hint of what happened before and why it matters to the characters in the current story. That’s what backstory should do… and not much more.

Again, this is all subjective. Some people love reading pages of exposition about the history of a made-up land or the details about how things worked in days long gone. It’s a balance, as if everything in writing.

I have no such guilt and don’t really understand it. What is there to feel guilty about? And who are you afraid to offend?

The writer? They won’t know who didn’t finish their book unless you know them personally and tell them. Besides, if their book is so problematic, badly written, or boring that you don’t want to read it, why would you want them not to know that? It’s helpful information.

I’ve seen some people say that they feel they owe it to the writer to finish every book. Again, for what? Yes, the writer put effort into creating the book (You could argue that they didn’t put enough, though, if the book’s no good.), but people put effort into stuff all the time that you don’t waste your time on.

I’m an Old Curmudgeon

Maybe my age has something to do with it. I’m 51. I recognize clearly that I don’t have enough time left on this planet to read all the great books out there – and coming out all the time. It sucks, but there’s nothing I can do about it other than read faster.

That means not wasting time on books I’m not enjoying.

The curmudgeon bit comes into play, too. Now, first let me say that I never, ever, EVER rate a book badly after DNFing if it’s just not the book for me. Maybe the plot went somewhere I don’t enjoy. No problem! Other people will love it. I just set it aside and move on with life.

But there are some books (quite a lot self-pubbed, unfortunately) that are just bad. Objectively so. Yes, I believe in objective quality when it comes to writing. What makes a badly written book?

· Wild inconsistencies

· Gaping plot holes

· Gratuitous everything

· No grasp of grammar, spelling, punctuation

· Wrong pacing to a large degree

All these things, by the way, are fine SOMETIMES if they serve the story. For example, if the book has an unreliable narrator on purpose, there are going to be inconsistencies. You’re not going to find proper grammar or even punctuation in a first-person tale from someone who doesn’t know or use them. The Road (Cormac McCarthy) with its lack of ‘weird little marks’ is not a bad book.

When to DNF?

Whenever you want.

This is another conversation I never quite understand. Whenever I say I might DNF a book on the first page, there are some who vehemently state that’s not fair. Why not? Sometimes the first page sucks or I can tell something (like the POV character’s voice, for example) is something I don’t want to deal with for 300 more pages.

Some folks make rules for themselves like they must read 25% of the whole book, or two chapters, or half, or up until the first plot point using the beat sheet/outlining formula.

Why? I mean, obviously if you want to give a book longer to get going in the right direction for you, have at it. I’m not trying to convince anyone to give up earlier. If things really pick up after the fourth chapter, why didn’t the author start with the fourth chapter if that’s where the story really begins?

(Deep breath.)

There are about 11,000 books published every single day in the United States alone.

Of course, lots of them are not in any genres I’m interested in, and quite a few of them aren’t even novels or short story collections. If even 1% of them are, that’s 110 books every single day to potentially enjoy – impossible!

I read super-fast and have no life, and I can’t even read one book a day in most cases. DNF should be guilt-free. There’s enough to cause us stress in today’s world.

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Aside… I once came across a writing prompt forum or site (don’t remember what) with prompts that were basically entire stories with a ‘what happened next?’ kind of prompt every single time. To me, those lead the writer WAY too much and don’t give them enough opportunity to stretch their creative muscles. Virtually useless.

Today’s writing prompt for my flash fiction Friday: carry, pine, drift, pocket.

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The wind from the west carries the scent of pine, blowing back my hair from sweaty temples as I stand atop the wall. There’s nothing strange about this. As the fields empty and the people’s thoughts turn to evenings by fires, the forest always makes itself known. It’s the time for the woods, the pine, and the wind. It’s the time for me to take up my lonely vigil again.

Twenty years on, and I still wait for his figure to appear on the horizon, out on the dusty road where I watched him walk away so long ago. I carry the stone in my pocket and his name in my heart. I doubt I’ll ever get to bear his words, his thoughts, his feelings again.

I’m not his parent, and certainly not a love. We met on a chill evening in the late spring. He tried to slip his hand in my purse for any small coins he could find. I noticed. Of course, I did. I knew he was coming the moment his worn shoe hit the cobbles at the far end of the street.

Sometimes it’s hard having the sight tapped into the things that lurk behind the world. Sometimes it’s the answer to everything.

I stopped him, of course, brought him home and gave him bread and meat. Offered him ale and purpose as he grew. He left on this same night twenty years ago.

My thoughts drift in those uncomfortable ways that come more easily as time passes. He could be lost, my chosen son. He could be dead. I shake my head and tuck my hand into my pocket to touch the stone. He could be happy and spare no thoughts to the strange old man who set him on his way.

With one final breath of pine-scented air, I turn away from the view and back to the stairs. Sometimes I try to believe that I’ve lost my sight and that’s why I can’t feel his long-awaited approach. I’m only fooling myself. I still see the pain of loss clearly and the years stretching out alone before me. That never fades.

There are a lot of metaphorical meanings you can take from the idea that books and stories are the seeds for greater things. When children have the freedom to explore a wide range of books, it opens up their minds to options, possibilities, realities, and fantasies that help strengthen and broaden their minds. When someone restricts a young person’s access to books, it’s like failing to water a garden or provide sufficient nutrients

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Too Many People Are Currently Trying to Starve Children’s Minds

(And bodies but decimating SNAP and erasing free school meals is another topic.)

Just like a well-balanced meal provides all necessary nutrients for health and growth, a variety of books from diverse perspectives about wide-ranging topics offer more to nourish a child’s mind. Sticking with just one topic or stories from a very narrow authorship leads to weakness in one way or another. Some people don’t want kids to recognize options. They don’t want them to develop empathy or critical thinking skills or even academic knowledge outside of a very particular worldview.

The Benefits of Unrestricted Reading Are Profound

You can find TONS of stats about how reading often and from a young age improves everything from self-esteem to school grades. It increases vocabulary, cognitive development, and mental agility. Books also support children’s unique identities and make them feel like a vital part of the world no matter what the differences from their peers. Kids get validation that they’re okay just the way they are.

The ability for a kid to choose a book for themselves and complete it is a huge confidence booster. It gives them agency. That simple act – of going to a library or a bookstore and making their own choices – builds a long-term ability to discover and trust themselves, too.

International Children’s Book Day and all the literacy and book-sharing programs out there focus on one main thing: the right for children to read freely and widely. This simple thing does plant innumerable seeds that can grow into so many amazing things over time.

Good grief, I’m throwing out a bunch of odd phrases this morning. (Sips coffee.)

Since this is about writing fiction and not how to craft a great prank, I’m going to spin the topic quite a bit.

When world-building for fantasy stories, do you ever make tricks or pranks a part of the culture you’re creating?

I’m partial to jesters (see my last name and my logo), and their job is to tell jokes and play pranks and do tricks. I don’t actually write official jesters into my stories, though. So, how about the regular folks? Do they play tricks on each other? It’s an entirely human thing to do, and I’m sure elves, dwarves, and whatnots are just as likely to try to make each other laugh or – meanly – get one up on each other.

Using Tricks for Your Writing

There’s a whole other side to tricks or pranks in writing. I recognize I’m stretching the meanings here a bit. You don’t want to play actual pranks on your readers. They’ll toss your book at the wall and cross your author name off their ‘Must Read’ list.

That is… if the pranks abuse the writer-reader relationship. In a way, things like “It was all just a dream!’ are tricks. They subvert expectations, yes, but they also hurt the reader. They lose enjoyment of the whole experience because you did something not-so-nice to them.

Don’t do this.

What kind of tricky writing can work?

Unreliable Narrators

I wrote a whole post about this a few days ago. Sticking to the point of view of someone without a firm grasp on reality or a purposeful interest in deceiving can absolutely work.

Red Herrings

These can exist as story elements, such as a false clue in a mystery, or as part of the structure of the story itself. Start out presenting the book as one thing and then subvert expectations to turn it into something else. You have to do this carefully or risk alienating readers.

Meta-Fiction and Interference

‘This is a true story,’ but it’s not. Talking about found footage or documents that don’t really exist. Adding asides or footnotes from faux research or experiences that contradict or add another level to the narrative going on in the main story. Stories within stories can work well, too.

Messing With the Timeline

Non-chronological stories often involve a lot of trickery. The reader may know something that happened in the future before they understand the source of it from the past. Likewise, learning the past may affect what they already surmised from the present.

I occasionally see some very disturbing posts or comments about how things like flashbacks and different POVs confuse readers. Maybe people are getting dumber or attention spans have dwindled so much they can’t remember what happened earlier in a story? That’s a whole different conversation.

My point here is that you have to deploy these writerly tricks and pranks very carefully if you want them to have the desired impact. Amuse and confuse… but only temporarily. Readers still need immersion and a satisfying experience.

Every year, there’s a theme of sorts, which are all things espoused by the Fellowship and other important characters in the stories. Love and friendship. Hope and courage. Service and sacrifice

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Unlikely Heroes – 2026 Tolkien Day Theme

If you want to focus on the vast collection of Tolkien’s work, you can find a lot of unlikely heroes to root for, most especially Frodo and Sam. But this author’s work doesn’t only apply to the entire width and breadth of fantasy fiction that came afterward. You can also view reality through the lens aligned with these themes.

The world needs heroes right now… badly. But I’m not talking about big, strong, dedicated individuals who throw themselves in harms way or take on established evil. (Well, we can use some of those, too, to be frank.) We need everyday heroes, unlikely ones.

Frodo and Sam hung out, drank beer, smoked pipe weed, laughed with their friends, gardened, and did… whatever Frodo did, if he worked at all. Wrote books. Combed their foot hair. The big bad didn’t even come to their little world until Frodo was already on his way. Leaving protected them (although not the people in Bree much), but they didn’t have to DO much out of the ordinary until they were directly under attack.

Even if you’re not directly under attack, you can be an unlikely hero.

Standing up and saying something even when it’s uncomfortable or kinda scary can make you a champion of someone else OR for yourself. Even posting online saying ‘that’s wrong’ can help strengthen the side of hope, courage, love, and friendship.

The bad things happening in the US and the world today are way too big for any one little hobbit to handle. If we wait around for the kings, the wizards, the angels, and the other folk closer to the problem to do something, we’ll either be waiting a very long time, getting into deeper trouble, or ending up much like the poor Innkeeper in Bree, who was smashed into the mud by the hooves of evil trampling all over him.

It’s not all about the big stuff, either.

My content here isn’t going to get preachy or *gasp* political too often. This is primarily about books, writing, reading, and literacy. (Not that those things aren’t tied into the above anyway!) It’s impossible to not get affected by things, though.

To bring this back to the book community, sometimes being a hero means buying someone’s book or leaving a review, making a recommendation or sharing ideas and feedback, or encouraging someone when they feel like giving up. In the midst of all the horrors and hate, it certainly doesn’t hurt to make someone feel better about their passion or past time.