On "Success"

There’s a thing going around twitter where New York Times bestselling authors talk about how their success was not overnight. It’s true, success is not overnight! But here’s a variation for you.

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FeaturesMalinda Lowriting
Chinese Food in 1950s America

I’ve always believed that food is an integral part of world-building. It’s the fifth of my “Five Foundations of World-Building,” and I also included it in my post on world-building in realistic fiction. Food can be a useful shorthand for culture, and it can also be layered over the course of an entire novel to tell a more complicated story about power and identity.

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Building a Real World

Many years ago I wrote a blog post called “Five Foundations of World-Building,” focused on fantasy and science fiction. Writing novels set in the real world still requires world-building, so I’m revisiting that “Five Foundations” post today and revising it to focus on realistic fiction.

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