The best thing about writing SFF is the
fact that you get to make stuff up. I mean, whatever you want, really, as long
as it fits the mood, tone and logic. It’s one of things I love most about
writing genre. Your imagination is your only limit.
When I was writing Burn Bright [aka
The Night Creatures trilogy]and the sequels, I wanted to create a sense that
food was really a heightened sensation like everything else on Ixion, and I mixed
up inventing foods with the very familiar: like goo-berry pie, black linguine
and pink sauce, streaky bacon and red chilli beans, sweet oatmeal and wisp
bread, rolled meats and honey-drenched pastries.
‘The [wisp] bread melted on her tongue like
buttery air.’
I have no idea what wisp bread or goo-berry
pie are, but I’d love to taste them!
In the real world of food, I’m a sucker for
crisp streaky bacon, and a knock over for pastries and cakes. My Covid 19
guilty pleasure has been watching all the cake piping channels on Instagram.
It’s kind of mesmerising – the things you can do with frosting!
Once, years ago, I made a passionfruit
flummery dessert with toffee
shards. I have such a strong memory of the dish that the toffee shards turn
up in just about everything I have written since.
So, food in fiction was all going deliciously
for me and then a few years ago, I developed a gluten intolerance. Now when I
write stories, I’m much more mindful of what people can eat. I take care
to vary my characters diets. It’s added a new dimension to how I think about
food in my stories. I’m writing a dark fantasy fiction novel right now and have
introduced “thin-fish” and “ropey” cheese. So far, there is MUCH less wheat
bread.
I also really love to explore what the
physical terrain of my books can actually produce for its inhabitants. You
can’t grow everything, everywhere, and it’s engrossing making the decisions
that affect it. What is the soil like? Is there much water? What’s the life
cycle of the plant/animal species? How do you preserve food here? The world
building that underpins the food consumption can be as fascinating, as having
your characters eat it.
There are some great food-a-licious books
out there, but a couple of my favourites are
Kerry Greenwood’s Corinna
Chapman series – she’s a sleuth and a baker; Livia Day’s Café
la Femme novels. Go check the out 😊 Bon Appetit!
Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, Marianne!
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