DDW - S2 Ep 09 - Flipping the Script and Building Different Worlds with Clare Sager

2022-03-16

In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—interview Clare Sager about building different worlds in our fiction. Clare Sager is an office lackey turned full-time author. With both a bachelor of arts and a masters of arts in Creative Writing, she is now living her life-long dream of writing fantasy adventure stories of swoon-worthy, troublesome men and strong, sassy women who can handle them. When she's not writing or master planning her next book, she's an editor, outline coach, and formatter. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, sewing, and lifting weight...

In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—interview Clare Sager about building different worlds in our fiction.

Clare Sager is an office lackey turned full-time author. With both a bachelor of arts and a masters of arts in Creative Writing, she is now living her life-long dream of writing fantasy adventure stories of swoon-worthy, troublesome men and strong, sassy women who can handle them.

When she's not writing or master planning her next book, she's an editor, outline coach, and formatter. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, sewing, and lifting weights at the gym (she’s as shocked by the latter as anyone). Her stationery addiction knows no bounds, with a washi tape and fountain pen collection to rival that of a stationery store. She loves to spend time chilling out with her planner plotting world domination. She likes cats, coffee, and cocktails, and speaks fluent sarcasm.

What we talked about

Why Clare felt compelled to build a different world for her fictional characters
How consistently asking yourself “What if…?” will help you build better fictional worlds
How to use a coin (or dice!) to populate your world with a wide set of characters
That diverse characters are just like any other characters
The importance of being curious about the world and remaining open to what there is to learn

(Re)sources mentioned on the show

All about Clare: https://claresager.com
Clare’s books: https://claresager.com/books
Clare’s author services: https://services.claresager.com
The Decolonial Atlas: https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com
Writing the Other Tumblr: https://writingtheother.tumblr.com
Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice: https://annleckie.com
Kalynn Bayron, author of Cinderella Is Dead: https://www.kalynnbayron.com/books
Jessica M. Butler, author of Sweet Pear: https://www.jessicambutler.com
May Sage: https://www.goodreads.com/maysage
Bethany’s Editing Your Novel's Structure: Tips, Tricks, and Checklists to Get You From Start to Finish: https://theartandscienceofwords.com/new-book-for-authors/

This week’s episode page can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2022/03/17/s2e9

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