they read! they write! they dont sleep all night!

In Borderlands (as well as in the two book projects I'm currently working on now, Prieta, a novel/collection of stories I call “autohistorias," and Lloronas, Women Who Wail: Self-Representations and the Production of Writing, Knowledge, and Identities), I intended to problematize the relationship between reader, writer, and text— specifically the reader's role in giving meaning to the text. It is the reader (and the author reading as reader) who ultimately makes the connections, finds the patterns that are meaningful for her or him. There's a leeway for the reader to interact with the text because of the gaps. As the reader is reading along she may get pissed or angry or frustrated and then s/he may think, "Yeah. Last week I had a dialogue with a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a professor and it was about my feeling of invisibility..." Such passages in Borderlands arrest the reader and make her think of her own experiences, especially experiences where s/he has been abused or violated intellectually, emotionally, or physically. In this way the reader brings into the text her own experience.

The reader's co-creation of the book makes me, the author, realize that I am not the sole creator. There are certain things that the author sets up for the reader, but the reader is, to some degree, a co-author. This is even more true when the reader responds to the book in writing —with a book review, a critical paper, etc. The text is not a fixed text. The words will always be the same words, right? As long as they keep printing the book, the words remain the same. But the text will be different with each reader and each reading. The text will move and reveal something new every time you read it. If you read Borderlands, for example, ten years from now you will have a different identity and therefore will give it a different interpretation. You will be positioned in a different space, a different location, and you'll be thinking from that new bedrock— you will have a different perspective.

Perhaps things that you miss in the reading now, will resonate ten years from now. Things that you were excited about the first time you read the text, you won't even notice during the next read. I read Jane Eyre thirteen times from when I was nine until now, thirteen times, and each time was a different reading because my identity had changed. As a feminist I read it in a feminist way — I give it a feminist reading. My feminist reading gives me a different interpretation about Jane's and Bertha's characters. I now see something I missed when a younger reader: the racial dynamics between Rochester, Jane, and Bertha, who's a Creole/mestiza from Jamaica.

Typography Tuesday

Today we present some fancy Caslon capitals, borders, and ornaments from The Manual of Linotype Typography, printed by the Plimpton Press for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company in Brooklyn, New York, in 1923. William Caslon (1692-1766) famously introduced the first superior British Roman font in his 1734 specimen sheet. Various iterations of the Caslon typefounding house persisted until the 1930s when it was acquired by Stephenson Blake, but the Caslon Roman typeface remains the classic British font.

View another post from this manual.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (adult, based on Lithuanian Jewish history)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (adult, urban fantasy)

The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos (YA, urban fantasy)

Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes (adult, anthology)

A good amount of Alice Hoffman’s books

Same for Jane Yolen’s short stories and Briar Rose

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (adult, historical)

People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky and Sean Wallace (anthology)

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros (ya, historical urban fantasy about a series of murders in 1900s Chicago). Also read his sophomore novel Bone Weaver!

From Dust, a Flame by Rebecca Podos (ya, urban fantasy)

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by RM Romero (YA, ghost story told in verse)

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (ya, historical about angel and a demon coming to America)

Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (mg, urban fantasy murder mystery)

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft (ya, romantic fantasy about a fox hunt)

The Way Back by Gavriel Salt (ya, historical portal fantasy)

The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke (ya, historical time slip) and their stand alone, This Rebel Heart (ya, magical realism and historical)

Feverwake by Victoria Lee (ya, dystopian with magic)

(a worldbuilding roast. with love.)

So. You’re building a fantasy world, and you’ve just invented: → Three types of ceremonial jewelry → A spice that tastes like cinnamon if it were bitter and cursed → A holiday where everyone wears gold and screams at dawn

Cute. But that’s not culture. That’s aesthetics.

And if your worldbuilding is all outfits, dances, and spice blends with vaguely mystical names, your story’s probably going to feel like a cosplay convention held inside a Pinterest board.

Here’s how to fix that—aka: how to build a real, functioning culture that shapes your story, not just its vibes.

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🔗 Culture Is Built on Power, Not Just Style

Ask yourself: → Who’s in charge, and why? → Who has land? Who doesn’t? → What’s considered taboo, sacred, or punishable by death?

Culture is shaped by who gets to make the rules and who gets crushed by them. That’s where things like religion, family structure, class divisions, gender roles, and social expectations actually come from.

Start there. Not at the embroidery.

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2.🪓 Culture Comes From Conflict

Did this society evolve peacefully? Was it colonized? Did it colonize? Was it rebuilt after a war? Is it still in one?

→ What was destroyed and mythologized? → What do the survivors still whisper about? → What do children get taught in school that’s… suspiciously sanitized?

No culture is neutral. Every tradition has a history, and that history should taste like blood, loss, or propaganda.

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3.🧠 Belief Systems > Customs Lists

Sure, rituals and holidays are cool. But what do people believe about: → Death? → Love? → Time? → The natural world? → Justice?

Example: A society that believes time is cyclical vs. one that sees time as linear will approach everything—from prison sentences to grief—completely differently.

You don’t need to invent 80 gods. You need to know what those gods mean to the people who pray to them.

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4.🫀 Culture Controls Behavior (Quietly)

Culture shows up in: → What people apologize for → What insults cut deepest → What people are embarrassed about → What’s praised publicly vs. what’s hidden privately

For instance: → A culture obsessed with stoicism won’t say “I love you.” They’ll say “Have you eaten?” → A culture built on legacy might prioritize ancestor veneration, archival writing, name inheritance.

This stuff? Way more immersive than giving everyone matching earrings.

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5. 🏠 Culture = Daily Life, Not Just Festivals

Sure, your MC might attend a funeral where people paint their faces blue. But what about: → Breakfast routines? → How people greet each other on the street? → Who cooks, and who eats first? → What’s considered “clean” or “proper”? → How is parenting handled? Divorce?

Culture is what happens between plot points. It should shape your character’s assumptions, language, fears, and habits—whether or not a festival is going on.

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6. 💬 Let Your Characters Disagree With Their Own Culture

A culture isn’t a monolith.

Even in deeply traditional societies, people: → Rebel → Question → Break rules → Misinterpret laws → Mock sacred things → Act hypocritically → Weaponize or resist what’s expected

Let your characters wrestle with the culture around them. That’s where realism (and tension) lives.

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7.🧼 Beware the “Pretty = Good” Trap

Worldbuilding gets boring fast when: → The protagonist’s homeland is beautiful and pure → The enemy’s culture is dark and “barbaric” → Every detail just reinforces who the reader should like

You can—and should—challenge the aesthetic hierarchy. → Let ugly things be beloved. → Let beautiful things be corrupt. → Let your MC romanticize their culture and then get disillusioned by it later.

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📍 TL;DR (but like, spicy): → Culture is not food and jewelry. → Culture is power, fear, memory, contradiction. → Stop inventing spices until you know who starved last winter. → Let your world feel lived in, not curated.

The best cultural worldbuilding doesn’t look like a list. It feels like a system. A pressure. A presence your characters can’t escape—even if they try.

Now go. Build something real. (You can add spices later.)

—rin t. // writing advice for worldbuilders with rage and range // thewriteadviceforwriters

Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:

🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed:

*idea gets more complicated*

*idea gets more complicated*

*idea gets more complicated*

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"Absolutely no one comes to save us but us."