Andy J. Hodges

One big decision to make when drafting your queer fiction novel is whether to set it in a queernorm or cisnorm world, and I recommend you make this decision with intention, as each option has both advantages and drawbacks. What is a cisnorm setting or world? The regular world we live in is, by and large, a cisnorm world. What this means is that heteronormative sexuality and binary gender identity are viewed as “normal” and many people or “society” attach a stigma to nonconforming genders and...

I recently read Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, and I have thoughts. I want to preface them by saying that I enjoyed the voice and the story. Quite a few reviews claim the book is overwritten, but I think the voice absolutely fits the protagonist, and that this kind of critique falls under “I wish you’d written the book I wanted to read.” This is a reminder that developmental editing or stylistic flaws with a book should always be interpreted within the context of the story. Here’s...

Disclosure: I received free access to this course for review purposes. This post includes two links: one is an affiliate link (which means I may earn a commission if you enroll, at no extra cost to you), and the other is a non-affiliate link. Feel free to use whichever you prefer. This review reflects my honest assessment of the course. Sophie has been running this course in taught and self-paced versions for a decade. I’m an experienced fiction developmental editor who originally trained...