I've practiced eating with chopsticks since childhood. I could go a few years without trying them, and at other times, I would use them often. Certainly, with the increase of sushi options near me, it's been easier to practice.

So, when I traveled to Japan in the spring, I thought I was prepared. I can happily say that I succeeded; however, it took some observation, a few embarrassing moments, and answers to questions.

Here are tips for westerners traveling to Japan and other Asian countries on how to eat with chopsticks.

Holding Chopsticks

To hold chopsticks, place the bottom chopstick between your thumb and forefinger, resting it on your ring finger. Hold the top chopstick like a pen, using your pointer, middle finger, and thumb.

You can find kid-friendly chopsticks in Japan, at local Japanese or Asian stores, or at large online retailers if you have a child with you. I recall years ago when my parents took me to a Japanese restaurant in Toronto, where a server showed us a little trick.

Split the wooden chopsticks, roll up a napkin to use as a fulcrum, and wrap an elastic around to hold everything together (ask the server for the elastic). This allows kids to practice using chopsticks without the worry of dropping food.

It's OK to Raise the Bowl

The second biggest difference between eating in Japan and the Western world is that it’s acceptable to raise the bowl to your mouth to avoid dropping food. Another option is to place your hand under your chopsticks while bringing food to your mouth.

You can hold small plates to your mouth, but not dinner plates. It would be very difficult, aside from being rude.

These are the basics that I think many Westerners know. However, I got stuck—and sometimes felt embarrassed—when eating foods that needed cutting, either with a knife or the side of a fork. The Japanese use cutlery, but not for many of the foods I ate. Let’s begin.

Eating a Japanese Omelette in a Tiny Establishment

I ate my first sit-down meal in Japan on my first evening there. The staff at my hotel, the Edo Sakura Ryokan, recommended a nearby sushi restaurant, but I couldn’t find it. So, I strolled through the neighbourhood, searching for a spot where I wouldn’t feel too out of place. I discovered a well-lit cafe that seemed to have a few regulars and sat maybe 20 people.

The server, thankfully and correctly, assumed I'd prefer an English menu and pointed me to the QR code where I could order and pay. The only thing I found on there that seemed somewhat familiar was a Japanese form of omelette. So I ordered it, not giving one moment's thought to how to eat it with chopsticks.

It was large enough to need cutting, but I didn’t ask for a fork and knife. I had my pride.

I couldn't find a single blog post on how to eat that dish with chopsticks—so I created one. I even texted a friend back home for help, but she was stumped too.

I swallowed my pride and split the omelette with my chopsticks, certain I was being incredibly rude or “western.” Sometimes I lifted the omelette to my mouth to bite a piece off. I’d seen that in Japanese TV shows, and we all know that TV shows are 100% accurate, right?

I didn't mind being a foreigner, but eating is a fundamental part of daily life. I arrived in Japan thinking I was a chopstick expert. On my first evening, I discovered I was completely wrong.

Eating Fish

The Edo Sakura Ryokan served a traditional Japanese breakfast. I seized the opportunity. It featured cooked vegetables, a scoop of white rice, miso soup, a delightful side dish, and a fantastic piece of cooked fish. The meal energized me to take on the day.

I wasn’t expecting bones in my fish. In Canada, the US, and likely Europe, fish bones signal poor preparation. Given Japan's reputation for exceptional cuisine, I expected the same.

As I lifted the fish to my mouth and took a bite, a bone tickled my tongue. At home, it's fine to pull it out, but I suspected that removing a bone from your mouth would be considered impolite in Japanese culture. I felt rude to the hardworking staff striving to give guests a great experience, but I wanted to avoid risking a scratch in my throat.

Assuming I'd caught the only bone in the fish, I took another bite and found another bone. By the time I finished my fish, I had pulled three bones out of my mouth. For a small piece of fish, this seemed like a lot.

The experience repeated itself the next morning. I tried to eat like they do in Japan, but I couldn't reconcile how to politely remove the bones from the fish without a fork and knife.

How to Use Chopsticks With Food of Different Sizes

For my second week in Japan, I participated in a homestay. The family spoke excellent English, so I recounted my attempts at using chopsticks, and they set me straight.

To start, it’s quite acceptable to use chopsticks to split up your food. For example, I should have broken the fish apart with my chopsticks—one in each hand—and gently pulled out the bones first. I could have also split up the omelette with my chopsticks first, too.

With Japanese soups, it's acceptable to use your chopsticks for the solid pieces in the soup and to then drink the broth directly from the bowl.

During my second week in Japan, I enjoyed a tea tasting at the Sakurai Tea Experience. A fork in this situation would've been cumbersome:

Feeling Like a Foreigner

Many factors, besides skin colour, can make you stand out as a foreigner in Japan. I didn’t mind wrestling with my limited Japanese, relying on an online translator, or speaking with someone whose English was as fragmented as my Japanese. Eating made me the most nervous.

I didn't travel to Japan just for sightseeing; I aimed to immerse myself in Japanese culture as much as I could.

Like any culture, mastering food etiquette is fundamental yet challenging. Before you travel, take time to learn and practice the local eating customs to save yourself embarrassment and dive deeper into local culture.

Four trains, heavy luggage, craggy mountains, village of 3,000 people, an astronomical research station, and American-style ranches. But no buses…and no English.

Welcome to my inspiration destination in The Middle of Nowhere, Japan.

Inspiration Is More Than Ideas in Your Head

Many writers are asked where they get their ideas from. I have a few sources:

• where I live
• emotions tied to personal events (but not the events themselves)
• places I visit
• activities I participate in
• shows I watch

memories—no matter how fuzzy—from childhood that I want to revisit

My inspiration comes from anywhere in my world. The more I experience, the more inspired I become.

Travelling to Japan was part research for a character—you may have met Mayumi Enomoto in Teas of Joy—but it also included an inspirational pilgrimage.

Rabbit Holes: Time Wasters? Or Sources of Inspiration?

I like to know the ending. What happened to everyone from my grade school class? To celebrities I used to idolize, but who seem to have fallen off the face of the earth? To authors I stopped reading many moons ago?

And to childhood shows?

Such was the rabbit hole I tumbled down about two years ago. I’d discovered in 2023 that an anime show I’d watched as a kid, Grendizer, was getting a reboot.

In the age of reboots, this can cause eyes to roll, but the original was nearing 50 years of age. The trailerexcited me about rediscovering this relic from the early 80s (originally broadcast in the mid-70s in Japan).

My rabbit hole opened. I located the original episodes, the 25 English-dubbed episodes, and the full series dubbed in French, and a “movie” in German. I even found an academic book on the subject in French.

When the original Japanese episodes arrived (with English subtitles), I watched all 74 over a long weekend. For the next year, I rewatched them all, one at a time, during my lunch break.

And the more I watched, the more I discovered. For a show I’d originally viewed through the eyes of a six- or seven-year-old, it tackled some difficult subjects: PTSD, found family, child soldiers, radiation, war, and many others.

Yes, it had many hokey moments, forced plot tactics, and two “transformation scenes” that could be extended or cut as needed to ensure the show reached its required length for television broadcast.

Once plans for Japan had solidified, I included the suspected location of this series in my itinerary. There is simply something magical about touching—whether through sight, sound, smell, taste, or feel—creations that have affected my life.

The Village in The Middle of Nowhere: Minamimaki

I’d learned in my research that Grendizer may have taken place in a village called Minamimaki, an area renowned for astronomy. Several locations had clear connections to the series: Makiba Park, Jersey cow ranches, the Nobeyama Radio Observatory, and the Yatsugatake Mountains (specifically mentioned in the second episode) were all within a few kilometres of each other.

My train trip took me 1,500 m above sea level. Minamimaki is part of an agricultural area comprising valleys tucked in among mountains. You don’t have to travel here on an anime pilgrimage to marvel at what nature can create.

As my two-car train pulled up to the Nobeyama train station, the signs of The Middle of Nowhere, Japan, surrounded me: an unmanned train station, very few houses, no taxis, and one convenience store at the train station that didn’t even offer sushi. (A rarity in Japan.)

Minamimaki covers 133 km² and has a population density of about 22 people per km². For contrast, Tokyo has 14 million people living in about 2,194 km², giving a population density of about 6,381 people per km².

I definitely found myself in The Middle of Nowhere, Japan.

Landscape and Story

The best settings in a novel are a character unto themselves: they have personality and affect how the human (and sometimes animal) characters behave and what choices they make.

Standing where Grendizer likely took place made that even clearer to me.

I’ll use the protagonist, Duke Fleed (sometimes romanized as Freed), to illustrate what I mean. He has two identities:

• Duke Fleed is the prince of Planet Fleed and pilot of Grendizer.
• Daisuke Umon is a farmhand trying to live a peaceful life, free of violence and destruction.

However, the settings for both identities often act as a backdrop for each respective part.

• As Duke, he fights in his mecha, Grendizer, often in harsh environments: underwater, in the mountains, in the Arctic. Viewers rarely see Grendizer in a peaceful setting except occasionally at the end of an episode, with the red setting sun in the background.
• As Daisuke, he cares for the farm animals and often plays his guitar alone or with friends, but often in a natural setting.
• Daisuke usually becomes Duke in the Space Science Laboratory, either by jumping off a nearby cliff or by racing down a chute and jumping into Grendizer’s cockpit. The lab is where he can be whoever is needed.

As a viewer, I can enjoy the stories that unfold in each episode. As a traveller, I could touch where these stories could have happened.

Landscape in My Current Work-in-Progress

I initially travelled to Minamimaki to experience the possible source of inspiration or location (or both) of Grendizer. But I came away with much, much more.

When I write, I struggle with setting the most. I set my novels where I live to make creating settings easier. Creating new worlds, whether planets or villages, requires not only an extraordinary imagination, but also a memory of similar talents so you can track where everything takes place.

My current romance novel will challenge my struggle, though. It’s an opposites-attract story whose idea began with opposing personalities: a tall, shy man in his 50s, and an outgoing woman who’s over a foot shorter, also in her 50s. They live next to each other in an apartment building.

That led to the inevitable question: If their apartments are identical in layout, how has each character decorated theirs to showcase their individuality?

The answer had to expand beyond “he’s tidy; she’s messy,” and their living situation. It needed to fuse settings that others experience daily with the character’s point of view, something I’ve rarely done.

From Pilgrimage to Page

In my romance novels, at least one scene usually takes place along the Iron Horse Trail. However, all characters view it in the same light: as a romantic location to steal a kiss, hold hands for the first time, and share similar romantic moments. If you visit the actual location, you’ll understand why.

This time, the trail carries different meanings for the romantic leads. For one, it’s a place to demonstrate care for the environment. For the other, it is a place reminiscent of fear experienced long ago.

Same trail.

As I continue to write, I’ll discover more ways to incorporate the real-life environment of my novels so that, with each subsequent story, readers hopefully close the book at the end having experienced the same location in a different way.

Spending those few days in Minamimaki, a potential source of inspiration for Grendizer, inspired me to explore where I live and challenge myself by incorporating more of the scenery into my characters' lives.

I can’t wait to share the final story with you!

I have some amazing news! My new YA series, Be Right Back, has received funding from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC). The series explores disability in ever-changing family dynamics.

Continuing to build family-friendly stories that celebrate diversity and look at tough questions, Be Right Backstars teenager Austin Tschirhart, whom many of my readers may have already met in Love on Belmont(Books #1 and #2) and Between Worlds (Book #9).

My Current Writing Style

Unique to this new series is the writing style. I usually write in what’s called the third person past, limited point of view. Much of what you read is likely written in this way. Here are some brief samples:

“You know what?” Aunt Anne said. “Why don’t they go to Mr. Casimiro’s for dessert?”

Mom’s eyes popped out of her head. “Oh, that sounds like a fabulous idea! I haven’t been in years!”

Juliana stared at both of them, but now even Sophie smiled. “But can we go by ourselves? Juliana’s fourteen.”

Taking advantage of Juliana’s age to get rid of the parents. Juliana liked how Sophie thought. ~Between Worlds 1: The Move

In this style, the scene is only told in the past, from the point of view of one character, but by referring to the character in the third person, i.e., they, he, or she. In addition, the reader only experiences what that character experiences.

A New Writing Style

Be Right Back will be a new journey for me, because I’ll be writing in the first person present. (“First person” automatically includes limited point of view.)

Reading a novel in this style will bring the reader right into Austin’s mind, where not only his thoughts and feelings but also his seizures, happen. Because of the nature of Austiin’s seizures, he’s not always aware of them. Indeed, his journey in the first novel is learning they exist at all.

Disability and Teen Fiction

When I was young, I read a lot of Jean Little’s books. Although I didn’t consider myself “handicapped” (the term we used at the time), I loved reading her stories about kids with disabilities. She had written in her memoir that she wanted to give the disabled children she was teaching the stories they were craving: stories about children disabled as they were, but who weren’t cured as part of the happy ending.

They wanted reality.

Much of my previous books so far—especially Between Worlds—have dealt with mental disability. Although Sophie, a supporting character in Between Worlds, has Stargardt disease, a rare eye condition, the better part of each novel focuses on the emotional trauma each of us carries inside.

Be Right Back includes not only that part of life, but also neurological disability.

How Much Is Personal?

This series is personal to me, but most of it is not from my personal life.

Although Austin’s absence seizures resemble to mine, his life story differs from mine in many respects:

• He discovered his seizures as a teen. / I discovered mine when I was 11.
• Austin can dive into the internet to research his diagnosis if he wants to. / There was no internet when I received my diagnosis.
• Austin’s seizures last up to 10 seconds. / Mine are under 4.5 seconds.
• Austin stares. / My eyelids flutter. (The technical term is eyelid myoclonia.)
• Ballet = life for Austin. / Ballet = a must-do art form for my dance competition career.

In addition to all of that, Austin’s regrets will differ from mine at that age.

If you’d like to stay up to date on the development of this series, send me your email address, and I’ll add you to the list. I email about once every two months, so your inbox will not explode.

I look forward to sharing Austin’s journey with you.

Spending time selling books in person is always a blast. For this spring, I have the following appearances in Waterloo Region. (Most recent listed up top.)

Saturday, May 31, 2025: Waterloo Bookfest

Outside in spring weather? Check! LOADS of books to peruse a buy? Check!

This marks my fourth year participating in Waterloo Bookfest, co-organized this year by Grand River Writers and KW Writers Alliance. I'll have all my books with me. Drop by to say hi, pick up the next book in the series you're reading, have me sign books you've already purchased, or talk about my current works in progress. I love meeting new readers.

My mentor, Heather Wright, will be selling her writing guides. She's helped shape me into the writer I am today. I highly recommend popping by to pick up a little writing help. You can also buy her how-to-write books online at Etsy.

You'll find me and all my fellow writers at Waterloo Public Square from 2-8PM. 

Thursday, May 29, 2025: Waterloo Public Library

Waterloo Public Library main branch is hosting a local author event, where authors from Waterloo Region will showcase up to three of their own books. Ample free parking is available on site, and bus riders can access the library via GRT route 7 or LRT.

I'll have the first book of Between Worlds and the first two books of Love on Belmont with me.

Saturday, April 12, 2025: Heffner Spring Show

Spending the afternoon at the family business that has helped me so much in life is always a blast. I’ll have both series with me: Between Worlds and Love on Belmont. I'll also have my sale bin with me, where many previous prints are $5 each.

Other vendors include Scentsy, Live Forward Apparel, Inspired Cardz by Jacqueline, Sylvie Stamps, and many more! Full list of vendors is avaialble here.

Time: 10AM–3PM

Address: Heffner Toyota building, 3131 King St. E., Kitchener, ON

Saturday, March 29, 2025: Indigo Kitchener

Once again, I’ll be at Indigo’s by Fairview Mall! The focus this time will be Love on Belmont. The fourth book is in the works, and if all goes well, it’ll be out by Christmas. So…if you’re lagging behind on the series, or want to grab signed copies for a friend or family member, drop by!

And, as always, if you bought your books elsewhere, even on Amazon, and would like them signed, do drop by. I love getting to know readers in person.

Time: 12PM–4PM

Address: Indigo Kitchener, 225 Fairway Rd S Unit CRU-04, Kitchener, ON

I hope to see you out this spring!

I started questioning the existence of God when I was a teen. Growing up in Catholic and Anglican schools showed me what believing in God might look like. But over time, I read books on other possibilities. Other religions, philosophy, and general spirituality showed me that believing in God—if one believed in such a being—had difference faces. With my first young adult series, Between Worlds, I wanted to offer young readers a chance to explore their spirituality in the privacy of a young adult series of books.

What Does Spiritual Journey Mean to the Reader?

You may associate “spiritual” with a belief in one or (many) more higher powers, whether a god, many gods, or many spirits.

The generally accepted opposite of “spiritual” is often “empirical,” i.e., a belief in science, which does not support a belief in an unproven higher power.

As a teen, I was torn between both: raised Catholic, but attending school in Ontario, I thought both sides conflicted with one another.

I’ve since learned that spirituality can mean many things and need not exclude science.

What Spiritual Means to Me

Spirituality is an abstract concept: We can neither hold it nor see it, hear it nor taste it nor smell it.

Yet it still exists. How? Why?

Humans cannot live alone, despite what many may wish to believe. Someone makes our clothes. In most cases, someone grows our food. How clean our air is depends on how clean our neighbours—whether directly beside us or on the other side of a border—keep their air.

The noise or silence we experience is connected to others, too.

How do we honour these connections? How do we feel about them? How do we become a part of them?

There’s no one answer to these questions. That’s why I created a series with two teenaged girls whose spiritual lives differ vastly from one another.

Elisabeth’s Spiritual Journey

In Between Worlds, Elisabeth’s journey is perhaps the more expected one. She navigates her beliefs and relationships, seeking to understand where Jesus is present in her life. Whom should she turn to for guidance? Jesus, God, her parents, the minister, or her own heart?

Elisabeth cannot fathom a world without a god, even as she tries to reconcile how a loving god could allow what eventually became known as World War I to happen.

For Elisabeth, following her Lutheran faith means both following the rules and participating in the community:

·      Church called everyone together once a week.

·      Social traditions formed out of aspects of religious life.

·      Life’s greatest moments, from birth to death, were celebrated together.

Believing in God meant both following a moral compass to get into heaven and learning how to co-exist with one another. Many of us today may not agree with some of the rules that were imposed on Elisabeth’s’ community for this coexistence to happen, but it happened nonetheless.

Juliana’s Spiritual Journey

If spirituality is about connecting with others while developing a deeper relationship with yourself, then dance is that spiritual journey for Juliana. Indeed, the first novel ends with her dancing as she gathers courage to tackle this latest chapter in her life.

Many adults today will shy away from dancing: “Oh, no, thank you. I’m going to sit down. I can’t dance.”

However, dance is community. What’s a wedding without dancing? Teenaged life without the high school dance? Rock concerts without dancers onstage? Some forms of theatre without dance?

Dance, for Juliana, takes that to a different level. As a teenager in love with dance—especially the percussion form that is tap dance—she finds connection with those around her. The transition to a new dance studio presents many problems for Juliana, including not understanding the social rules of this new group.

Juliana doesn’t pray in the religious sense of the word. Instead, she tries to deepen her relationship with herself and find answers to her problems through dance.

Spirituality Your Own Way

Most youth will embark on some kind of spiritual journey. It may only begin in their pre-teen years and take decades to conclude. Or perhaps they learn in those younger years that what they have always believed is what provides them the strength to continue in this world.

Spirituality carries a diverse range of meanings, and I wanted to write a series for pre-teens and teens that could help them work through that journey in the privacy of a book. For more information about Between Worlds, visit here.

“Books with strong women” receives an estimated 350 search a month in the Amazon US store. “Stories about strong women” currently returns an estimated 1,200 searches a month. The same with “strong women characters fiction.” But what is a strong woman? Because if there are strong women, there must be weak women, right?

What I Used to Think “Strong Woman” Meant

My childhood was marked by 80s Feminism, which carried over into the 90s. In those days, women appeared to try to be like men:

• shoulder pads that altered the look of a woman’s body
• statistics that compared the economic worth of a woman’s household work to a man’s employment
• women with the same strength as men (generally in the superhero/comic book genre)

TV shows that placed women in traditionally men’s roles:

• Angela Bauer as a marketing executive with a male housekeeper
• She-Ra, rebel fighter against the Horde, whose voice deepened when she transformed from Princess Adora (cute name) to She-Ra
• Claire Huxtable, a lawyer
• Katherine Janeway, captain of the starship Voyager

I’m sure you could add many more to that list. And women need to continue pressing into roles that are traditionally male, such as in construction, automotive, and software development.

However, there’s pushing into careers and roles that are traditionally done by men, and there’s trying to “act like a man.” Although related, they are different.

What a Strong Woman Might Mean Today

Trying to settle on a definition of what makes a woman strong presented a host of problems for me. Was it simply women who fought against the grain? But how does that apply to women who choose to run a household and raise the kids, which are traditionally female roles?

Do strong women have a high amount of self-confidence? Then what about the women dealing with abuse and unable to find a way out of their situation?

Do strong women have ample muscle mass, a physical sign of strength? Maybe. But how does that apply to women who genetically don’t produce a lot of muscle, who may be disabled, or who simply hate lifting weights?

Do strong women shout from the rooftops to stand up for themselves? Some absolutely do. Others build their resistance to inequality quietly. (Of course, some people will argue that the latter group is more “ladylike” than the former. Don’t get me started on that! It’s a topic for a different time.)

The only conclusion I can come to at this point in my life is that “strong woman” means a woman who decides for herself. She will likely pull in opinions from others to help her gain a broader perspective of whatever she’s trying to solve, but she will come to that decision on her own.

Strong Women in Books

This is why all my female protagonists are strong women:

·       14-year-old Juliana Roth from Between Worlds does her best to cope with a move halfway across Canada. Over time, she learns how to take control of her own destiny despite the changes happening to her.

·       14-year-old Elisabeth, a teen in the aftermath of World War I, wishes to choose her husband for herself (against the will of her family), and learns that what we today call mental illness is not a punishment from God.

·       40-something Pauline, a weightlifter, jogger, gymnast, and professional sports mascot, has no problems entertaining thousands—even millions—while in costume, but at the beginning of Tea Shop for Two, she goes silent when she has to address a few dozen tea lovers as herself.

·       40-something Tracy, best friends with Pauline, tries to balance the seismic changes in her family while parenting her disabled teen.

·       Claire, whom we follow from when she opens her own business in the 1960s in her 20s, to her 70s, when she retires, has survived spousal abuse and discrimination, but also raised her family while running her business.

Writing About Strong Women in Books

As I write my novels, I try to avoid creating strong women in the image of men. Instead, I put them into situations that call on them to trust their truth and rise to the occasion. Sometimes this involves gender-bending, as with Pauline. Other times, it involves women in traditionally female roles as mothers pushing the world to accept them as they are while they raise their family, like Claire.

Books with strong women shouldn’t relegate themselves to a single definition: a woman with male qualities who fights. We can most definitely include this woman in our arsenal of strong women, but we can’t forget the women who move quietly through life at their own pace, doing their best to do what’s right.

In my world of dance fiction, dance has more uses for storytelling than just "Will I pass this audition? Will I make it?" I love exploring the possibilities. A student of dance since I was 2.5 years old, I've written dance into many of my novels: the entire Between Worlds young adult series and two of my Love on Belmont sweet romance novels for adults. It will also form the backbone for my next young adult series, currently in the planning stages.

In this blog post, I’ll explain the themes important in my dance fiction, share why I enjoy writing it, and offer tips on writing dance fiction if you love dance, too. (You don’t have to have extensive training either.)

Uncommon Themes in Dance Fiction

The dance fiction I read as a kid often focused on “making it,” i.e., passing an audition, or successfully getting through the day at an elite ballet school. Many dance movie plots centre around this character goal, too. I already hear “Five, six, seven, eight!” from A Chorus Line.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJGaktlsD48]

I never turned professional. Does that mean my dance education was a waste of time? Hardly. That’s why I wrote Between Worlds, my young adult series about a teen dancer who’s going through some tough times and uses dance in part to pull herself through.

But having a successful career in dance isn’t a horrible thing by any stretch! So, what about those who made it? Professional dancers typically retire in their 30s and 40s. The other part that rarely gets portrayed in dance fiction (and dance movies) is dancers at the end of their career. Turning Point, with Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, is perhaps the closest I’ve found so far.

So, enter from stage right world ballet star Todd Parsons in Tea Shop for Two, and in a parallel career as a pro sports mascot actor, Pauline Robinson.

Or what about dancers diagnosed with a hidden disability? We may read about dancers who are injured and then return to training once everything’s better, but how would a dancer balance dealing with a disability while still yearning to become a professional dancer?

Young ballet dancer Austin in Tea Shop for Two and Oh, What the Fudge is currently just a supporting character as a teen in an adult sweet romance series, but he will soon be the star of his own young adult dance fiction series. His diagnosis of epilepsy in his teens throws him a curveball he didn’t anticipate.

Whether you're a dance enthusiast or simply searching for young adult reads for the young dancer(s) in your family, my dance fiction to date has something to offer.

Dance Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

Dance fiction and non-fiction may both explore the world of dance, but they approach it from different angles.

I research dance when I need to, either through non-fiction books, which provide insights into the history, techniques, and biographies of dancers, or by taking dance class.

[image of me taking adult ballet class]

But I don’t write non-fiction dance books.

Dance fiction takes readers on a fictional journey through the lives of dancers. Through it, I can freely explore areas of the dance world and how dance affects people in different situations. I can also let characters say whatever they need to so the plot keeps readers interested.

But ultimately, I want to show that dance helps us get through life.

Popular Dance Fiction Books and Authors

If you enjoy reading dance fiction, here are a few names to try. I haven’t read all of them myself, but they are popular or have received good reviews:

Young Adult Dance Fiction Books

·       Tiny Dancer, by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel

·       Exit Stage Right and Face Off, both by fellow local author Jennifer Willcock

·       The Other Side of Perfect, by Mariko Turk

·       I Wanna Be Where You Are, by Kristina Forest

·       Pirouette, by Robyn Bavati

Dance Fiction Books in the Sweet Romance Genre

·       The Cheat Sheet, by Sarah Adams

·       Into Your Arms, by Abigail Storm

·       The Muse: A Pride and Prejudice Variation, by Jessica Evans

·       With a Twist, by Staci Hart

Researching and Incorporating Dance Styles into Fiction

Even though I studied dance in my youth for over 15 years and also take adult lessons when time allows, I still research, as I mentioned earlier.

That’s because even within the major forms of Western dance, e.g., ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, there are different styles. Ballet is the easiest one for me to talk about: you’ll find Vaganova (Russian), Cecchetti (Italian), Royal Academy of Dance (English), and French styles perhaps the most well known. Other styles of ballet do exist, however.

Tap teachers and choreographers differ in their terminology to some degree but more predominantly (at least in my experience) in their counting. Some count in da and de, others in ta and te, and yet others will use numbers. And let’s not forget that some will mix it all together. Hands are often involved, clapping to either keep the beat, emphasize a difficult passage, do both, or act like feet tapping in the air.

Sitting in on a class or two to watch is ideal, but if you don’t have strong connections to a studio, you may find this difficult: understandably, adults in care of children won’t let just any adults sit in to watch children. But thankfully, the internet is full of videos, so you should be able to watch there a lot there these days.

Just ensure that you characters are consistent. For example, a ballet instructor who teaches only Cecchetti will only change vocabulary or technique if they have good reason to do so.

Challenges and Rewards of Writing Dance Fiction

Writing dance fiction comes with its own set of challenges and rewards. One of the challenges is effectively conveying the physicality and visual beauty of dance through words alone. For example, try this excerpt from Tea Shop for Two, where Todd is leading Pauline in improv dance.

…Todd raised their grasped hands to shoulder height. He released his fingers, so she followed, and he pressed his hand against hers. She followed again.

The pressure between their hands moved outwards and down. At first, Pauline simply copied Todd, turning her back when he turned his, leaning her head back onto his shoulder when he did so with his head to her shoulder. But once their cheeks touched and she closed her eyes, something changed: the energy she imagined feeling in a room of people now surged through them, the music leading it. She found herself stepping away from Todd as they each dropped into a deep lunge, held together only by their hands, feeling alone and barely able to hold on but by a metaphorical thread, a feeling she experienced sometimes when visiting terminally ill children. She couldn’t talk about it to anyone outside her line of work because it upset them too much. The closest she could get was others in her profession, usually big, strong, young men who turned to puddles at the mere mention of sick children and changed the topic.

Dance is a visual art form, and capturing its essence on the page without boring the reader through copious description is tough. Some have told me they found these descriptions hard to follow, for example. This passage is from Pauline’s perspective, so I couldn’t use any technical terminology.

Contrast that to Juliana’s dance sessions, which I often use to dissipate her emotions. This passage comes from Between Worlds 1: The Move, and Juliana is dancing with her Calgary dance group for the last time.

The music came on. Juliana, standing sideways, her head bent down and her right hand grabbing the rim of an invisible hat, dropped her heel in time with the beat, a simple rhythm to start the number. Then, one by one, each dancer heel-dropped to their own rhythm, creating a percussion foreground for the music. On a loud cymbal crash, they turned front, their heads down, waited eight counts, and then jumped into the opening riff sequence.

As Juliana’s feet slammed onto, slid along, and grazed across the floor, she thought of the conversation she’d had with Mom in the car on the way to the studio.

Thanks to one of my editors, Susan Fish, that dance sequence turned into a vehicle for backstory, thereby saving the need to repeat all of Juliana’s emotions as she performed a three-minute routine.

At least when you have to describe a painting or a photograph, you can usually work with vocabulary and imagery your readers know. Dance provides a challenge because much of a vocabulary is unfamiliar to readers; depending on the style of dance, the vocabulary differs; and each character has their personal approach to dance that needs to be honoured and portrayed.

Which brings me to my tips for you if you’d like to try your hand at dance fiction.

Tips for Aspiring Dance Fiction Writers

If you’re looking to write dance fiction yourself, these tips may help:

1. Just because you didn’t grow up taking dance lessons doesn’t mean you can’t write dance fiction. You most certainly can! But follow the rest of these suggestions so your book doesn’t read like it was written by a novice.

2. Research extensively: study the history, techniques, and cultural significance of the dance forms you want to use in your novel. Most ballet dancers, for example, don’t say “spinning” and “dancing on my toes” the way a layperson would. Thankfully, social media, online syllabi, and awareness days can help you create realistic portrayals.

3. Connect with dancers: interview dancers, attend workshops, and engage with the dance community. Their insights and experiences can provide invaluable inspiration and authenticity to your writing. But always ask about their background. A dancer who trained in an average-sized city in Canada will have had a different experience from one who trained in LA.

4. Find a balance between being true to dance and realizing your reader may not know what a chaîné turn is: I struggle with this frequently. I believe that for many laypeople, a “pirouette” is any turn, but for dancers, it’s a specific turn. In Tea Shop for Two, Todd says “pirouette.” Pauline, on the other hand, refers to this step performed by the man she is falling in love with as “spinning like the letter p.”

5. Don’t forget to include a range of characters: not all dancers are snobs, perfectionists, bunheads, backstabbers, or people with eating disorders. If you’re having a hard time steering clear of stereotypes, create your characters first, then add dance to their profile and see how that affects their personalities.

6. Don’t be afraid to express dance as emotion instead of steps: overwhelming readers of dance fiction with technical details can lead to boredom because it’ll feel like an information dump. And because it has emotion, it must have a reason for being in your book. Although dance fiction needs dance—obviously!—each dance scene must have a purpose.

7. Consider having others read your work: if you’re new to writing dance fiction, ask people who might enjoy reading your work to give you some feedback. (Asking someone who loves action novels to read a romance dance fiction excerpt, for example, may not illicit the comments you’re hoping for.)

Conclusion

Dance fiction usually focuses on a dancer—either a student or professional—“making it.” As a kid, this led me to believe that the only reason for studying dance was to become professional. That didn’t happen.

Instead, I learned over time how useful dance became in other areas of my life. Once I began penning dance fiction novels, I wanted to expand the genre to include more storylines, most importantly, dance as a way to get through life.

So, whether you're a dance enthusiast or simply seeking an escape into a world of passion and grace, you’ll hopefully find dance fiction here that fits your reading desires or those of a young person in your life.

Between Worlds is a dual-timeline series about two teen girls—Juliana and Elisabeth—who grow up a century apart. As much as I wanted to explore how teens have lived differently, I also wanted to provide a series that didn’t try to convince girls that a boyfriend was needed to have a fulfilling teen life. So, how does that play out in the series? I explain below.

Are Boyfriends Bad?

I had my first boyfriend when I was just shy of 16. I agreed to go out with him for two reasons: 1) He kept persisting at the library, where we met, and 2) the TV shows I watched and magazines I read said a boyfriend was something I needed as a teen.

Life would’ve been easier without him, and when he tried to French me about three months later (I’d turned 16 by then), I realized this was not what I wanted.

End of relationship.

On the other end of the spectrum, I know real-life high-school sweethearts who are a little older than me and still happily married. If they hadn’t been allowed to date, who knows what life would’ve been like for them?

What’s important to me now as a forty-something is that, although a relationship filled with passion and respect can add something beautiful to life, beginning dating while in high school isn’t a requirement for a beautiful life.

So, as they say, if you can’t find the books you want to read, write them.

Focused on Other Goals in Life: Juliana

The true protagonist of the series is Juliana Roth, who starts the series at age fourteen, when she’s hauled across the country by her parents so they can live with and care for her grandfather. He’s in the early stages of dementia, and other family aren’t available.

In the series, Juliana simply isn’t interested in boys because she has other goals that take up her time. Yes, she may find the odd boy here or there cute, but she has no desire to date. Not only does she have to adjust to life in a new city, halfway across Canada, but she wants to do well in school and in dance.

This portion of the YA series has no romance because Juliana’s too focused on her own growth.

Wanting Her Own Family: Elisabeth

Elisabeth is Juliana’s great-grandmother. We meet her at the tail end of 1919 and follow her through to the middle of 1920. She, too, starts the series as a fourteen-year-old.

However, unlike Juliana, who doesn’t know what life will bring, Elisabeth knows exactly what it will (or should) bring: she’ll spend her adult years as a housewife, looking after hearth and home and helping on the farm, while her husband earns his money with more farm work and possibly another business.

Although I believe it’s important that girls today figure out a way to earn their own keep that doesn’t rely on a partner earning all the money, I also believe that becoming a mother and homemaker are perfectly acceptable life goals. (In my youth, that was frowned upon because women were fighting for more equality in the workplace.)

When creating protagonists, though, you need to create a person who stands out in some way. Aiming to become the matriarch of a household is not unique in Elisabeth’s time.

She stands out because she wants to choose her husband. In Between Worlds 3: The First Step, for example, her mother and grandmother try to match her up with a young man close in age to Elisabeth, but she doesn’t like how he treats her or how his father treats him. Elisabeth is looking for someone who will treat her with respect, stay committed, and not act like—forgive the farming pun—an ass.

But there’s no hiding behind a haystack and making out, or even a gentle kiss throughout this series. Furthermore, Elisabeth’s desire for a husband is secondary to her main goal: helping her mom and family through her father’s sojourn in Pennsylvania, where he tries to earn more money.

So, that’s why I still consider these YA books to have no romance.

Who Is Between Worlds For?

I wrote the series for three reasons:

1)     to give Little Lori the series she would’ve loved, one that offered different ways to carry out a spiritual life;

2)     to let girls enjoy YA books without romance because a boyfriend is not needed for a fulfilling teen life; and

3)     to show that, for girls to truly grow up and be what they want to be, any future is fine, whether it’s being the head of the family or a physiotherapist (Juliana doesn’t know yet).

Although I write for a 12-14-year-old audience, many adults read and enjoy these YA books without romance, too. Ultimately, if you’re interested in history, teen life, and a series that focuses on family (I take a liberal view on what family means), then try Between Worlds 1: The Move and let me know what you think.

I generally find writing books about new beginnings easier than those about old beginnings. What do I mean by old and new beginnings? Old beginnings are in the past: you already have some kind of template to work from when you encounter something similar again. New beginnings have never happened before.

Although you could argue that all beginnings are old—we have some measure of experience that informs how we handle ourselves in each beginning—I’m talking about similar experiences. For example, many new parents are surprised by all the work involved in raising a baby. Many new employees find it hard to acclimate to a new workplace, even if they’ve done that job before.

Most of the storylines in both my YA books and my sweet romance series focus on new beginnings. But one book in particular focuses on old beginnings. Writing from these two approaches is actually quite different.

Introducing New Beginnings in Books

Pauline in Tea Shop for Two experiences a mix of old and new beginnings. Her romance with Todd is a new beginning. Her return to town after a successful career as a mascot actor is a mix of new and old: she’s never been fully in charge of her mother’s tea shop before, but she worked there often in her youth.

Even the creation of Tea Shop for Two is a mix of old and new beginnings. I’d been chin deep in Between Worlds but wanted to begin another series to keep my creative juices flowing and to challenge myself. Since Between Worlds has almost no romance in it, and I love my Christmas romance movies, I opted for the sweet romance novel.

Looking through old ideas, I came across a draft about a character named Tamara, written roughly three years earlier. I liked the idea—I’m fascinated by who people really are under the masks they wear. (Granted, sometimes I’d rather not know.)

But I’d also developed a new fascination with theme-park mascot actors. Who in their right mind agrees to be paid minimum wage (so far as I know) to wear the equivalent of two parkas in 35˚C weather? Or encase themselves in foam and fleece with hardly any vision and whip around on ice skates or jump through a flaming hoop to land a slam dunk?

I wrote those impressions into Pauline’s life experience. We meet her as Perry the Peregrine in Tea Shop for Two:

A new song distracted Pauline. She jumped off the parade float to high-five fans and flex her arms for the kids, who returned the gesture while their parents took pictures. A few adults reached for her tail, but the extra security detail Ben had ordered pushed them away. She jumped back on the float to cool down in front of the fan and take sips from the camel pack, the straw of which she held in her mouth the entire time. Another uncomfortable aspect of the day.

“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” asked Derek, who stood on the float with her.

Pauline nodded as she began clapping overhead, getting the audience to join in and cheer, “Peregrines to victory!”

“I’m glad it’s not me in there,” he said. “Those two photo sessions were enough for me.”

She patted him on the back to thank him for stepping in while she’d been away and took another sip. Even though she’d frozen a good amount of the rehydration solution into ice cubes, her drink was already warm. She could’ve brewed green tea in there, come to think of it.

“By the way, Ben just confirmed some good news over the system.”

Pauline waved to the crowd in the other direction, but she was listening.

“When we get to the stage in Nathan Philips Square, the prime minister of Canada wants a photo op with you.”

Pauline whipped her head to face Derek and her gloved hands flew to Perry’s beak. She couldn’t wait to tell…well, no one. But who cared that she couldn’t tell anyone? This was the ultimate life, even if she lived it in a rotisserie oven. She pumped her arms in the air.

[Tea Shop for Two, chapter 11]

When Teens Face New Beginnings

Adults have the blessing (or curse) of many beginnings. Depending on their age, increasingly more beginnings may be old ones.

But fourteen-year-old Juliana in Between Worlds hasn’t lived through enough life-changing challenges to have many old beginnings. Almost everything for her is new: the city, the home, the school, the dance school, the friends… She even meets her extended family in person for the first time. Until then, they didn’t appear any bigger than the images on her parents’ devices or laptops.

Moving halfway across the country is not a new beginning Juliana looks forward to:

Mom pressed her lips into a tight line and took another deep breath before she spoke. “The oldest of Anne’s kids still live at home and she cooks for them so they can focus on their studies. We didn’t make this decision lightly, Juliana. Neither of my siblings can check in on Opa every day. Trust me. I talked to them.”

“And not to me.”

Another deep breath.

“He also doesn’t want strangers in his home every day. So, since both my job and your father’s can be done anywhere in the country, it makes the most sense that the three of us move.”

Juliana slammed her hand on her lap. “But my life can’t just happen somewhere else in the country!”

Her father shot her look, this one telling her to keep it down. “You’re a teenager,” he replied dryly. “There are thousands of schools in Canada, most with hundreds of students for you to choose your friends from. Same with dance studios. Your ‘life’ can very well be done anywhere in the country.”

Juliana propped her elbow on the table and stared at the TV over the bar. Why did Mom have to bring this all up again?

[The Move, chapter 3]

Even though Juliana started at a dance studio once before and even had a “first day of school,” she would’ve been so young that her memories are shaky at best–if she has any at all.

New beginnings come with a great deal of transition, some of it very painful. But taking time to experience this newness, to explore it, can bring about wondrous surprises. Juliana discovers her great-grandmother’s artwork, and as an artist herself—albeit a performing artist—she finds herself bolstered by another teenager’s creative work. It’s self-affirming and helps her move forward.

Working With Old Beginnings in Novels

Novels don’t have to focus on new beginnings. In Teas of Joy, Claire and Richard have been married fifty years and in their respective lifestyles for at least a year when the novel starts. No moving, no new relationships, no new jobs, nothing.

Dawn’s phone dinged.

“It’s Dad, wondering if you’ll be on time,” she said.

Claire had a coy smile on her face. Richard Robinson, the man of Claire’s dreams. Dashing when they’d met in their twenties, and still dashing in his seventies. “Tell your father perfection is worth the wait. And that he’d better not be playing a Rolling Stones song.”

The feud that had started it all: Were The Rolling Stones or The Monkees the better group? The Robinson jury was still out on that.

“And tell him we’ll be on time,” Claire added. “If he wants me walking across the dance floor to a Stones song, I’ll respect his choice. You don’t survive fifty years without making concessions. Just so long as it’s not ‘Can’t Get No Satisfaction.’”

[Teas of Joy, chapter 1]

On the one hand, writing about such an old relationship gave me lots to work with, such as Claire and Richard’s differences in music and their personal histories. But the decision to work from old beginnings also created difficulties. For example, I had to find a way to follow the romance arc readers crave, but without a meet cute, first kiss, and other familiar scenes. How could I accomplish that? Plus, what could I uncover about Claire and Richard that they didn’t already know about each other?

Of course, Claire and Richard have conversations and experiences that contribute to the conflict, but old beginnings drive the plot.

In the end, Teas of Joy became a beautiful story of love, forgiveness, and a long relationship that grew even deeper.

New Beginnings, Old Beginnings…Main Thing: Good Story

Regardless of what kind of beginning I use in each novel, my ultimate hope is that my readers enjoy their time in the worlds I’ve created. At time of writing, I’m working on the final book of Between Worlds, which will deal with the many new beginnings that have been happening in the series, and Love on Belmont 4, which, as a second-chance romance, will focus on an old beginning.

Have you ever thought about old and new beginnings in the stories you read? What have you liked? Feel free to leave the titles of other books here so readers can explore new authors!

I love reading romance novels about characters my age or older: What experiences do we share? How do their lives differ from mine? What might I be able to look forward to as I near my 50s, 60s, and 70s? Later-in-life romance novels follow older characters looking for love. Since my Love on Belmont series is about an entire community, it also includes later-in-love romance books.

What Are Later-in-Life Romance Books?

This romance subgenre focuses on protagonists who are 40 or over. So if you like reading about people over 40 falling in love, this is your jam.

This subgenre can come in all levels of spice, from clean novels to sweet romance to spicy to erotica. In other words, it’s not about heat level but about character age. Looking for a novel about people in their older years? This is the subgenre to search for. Amazon.com has a subcategory for it, too.

Why Write Later-in-Life Romance Novels?

Unfortunately, this subgenre doesn’t exist on Amazon.ca, which suggests it isn’t that popular north of the border yet. To underline the lack of popularity, Booknet Canada reported earlier this year that interest in later-in-life romance books is decreasing.

In a 2022 report by K-Lytics, which analyzed Amazon data, later-in-life romance books were fifth from the bottom of a list of 24 subgenres. Contemporary romance topped the chart, followed by mystery & suspense, romantic comedy, and paranormal.

From a financial perspective, it doesn’t make sense to write later-in-life romances.

However, I find so much more to explore when characters are older:

·       Pauline (47) and Todd (43) meet because they’re both forced out of their physically demanding artistic careers (Tea Shop for Two).

·       Tracy (48) and Ben (35) show a strong gap between their generations: Tracy has to care for her teenaged son, who has epilepsy, while juggling renewed interests from her estranged husband (51), and Ben has never been married, doesn’t have any children, and was recently fired from a company he’d spent 10 years at (Oh, What the Fudge).

·       Claire (76) and Richard (79) find themselves at opposite poles when they realize they have different goals for their stage in life, putting their marriage of 50 years at risk (Teas of Joy).

Although these plots aren’t impossible in younger age groups, I have a lot more to work with, like career legacy and lifelong community impact.

Will All Love on Belmont Books Be in This Romance Subgenre?

Because this series involves a real community, the series will not focus on a single age group. For example, Tracy’s son, Austin, who’s 16 when the Love on Belmont novels begin, will have his own romance story when he’s old enough. So that readers don’t have to wait too long, that will happen when he’s in his early 20s.

Moreover, Love on Belmont 4 will have two thirty-somethings as the main characters. It’s completely by accident that Mayumi has a child and Terry doesn’t: I created the characters at different times, and it didn’t occur to me that there’d be parallels between them and Tracy and Ben. But Teas of Joy establishes their background, so that part is now fixed.

Which Love on Belmont Books are Later-in-Life Romances?

At time of writing, almost all of them. But to be specific, these are the titles:

·       Trick or Tea (a short-story prequel)

·       Oh, Christmas Tea (a short-story prequel)

·       Tea Shop for Two

·       Oh, What the Fudge

·       Teas of Joy

Which Books, Then, Aren’t Later-in-Life Romances?

Only these two:

·       Claire’s Tea Shop (the first short-story prequel)

·       Love on Belmont 4: title still TBD

The fifth book may also be between thirty-somethings, but the idea is very, very vague in my mind at this point.

To start a new later-in-life author, give the Love on Belmont series a try and let me know how you like it. If you sign up to my mostly-monthly newsletter, you’ll get the three short stories for free as a thank you for joining my community.

What do you think about later-in-life romance novels? Yea or nay?