January 27, 2025 • 22 mins
”What if we could travel to a different galaxy? And then that's what the book is about. What if there were superheroes in the world? What if women ruled the world? Those types of things— It's the what if question and the answers.”
— Kristin Noland
In this episode, How To Write the Future podcast host, Beth Barany, talks to developmental and line editor Kristin Noland about the definition of speculative fiction, the importance of setting, and how asking “what if” can have a big impact on your world-building and story development.
ABOUT KRISTIN NOLAND
Kristin is a developmental and line editor who works with women authors of speculative and crime fiction and guides them on how to structure and tighten up their novels so they can give readers an entertaining and immersive experience. She’s edited over seventy books, including two bestsellers. With her caring and encouraging editing style, she helps authors create engaging and exciting novels!
Collection of free author resources, including a worldbuilding guide and an editing flowchart. https://www.nolandediting.com/author-resources
Website: https://www.nolandediting.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristin.noland.146/
X: https://twitter.com/KristinNoland99
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noland_editing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinnoland/
You can follow Kristin on Threads at noland_editing
ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany, an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist, teaches novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor.
RESOURCES
Related Episode: What If… and Your Brain: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2022/11/07/18-what-if-and-your-brain/
Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/
Sign up for the 30-minute Story Success Clinic with Beth Barany: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/story-success-clinic/
Get support for your fiction writing by a novelist and writing teacher and coach. Schedule an exploratory call here and see if Beth can support you today: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/discovery-call/
- SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
- SHOW NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
c. 2025 BETH BARANY
Questions? Comments? Send us a text!
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CONNECT
Contact Beth: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#tve-jump-185b4422580
Email: beth@bethbarany.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethbarany/
CREDITS
EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/0clwwvlf6e3j
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
BETH BARANY (00:00):
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to How To Write theFuture Podcast.
I'm your host Beth Barany, and Iam an award-winning science
fiction and fantasy writer.
I'm also a creativity coach forwriters, a developmental editor,
a podcaster, a filmmaker.
So very excited today to have aspecial guest.
I just wanna let you know thatthis podcast, How To Write the
(00:20):
Future podcast is for people whowant to, it's specifically for
writers, science fiction andfantasy writers who want to
create positive, optimisticfutures because I believe that
when we vision what is possiblethrough our stories, we help
make it so.
So, introducing our guest today.
Kristin Noland.
(00:41):
Welcome Kristin.
KRISTIN NOLAND (00:42):
Hi.
Thank you very much.
BETH BARANY (00:44):
So glad to have you here.
So I'm gonna share witheveryone, your wonderful bio.
Kristin Nolan is a developmentaland line editor who works with
women authors of speculative andcrime fiction and guides them on
how to structure and tightentheir novels so they can give
readers an entertaining andimmersive experience.
She's edited over 70 books,including two bestsellers, and
(01:06):
with her caring and encouragingediting style, she helps authors
create engaging and excitingnovels.
So stay tuned to the end wherewe'll let you know how you can
stay in touch with Kristin.
So today Kristin and I are gonnatalk about speculative fiction
and, we're gonna dive a littledeeper into that using, Kristin,
your wonderful experience as aneditor.
(01:29):
Thank you again for being here.
KRISTIN NOLAND (01:31):
You're welcome.
Thanks for having me.
BETH BARANY (01:33):
And I also, wanna let you know and also let the
listeners know that I actuallywrite sci-fi mysteries.
So I have taken science fictionand mysteries and I've mushed
them together and I'm reallywriting police procedurals set
in in a near future, it's alittle over a hundred years from
now
KRISTIN NOLAND (01:49):
That's fascinating to me.
I'm just this morning wasworking on my novel.
It's a magical, mystery slashcrime novel.
So it's got the magic in it aswell as just the, regular
mysteries.
So, I love that.
That's actually one of myfavorite genres to read.
So let's dive into it.
BETH BARANY (02:07):
For those who don't know, and maybe even for those
who do know, can you define forus what is speculative fiction?
KRISTIN NOLAND (02:13):
Sure.
It is quite a vast genre.
And I think a lot of peopledon't know what all it entails,
but science fiction is in there,of course.
and fantasy, also horror, theutopian, dystopian genres,
alternate histories, timetravel, superhero, those type of
books.
All of that is under thespeculative fiction umbrella
(02:36):
right now.
So it's basically a answeringand asking"what if".
So what if we could travel to adifferent galaxy.
And then that's what the book isabout.
What if there were superheroesin the world?
What if women ruled the world?
Like those types of things.
It's the what if question andthe answers.
And a lot of it tacklessociety's issues, either past
(03:00):
issues or current issues or thefuture issues, if we have
imagination of what a futureissue would be.
So it really encompasses all ofthat.
I really enjoy the genre andother people's imaginations on
things.
Yeah, that's speculativefiction.
BETH BARANY (03:16):
Love it.
And I love your encapsulationof, it's the what if, and then
tied with an issue, past,present, or future.
I love that so much becausethat's where I've always been
living since I was little.
as a reader and also as a writerpretty much.
So for you, why speculativefiction?
What draws you to it?
Both as a writer and as aneditor?
(03:38):
I imagine also as a reader.
KRISTIN NOLAND (03:39):
Yeah.
I think it is that.
Different people's outlooks onwhat an issue is and how it can
be changed and made better.
Like I said, most of them aresocietal issues that, that are
addressed in, in these books.
And I think society does havemany issues and we are trying to
progress, but we haven't gottenthere yet.
We haven't made a utopiansociety yet, and I'd be honestly
(04:03):
shocked because what's oneperson's utopia is another
person's dystopia.
So yeah.
I think it's the alternate worldthat a lot of them show us, and
I think that's interesting tome.
I can really get immersed inanother world and it could still
be based on Earth.
It doesn't have to be basedanywhere else, but it's a whole
different world that the authorcreates.
(04:23):
And I really enjoy learningabout what they think is a
problem and how they see it assolutions can happen.
It also sparks me to take a stepfurther in my life to make that
change.
So I find that very appealing.
To read and edit and write.
This is my first book though.
Let's not expect great thingsfrom this first one that I'm
(04:45):
writing.
But, yeah, I'm pretty excitedabout it though.
BETH BARANY (04:48):
Exciting.
Yeah.
and you said a little bitalready in the answer to this
next question, which is whatstorytelling elements are
highlighted in in speculativefiction?
I don't know if you werereferring to the what if
quality, but yeah.
Can you tell us more
KRISTIN NOLAND (05:03):
Definitely, the what if quality, but also in
speculative fiction is thefantastical or futuristic
settings.
So the setting is a large partas well because in speculative
fiction, the characters worldthat they live in, whether it's,
a different government societyor if it's out its space or if
(05:23):
it's in a fantastical land withblue grass and a pink sky or
whatever, the setting needs toimpact the characters.
And so that's important.
So what surrounds them willimpact them because it also
encompasses environmentalfiction.
They're in those ones theenvironment is really huge in
(05:44):
impacting their lives.
So that's also important.
BETH BARANY (05:48):
Can you give me an example, either drawn from your
own writing or from somethingthat you've read?
Maybe a famous book even wherethe setting impacts the
characters, because I thinkthis, you're so right and this
is such a great point.
KRISTIN NOLAND (06:02):
The setting impacts the characters.
Yeah.
BETH BARANY (06:04):
It makes me think about something like Lord of the
Rings, where it's a bigwandering story through all this
different setting that impactsthe, in terms of environmental
challenges or even, like youwere saying, an environmental
fiction or eco fiction.
The characters are Dealing withreal ecological issues and
(06:25):
problems.
Or like in my stories--most ofthe stories are set on space
stations, or at least these fourbooks here in the first four
books of the Janey McCallisterseries.
It's all on a space station.
So it has constraints, it hasspace constraints.
I'm really leaning into thelocked room mystery'cause that's
essentially what is, yeah.
It's in a huge environment.
I deal with, a space walk.
(06:47):
I deal with, depressurization.
The way the space station wasactually built provides a
setting, and part of the mysteryfor one of the books.
so the way the stationenvironment is organized is the
world in which my charactersplay in, and it defines who
comes and how they come there.
And, it impacts all the story ina lot of different ways.
(07:07):
So is that what you're talkingabout?
KRISTIN NOLAND (07:09):
Yes, it is.
Thank you.
Setting can impact in basicallyany genre.
but to use some of my favoriteexamples, 1984, that's my
absolute favorite.
it was a warning.
Not a way to go, people, but thesetting there very much impacts
because Big Brother is alwayswatching.
(07:29):
And so that's something thatback then it didn't actually
happen that way.
There was influence and such,but nothing was in people's
homes like it is now.
So I think somebody watchingeverything you do and the people
looking out for the things thatyou say and everything like that
was hugely impactful on thatstory.
So imagine a story that therewouldn't have been people to
(07:51):
tell about, the thought crimesand, That kind of thing.
So if they didn't have thosepeople informing, then part of
the story wouldn't have been asimpactful.
and that was part of thatsetting.
The fake wars that were goingon, I'm giving away a bunch of
stuff for the book, the fakewars that they were having also,
that impacted their lives'causethey thought it was real.
(08:13):
And he even had the militarytrucks with the soldiers coming
back in them.
And although there was no waractually happening, so that
setting and he pulled that infrom military experiences that
were going on at the time aswell.
So I think things like that.
The Hunger Games, that was hugewith all different types of
(08:35):
settings.
And it really showed how ajungle setting would be
different than, maybe a desertsetting would impact how they
survived.
And so that was huge, part ofthat story.
So It definitely makes adifference in your, writing.
Another one would be TheHandmaid's Tale.
It was still the United States,but it was much different.
(08:55):
And in Canada everything seemedto be going as we knew it
originally, but in the UnitedStates, things had flipped.
So there that setting of thatreally impacted, even though
they were normal houses andeverything.
They were set up in oldbuildings and repurposed and
that kind of setting pulled thatin too.
BETH BARANY (09:14):
Ah, that's so great.
Yeah.
I really love this wholeconversation around how setting
impacts the story so intently.
It's something that I see inbeginning writers, encouraging
them to get really specific andalso understand how did it
become that way.
yeah.
Is there any other storytellingelements that are highlighted in
speculative fiction?
KRISTIN NOLAND (09:35):
The characters of course, are gonna be big as
in everything else.
Yeah.
So the world building, thecharacters and the plot, yeah,
everything goes together as youwell know, and as every author
knows., everything is alltogether.
in that.
In most genres, sub genres, itneeds to take a step back, the
world building for thecharacters to evolve and into
(09:58):
the plot.
That said, there's fantasy andsci-fi, where it's a huge part.
High fantasy is setting isprobably a quarter of the book
because you're describing thesehuge fantastical things that
need a lot of description andreaders love that.
So those three things I think inspeculative fiction in the
(10:18):
world, the characters, and theplot.
These characters dealing withthe world the way it is in these
books, that's what drives theplot.
It's the characters and theirsurroundings.
And when I say setting, I don'tjust mean a description of a
mountain.
I mean the world that they livein with the rulers and, their
(10:39):
neighbors and those kind ofthings.
BETH BARANY (10:40):
Yeah.
And when you said the rulers, itmade me think of one of the
questions that I have in aresource for all our listeners,
which is the World BuildingWorkbook for Fiction Writers,
and which is the powerstructure.
What is the power structure?
How did it come to be?
What maintains it?
Who wins, who loses?
And something that I'm thinkinga lot about is, who or what had
(11:01):
to lose for this power structureto come into place?
So I'm world building.
My story world trying to come upwith a backstory that takes
place in 2060 for a story thattakes place in I think it's 2133
is the current book I'm workingon and it's our future.
So I'm also working on what ifin our future, in our near
(11:22):
future, 30 plus years from now.
But it's my character'sbackstory when this big thing
happens.
and I'm thinking all about powerstructures and environmental
issues, space junk, and And whatif this and what if that?
And doing lots of research.
because that is our setting,that's a big, pivotal thing
that's gonna happen in my storythat shapes the events of the
(11:43):
character.
KRISTIN NOLAND (11:44):
That's very important.
I worked on a novel where,people with disabilities, they
were the ones who were rulingsociety and the people who
didn't have a disability wereconsidered less than.
And so that was interesting.
And for me it took place alittle too fast'cause it was
only like 20 years in the futureor so.
(12:05):
And I asked them how the changehappened, how we went from one
thing to the complete oppositeand the author didn't have an
answer to that.
And I was like, it's a greatstory.
It's a great premise, but you'regonna have to have some
supporting facts.
Your made up facts, Yeah.
But it has to be plausible.
And so that was something thatshe needed to work on with that
(12:27):
plausibility of how it became tobe, because as we know, that's a
struggle to get a power change.
BETH BARANY (12:33):
How do authors research or for speculative
fiction, what do you recommend?
KRISTIN NOLAND (12:38):
I recommend looking at past societal issues
and past problems with things.
let's say we're having, rightnow, there's the gender issue,
and it's been coming to lightfor a little bit now, again.
this all happened before and wemade slight advancements, but
we're not making the bigadvancement that we need.
(13:01):
So researching how that hap cameabout before, what people tried
and how they succeeded in someareas and failed in others can
help you get an idea for how tostructure your story and how we
can make it.
Go even further and how muchadvancement we're actually going
to get in the next 20, 30, 50years, whatever the storyline
(13:26):
is.
but it's the research into whatpeople did before.
With, let's say even like abattle scene, or, something like
a war.
you would wanna see what warswere similar to that.
And so you can pick up on thestructure, the plans that they
had, what worked, what didn't inorder to make your story
(13:46):
different with.
How it turns out.
or maybe the same, maybe peoplewanna have, say, here history's
repeating itself and it's gonnabe exactly the same outcome as
we had before, is also an idea.
But researching those things,it's very important to the
story.
even if you have something likea.
(14:06):
Massive tsunami that happens.
You need to look at thedevastation that causes in
multiple things, because,granted you've got a lot of
water, but that water alsosparks fires.
So now you have a fires and youhave that, and people need to
deal with both of them.
Or maybe somebody just has todeal with one in a different
(14:26):
place and they, the water isless important to them.
They're dealing with the fire,or maybe it's the aftermath
where things are just covered insalt water and now you have a
problem with your water.
Being fresh water or, and beingcontaminated with salt water.
And you have to figure out howto get all those things out,
those impurities out of it.
So you have drinking water, allof those kind of things you need
(14:49):
to research so that your story'splausible.
It's all about plausibility withthose things.
So you wanna make sure that youhave the factual evidence to
back up your story that's,taking it a step further or two
steps further.
But you wanna have that basisstill there in the factual
research.
That's great.
BETH BARANY (15:06):
I think that's really helpful.
KRISTIN NOLAND (15:07):
I've been researching a lot for crime
fiction.
I have books here for crimescenes forensics and police
procedurals, so that, I havethat basis of knowledge for my
story.
So yeah, I'm doing that researchwhich.
Is fascinating to me.
Me, yeah.
The police procedurals not somuch, but the forensics is
(15:29):
extremely fascinating And howthey work, the crime scene is
really cool too.
yeah, just because you'rewriting speculative fiction
doesn't mean you can't have thiscrime thing in there.
BETH BARANY (15:38):
Is there anything else about world building or,
creating a society that isaround our characters, in
speculative fiction that youwant to address?
KRISTIN NOLAND (15:48):
I would say that most readers of the speculative
fiction genre like fast-pacednovels.
So pacing is huge in it.
Now high fantasy is probably,people probably want a little
bit less in high fantasy, lessfast-paced, or slower paced,
because you need all of thosedescriptions in high fantasy.
(16:08):
Pacing involves action scenes aswell as the follow-up scenes.
So the fast and slow, but inspeculative fiction, there's
going to be a faster paceoverall, not quite as fast as
thriller's pretty fast.
Or horror, but it's going to be,and horror is in this, but
horror is, like I said, likehigh fantasy needs a little
(16:29):
slower.
Horror's gonna need a littlefaster pacing.
So pacing is also something thatyou wanna take into account when
you're putting all your plot andall that into Yeah, since it's
all meshed together with onething leads to another and when
editing there's, I pick up on somuch stuff that deals with
character and I may even putinto a character subheading,
(16:52):
some world building because ofthe effects that it has on the
characters, that it should beaffecting them more so
characterization encompasses alot.
it's pulls in point of view andtone and all that into the
character subheading in some ofmy editorial letters and such.
yeah, it all comes together.
But, pacing is another one thatI would say that people need to
(17:16):
think about when they're writingspeculative fiction.
BETH BARANY (17:19):
That sounds great.
And, I should let our listenersknow that you've written a post,
for my blog on Writer's Fun Zoneon ah, here it is:"What to
Expect from ProfessionalEditing." And so we'll reference
that in the notes for the show.
Listeners, Kristin is an editorand you're a specialist, which I
love that you're a specialist.
(17:39):
It helps refer people to you, Iwould imagine the writers feel
really safe because you're,speculative fiction, crime
fiction, and those are your twospecialties, which is so
awesome.
And something I've been writingfor the last gosh.
How long has it been now?
Since 20 16.
Eight years.
Yeah.
So I've been deep in this space.
And, so happy that you're here.
(18:00):
Really the big question is whenare they ready for you?
KRISTIN NOLAND (18:02):
As a developmental editor, that's the
big picture editing, so thingsfor plot, characterization,
character arcs and worldbuilding, those kinds of things.
That's the developmentalediting.
To be ready for that, you shouldhave a finished book.
I prefer to have one that'sprobably in its second to third
(18:24):
draft, but there are times whereI have clients who've finished
the book or they're so close tofinishing and they're just not
sure how to wrap it up, and theyneed some help with that.
So I can also help withbrainstorming ideas on how to
finish the novel.
But what I really like is tohave them have not just written
the full story, but gone backthrough and tried to catch any
(18:47):
plot holes that might be there,or add some conflict that wasn't
strong enough.
I.
Or make sure that theircharacters have goals and
motivations for what they do andsomething that they want versus
what they need.
I come across a lot of wants andneeds that are the same or very
similar, and that doesn't quitework.
(19:09):
So I would prefer them to havemost of those things worked out
to the best, and it's only tothe best of their ability.
So if they have done the bestthat they can, that's when you
seek an editor in general.
Once you've done everything thatyou can, then you go and find an
editor for you.
Now, line editing comes afterthe developmental, so all of the
(19:33):
plot issues are figured out.
The characters are deep andwell-rounded and all of that
stuff is good.
And then line editing is where Ilook at each paragraph, each
line of the paragraph, and makesure that it flows.
From one to the other, make surethe chapters flow well together.
And then sentence variation aswell.
(19:56):
So a lot of subject verbsentence structures is great.
but we do need to have someother things mixed in there, so
that it doesn't becomerepetitive reading.
And so that's what I do.
I help mold the language alittle differently so it's a
better read.
Yeah.
I do not change the author'stone or their voice, or their
(20:18):
style, but I just tweak it andadjust it to be able to have an
easier read, and make surethings are clear for the reader
so that they can enjoy the book.
BETH BARANY (20:28):
That's great.
That's really great.
So if people want to find youand reach out and get support,
where can they go?
KRISTIN NOLAND (20:34):
Nolan editing.com is my website.
If you wanna learn a little bitmore about me, I do have an
about page and I also haveportfolio that you can look and
see what I've worked on so far.
Those are just the publishedbooks, though that's hard for an
editor.
When you see their portfolio andmaybe there's only 10 things on
their portfolio.
That doesn't mean they've onlyedited 10 books.
(20:56):
They may have edited 50 books,but 10 of them are published, so
we can't advertise the names ofbooks that aren't published yet,
or pictures of books thathaven't been published yet.
I say that I've edited over 70books because I have, but
there's only like 25 orsomething published so far.
I have a YouTube channel, also.
(21:17):
And I'm on Threads and LinkedIn.
Those are the ones where I'mactive on.
BETH BARANY (21:22):
That's great.
that's so wonderful.
And so I encourage listeners ifyou want support and you're
ready for editing to reach outto Kristin.
So for our audience, is thereany last tips that you would
like to give them about, howthey can orient themselves as a
writer and just keep going?
Any words of advice for ourwriters out there.
KRISTIN NOLAND (21:43):
You hear the advice a lot that says, write
what you know and that doesn'tmean write your life story.
It means write things thatyou're familiar with.
One of my characters lovesantique furniture, and I love
antique furniture.
so I've built that in so I canwrite a little bit about what I
enjoy about it.
so I can describe those thingsin the way I see them.
(22:06):
So when I say write what youknow, do your research.
Make sure you have your factsstraight so that you can adjust
and tweak those into your story,and it makes it plausible.
BETH BARANY (22:17):
Wonderful.
I love that as a theme fortoday's episode of the amount of
research that actually goes intowriting these stories.
I love it.
I just wanna thank you so much,Kristin, for being with us today
And I just wanna inviteeverybody who's listening to
check out the World BuildingWorkbook for Fiction Writers.
And that's a free workbook,downloadable for you.
(22:38):
Great, everyone.
So signing off.
Write Long and prosper.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to How To Write theFuture Podcast.
I'm your host Beth Barany, and Iam an award-winning science
fiction and fantasy writer.
I'm also a creativity coach forwriters, a developmental editor,
a podcaster, a filmmaker.
So very excited today to have aspecial guest.
I just wanna let you know thatthis podcast, How To Write the
(00:20):
Future podcast is for people whowant to, it's specifically for
writers, science fiction andfantasy writers who want to
create positive, optimisticfutures because I believe that
when we vision what is possiblethrough our stories, we help
make it so.
So, introducing our guest today.
Kristin Noland.
(00:41):
Welcome Kristin.
KRISTIN NOLAND (00:42):
Hi.
Thank you very much.
BETH BARANY (00:44):
So glad to have you here.
So I'm gonna share witheveryone, your wonderful bio.
Kristin Nolan is a developmentaland line editor who works with
women authors of speculative andcrime fiction and guides them on
how to structure and tightentheir novels so they can give
readers an entertaining andimmersive experience.
She's edited over 70 books,including two bestsellers, and
(01:06):
with her caring and encouragingediting style, she helps authors
create engaging and excitingnovels.
So stay tuned to the end wherewe'll let you know how you can
stay in touch with Kristin.
So today Kristin and I are gonnatalk about speculative fiction
and, we're gonna dive a littledeeper into that using, Kristin,
your wonderful experience as aneditor.
(01:29):
Thank you again for being here.
KRISTIN NOLAND (01:31):
You're welcome.
Thanks for having me.
BETH BARANY (01:33):
And I also, wanna let you know and also let the
listeners know that I actuallywrite sci-fi mysteries.
So I have taken science fictionand mysteries and I've mushed
them together and I'm reallywriting police procedurals set
in in a near future, it's alittle over a hundred years from
now
KRISTIN NOLAND (01:49):
That's fascinating to me.
I'm just this morning wasworking on my novel.
It's a magical, mystery slashcrime novel.
So it's got the magic in it aswell as just the, regular
mysteries.
So, I love that.
That's actually one of myfavorite genres to read.
So let's dive into it.
BETH BARANY (02:07):
For those who don't know, and maybe even for those
who do know, can you define forus what is speculative fiction?
KRISTIN NOLAND (02:13):
Sure.
It is quite a vast genre.
And I think a lot of peopledon't know what all it entails,
but science fiction is in there,of course.
and fantasy, also horror, theutopian, dystopian genres,
alternate histories, timetravel, superhero, those type of
books.
All of that is under thespeculative fiction umbrella
(02:36):
right now.
So it's basically a answeringand asking"what if".
So what if we could travel to adifferent galaxy.
And then that's what the book isabout.
What if there were superheroesin the world?
What if women ruled the world?
Like those types of things.
It's the what if question andthe answers.
And a lot of it tacklessociety's issues, either past
(03:00):
issues or current issues or thefuture issues, if we have
imagination of what a futureissue would be.
So it really encompasses all ofthat.
I really enjoy the genre andother people's imaginations on
things.
Yeah, that's speculativefiction.
BETH BARANY (03:16):
Love it.
And I love your encapsulationof, it's the what if, and then
tied with an issue, past,present, or future.
I love that so much becausethat's where I've always been
living since I was little.
as a reader and also as a writerpretty much.
So for you, why speculativefiction?
What draws you to it?
Both as a writer and as aneditor?
(03:38):
I imagine also as a reader.
KRISTIN NOLAND (03:39):
Yeah.
I think it is that.
Different people's outlooks onwhat an issue is and how it can
be changed and made better.
Like I said, most of them aresocietal issues that, that are
addressed in, in these books.
And I think society does havemany issues and we are trying to
progress, but we haven't gottenthere yet.
We haven't made a utopiansociety yet, and I'd be honestly
(04:03):
shocked because what's oneperson's utopia is another
person's dystopia.
So yeah.
I think it's the alternate worldthat a lot of them show us, and
I think that's interesting tome.
I can really get immersed inanother world and it could still
be based on Earth.
It doesn't have to be basedanywhere else, but it's a whole
different world that the authorcreates.
(04:23):
And I really enjoy learningabout what they think is a
problem and how they see it assolutions can happen.
It also sparks me to take a stepfurther in my life to make that
change.
So I find that very appealing.
To read and edit and write.
This is my first book though.
Let's not expect great thingsfrom this first one that I'm
(04:45):
writing.
But, yeah, I'm pretty excitedabout it though.
BETH BARANY (04:48):
Exciting.
Yeah.
and you said a little bitalready in the answer to this
next question, which is whatstorytelling elements are
highlighted in in speculativefiction?
I don't know if you werereferring to the what if
quality, but yeah.
Can you tell us more
KRISTIN NOLAND (05:03):
Definitely, the what if quality, but also in
speculative fiction is thefantastical or futuristic
settings.
So the setting is a large partas well because in speculative
fiction, the characters worldthat they live in, whether it's,
a different government societyor if it's out its space or if
(05:23):
it's in a fantastical land withblue grass and a pink sky or
whatever, the setting needs toimpact the characters.
And so that's important.
So what surrounds them willimpact them because it also
encompasses environmentalfiction.
They're in those ones theenvironment is really huge in
(05:44):
impacting their lives.
So that's also important.
BETH BARANY (05:48):
Can you give me an example, either drawn from your
own writing or from somethingthat you've read?
Maybe a famous book even wherethe setting impacts the
characters, because I thinkthis, you're so right and this
is such a great point.
KRISTIN NOLAND (06:02):
The setting impacts the characters.
Yeah.
BETH BARANY (06:04):
It makes me think about something like Lord of the
Rings, where it's a bigwandering story through all this
different setting that impactsthe, in terms of environmental
challenges or even, like youwere saying, an environmental
fiction or eco fiction.
The characters are Dealing withreal ecological issues and
(06:25):
problems.
Or like in my stories--most ofthe stories are set on space
stations, or at least these fourbooks here in the first four
books of the Janey McCallisterseries.
It's all on a space station.
So it has constraints, it hasspace constraints.
I'm really leaning into thelocked room mystery'cause that's
essentially what is, yeah.
It's in a huge environment.
I deal with, a space walk.
(06:47):
I deal with, depressurization.
The way the space station wasactually built provides a
setting, and part of the mysteryfor one of the books.
so the way the stationenvironment is organized is the
world in which my charactersplay in, and it defines who
comes and how they come there.
And, it impacts all the story ina lot of different ways.
(07:07):
So is that what you're talkingabout?
KRISTIN NOLAND (07:09):
Yes, it is.
Thank you.
Setting can impact in basicallyany genre.
but to use some of my favoriteexamples, 1984, that's my
absolute favorite.
it was a warning.
Not a way to go, people, but thesetting there very much impacts
because Big Brother is alwayswatching.
(07:29):
And so that's something thatback then it didn't actually
happen that way.
There was influence and such,but nothing was in people's
homes like it is now.
So I think somebody watchingeverything you do and the people
looking out for the things thatyou say and everything like that
was hugely impactful on thatstory.
So imagine a story that therewouldn't have been people to
(07:51):
tell about, the thought crimesand, That kind of thing.
So if they didn't have thosepeople informing, then part of
the story wouldn't have been asimpactful.
and that was part of thatsetting.
The fake wars that were goingon, I'm giving away a bunch of
stuff for the book, the fakewars that they were having also,
that impacted their lives'causethey thought it was real.
(08:13):
And he even had the militarytrucks with the soldiers coming
back in them.
And although there was no waractually happening, so that
setting and he pulled that infrom military experiences that
were going on at the time aswell.
So I think things like that.
The Hunger Games, that was hugewith all different types of
(08:35):
settings.
And it really showed how ajungle setting would be
different than, maybe a desertsetting would impact how they
survived.
And so that was huge, part ofthat story.
So It definitely makes adifference in your, writing.
Another one would be TheHandmaid's Tale.
It was still the United States,but it was much different.
(08:55):
And in Canada everything seemedto be going as we knew it
originally, but in the UnitedStates, things had flipped.
So there that setting of thatreally impacted, even though
they were normal houses andeverything.
They were set up in oldbuildings and repurposed and
that kind of setting pulled thatin too.
BETH BARANY (09:14):
Ah, that's so great.
Yeah.
I really love this wholeconversation around how setting
impacts the story so intently.
It's something that I see inbeginning writers, encouraging
them to get really specific andalso understand how did it
become that way.
yeah.
Is there any other storytellingelements that are highlighted in
speculative fiction?
KRISTIN NOLAND (09:35):
The characters of course, are gonna be big as
in everything else.
Yeah.
So the world building, thecharacters and the plot, yeah,
everything goes together as youwell know, and as every author
knows., everything is alltogether.
in that.
In most genres, sub genres, itneeds to take a step back, the
world building for thecharacters to evolve and into
(09:58):
the plot.
That said, there's fantasy andsci-fi, where it's a huge part.
High fantasy is setting isprobably a quarter of the book
because you're describing thesehuge fantastical things that
need a lot of description andreaders love that.
So those three things I think inspeculative fiction in the
(10:18):
world, the characters, and theplot.
These characters dealing withthe world the way it is in these
books, that's what drives theplot.
It's the characters and theirsurroundings.
And when I say setting, I don'tjust mean a description of a
mountain.
I mean the world that they livein with the rulers and, their
(10:39):
neighbors and those kind ofthings.
BETH BARANY (10:40):
Yeah.
And when you said the rulers, itmade me think of one of the
questions that I have in aresource for all our listeners,
which is the World BuildingWorkbook for Fiction Writers,
and which is the powerstructure.
What is the power structure?
How did it come to be?
What maintains it?
Who wins, who loses?
And something that I'm thinkinga lot about is, who or what had
(11:01):
to lose for this power structureto come into place?
So I'm world building.
My story world trying to come upwith a backstory that takes
place in 2060 for a story thattakes place in I think it's 2133
is the current book I'm workingon and it's our future.
So I'm also working on what ifin our future, in our near
(11:22):
future, 30 plus years from now.
But it's my character'sbackstory when this big thing
happens.
and I'm thinking all about powerstructures and environmental
issues, space junk, and And whatif this and what if that?
And doing lots of research.
because that is our setting,that's a big, pivotal thing
that's gonna happen in my storythat shapes the events of the
(11:43):
character.
KRISTIN NOLAND (11:44):
That's very important.
I worked on a novel where,people with disabilities, they
were the ones who were rulingsociety and the people who
didn't have a disability wereconsidered less than.
And so that was interesting.
And for me it took place alittle too fast'cause it was
only like 20 years in the futureor so.
(12:05):
And I asked them how the changehappened, how we went from one
thing to the complete oppositeand the author didn't have an
answer to that.
And I was like, it's a greatstory.
It's a great premise, but you'regonna have to have some
supporting facts.
Your made up facts, Yeah.
But it has to be plausible.
And so that was something thatshe needed to work on with that
(12:27):
plausibility of how it became tobe, because as we know, that's a
struggle to get a power change.
BETH BARANY (12:33):
How do authors research or for speculative
fiction, what do you recommend?
KRISTIN NOLAND (12:38):
I recommend looking at past societal issues
and past problems with things.
let's say we're having, rightnow, there's the gender issue,
and it's been coming to lightfor a little bit now, again.
this all happened before and wemade slight advancements, but
we're not making the bigadvancement that we need.
(13:01):
So researching how that hap cameabout before, what people tried
and how they succeeded in someareas and failed in others can
help you get an idea for how tostructure your story and how we
can make it.
Go even further and how muchadvancement we're actually going
to get in the next 20, 30, 50years, whatever the storyline
(13:26):
is.
but it's the research into whatpeople did before.
With, let's say even like abattle scene, or, something like
a war.
you would wanna see what warswere similar to that.
And so you can pick up on thestructure, the plans that they
had, what worked, what didn't inorder to make your story
(13:46):
different with.
How it turns out.
or maybe the same, maybe peoplewanna have, say, here history's
repeating itself and it's gonnabe exactly the same outcome as
we had before, is also an idea.
But researching those things,it's very important to the
story.
even if you have something likea.
(14:06):
Massive tsunami that happens.
You need to look at thedevastation that causes in
multiple things, because,granted you've got a lot of
water, but that water alsosparks fires.
So now you have a fires and youhave that, and people need to
deal with both of them.
Or maybe somebody just has todeal with one in a different
(14:26):
place and they, the water isless important to them.
They're dealing with the fire,or maybe it's the aftermath
where things are just covered insalt water and now you have a
problem with your water.
Being fresh water or, and beingcontaminated with salt water.
And you have to figure out howto get all those things out,
those impurities out of it.
So you have drinking water, allof those kind of things you need
(14:49):
to research so that your story'splausible.
It's all about plausibility withthose things.
So you wanna make sure that youhave the factual evidence to
back up your story that's,taking it a step further or two
steps further.
But you wanna have that basisstill there in the factual
research.
That's great.
BETH BARANY (15:06):
I think that's really helpful.
KRISTIN NOLAND (15:07):
I've been researching a lot for crime
fiction.
I have books here for crimescenes forensics and police
procedurals, so that, I havethat basis of knowledge for my
story.
So yeah, I'm doing that researchwhich.
Is fascinating to me.
Me, yeah.
The police procedurals not somuch, but the forensics is
(15:29):
extremely fascinating And howthey work, the crime scene is
really cool too.
yeah, just because you'rewriting speculative fiction
doesn't mean you can't have thiscrime thing in there.
BETH BARANY (15:38):
Is there anything else about world building or,
creating a society that isaround our characters, in
speculative fiction that youwant to address?
KRISTIN NOLAND (15:48):
I would say that most readers of the speculative
fiction genre like fast-pacednovels.
So pacing is huge in it.
Now high fantasy is probably,people probably want a little
bit less in high fantasy, lessfast-paced, or slower paced,
because you need all of thosedescriptions in high fantasy.
(16:08):
Pacing involves action scenes aswell as the follow-up scenes.
So the fast and slow, but inspeculative fiction, there's
going to be a faster paceoverall, not quite as fast as
thriller's pretty fast.
Or horror, but it's going to be,and horror is in this, but
horror is, like I said, likehigh fantasy needs a little
(16:29):
slower.
Horror's gonna need a littlefaster pacing.
So pacing is also something thatyou wanna take into account when
you're putting all your plot andall that into Yeah, since it's
all meshed together with onething leads to another and when
editing there's, I pick up on somuch stuff that deals with
character and I may even putinto a character subheading,
(16:52):
some world building because ofthe effects that it has on the
characters, that it should beaffecting them more so
characterization encompasses alot.
it's pulls in point of view andtone and all that into the
character subheading in some ofmy editorial letters and such.
yeah, it all comes together.
But, pacing is another one thatI would say that people need to
(17:16):
think about when they're writingspeculative fiction.
BETH BARANY (17:19):
That sounds great.
And, I should let our listenersknow that you've written a post,
for my blog on Writer's Fun Zoneon ah, here it is:"What to
Expect from ProfessionalEditing." And so we'll reference
that in the notes for the show.
Listeners, Kristin is an editorand you're a specialist, which I
love that you're a specialist.
(17:39):
It helps refer people to you, Iwould imagine the writers feel
really safe because you're,speculative fiction, crime
fiction, and those are your twospecialties, which is so
awesome.
And something I've been writingfor the last gosh.
How long has it been now?
Since 20 16.
Eight years.
Yeah.
So I've been deep in this space.
And, so happy that you're here.
(18:00):
Really the big question is whenare they ready for you?
KRISTIN NOLAND (18:02):
As a developmental editor, that's the
big picture editing, so thingsfor plot, characterization,
character arcs and worldbuilding, those kinds of things.
That's the developmentalediting.
To be ready for that, you shouldhave a finished book.
I prefer to have one that'sprobably in its second to third
(18:24):
draft, but there are times whereI have clients who've finished
the book or they're so close tofinishing and they're just not
sure how to wrap it up, and theyneed some help with that.
So I can also help withbrainstorming ideas on how to
finish the novel.
But what I really like is tohave them have not just written
the full story, but gone backthrough and tried to catch any
(18:47):
plot holes that might be there,or add some conflict that wasn't
strong enough.
I.
Or make sure that theircharacters have goals and
motivations for what they do andsomething that they want versus
what they need.
I come across a lot of wants andneeds that are the same or very
similar, and that doesn't quitework.
(19:09):
So I would prefer them to havemost of those things worked out
to the best, and it's only tothe best of their ability.
So if they have done the bestthat they can, that's when you
seek an editor in general.
Once you've done everything thatyou can, then you go and find an
editor for you.
Now, line editing comes afterthe developmental, so all of the
(19:33):
plot issues are figured out.
The characters are deep andwell-rounded and all of that
stuff is good.
And then line editing is where Ilook at each paragraph, each
line of the paragraph, and makesure that it flows.
From one to the other, make surethe chapters flow well together.
And then sentence variation aswell.
(19:56):
So a lot of subject verbsentence structures is great.
but we do need to have someother things mixed in there, so
that it doesn't becomerepetitive reading.
And so that's what I do.
I help mold the language alittle differently so it's a
better read.
Yeah.
I do not change the author'stone or their voice, or their
(20:18):
style, but I just tweak it andadjust it to be able to have an
easier read, and make surethings are clear for the reader
so that they can enjoy the book.
BETH BARANY (20:28):
That's great.
That's really great.
So if people want to find youand reach out and get support,
where can they go?
KRISTIN NOLAND (20:34):
Nolan editing.com is my website.
If you wanna learn a little bitmore about me, I do have an
about page and I also haveportfolio that you can look and
see what I've worked on so far.
Those are just the publishedbooks, though that's hard for an
editor.
When you see their portfolio andmaybe there's only 10 things on
their portfolio.
That doesn't mean they've onlyedited 10 books.
(20:56):
They may have edited 50 books,but 10 of them are published, so
we can't advertise the names ofbooks that aren't published yet,
or pictures of books thathaven't been published yet.
I say that I've edited over 70books because I have, but
there's only like 25 orsomething published so far.
I have a YouTube channel, also.
(21:17):
And I'm on Threads and LinkedIn.
Those are the ones where I'mactive on.
BETH BARANY (21:22):
That's great.
that's so wonderful.
And so I encourage listeners ifyou want support and you're
ready for editing to reach outto Kristin.
So for our audience, is thereany last tips that you would
like to give them about, howthey can orient themselves as a
writer and just keep going?
Any words of advice for ourwriters out there.
KRISTIN NOLAND (21:43):
You hear the advice a lot that says, write
what you know and that doesn'tmean write your life story.
It means write things thatyou're familiar with.
One of my characters lovesantique furniture, and I love
antique furniture.
so I've built that in so I canwrite a little bit about what I
enjoy about it.
so I can describe those thingsin the way I see them.
(22:06):
So when I say write what youknow, do your research.
Make sure you have your factsstraight so that you can adjust
and tweak those into your story,and it makes it plausible.
BETH BARANY (22:17):
Wonderful.
I love that as a theme fortoday's episode of the amount of
research that actually goes intowriting these stories.
I love it.
I just wanna thank you so much,Kristin, for being with us today
And I just wanna inviteeverybody who's listening to
check out the World BuildingWorkbook for Fiction Writers.
And that's a free workbook,downloadable for you.
(22:38):
Great, everyone.
So signing off.
Write Long and prosper.
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