Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Wicked Wednesday - you are what you eat

I've been told you are what you eat since I was a small child. I've never turned into a cookie or a carrot. What people really are saying when they tell you that is what you eat (and how you eat it) is reflected upon your personality. You can learn a lot about characters through their dietary habits.

Writing paranormal romance, you have a wider variety of food to play with too. For the paranormal part: the supernatural creatures and their strange eating habits. For romance: the sensuality of eating what you eat.

You don't want to write too much about food because it could bore your reader. Yet eating is an every day thing - for most beings - and just a quick line about it can show your reader something about your character. For example, an addiction to sweets or someone who puts salt on everything. Not unusual, but just those few words have put a certain idea of a person in your mind.

More extreme paranormal examples:
A vampire that only drinks AB negative type blood would have a difficult time finding victims.
A werewolf that refuses to eat meat, but his body is having difficulty transforming without it.
A half-dragon that won't eat anything raw, but can't produce her own flames.

It's just not what the characters eat, but how they eat as well. A soup slurper or someone who chews with their mouth open would be immediate turn-offs. Yet someone who eats with only their fingers could be highly sensual.

Paranormal examples:
A vampire drinking from his lover's most intimate places.
A demon with a long tongue licking the juices from an apple he's bitten into.

Sharing food can be a sensual experience. Sometimes, watching someone cook can be too.

What's your favorite fictional food moment?


  1. very inspiring.. i just wanna know more about sleep paralysis.. what about that?!

  2. You give awesome examples... and I love books that do this... I can't for the live of me think of any scenes with food in them right now. Mental blank:)

  3. Excellent post. I love food in novels, and have to sometimes reign myself back. My favourites are the foods featured in the A Song of Ice and fire series. Things like the Dornish meal: The kid had been roasted with lemon and honey. With it were grape leaves stuffed with a melange of raisins, onions, mushrooms, and fiery dragon peppers. ’I am not hungry,’ Arianne said … After a while, hunger weakened her resolve, so she sat and ate.

  4. Hmmm... food can be really interesting if it's done right. I try to include it in my writing, since it gives an insightful view of my fantasy cultures. :-)

  5. Good post! I'm not sure I have ever read a food scene that sticks out in my mind. I'll have to pay more attention and see what I can find.

  6. wow that is really some food for thought! :) Get it? See what I did there? I crack myself up.

  7. Ha! I have a 'monster' that has a thirst for alcohol. He's a drunk.

  8. oh for sure---there are many books and shows -movies where the food scenes have me fascinated--one of my all time favorite scenes from anywhere is the scene in "the exorcist" where the police detective is questioning the mother and she is pouring him coffee--she asks if he would like more coffee, hoping he will refuse, but he asks for another cup--fascinating subject!

  9. food for thought, for sure! NEver thought about these great "foody" story twists:)

  10. Food can say so much about an individual or a culture. Thanks for stopping by today, everyone!

  11. Fun post, Christine! In my last manuscript, I had two elementary aged boys with complete opposite diets: one loved health food and one loved junk food. I think it spoke a lot about their personalities, too.

  12. I like food in a book, stemming back to Nancy Drew. I don't know why. My crit partners recently complained I made them eat donuts. :)

  13. eating together is a common human thing. being able to lean over and try a bit of what your loved one is having, or stealing fries without asking.. :p

    I added a link to this site on my blog! can you add a link of my blog to your site, thank you :)

  14. Hi Christine,

    I think we are what we eat. The worst thing that we know what is healthy and even so we are still able to eat wrong. My father was very wise, with 79 years he had an athletic body. He said we should eat enough. That is, gluttony does nothing good to us and only hinders.


  15. Thank you all for stopping in and sharing with us!