Here is my behind-the-scenes look for Chapter 15: Honeybugs! (AKA: me getting to rant, lol)

So, this chapter has a really funny story behind it, and I wanted to share it all with you! First off, the chapter started off in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT direction. The canon did a great job showing the passing of the seasons, and I wanted to emulate that. So I was trying to figure out another holiday that could be celebrated at the end of spring to mark the season's passing.

PART 1: THE MILK FESTIVAL

Cue this conversation with my best friend/editor (reprinted with their permission):

Best friend/editor: Well, we were discussing the star festival the other day, and it got me thinking. It may be that the story that Effa told Myne was based on regional oral mythology. However, the only source of "written" mythology is the current religious text, which doesn't include the star story in its codex. The star festival was probably an attempt to convert the populace to the dominant religion, and further establish them as the source of power. It's a very common practice in religions.

So it's entirely possible that other traditional festivities got rebranded. A common one is the "end of lean times" celebration that occurs at the end of Spring, which signifies times are becoming easier. One such festival had a name meaning "three milk" because you could milk the cow three times a day.

Me: I like the sound of that!

Me, three months later when I'm actually outlining the chapter: I TRIED GOOGLING THAT FESTIVAL THING YOU TALKED ABOUT, AND COULD NOT FIND A THING ABOUT IT. WHERE ARE YOUR SOURCES?!

BF/E: Let me look….

BF/E, Twenty minutes later: Wow, I cannot find that three milk festival thing either. Did I dream that up...?

Me:

…

…

…

DUDE. THIS IS WHY WE CITE OUR SOURCES.

(I'm a perfectionist and neat-freak, in case you haven't guessed…)

So…. I decided to go "frack it," and go with the three milk festival, anyways. My original idea was that Myne could buy milk for cheap in bulk, and make cheese with it...but after doing some research, I realized that would have been VERY RESEARCH-INTENSIVE and quite technical in writing. While the Breadmaking chapters were a lot of fun to write, I thought it'd be hard to balance all that technicality again… And I was also lazy. :P On the flipside, having Myne and co. just buy cheese would've been a lot easier...but also too little to write for a chapter.

So...I switched tracks and looked into meals that could be made with milk, to fatten up the chapter without over-bloating it with too much detail. Cue part 2:

PART 2: MILK RECIPES (AKA: I GIVE UP)

Finding a main course made with milk was the easy part. Poach fish in milk, serve with spring onions and carrots (the latter of which can be found in the wild, and is a late-spring vegetable-perfect for the chapter's setting), and voila! I could even have a cute scene of Gunther and family fishing in the forest's river!

But the dessert...harder. And don't ask me why I wanted to find a milk-based dessert so badly, I just did. :P Festivities and all that.

BUT THE PROBLEM WAS- all the old-fashioned desserts required sugar.

While Myne DOES have sugar now, there's two problems with this:

In the midst of looking for recipes, my friend and I came up with this adorable scene of Effa teaching Myne a recipe (rather than the other way around) that's been passed down in her family for generations. (Effa needs more love, ya'll). But… if a recipe requires sugar, then Effa wouldn't have known it, since the Ascendance world is just NOW popularizing sugar, and it's still only available for the wealthier classes.

I had to look this up: historically, desserts weren't really eaten by...anyone, in Medieval Europe. No one but the uber-rich had sugar, and even then the wealthy class only made desserts for special events. Instead, the most "dessert" you got was maybe some fruits and nuts mixed with honey or something. (Source: History_of_Desserts )

….WAIT A SECOND. HONEY!

(Also, seriously. The amount of continuity-checking and historical research this fandom requires is INSANE.)

PART 3: EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THE HONEY NATION ATTACKED

So...honey.

Honey, as I found out, has been farmed for a loooong time in Europe, specifically the UK (see: wiki/Beekeeping_in_the_United_Kingdom ) . But then the question became….if honey's been around for so long...then why were sweets apparently so rare in Ascendance's world? Couldn't they have just swapped out sugar with honey?

Two answers to this:

Same answer as with most of the lack of things in Ascendance: NOBILITY ONLY. :P

While you can swap out sugar with honey, honey has more moisture content and sweetness than sugar, which makes the conversion a bit tougher to bake/cook with. (Source: 4-rules-for-successfully-swapping-honey-for-sugar-in-any-baked-goods-230156 )

So, I figured even though honey was more readily available, it still would be rare for commoners to use. ...Which again, made this whole dessert idea more difficult. :P

But once again, my BF/E (seriously, they're amazing...especially so when they CITE THEIR SOURCES) came up with this really fun idea:

BF/E:

So honey is made of two parts: Nectar and pollen.

Nectar comes from the heart of flowers, while pollen comes from the anthers. Bees produce honey by consuming both, and they form in a sac inside the animal which is about the same weight as the animal itself. They use some of the energy to fly! Then they bring it back and is passed mouth-to-mouth, which reduces moisture, turning it from nectar into honey. The pollen flavours it.

Let's take part of this process and mess with it: Imagine a flying, small herbivore. Something that might graze on flower petals and the like. Inside, it has a sac where the consumed materials become honey, which it uses to power itself. Hunters can get honey by hunting these animals, and cutting out the honey sac, which can actually also serve as a container when properly treated.

PART 4: EUREKA!

I FINALLY HAD SOMETHING!

So, not only could honey be used… but this led to some interesting plot stuff, which would give me tons of stuff to write about without getting into the overall tedium that cheese-making would've required.

Namely…

The worldbuilding details of these "Honeybugs"

A reason for why Myne didn't celebrate this "festival" (now, less a festival more than just a special event) in the canon before now, and a reason why Myne hasn't noticed these bugs before, because they migrate.

Effa still passing down an old-fashioned recipe, MADE EVEN MORE SPECIAL BECAUSE SHE KNOWS HOW TO USE HONEY IN WAYS OTHER PEOPLE DON'T

And Myne getting creeped out at having to dissect (then eat) these giant freaking bugs. XD Because… I'm evil like that~ What? Waste not, want not, Myne!

...This completely crowded out that Three Milk Festival idea, but...man, this new idea was full of fun content! So, I just ditched the milk festival idea entirely, and now….you have the Honeybug chapter! :D

I'm sure there's still some plotholes I haven't thought about or unconsciously/consciously handwaved away… but they're a lot smaller than they would've been if I'd gone with my original idea! That has to count for something….right? Right…?

So there you have it. :) Hope you enjoyed this rant!