Jayde Holmes makes her professional fiction debut with “The World in a Ramen Cup” in our [July/August issue, on sale now!] Read our interview with Holmes to learn more about her background, her writing strategies, and why she feels it’s so important for humans to humans to pass down their stories.
Analog Editor: What is the story behind this piece?
Jayde Holmes: With “The World in a Ramen Cup,” I was really hoping to show some love to a staple food that is sometimes under-appreciated, while also exploring a deeper theme of how important it is to pass on stories about everyday normal life. I think most people do try and do this; a lot of times when we talk about loved ones that have passed, we tend to go to their everyday habits and things they’d always be saying rather than retelling the story of their greatest life achievement. I wanted to capture that feeling of connecting to those little human details in this story.
When you apply this feeling of connection to entire destroyed cultures and lost ways of life, you get something very powerful. In “Ramen Cup,” the story of human history may be safe, but soon no one will remember what it was like to live on Earth. How do you begin to explain what it felt like to live on Earth? What do you say that turns humans into real people, rather than some bit of historical trivia? Keep in mind that to many people, answering questions like these isn’t just rhetorical.
I think there is something special about encountering a record of people that lived hundreds or thousands of years ago, and learning something that makes you emphasize with them. Humans are obsessed with leaving a legacy, and “Ramen Cup” is a story about what type of legacy we as a species should be interested in leaving.
AE: How did this story germinate? Was there a spark of inspiration, or did it come to you slowly?
JH: This one came to me slowly, except for the final spark at the end. The earliest seeds were my attempts to write a story about an all you can eat buffet that attempted to cater to humans and aliens without poisoning anyone. That story didn’t take off, but I came away with the idea of instant noodle cups tailored for different species, and the possibility of instant ramen becoming a stereotypical Earth food.
Meanwhile, I’ve always been fascinated by insights into the everyday lives of regular ancient peoples. Seeing examples of Roman graffiti and reading the Babylonian Complaint Tablet to Ea-Nasir makes these ancient civilizations seem more real than just learning about the famous Emperors and the massive tombs and palaces.
One day I came across an open submission window for food-based S/SF stories, and these two trains of thought just collided and the idea of this story just fell into place. After years of the ideas brewing away in my mind, the story came together surprisingly fast once I got that spark.
AE: What is your history with Analog?
JH: Analog has had a special place in my life ever since I started getting into science fiction. As a teen I got really into Isaac Asimov’s work. When reading the introductions he wrote for his stories, he mentioned Astounding magazine a lot, and I thought it would be wonderful if such a magazine still existed and I could read new stories every month. Imagine my excitement when I discovered that it still did.
Since then, Analog and Asimov’s have played a huge part in my life and have expanded my horizons both as a reader and a writer. I’ve been reading Analog for fourteen years now and have a collection of back issues dating to 1962. To have my first professionally published story appear in Analog is something special; a real dream come true.
AE: What is your process?
JH: In the past I tried to sit down and pump out at least a thousand words a day. It worked, but eventually became unsustainable for me. Lately my process has just been “write what I can, when I can.” I find that this change has been good for writing shorter stories, but not so much for longer works. I also find that having a prompt helps me stay focused, though it would be pretty limiting to need one for every story idea. It’s strange though, if I get given a prompt my first thought is to see how I can subvert it or take it in an unexpected direction.
AE: Are there any themes that you find yourself returning to throughout your writing? If yes, what and why?
JH: Lately I’ve been swinging between writing stuff that is full of anger and horror about society or the environment, to happy stories that celebrate all the little mundane things that go on in our lives. Another theme I really love is outsider views of humanity. There is nothing we take for granted more than being human, and trying to imagine how we’d come across to aliens is always a fun exercise. “World In a Ramen Cup” is one of those stories. Not only did I want to explore how aliens that lived and moved in a completely different way saw us, but also whether it was possible for them to relate to us.
AE: What other projects are you currently working on?
JH: I have a lot of short stories in various stages of completion, but my biggest current project is my World of Green and Black series. I’ve created this half-terraformed world inhabited by telepathic alien tree parasites and plan to share stories and artwork from it on my website. My goal with this series was to come up with the most ‘alien’ aliens I could and try to tell stories from their point of view. Of course, I don’t think it’s possible for human writers to truly write alien perspectives without anthropomorphizing, but I love the challenge.
I think there is something special about encountering a record of people that lived hundreds or thousands of years ago, and learning something that makes you emphasize with them. Humans are obsessed with leaving a legacy, and “Ramen Cup” is a story about what type of legacy we as a species should be interested in leaving.
AE: What SFnal prediction would you like to see come true?
JH: The discovery of life beyond Earth. I doubt we’ll ever bump into aliens we can talk to, but the possibility of detecting some sign of life out there seems so close right now. Even evidence of a world covered in plant-thingies thousands of lightyears away is going to change everything for us. How will having confirmation that alien life is possible change the way we think about life on our planet? And what can we discover about life on Earth once we have other life to compare it to? The discovery of alien life will truly open up the universe to us, even if we can’t go see it in person for a long time.
AE: What are you reading right now?
JH: The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. This is my first time reading anything by Newitz, and damn, I am loving this ride. Would highly recommend.
AE: What careers have you had and how do they affect your writing?
JH: I’ve mostly worked blue collar jobs plus a bit of admin, which I think gives me a different perspective from a lot of other science fiction writers, who tend to have backgrounds in writing or science. I’ve been working in a poultry processing plant for the last eight years, and am now the training officer for my section. I think that position helps me with my writing, especially when I need to describe world building aspects, as I have a lot of practice teaching and explaining things. Or maybe it’s the other way around, and my writing makes me a better trainer?
AE: Do you have any advice for up-and-coming writers?
JH: This is weird to answer, because I see myself as an up-and-coming writer, but yes, I do have advice. Just stop being afraid. There are so many stories that I’ve combed through again and again trying to make perfect, and even after all that I’ve shelved them. It can be so hard to share a story. Especially when you’ve poured so much of yourself into it. Getting over that hesitance to put yourself out there and have your work judged is the biggest barrier to being a writer. It seems so obvious, but if you don’t put your work out there no-one will see it. You also need to be your own biggest cheerleader. Even if your book isn’t as great as it could be, sharing it around is the best way to get feedback, which will help you improve.
And yes, you need to listen to the feedback. I find that with the internet, accepting feedback is in itself a skill. It is so easy to tune out helpful constructive criticism, and equally easy to get discouraged after paying too much attention to trolls. Accepting that you might make a mistake, and learning how to process and act on the feedback you get will help you make your stories something special.
AE: How can our readers follow you and your writing?
JH: There are a few places I can be found. Here are links to my Facebook Page, my Twitter, and I’m on Mastodon too. I also stream on twitch under the name Trilobytes11. I mostly play the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Randomizer and am learning a lot of speedrun techniques.
Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/JaydeHolmes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LJHolmes6
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@JaydeHolmes
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/trilobytes11
To read more stories by me, the best place to go will be my website:
Jaydeholmes.com
The Astounding Analog Companion 
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