Philosofiction

Steve Bein, writer & philosopher

Find all of the Fated Blades novels at Powell's, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Audible, or from your favorite neighborhood bookstore.

The final chapter of the saga of the Fated Blades is the novella Streaming Dawn, an e-book exclusive available for any platform.

 

Thank you for joining me at the workshop! As I mentioned in the seminar, I've compiled some resources to help you at any stage of your writing.

Download my seminar handout.

To format your manuscript correctly:

To keep up with trends in the markets:

  • Ralan has been monitoring sci-fi and fantasy markets for about as long as there's been a worldwide web. (They started in 1996.)

  • The Review Review is a site where (according to its own description) "writers can get a deeper sense of the journals by reading reviews of the latest issues."

  • “Year’s Best” anthologies show you where the best stories are publishing, and some of them even have a note on how the markets changed that year. Check out the anthologies of every genre you want to publish in.

For world-building:

Lists of tropes to avoid:

Some of my favorite books on the craft:

Writing in general:

  • Bell, Plot and Structure

  • Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

  • Buckham and Love, Break into Fiction

  • Dibell, Plot

  • Edelstein, Writer’s Guide to Character Traits

  • Kress, Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint

  • Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel and companion workbook

  • Perkins, The Insider’s Guide to Getting an Agent

  • Rosenfeld, Make a Scene

  • Schmidt, 45 Master Characters

  • Schmidt, Story Structure Architect

Speculative fiction:

  • Card, How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy

  • Gunn, The Science of Science Fiction

  • Schmidt, Aliens and Alien Societies

(A caveat: I'm aware that Orson Scott Card has become a politically charged figure. If you're someone who boycotts his books, he's the "Card" listed above.)

I've made several 2D appearances on some great blogs and websites that interview authors or review books within or across genres. Read my stuff there if you feel like it, but click around these sites to get another angle on the state of the speculative fiction world in general.