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:
N.K. Jemisin’s “Worldbuilding 101”
Patricia C. Wrede’s “Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions”
Lists of tropes to avoid:
"Stories We've Seen Too Often" by Strange Horizons, a prominent speculative fiction magazine
A similar list from Clarkesworld, a prominent online sci-fi magazine
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.