Speculative Fiction Writers Association
An Online Critique Group with Members from Coast to Coast
My critique journey began in college, where I majored in English literature and dissected stories. While school equipped me with tools to better exhume meaning from novels, it could not prepare me for my trek into freelance editing, where I helped emerging writers find their voice, create compelling characters, and …
In any story, plot is the spine, the various settings are its bones, conflict is its muscle, and characters are its flesh and beauty. Together, they create a framework on which to build a beautiful story full of living, breathing characters. Here are some basic tips on how to make …
Speculative fiction writers often cast non-human characters in their stories. Those aliens, elves, fairies, and pointy-eared Vulcans are among a large number of possible strange creatures. As they write, spec-fic authors must live with their creations for many months and readers must read about them for many hours. Neither group …
When I attended my first writer’s conference—the Colorado Gold Writers Conference produced by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW)—it blew my mind. Two full days, from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, of workshops and speakers that taught me a lot about writing. There were workshops for writers just getting started as …
In a recent critique session, the subject of punctuation arose. Should a fiction writer use exclamation points, colons, and parenthesis? What is the right way to use the hyphen (-), dash (—), and ellipsis(…)? Experienced fiction writers rarely use exclamation points. It has the same problematic effect as typing in …
Literary criticism and critique are overlapping terms. Criticism means to negatively criticize a work. On the other hand, critique is intended to express a judgement about a work, both negative and positive, the yin and yang. In Chinese philosophy the terms describe opposite but interconnected forces and both are essential. …
One look at the schedule for Norwescon (Seattle, April 6-9) told me I had some tough choices to make. Without a time machine, I’d have to miss many fascinating sessions. But I could not skip Language in Science Fiction, paneled by authors David D. Levine, Erica L. Satifka, and Joseph …
Review by Matthew Cushing Garth Nix explores Earth in a slightly-alternate 1983 London for his latest fantasy The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. The story follows Susan, a young woman looking for her father–a man she has never met. With only a few memories from her mother and a list of …
What if? What if the Neanderthals had become the dominant species of Hominids? If Napoleon had conquered America? If there had been no Industrial Revolution? If space aliens had come to Earth to fight for African-American civil rights? Welcome to the world of Alternate History. When I first had the …
My friends laughed at me when I told them I would attend a writers retreat in Iceland. “You’re just looking for an excuse to travel,” they told me. Is there a better excuse? The Iceland Writers Retreat is held annually the last week of April. Yes, you have many opportunities …