SFWA Blog

by Deanna Richards Read by the author Speculative fiction offers YA writers something that realistic fiction cannot: the freedom to craft worlds with fantastic, supernatural, or technologically or scientifically enhanced elements that serve as a protective container for catharsis—allowing young readers to safely explore trauma and experience individual and collective liberation. Before diving in, let’s start with a few definitions.

by John Ryan Read by Misha Grifka Wander If you work in game narrative writing for an extended period, you will eventually be working in someone else’s intellectual property (IP). Whether you write for cultural titans like James Bond or Star Wars or if it’s something smaller (like your friend’s D&D campaign), you’ll be tasked with writing “inside the lines” of their world. This comes with challenges as a writer but also opportunities to bring your own voice to the table.

For Immediate Release During a Fireside Chat on Friday, August 28 at this year’s Worldcon in Los Angeles (LAcon V), the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) was proud to announce the latest recipient of its Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: Nancy Kress. SFWA President Kate Ristau and Operations Director Russell Davis were on-scene to celebrate Kress’s extensive contributions to the genre in community.

by Monica Cross Read by Liz J. Bradley In 2018, I sat in a bar in Ybor City, Florida, and watched a Martian priestess draw tarot cards. Each card corresponded to a video entry from the archive that she had come to Earth to steal. The video entries were that of the first Mars colony mission. As each card was drawn, the priestess embodied one of the original crew members in her search for answers to what happened to Earth’s ecosystem.

by Gabrielle Kirouac Byrne Read by the author The Victorians got at least one thing right. In the wake of new technologies and Darwin’s trip on the HMS Beagle, citizen science flourished. The wealth of new discoveries (and people’s access to information about them) stirred hearts and grew in scope and ferocity. All anyone needed to make a potentially valuable contribution was curiosity, a way to take notes, and their own eyes. That spirit of citizen discovery continues today.

by Joyce Reynolds-Ward Read by Robert Greenberger Editor’s note: THE INDIE FILES was first launched to provide a space for authors with distinct publishing pathways to talk about their strategies and tools. This conversation is as diverse as the indie SFF universe, and Planetside looks forward to once again elevating a range of voices from SFWA’s Independent Authors Committee.

by James Stegall Read by Misha Grifka Wander How often do you escape doomscrolling, capture the spark of an idea, then find time to write only to open your laptop to a buzz of distractions? Restart to update Word. Here’s a tool tip. Please rate our app. Copilot can rewrite that for you! Did you forget what you wanted to write? Sure, handwriting is an option, but you need to maximize available time. It would be nice to write on a device that doesn’t actively get in the way. You’re not alone.

by Julie Le Blanc Read by the author All you need to get back to writing is one sentence a night. Let me explain. When my baby arrived, I wish I could say I had a stash of stories ready for that first round of edits once I’d emerged, moth-like and ethereal, from my maternity cocoon. Instead, it felt like stepping out of a nuclear bunker. In between toys, the craft box, and snack time, parents can find time to write again. Photo by Julie Le Blanc. What is this random page? What does this note mean?

Our team is growing! SFWA is excited to announce two new positions as part of our continued commitment to creating meaningful opportunities and resources for writers. If you missed the open call in Singularity for the position of Executive Director, please refer back to last week’s statement for more details.

by Marlee Baldridge Read by the author Readers don’t always care about the finer details of orbital mechanics in deep space mining or the geophysics of a climate dystopia story, but they do care about richly textured worlds that feel real and present. Fact-checking is an opportunity to build a complex world where the reader truly feels like a member of a mining crew or a resident of a frigid snowball planet.