Writing Resources Specifically for Sci-Fi and Fantasy

2020 Creative Writing Lectures at BYU by Brandon Sanderson

I really liked how a lot of things are explained just a little bit differently in this lecture series. While most of the content is pretty typical writing advice that would apply to any genre, the lectures about worldbuilding are especially useful to speculative fiction writers. I also really liked Mary Robinette Kowal’s guest lecture about writing short stories–it completely changed how I thought about writing short fiction and made it seem like a much more approachable format.

How to Write Short Stories

“I am 49 today! Have a story and my process as a party favor.” by Mary Robinette Kowal

In this blog post, Mary Robinette Kowal offers her process for writing the short story “The Worshipful Society of Glovers” (free to read online at the link) published in The Uncanny Magazine, Issue 17, as well as an accompanying worksheet you can use to recreate her process for your own story.

Resources About Story Structure

“How to Structure Scenes in Your Story” Blog Post Series by K.M. Weiland

I return to these blog posts again and again as I write to help me keep my scenes interesting and purposeful. I often keep a copy of “The Overall Scene” infographic from the series printed out beside me as I write or outline a particular scene.