In this article originally written for and published in Writers of the Future Volume 5 in 1989, Hal Clement, member of Science Fiction’s First Fandom and Grand Master of Science Fiction, deals with how to effectively “challenge readers with the ‘what if?’ implications of a background significantly different from the familiar and everyday.”
Here is the next in a series of articles addressing the barriers to achieving your writing goals as a new and aspiring writer from the science fiction bestselling author, Robert J. Sawyer.
From aspiring writer to writing contest winner to—let’s find out! It has been nearly two years since Matt Dovey was announced as the Golden Pen Award winner in the L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future writing contest. As a contest for aspiring writers, we thought we would find out how winning the writing contest has affected Matt.
It has been nearly a year since Jake Marley was announced as the Golden Pen Award winner in the L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future writing contest. As a contest for aspiring writers, we thought we would find out how winning the writing contest has affected Jake. So we asked him.
New York Times bestselling author Dave Farland’s last post was on “giving up.” He brought up dozens of books that got rejected over and over again, only to finally sell and either win major awards (like the Nobel Prize) or make millions of dollars.
Lou J. Berger writes about his experience with the Writers of the Future Contest and his journey as a writer.
Writers of the Future Coordinating Judge, David Farland, passes on his tips on writing stories that are well balanced.
When you sit down to write a story or the opening to a scene, you’re presented with a problem: how to begin? As a contest judge, I see too many tales that don’t work—right from the very first sentence.
I mentioned last week that when I judge a story, one of the simple things I look at is your setting. There are so many aspects to setting, here’s a look at just a few.
Many years ago, Damon Knight, a fine writer and editor, wrote a book on how to write short fiction. Damon talked a bit about avoiding clichés.