Hugo Winners Announced
Anticipation is pleased to announce the Hugo winners for 2009.
SFWA Blog
Interview: Mary E. Pearson
Our sister-site, NebulaAwards.com, interviews Mary E. Pearson about her Andre Norton Awards finalist novel The Adoration of Jenna Fox.
Aphorisms for Writing Science Fiction
This article by David Alexander Smith covers some of useful rules of thumb for story structure and world-building.
Andre Norton Award jury seeking candidate submissions
The jury for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy is actively reading works published in 2009.
World Fantasy Nominee list
SFWA extends our congratulations to the nominees for this Year’s World Fantasy Awards. The World Fantasy Convention is an annual gathering of professionals, collectors and others interested in the field of light and dark fantasy art and literature. The number of attending memberships are limited, and usually sell out in advance of the start of the convention. The World Fantasy Awards are presented during a Sunday afternoon banquet.
2009 SFWA business meeting scheduled for World Fantasy Convention
LOS ANGELES — Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America will hold this year’s annual business meeting at the 2009 World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, Calif.
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions
The following list of questions is meant to aid authors of fantasy fiction who are seeking to create believable imaginary settings for their stories. While many of these questions may be helpful or crucial to certain stories, they will not all apply to every story. It is not necessary for an author to answer all, or even any, of the questions in order to start writing, (or to finish writing, either). The idea is simply to provoke people into thinking about the ways their settings and backgrounds hang together … or don’t. If it’s useful, use it. If not, don’t.
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions: Daily Life
By Patricia C. Wrede General How do ordinary people feel about foreigners? Non-humans? How ready are they to accept different ideas? How cosmopolitan are they? How much social mobility is there? Is it easy or hard for a person born a peasant to advance to the middle class, or a middle class person to the […]
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions: Commerce, Trade, and Public Life
By Patricia C. Wrede General Which peoples/countries/races fought, allied, traded, or were traditional rivals? Where are there still hard feelings about old events? Is there a “trade language” that facilitates commerce between countries that don’t speak the same tongue? Is there a “universal language” spoken by educated or noble persons, as Latin was in the […]
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions: Social Organization
- Where is scientific and/or magical research done — universities, private labs, under the auspices of the ruler/government, etc.?
- Does it require a license to be a wizard? If so, is it more like a driver’s license (something nearly everyone in our culture gets upon coming of age) or like a doctor’s license (something only a small percentage of the population will ever get)? Who certifies wizards: government, wizard’s guild/AMA, local priests?
