How syntax can help you!
by Juliette Wade This one’s funny, because it sounds like grammar, or maybe computer programming… Syntax is the study of […]
The SFWA Blog, Writing Technique
The Craft of Writing
The SFWA Blog, Writing Technique
How morphology can help you!
Morphology is a fantasy and science fiction writer’s best friend. Seriously. Why? Because everyone uses it, and I mean everyone, whether they know it or not. Every story that makes up a name for a group of people and then pluralizes it is using morphology. Every story that takes a nice-sounding made-up word and then adds on a suffix to make the name of a country or city is using it too.
Writing Technique
Research Tool: Random name generators and lists
Sometimes coming up with the right character name can be the hardest part. Whether working in secondary worlds or the real world, we have some research tools to make picking that perfect name a little easier.
The SFWA Blog, Writing Technique
How articulatory phonetics can help you!
Articulatory phonetics deals with how the human vocal tract creates sounds.
Knowing the principles of how the vocal tract works can help science fiction and fantasy writers to create languages that follow naturalistic patterns of pronunciation, thus making created languages that seem more natural.
The SFWA Blog, Writing Technique
How linguistics can help you!
This sequence of “How ____ can help you!” pieces concerns various areas of linguistics. These aren’t intended to be technical, or even introductory discussions of linguistics itself. They are short, practical pieces which relate linguistics topics to the use of created languages in science fiction and fantasy.
Information Center, The Craft of Writing, The SFWA Blog, Writing Technique
Resource: Historical Food Timeline
When writing historical fiction or fantasy, the question of food either seems daunting or is completely overlooked. With the Historical Food Timeline, you can get an approximate idea of when a given food was introduced.
Information Center, The Craft of Writing, Writing Technique
Aphorisms for Writing Science Fiction
This article by David Alexander Smith covers some of useful rules of thumb for story structure and world-building.
The Craft of Writing, The SFWA Blog, Worldbuilding, Writing Technique
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.
The Craft of Writing, Writing Technique
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
The Craft of Writing, Writing Technique
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