By Maria Haskins Writing flash fiction—commonly defined as a story of no more than 1,000 or 1,500 words—can seem daunting at first try. Or addictive if you’ve already caught the flash-writing bug. These tips are based on my love for flash as a reader and writer, and I want to emphasize that they are tips, […]
By Jeff Somers It’s often noted that in baseball, making an out 70 percent of the time is considered all-star play(1). Although every writer’s experience will be different, writing often seems to offer a similar success ratio in terms of failed stories. Sometimes that failure also comes fast, which gives you the opportunity to start […]
By Kahina Necaise Convincing fiction is about cause and effect. That’s why, in my work as an editor, the two questions I ask most often while diagnosing an issue with a client’s story are: Does this come out of nowhere? Does anything ever come of this? Does this come out of nowhere? is about unclear […]
By J. Scott Coatsworth Note: All recommendations in this article are the opinions of the author and do not reflect an approval or endorsement by SFWA. Two Paths to Indie Greatness As an indie author, you have two basic choices for distribution: Go all-in on Amazon—eBooks, paperback, and Kindle Unlimited (KU). Or “go wide,” and […]
By Rebecca Hardy I love systems. I think most worldbuilders do, at least to some extent. Systems of magic. Systems of currency. Systems of governance and geopolitical conflict in underwater cities, postapocalyptic wastelands, and galactic civilizations. And . . . systems in the real world, which can sometimes be the most challenging of all. I’ve […]
by Carien Ubink It’s important to get reviews, but if you ask in the wrong way, your request might be deleted right away. So here are some do’s and don’ts when asking a blogger or fellow author for a review. Do your research. This means you need to have a good look at the blog/site/profile […]
by Corrine Kumar We grow as writers by reading, but we often read passively—leaving the understanding of stories to our subconscious. Passive growth is important, but active reading can raise our storytelling to new heights. Over the last two years, I have developed a system of actively reviewing each novel I read, and this process […]
By Sascha Stronach Note: This article first appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. Publishing (verb): the act of smashing your head against a wall until you see daylight. Publishing From Outside America (verb): as above, at long range. In the aftermath of CoNZealand, the 78th Worldcon, there was a palpable feeling of betrayal […]
by Yilin Wang Note: This article first appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. When I tell other writers who are not familiar with Sinophone literature that I am writing short stories and a novel that play with the wuxia fiction genre in English, I am often met with one or more of the […]
by Karlyn Meyer Note: This article first appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. I started making my first video game the week I found out I was pregnant. Games featured heavily in my relationship with my partner; we had played video games together in college, and even got engaged while doing so, and […]
Something strange is going on.
Something is permeating its victims, crawling inside, taking over their lives and destroying them before moving on to the next. The people seemingly have nothing in common… nothing except the book they happened upon.
Eugen Bacon is an African Australian author of several novels and collections. A 2022 World Fantasy Award finalist, she was announced in the honor list of the 2022 Otherwise Fellowships for ‘doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction’.
