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The SFWA Blog
Black Joy and Afrofuturism for Young Readers
By Maurice Broaddus Note: This article first appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. The ongoing conversation about writing stories more through the lens of Black joy rather than Black trauma and what it means both historically and culturally…
With Great Power
by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Note: This article first appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. An editor does more than ensure that grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure are correct. Our job is to help writers craft stories that do more…
Creating Character Arcs in Games Writing
by Natalia Theodoridou Note: This article previously appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. I should start this craft article with the caveat that I don’t exactly believe in craft articles. Very often, it seems to me as if such pieces…
Why Writing Second Person POV Appeals To Marginalized Writers
by Valerie Valdes Note: This article previously appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. You open the SFWA Bulletin to start reading an article about second person point of view (POV), and immediately you’re put off. You didn’t expect…
On Trauma-Informed Writing
by Sarah Gailey Note: Over the next several weeks, the SFWA Blog will be running articles, including this one, that first appeared in October 2021 in our SFWA member publication, The Bulletin #216. We’re pleased to share these instructive and…
SFWA Market Report—November 2021
Welcome to the November edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. The markets included on this list all pay at least $0.08/word in…
Sci-Fi Has a Cure Problem
By Ashley Deng I won’t beat around it too much: The context for this essay is our current, global healthcare crisis. Let’s just say that our sci-fi trope of a massive-scale health crisis that can be Fixed With Science has…
Level Up: Think Like a Teacher
by Sean R. Robinson There comes a point in every writer’s life when they stare at the page and realize the story is getting the better of them. An evil voice whispers that maybe they’re not good enough. They…
We Need You! SFWA is Hiring a Nebula Conference Manager!
Position: Part-Time SFWA Nebula Conference Project Manager Application Open: October 15th, 2021 – October 29th, 2021 Start Date: Immediate Pay: Starting at $15,000 How to Apply: Apply Here The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America was founded in 1965,…
Special Double Issue #216 of The Bulletin Now Available!
The Bulletin #216 is now available for download for SFWA members and participants of the 2021 Nebula Conference Online. Cover: “La Cantarita” by John Picacio This issue is special in more ways than one. Not only does it cover Winter/Spring…
“Magic and Mayhem” Fantasy StoryBundle Now Available!
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has released our newest fantasy StoryBundle! The “Magic and Mayhem” Bundle is only available from October 13 to November 4, 2021. Once November 4 passes, this collection of novels curated by the…
SFF Writing for White Goblins: Decolonising your Defaults
by Nick Wood (NW) & Isiah Lavender III (IL) After finishing a working stint as a psychologist in Aotearoa, New Zealand, I (NW) visited the signing site for the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). This was a bilateral treaty between the…
SFWA Market Report—October 2021
Welcome to the October edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. The markets included on this list all pay at least $0.08/word in…
Call for Submissions: SFWA “Rogues of the Future” StoryBundles
~DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 20!~ The SFWA Self-Publishing Committee (SPC) is happy to announce that we are open for submissions October 3–1720, 2021, for two science fiction StoryBundles that will be released in 2022. This is a great chance for…
SFWA Market Report—September 2021
Welcome to the September edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. The markets included on this list all pay at least $0.08/word in…
Short Fiction Rejection Letters: Best practices and expectations
by Benjamin C. Kinney Rejection letters are an inescapable part of the writing life, especially for authors of short fiction. The internet is full of advice to build persistence in the face of rejection – which is good advice,…
USPS Stamp Honors Ursula K. Le Guin
The following is a SFWA Member Report. A modified version originally ran in the SFWA Singularity #71. A USPS Tribute Video to Le Guin can be viewed here on Facebook. July 27, 2021 – Downtown Portland, OR, was the perfect…
Unusual Governments to Take Inspiration From
by Eleanor Konik Often, speculative fiction relies on common government types, like monarchies and republics, because they’re familiar to readers. History, however, offers other examples of sociopolitical systems. They can be a gold mine for worldbuilding ideas that stretch…
SFWA Market Report—August 2021
Welcome to the August edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. The markets included on this list all pay at least $0.08/word in…
Cyberpunk: Writing for Tomorrow
by Naomi Norbez With the release of Cyberpunk 2077 a few months back, there has been some debate about what it means to be cyberpunk, and how that genre should be executed. As someone making a response game called Eyewear Cleaner…
In Memoriam: William F. Nolan
William F. Nolan (b.1928) died on July 15 from complications due to an infection. He was 93. Nolan was best known for his work on Logan’s Run in 1967, co-authored with George Clayton Johnson. The work was later made into a film for…
Neurodiversity and the Business of Writing, Part 2: ND Difficulties in Publishing
by Matthew Broberg-Moffitt Part 1 of this series focused on the importance of #OwnVoices stories and the representation of neurodiversity and the neurodiverse (ND) in modern media. Part 2 covers the business of traditional publishing and the unique challenges that…
SFWA Market Report For July
Welcome to the July edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. New Markets Life Beyond Us: An Original Anthology of SF Stories and…
Nonviolence and the Hero’s Duel
by Gabriel Ertsgaard From Hector and Achilles to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the heroic duel is a fiction staple. However, my special interest (and the topic of my unfinished book) is how to tell stories of nonviolent heroism. How…
