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Writing advice comes at all levels of quality, from enlightening, to helpful in some circumstances, to story-ruining. For an example of all of these, just look at our breakdown of Kurt Vonnegut’s Eight Rules of Writing. Yes, Kurt Vonnegut, a famous writer, had advice that ran … read more »
Learning most crafts is a fairly straightforward process. Not so with storytelling. While a simple search will give you a plethora of tips and tricks, the fiction industry has no time-tested method of teaching the craft to newcomers. Based on the methods of those who are … read more »
You’ve finally got that story published, and readers love it. But now they have questions. So many questions. Should you answer them? How should you do it? What about interacting with fans through social media? If you’re a fan, what should you expect from creators … read more »
Someone get me a blackboard to tap on; we’re starting today with a history lesson. In 1973, author Paula Smith wrote a Star Trek parody story, A Trekkie’s Tale. Smith was making fun of trends she saw in the fanfiction of the age, and to … read more »
Some storytelling tropes are written with the best of intentions but still lead to disaster. Because we see this in editing more than often we’d like, I want to explain what this trope is and why it does so much damage. Stories are using this … read more »
It’s no secret that The Last Jedi diverges significantly from its predecessor, The Force Awakens. Whether this is the death of the Star Wars franchise or the greatest event in the history of science fiction depends on who you talk to, but it’s clear that … read more »
A while back, I wrote about bad behaviors fiction needs to stop glorifying. That was only half of the equation. Fiction is just as capable of demonizing benign or helpful behaviors, and it does so with disturbing frequency. This has harmful consequences in real life, … read more »
It’s time for a look at the most insidious messages targeting trans people. To improve how our stories treat trans people, we need to consider not only trans women and trans men, but the entire gender spectrum. That includes people who … Read more »
When should you add real bigotry to a story? This is a complex question, but one thing is generally agreed on: you need a good reason. If you’re not a target of that bigotry, you need a really good reason. Unfortunately, many authors continue to add bigotry to their stories when … read more »
Many people think we should avoid contacting aliens because they’ll be hostile to us. I hear this everywhere, from folks in my roleplaying group all the way up to geniuses like Stephen Hawking. For the moment, this is a purely theoretical question. If there isn’t intelligent … read more »