Spring
It was just January, and now it’s April. How did that happen?
Well, it’s spring. I know this because my sinuses have made themselves very obvious. But I also know it because I am working away on Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 3, which is due to Luna Press around Halloween. Eek!
Before I talk a bit more about how Spec Fic for Newbies evolved into the informative but sometimes silly books you know (and hopefully love), some news!
Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 2 was recently shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association's award for Best (Long) Nonfiction! The awards will be announced at Eastercon in Belfast. Vol. 2 also made the Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List (as Vol. 1 did last year), which means it is on the voting list for the Locus Awards. EVERYONE can vote until April 15 (um, that’s tomorrow)! See the full list of categories and recommended stories/books here: https://locusmag.com/2025/02/2024-recommended-reading-list/
And vote here: https://poll.voting.locusmag.com/
How do you put together a book like Spec Fic for Newbies anyway?
Last time, I broke down the process by which Val Nolan and I came up with a table of contents for the books. This time, I wanted to share a bit about how the structure of a SFfN book evolved.
The book came out of the workshop I developed several years ago about about writing historical fantasy. That workshop includes a breakdown of the evolution of the concept of “history” as well as a look at the development of historical fiction and how writing the past is, in a sense, writing fantasy. It includes advice for writing historical narratives and for doing research, and gives examples of how I did these things in some of my own work. At the end are two activities to help workshop participants develop new story ideas. The whole thing was created with writers in mind, and SFfN needed to be the same. So we took that workshop and wrote it out as a book section, figuring out as we did so what subheadings we needed that would work across the whole book.
The first subsection in each is A Short History of X so that we can put the subgenre/trope into some sort of historical context. In this subsection, we provide lots of examples of short stories, novellas, novels, films, tv, games, etc., from the far past to now to help show how the subgenre/trope has evolved. It’s one of the hardest parts of the book to write because of the research involved and because we have to limit ourselves in how many examples we include!
Nearly every section also includes a Spotter’s Guide, which provides a bulleted list of types of the thing (types of zombies, for example) or elements found in that subgenre/trope (for example, the various body-related phases that body horror examines, such as pregnancy or puberty) along with more examples to go read or watch.
Every now and then, the Spotter’s Guide is replaced by (or more often joined by!) an Element Spotlight, which breaks down a writing element—such as character motivation or even how to write sex scenes for Paranormal Romance!—in a practical way.
Depending on the subgenre/trope, we might also include a special subsection to help explain our reasoning for choosing that subject or to provide readers/writers topics of further consideration. In Vol. 1, the Psychological Horror section has a bit about the history of mental health care, and in Vol. 2, we provide a short note on context for the Gendercide section because it can be a controversial topic, and then we replaced the Spotter’s Guide with three lists of examples looking at women-only, men-only and genderless, sexless, and hermaphroditic worlds to help cover the many ways writers have used this subgenre/trope.
Because we want to encourage writers to try out these subgenres/tropes, each section also has a Things That Are Cool About Writing Y subsection (this is where we can geek out a lot!).
This is followed by a bulleted list of pitfalls to avoid (the title for this subsection is unique to each subgenre/trope as well as silly, such as When the Neighbourhood Watch Watches YOU for the Suburban Horror section in Vol. 1!), containing as much practical advice as possible and also referring to more examples the reader can find.
Finally, every section ends with two activities. This is one of the most fun parts of writing the book aside from the jokes and puns we sprinkle in here and there. The activities are sometimes based on real-world classroom activities we taught over the years, and sometimes they’re made up especially for the book. They give us a chance to really think outside the box a bit, too. One thing that’s important when creating activities is to think about how giving certain restrictions can help a writer come up with a great idea that gives them room to move forward. Just saying “Write a cyberpunk story” isn’t going to help a writer get anywhere. It’s too overwhelming. But if we provide a setting and a character motivation along with several questions for the writer to ask about the set-up, they have somewhere to go!
So in the end, each section acts as a sort of mini-class in written form—from the lecture to the practical advice to the in-class writing time—that gives readers and writers a better idea of what a subgenre or trope is all about. Examining the subgenres and tropes individually and setting up each section (mostly) the same way helps readers and writers dip in and out of the book and find what they specifically want or need right then, too.
Upcoming Appearances
Eastercon, Belfast, April 18-21: I basically just decided last week (yes, a bit late!) to go to the convention, which I have attended every year since 2011. I’ll be on a couple of panels and, of course, will be there for the award ceremony. https://easterconbelfast.org/
Waterstones Cambridge, April 30: I get to introduce author Grady Hendrix (a friend from our Clarion days) for his one-man show about witches as part of his tour for Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. I’ve read the book and it’s great. But, alas, the show is sold out. He’s got others around the UK, so take a look at https://www.gradyhendrix.com/events for more if you want to catch him while he’s on this side of the pond.
Cymera, June 6-8 in Edinburgh: I have just found out I’ll be running a workshop (both in person and online) about writing witches, and I’ll also be chairing a panel/interview. More info about this fab festival here: https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/cymera-2025
Norwich Pride, July 26: I’ll be crewing a book stall at the event with at least one fellow author. More here: https://norwichpride.org.uk/
So, until next time …