Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror

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Editorial expertise is provided to OWW by Odyssey, the summer writing workshop for writers of fantasy, SF, and horror. Find out more!

Writers' Resources

ORGANIZATIONS | WORKSHOPS | PUBLICATIONS | ADVICE | COPYRIGHT |
WRITERS' RESOURCE DIRECTORIES | MARKET LISTINGS | MISC.

Organizations

SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.): one of the most effective non-profit writers' organizations in existence. Over 1200 sf and fantasy writers, artists, editors, and allied professionals are members. Each year it presents the prestigious Nebula Awards for the sf or fantasy best short story, novelette, novella, and novel of the year.

Horror Writers Association (HWA), writers' organization for the horror genre and sponsors of the Stoker Awards.

Writing-World.com, a site for writers (includes a newsletter, feature articles, columnists, submission tips, etc.).

Broad Universe: an organization that encourages, promotes, and celebrates science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women. Includes useful advice and tips on writing and promotion.

The Carl Brandon Society: an organization that works to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction.

Authorlink!: A news, information, and marketing community for editors, literary agents and writers.

Absolute Write: a magazine featuring market listings, publishing news, writer's resources and an active forum community.

Other Workshops

Online SF, F, & H Workshops:

Critter's Workshop: an online workshop/critique group for writers of sf, fantasy, and horror.

Codex Writers' Workshop: an online critique group and forum for genre writers with at least one professional sale.

SFNovelist, a workshop for writers of hard SF (no short stories, no fantasy).

Online General-Fiction Workshops:

Critique Circle, a many-featured Web-based workshop for writers of all sorts.

In-Person SF, F, & H Workshops:

Cascade Writers is a three-day workshop in the Pacific Northwest.

The Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop: the original Clarion, held for six weeks every summer at UC San Diego.

The Clarion West Writers Workshop: the prestigious yearly workshop that brings promising SF/F writers together with seasoned authors and editors.

The Clarion South Writers Workshop, bringing the Clarion workshop experience to Australia (mostly for Australians but a few foreigners too).

Odyssey: The Fantasy Writing Workshop, at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, is a six-week intensive summer writing workshop for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

Viable Paradise: a unique one-week residential workshop in writing and selling commercial science fiction and fantasy. Takes place yearly on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Publications

Publishers Weekly, one of the go-to resources for news in publishing.

Publishers Lunch, a summary service of moves, news, and insights from the professional trade publishing community.

Locus Magazine, the trade publication of the science fiction and fantasy community. Includes interviews, articles, tips, reviews, and news on sales, publications, and awards.

Writer's Digest, a magazine geared to beginning writers. Includes articles, tips, techniques, and business information for a general -- rather than SFF -- audience.

Writer Gazette: a weekly newsletter and Web site with many articles and resources for writers of all sorts.

Advice and Warnings for Writers

Agents, Query Letters, Manuscript Preparation:

Query Shark, a great way to learn about query-letter writing. Janet Reid, agent and author of the Query Shark blog, says: "You can send a query letter to the Shark. It might get posted and critiqued. It might not. You'll know either way. You can send a revised query letter after the critique. It will be posted and critiqued as well."

AgentQuery's tutorial on query letter-writing.

Beneath the Cover's article on query letter formatting.

SFWA's "Writer Beware" information, which covers all sorts of scams and pitfalls new writers are susceptible to, including agents who don't really agent, publishers who don't really publish, etc. Read this if you have been approached by an agency you haven't heard of that is soliciting your work for representation.

Annotated guide to literary agents and those who call themselves agents, part of the useful Preditors & Editors site (see below).

Preditors & Editors: a guide to publishers and writing services for serious writers.

SF author Tara K. Harper's advice and answers about contracts, agents, and the publishing industry.

Writing:

Pitfalls of Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy, General Useful Information, & Other Opinionated Comments by SF author Vonda N. McIntyre (winner of the 1997 Nebula Award for best novel).

Vonda McIntyre's manuscript-preparation tips.

Author William Shunn's manuscript-preparation guide.

SF author Tara K. Harper's essays and articles on fiction writing, editors, writing groups, etc.

Author Elmore Leonard's article on writing transparently (recommended by Nalo Hopkinson, an award-winning author who has been one of our Resident Editors).

Patricia C. Wrede's Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions.

Orson Scott Card's essays on writing.

Fiction Writer's Connection advice on Synopsis Writing.

Critiquing:

Critter's Workshop advice on how to critique gently but effectively.

The art of critique and how to succeed in an online writing workshop, from Victory Crayne.

Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner's SF Workshop Lexicon (previously at eff.org/Misc/Publications/Bruce_Sterling/paradigms_workshop_sterling.lexicon), a list of real-life SF workshop terms encountered at Clarion and elsewhere.

Miscellaneous:

The Writer's Pocket Tax Guide for freelance writers, written by a lawyer and updated yearly.

Hugo award-winning author John Scalzi's advice to new writers about money.

Various name generators for writers of SF & F.

The Everlasting Book of Names is a random name generator for 32-bit Windows systems.

Information on Copyright (and the Internet)

10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained by Brad Templeton.

UK copyright information from The Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd.

Copyrights and Meteorites by Chuck Rothman (out-of-date as to the actual rules of copyright, but an interesting and reassuring argument against copyrighting any and all of your work).

Directories of Writing Resources

For Writers Only: a huge site with all sorts of resources for writers.

The Market List, A Resource for Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

Places for Writers, a directory of markets, residencies, grants, competitions, and publishers.

WritersNet, a general-interest resource for writers, editors, publishers, and agents.

Author James Stevens-Arce's links for writers.

Market Listings

Duotrope's Digest: Thousands of market listings for various genres, lengths, and media, frequently updated.

Ralan.com features extensive, up-to-date market listings as well as lots of other information and many, many links for authors.

Miscellaneous

SONAR is a writer's tool that will track your submissions to various markets, keeping a history per story and per market so you can see what you sent where. You can also include comments on every story, market, and submission. SONAR was created by workshop member Simon Haynes, comes in a PC version only, and is free.

Or try SAMM for the same purpose.

To suggest an addition or update to this list, contact us.