UTA Class: Focus on Genre: Explore Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy – LIVE WEBCAST

Get ready to write for today’s demanding speculative fiction readers. Students will explore techniques on how to create a consistent world and believable alien/fantastic characters to populate that world, as well as how to focus a story that enhances the world rather than being lost in it. Students will consider deep versus wide worldbuilding, and how to extrapolate out the implications of a speculative idea. They will also consider how to find the humanity inside non-human characters, and use observation of nature to spark ideas for design of aliens. The class will also consider how to balance understanding of speculative fiction traditions with originality. It will also cover understanding the market and submission guidelines for speculative stories. Students will practice writing scenes that apply different aspects of speculative ideas.

Material covered relates to modern writing theory, and discusses the structure of recently published works. The teaching method accommodates the needs of students who want to shape their work for publication, as well as those who are writing to create an heirloom, or for personal fulfilment. The instructor has published in both science fiction and mystery, and critiques manuscript partials in a number of genres for major writing conferences.

This is a hands-on class, with writing assignments (in-class and as homework) and assignments to evaluate elements of other books, films, etc. Students will have the opportunity to have samples of their work critiqued each week.