Michaela Roessner
Campbell and Crawford award winner;
novelist [Walkabout Woman, Vanishing Point, The Stars Dispose, The Stars
Compel]; instructor at Gotham Writers
Workshop and Western State Colorado University.
I’m a
huge advocate of teaching across the genres. And I believe that none of us
should disrespect any of the other genres or subgenres; we all have important
lessons to learn from all of them. Especially when I’m teaching non-speculative
fiction writing students, the benefits that I present to them that we Spec.
Fic’ers bring to the table are: #1 – Worldbuilding/Using Setting to Multitask; #2
– We’re a literature of ideas, so we have that plus all the other narrative
elements to play with; #3 – Related, that allows us to go more wild and crazy
than the other subgenres – we can take more chances; #4 – Because we don’t
share the same kinds of standards and benchmarks as the other subgenres we have
to borrow from them (so we have SF mysteries, fantasy romances, slipstream
thrillers) – we’re pretty much perfect Borrowers and Thieves already!
Tina Jens
Author of The
Blues Ain’t Nothin’; editor of The
Book of Dead Things, Spooks!; originator
and guiding spirit of the late, lamented Twilight Tales reading series in
Chicago; currently host of the Gumbo Fiction Salon reading series; instructor
of the Fantasy Writing Workshop at Columbia College Chicago.
Some
students know very little about fantasy beyond Harry Potter, Twilight, and Worlds of Warcraft. It is
my job to introduce them to the basic fantasy tropes; various sub-genres and
story forms; and general foundations and expectations in the field, while
simultaneously steering them away from the clichés and overused paths. I
require them to write, revise, polish, and submit at least one story after
we’ve done our market research unit. I stress that originality is a key component
to making a sale early in their careers. With the publishing goal in mind, I
strongly discourage them from writing about vampires and zombies, or anything
set in a medieval castle. I stress that yes, stories like these are still being
written and published, but they aren’t likely to jump a new writer out of the
slush pile.
In
the beginning of the semester, I have the class write a shared fantasy
encyclopedia, choosing topics from lists I’ve compiled for the unit that week.
First they do monsters or unusual creatures—there are no unicorns or European
dragons among the choices. Next they do gods, but again the list includes
cultures and mythologies seldom tapped, or the lesser-known gods from the
Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse pantheons. Other units vary depending on whim
and class interests, but they often include Historical People, Magical Items,
and Divination Techniques, among others.
I
have them brainstorm potential story ideas based on each of their encyclopedia
topics, with an
emphasis on figuring out the fundamental rules of their fantasy element, then
deciding how to use those rules and quirks in plotting a story. Hopefully,
among the many story ideas they have to rough out as they practice integrating
the fantasy element throughout the plot, they’ll hit on an idea they want to
flesh out into a full story. That will then go through multiple rewrites,
revisions, and finally, submission to a pro or semi-pro fantasy market.
Amy Sterling Casil
Science fiction writer (Imago and countless short fiction); author of
more than 20 non-fiction books, MFA in Creative Writing, Chapman University,
1999; English and creative writing teacher at several schools including Chapman
University and Saddleback College; former SFWA treasurer; nonprofit executive for
the Beyond Shelter charitable organization in Los Angeles.
It’s
been a long time since I’ve specifically taught SF writing. But it has to begin
first with the idea.
Everything
else comes next. That is the biggest difference between SF and any other genre.
Also, first, second, and third thoughts have to be considered and discarded.
It’s a virtual guarantee that someone’s first, second, and third
thoughts—especially if they haven’t read a lot—will be someone else’s ideas,
often ideas readers are familiar with.
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