Full Description
In a time defined by uncertainty, change and inequality, speculative fiction is fast-becoming the genre of the 21st century. Straddling genres such as fantasy, science fiction, dystopia, alternative history, and horror, this book is a comprehensive introduction to the art of writing in this imaginative, fluid, and inclusive mode. An all-in-one textbook combining a craft guide with an extensive, diverse anthology, Speculative Fiction explores the multiplicity of influences that the genre has consumed and incorporated, digs into techniques specific to speculative writing, and gives writers exercises and prompts to begin their own works.
In addition, Speculative Fiction features:
- Annotated stories to showcase speculative techniques in practice
- Interviews with authors about the use of craft in their speculative work
- Detailed exploration of techniques from world-building to creating characters to plots and conflict in a specifically speculative mode
- Chapters on finding a speculative writing community and workshopping writing within the genre
Featuring the works of such authors as George Saunders, Carmen Maria Machado, Joyce Carol Oates, Sofia Samatar, Rebecca Roanhorse, and many more, this book gives writers the resources to write boldly, differently and freely as they embrace stories that defy, undermine, and subvert reality to welcome hitherto censored or silenced voices, visions, and points of view.
Contents
List of Figures
1: A Brief History of Speculative Fiction
A Bit of Background: When Sci-Fi Met Horror For the First Time
2: Your Speculative Fiction Community
A Bit of Background: Why Dinosaurs Matter
3: Starting Your Tale
A Bit of Background: Ghosts and Zombies
4: Making It Strange
A Bit of Background: Monsters, Dragons, and Magic Swords!
5: Building Your Speculative World
A Bit of Background: Who Put the Goth in Gothic?
6: Creating Characters
A Bit of Background: The Hobbit: Elves, Trolls, Fairies, and Goblins!
7: Plot & Conflict: Start With a Problem
A Bit of Background: The Power of the Pulps!
8: Writing Through Workshops
A Bit of Background: Moby Dick and Monsters of the Deep!
9: Revision
A Bit of Background: When Animals Talk... and Frankisstein, a 21st-Century Love Story
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
Index
