There’s no magic bullet for being a decent writer, or making people bond with your characters or fall in love with…

Several years ago, I was getting burned out in my high-stress newspaper job, and I came across a fancy hardcover…

For years, I thought of weirdness and personal storytelling as sort of opposites. You can have surreal, cartoony,…

Everyone loves a story that races forward. There’s a reason we love books that are “page-turners.” But does a…

We all love characters who are good at what they’re doing. Nobody wants to root for someone who screws up constantly…

“I’m bored.” These two words are the hardest thing to admit, when you’re writing your deathless novel, or…

Hollywood people often say that it’s a miracle there are any good movies at all. Because so much can go wrong, and…

Rejection is part of being a writer. Unless you’re that one-in-a-billion wunderkind who gets “discovered” while…

Science fiction and fantasy are genres where almost anything can happen — as long as the author can make it seem…

Writing is a messy business for most of us—even if you’re one of those people who outlines everything in advance,…

There’s nothing more vulnerable than the act of making up stories. Whether it’s an introspective personal story or a…

The best science fiction and fantasy stories are impossible to tear yourself away from — and often, that thrilling…

Writing about the world to come is a scary proposition, because nothing becomes obsolete faster than futuristic…

When people talk about how to write a great story, you hear a lot about structure, and how to lay down the track so…

Right now, Apple reigns as the premium brand for mobile products; its monopoly on status symbol status is way too…

So you've written some sparkling dialogue, and even made sure your characters don't all have the same "voice." But…

Unless you've commanded a starship, fought off an alien invasion or survived a global disaster, your life…

Worldbuilding is the bedrock of science fiction and fantasy. We obsess about it constantly, because characters and…

A short story is like a chess game: The opening is a huge part of whether you win or lose. The first sentence of a…

Science fiction and fantasy are built on cool ideas and fascinating worlds — but those things are only as good as…