*PLEASE NOTE: A few of these articles are meant as humor. Each such article is marked with an asterisk, which is a link to an explanation at the bottom of this page. Please read it before you get irked with us for making fun of a serious subject.

Beginning

• Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy by Jeffrey A. Carver. Geared mainly for younger aspiring writers (high school and middle school aged), but not exclusively so.

• There are several articles on writing on the official Marion Zimmer Bradley web site.

  • Advice to New Writers by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Death, Taxes and the Writer by Elisabeth Walters
  • Grammar by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Manuscript Preparation by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Useful Information by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • What Have You Done with My Manuscript? by Elisabeth Walters
  • What Is a Short Story? by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Why Did My Story Get Rejected? by Marion Zimmer Bradley

• Author / agent Ethan Ellenberg has several articles on the business of writing, written from his perspective as a published author and as an author's agent.

  • All About Royalties
  • Artist or Entertainer
  • Internet Threat: How the Internet May Threaten Nonfiction Authors' Income
  • Electronic Dilemma
  • Targetting Agents
  • The Industry's Real Challenge

• Advice to Aspiring Writers by Jeffry A. Carver
• How to Critique Fiction by Victory Crayne
• How to Deal With Critiquing by Rich Hamper
• Pitfalls of SF by Vonda McIntyre
• Conventional Advice That Wouldn't Work for Me by Patricia Duffy Novak
• The Great Myths of Writing by Joan Marie Verba
• Conducting Research to Achieve Realism in Your Fiction by Margaret I. Williams

Manuscript Preparation

• Quick and Easy Tips on Professional Manuscript Submission by Roger MacBride Allen*
• Manuscript Preparation by Amy Casil and Nick Neuro
• Computer Manuscript Formatting by Joan Marie Verba

Copyright

• Copyright and Fair Use Stanford University Libraries
• Copyright Clearance Center
• United States Copyright Office The Library of Congress
• The Copyright Website

Intermediate

• Why Did My Story Get Rejected? by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Purpose and Structure of Story by Ron Collins
• Speculative Fiction Page by Mary Soon Lee
• Help! I can't write! or How to Identify the Dread Writer's Block and Its Relatives by Elizabeth Moon
• Rejection by Patricia Duffy Novak
• Hunting for a Literary Agent by Chuck Rothman
• Tracking Submissions by Bud Sparhawk
• Basic Plotting for Science Fiction by S. Andrew Swann
• Constructing an SF Universe by S. Andrew Swann
• Working With an Editor by Margaret I. Williams

Advanced

• Wit's End -- Why Humor Doesn't Win Awards by Bud Sparhawk
• Anti-Pedantry Page

Career Recovery

• Writer's Block by Lisa Cohen
• Help! I can't write! or How to Identify the Dread Writer's Block and Its Relatives by Elizabeth Moon
• Blockbusters by Lisa Firke
• The Writer and Depression by Elizabeth Moon

Tips and Tricks

Nuts and Bolts

• The misc.writing Recommended Reading List provides reviews of writing-related books, periodicals, and software.

Submitting

• Black Holes - Response Time Tracker
• Shining Stars - Saying Nice Things About Editors
• Dark Matter - Markets that may be Missing In Action
• How Long is Too Long? A Primer on Querying

Markets

• Gila Queen's Guide to Markets
• Speculations!

More Links About Writing

• Forward Motion: Holly Lisle's Writing Pages articles on writing, the life and the craft; writing workshops; book reviews; and much more.
• For Writers Only has great links.
• The Writer's Center workshops, writers/editors registry with search function, Beginning writer's dictionary, scam kit, Washington area reading series, other literary centers, and more useful information.

The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not of SFWA.

Submissions invited: if you know of any online articles about writing, or good collections of links about writing, please email me (sfwa-writing@sfwa.org) the URL so I can consider them for possible inclusion here.

* A user has very kindly helped me to understand why the humor in some of these articles so irks a few of our users. Please understand that these articles are meant to help writers at all levels of experience, published and unpublished. In no case has an author intended to make fun, from his supposedly superior, published position, of those who have not yet achieved paid publication. This is a very difficult career choice for all of us. Developing a sense of humor about it helps some of us get through the hard parts.

I have marked with asterisks the articles not meant to be taken seriously. It's possible I've missed one. If an article recommends that you submit chocolates with your manuscript, or that you write it in crayon on the backs of hamsters, you may safely assume it is meant as a joke. You may also safely assume it is not meant to make fun of you. More likely, it is making fun of the author, the industry, or the vicious fate that set us all on this rocky path.