Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA

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Writing for Other IPs: Joys and Pitfalls
by John Ryan. Learn how to manage working with existing IPs in game narrative writing. What are you allowed to do? What can you expect? And how can you get those gigs?
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Fringe Festivals: Where New SFF Theater Is Born
by Monica Cross. Discover the benefits of writing and producing science fiction or fantasy plays at a fringe festival. Learn why fringe is an ideal venue for experimentation, development, and discovery of SFF plays.
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Using Nature to Build Speculative Worlds for Readers of Any Age
by Gabrielle Kirouac Byrne. Discover how grounding your science fiction and fantasy creatures in familiar patterns of natural behavior can help readers of any age connect more deeply with your imagined worlds.
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How Patreon Can Structure Your Writing Life
by Joyce Reynolds-Ward. You can break each project into segments on Patreon. Instead of jamming them all together on one site, each project receives its own section, pricing, and schedule. Here’s how.
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Reclaiming Your Focus with a Writer Deck
by James Stegall. Writer decks cut through digital distractions and support your creative flow. Discover how to use these devices to reclaim focus, improve accessibility, and create personalized tools designed just for drafting.
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Writing Tips and Tricks for Time-Poor Parents
by Julie Le Blanc. Here are a few simple and flexible ways to keep writing as a new parent—from voice memos to notebooks to mnemonics—all meant to help you nurture creativity amid the chaos of your baby’s early years.
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How to Fact-Check Your Science and Gain Inspiration Along the Way
by Marlee Baldridge. When your research can’t answer all your questions, consider asking scientists for help. Here’s how to find them, what to ask, and how to credit them, with insights from scientists who enjoy working with authors.
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An Abridged History of Mathematical Metaphor in Speculative Fiction
by Sam Macdonald. Speculative fiction has long borrowed mathematical concepts to explore political systems, technological fears, and the limits of human understanding. Here are a few notable early examples.
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Searching the Medical Literature for Yourself
by Randall Hayes, PhD. Learn how scientific material available through PubMed can guide your research and help you create fiction grounded in medical literature.















