Planetside Highlights


SFWA Presents: Get to Know…, curated by the Planetside Crew
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our Moderation Team
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our Industry Peer Locus Magazine
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our Writing Dates Program
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Writer Beware® (Part 2: Challenges and Advocacy)
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Writer Beware® (Part 1: History and Mission)
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our Showcase Series
- Introducing Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our NetGalley Partnership Program
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our In Memoriam Feature
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our New Comics and Poetry Nebula Awards
- SFWA Presents: Get to Know Our Career Mentorship Program

Writer Beware® Presents, created by Victoria Strauss
PERMANENT SERIES

FIELD NOTES, curated by the Planetside Crew
- Handling Longer Projects Without Relying on a Plot Outline
- BIPOC Voice Narration
- Estate Planning for Authors and Creatives
- Taking Humor Writing Seriously
- How to Navigate the Publishing Industry with Social Anxiety
- Volunteers, Watch Out for Those Invisible Expectations!
- Discovery Writing Through Gaming
- Gamifying Your Writing Goals
- Perceiving the Wind: Finding Magic in the Mundane
- Character Development Lessons From Video Games
- The LGBTQ+ Speculative Experience: Part 4
- How Writing Challenges Made Me a Better Writer
- Cooperative Publishing: Writers Taking Charge of Their Publishing Careers
- Overcoming the Rejection Machine: Why a Positivity Read Should Be Part of Your Publishing Journey
- The LGBTQ+ Speculative Experience: Part 3
- The LGBTQ+ Speculative Experience: Part 2
- The LGBTQ+ Speculative Experience
- It’s All About Momentum: Writing Effectively and Productively Amidst a Busy Life
- Tighten Up Your Writing
- Diamond in the Rough: How to Shine in the Slush Pile
- Social Media Strategy for Writers
- Imagination Without Images: Aphantasia and SFF Readers and Writers
- Stop Multitasking
- Engaging Educational Markets with Genre Fiction
- Transparency in Slush: The Wizard Behind the Curtain
- Indigeneity in SFF Gaming: The Ongoing Need for Respectful, Native-Centered Storytelling
- Preliminary Observations From An Incomplete History of African SFF
- Reimagining Conflict
- Treading on Embers
- Finding Me: Towards Self-Actualization in Writing
- Story Salvage: Finding the Opportunity in Failure
- Two Essential Questions to Ask As You Self-Edit
- Sidequesting: An Antidote to “I Should Be Writing”
- The Dos and Don’ts of Asking for Reviews
- Active Reading to Step Up Your Writing
- Optimism Is the New Bleak: How to Write with Hope

ROMANCING SFF, curated by the Romance Steering Committee and the Planetside Crew
- Romantasy: An Old Genre with a New Name
- Romancing the B Story
- “So, How’s Your Love Life?” and Other Questions to Ask Your Characters
- Romancing the Beast: Embracing Monstrousness in Romantic SFF
- 5 Ways Fighting and Kissing Scenes Are the Same
- Why Romance Should Be Part of Your Worldbuilding
- The Power of Romance
- When Making the Connection Makes the Book
- I See Romance…Everywhere!

SAFETY DISPATCH, curated by the Safety Committee

SPECULATIVE POETICS, curated by the Poetry Committee
- Tips on Feedback for Poetry
- STEM and Leaf: Writing Math and Science Poetry
- Is It Flash Fiction or Poetry?
- The First Hugo for Poetry: An Interview with Marie Brennan
- Seven Lessons for My Past Self on Running a Small Press
- Poetry in Print: Shaping Your Own Chapbook
- Using Pop Culture as Poetic Inspiration
- How Many Poems Does It Take to Make You a Poet?
- Awards in Speculative Poetry: Ways (and Reasons) to Celebrate Excellent Writing
- The Poet’s Toolbox: Three Strategies for a Vivid Prose Voice
- Using Poetry to Enhance Your Writing

THE COMICS PANEL, curated by the Comics Committee
- Why Crowdfund?
- Book Marketing: Comics vs. Novels
- How to Pitch to a Comic Book Publisher
- Breaking Down a Sequential Page: A Close Reading for Comics Writers
- Connecting with an Artist Is a Big Part of the Storytelling in Comics
- How to Write a Comic Script
- Conjuring Images when Writing for Comics, Prose, and the Screen
- Collaboration Tips For Comic Writers

THE HISTORY FILES, curated by the History Committee and the Planetside Crew
- A Brief History of SFWA: The Nebula Awards Report
- Happy 90-Something, Dear Paperback. Here’s Hoping You Survive to 100
- Planets and Plastic: A History of the SFWA Trophies and Awards
- A Brief History of SFWA: The First Nebula Awards
- Jerry Pournelle: SFWA Historian
- Preservation Guidance for Authors Planning to Donate Their Personal Papers to Archives
- A Brief History of SFWA: The Beginning (Part 2)
- A Brief History of SFWA: The Beginning (Part 1)
- How to Fix Your Ornithopter: The Unlikely Publishing History of Dune

THE INDIE FILES, curated by the Independent Authors Committee
- Top Tips from THE INDIE FILES
- How to Pitch Your Book to Libraries So They See You as an Easy Win to Please Their Patrons
- Continuous Marketing and Selling Costs
- I’m Selling Books, but Am I Making Money?
- Why Indie Writers Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Reach Out to the Big Names
- Productivity That Fits You
- 5 Ways to Sell Your Books Directly
- Measuring Your Success as an Author
- Wide For the Win: Part 2 – Retail Promotions
- Making Use of Genre and Categories
- Book Descriptions
- Author Tips and Tricks for Selling on Amazon
- Bringing Back the Weird to Indie Publishing
- Writing Through Trauma
- Balancing the Indie Workload
- Yes, You Do Need an Editor
- How to Bring Your Indie Book to the Attention of a Librarian
- Maximizing Your Sales for the Holidays
- An Indie Approach to Series
- Is Your Book Cover Doing the Job or Does It Need to Be Fired?
- Wide for the Win: Part 1
- SFWA’s NetGalley Program and You
- Advantages of Independent Publishing
- Make the Most of New Book Announcements
- Listen Up! Self-Producing Audiobooks
- Going Wide
- An Indie Author’s Primer on Editors
- For Your Consideration: How to Seek Out Self-Published Works You’ll Love

WORLDBUILDING, curated by the Planetside Crew
- Beyond the Beauty: A Research Guide for Responsible SFF Worldbuilding
- Verisimilitude in Speculative International Relations with Game Theory
- Avoiding “Arab Land” Stereotypes when Depicting the Premodern Arab World
- Writing Sword Fights: Three Tips from a Professional Swordsman
- Characterization and Worldbuilding Through Fight Scenes
- Enriching Your Worldbuilding with Economics
- Enriching Characters and Sociopolitics with Digital Currencies
- Inspiration Point: How Can Narrative-Driven RPGs Help Write Better Fiction?
- Tie Up the Loose Ends: A Writer’s Guide to Sailor’s Knots
- Metaphysics & Matter: Should Elves Have Atoms?
- Nailing It Down: How to Portray Boxing Accurately in Your Fight Scenes
- Speaking Common
- How to Make Your Next SFF Work’s Currency
- Choose Your Own Dr. Scientist Adventure
- An Approach for Shifting the Setting in an Alternate Retelling
- Designing Your Fictional Spaceship
- Space Royals in Space Operas: How to Craft a Believable Monarchy
- What Does Slavic Fantasy Even Mean?
- “And What’s So Fantastic About It?!”: How To Write Fantastic Noir
- Belying The Belly Dancer: Misconceptions of Raqs Sharqi That Need to Be Corrected in Your Writing
- Making Soft Magic Systems Work
- Climate Change and Antibiotic Resistance: Facts for Fiction
- A Brief History of Persian Sci-Fi
- Writing the Science Right
- Spec-Fic-Fu 2: Weapons!
- The Ecology of Worldbuilding
- Numinous Fantasy
- Finding Focus in the Metaverse
- Nonviolence and the Hero’s Duel
- Spec-Fic-Fu: How to Make Aliens and Robots Fight Better
- How to Write Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Characters
- “Cities That Think Like Planets”: On Writing Sustainable Cities in Science Fiction
- Fine Weather, Isn’t It?
- A Worldbuilding Guide to Crafting Diverse Cultures
- The Other Final Frontier: Writing Ocean Settings
- The Art of Story as Worldbuilding
- The Jargon and Slang of the Fantastic
- Military Logistics for Fantasy Writers
- Words Out of Time: Building a Better World Through Etymology
- From the Inside Out: Worldbuilding Through Extrapolation
- Technology and Worldbuilding, Part Two
- Automation and Worldbuilding, Part One
- Writing Amputees
- Lunar Regolith Made on Earth/State of the Art: Science and Technology
- Worldbuilding with the Medieval Industrial Revolution, Part Three
- Worldbuilding with the Medieval Industrial Revolution, Part Two
- Worldbuilding with the Medieval Industrial Revolution
- Building Worlds
- Building the Disabled World
- Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions
LIMITED OR TOPICAL SERIES

Back to Basics, curated by the Planetside Crew
- Managing Your Story Portfolio
- Talk to Write: Advance to a Completed Draft Using Dictation
- Improving Your Covers with Graphic Design Theory
- How to Recover from Volunteer Burnout
- Finding Your Writing Flow After NaNoWriMo
- Story Submission 101
- Successfully Talking to the Press About Your Art: Plot It, Don’t Pants It!
- The Professional Editor/Writer Relationship
- How to Rewrite a Story for a Different Call
- New to Your Public Persona? Handling the Non-Writing Parts of Being an Author
- What Is Sensitivity Reading?
- Sourcing Art on a Budget
- Sharing the Spotlight: 6 Tips for Collaborative Storytelling
- Art Direction on a Budget
- Making the Most of Your Con Budget
- Anatomy of a Tabletop Adventure
- Using Sensory Triggers to Prime Your Brain for Writing
- What I Learned Cowriting A Novella
- Negotiating Your Short Fiction Contracts
- You’re Quite a Character: How to Craft Interesting Minor Characters in Spec-Fic
- I Feel Funny: Humor Writing Tips for Novelists
- 10 Hands-On Tips For Writing Flash Fiction

Making the Sale: Marketing for Creators, curated by the Planetside Crew

Perspectives in Translation, curated by the Planetside Crew

Playtesting Game Narratives, a limited series curated by the Game Writing Committee

Portfolios in Game Writing, a limited series curated by the Game Writing Committee

SFF on Screen and Stage, curated by the Planetside Crew

Writing by Other Means, curated by the Planetside Crew
- A 23-Button Stenography Keyboard: All Gain, Zero Pain
- Walking and Dictating: A New Strategy to Mix Up Your Writing Routine
- Using a Newsletter Platform for Serial Fiction
- Ink Stains on Fingers and the Smell of Coffee: A Guide to Writing Elsewhere
- Butt in the Chair: How Disability Changed My Writing Habits
- Only as Good as Our Tools: Drafting by Hand and Fountain Pens
- Sudden: Writing on the Go
- (Temporarily) Computer-Free Writing
- Whoops, I Wrote a Story: How to Make App Addictions Work for Your Writing
- Phoning It In: Finding Time to Write in Unexpected Places
- Writing SFF With Paper and Pen Spurs Memory and Creativity

Writing from History, curated by the Planetside Crew
- Unearthing Timbuktu’s Legacy: Using West African Manuscripts in SFF Worldbuilding
- A. Lincoln, Simulacrum: Approaches to Reanimating the Great Emancipator
- Artifacts of Alt-History: Mining Museum Objects for SFF Inspiration
- Legacy of the Iron Curtain: Writing Ukrainian Fiction in a Post-Soviet World
- Decolonizing History in Brazilian SFF
- History in Speculative Fiction: Repeat, Rhyme, or Echo?
- The Many Alt-Histories of World War II
- The Revolution Will Be Fantasized
- The Dangers of Writing on Someone Else’s Heartstrings
- Using Archives to (Re)Write History
- Writing Alt-History? Read the Primary Sources
- The Past Is Not as Rosy as You’ve Been Led to Believe

Writing from Science, curated by the Planetside Crew
