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SAFETY DISPATCH: How to Establish and Use a Pen Name

by the SFWA Safety Committee Have you ever considered writing under a pen name? Some authors use pseudonyms to separate works under different genres, reboot their careers after a dry spell, or replace the names of multiple authors on the cover. These are all great reasons, but some authors want to use a different name […]

The LGBTQ+ Speculative Experience: Part 3

(Kind of like the Star Trek Experience—lots of diversity that some accept, some fight, and others never see) by Elle Ire Continuing Mission Our exploration of the experiences of various members within the LGBTQ+ spec fic community continues in Part 3 of this series (Part 1, Part 2). This part examines the successes and obstacles […]

Work-for-Hire in Short Fiction: An Overview

By Rachael K. Jones Work-for-hire writing jobs are common in novel-length work, especially in the world of tie-in fiction, but rarer in short fiction. If you’re primarily a short fiction author, you might be caught off-guard if approached with this kind of work. You may not have an agent who can give you advice. You […]

What I Learned Cowriting A Novella

By Gareth L. Powell In 2020, I had the privilege of cowriting a science fiction novella called Light Chaser with Peter F. Hamilton, author of more than twenty novels, including The Reality Dysfunction, Pandora’s Star, and Salvation.  If I had to break down the lessons I learned during this process into five key points, they […]

SAFETY DISPATCH: Managing Newsletters

by the SFWA Safety Committee As social media becomes increasingly fractured, more authors are turning toward newsletters as a reliable form of direct marketing. Mailing lists are an invaluable way to keep in touch with readers who actively want to hear more about your work. They can also raise questions about how to properly set […]

The LGBTQ+ Speculative Experience: Part 2

(Kind of like the Star Trek Experience—lots of diversity that some accept, some fight, and others never see) by Elle Ire   Continuing Mission Our exploration of the experiences of various members within the LGBTQ+ spec fic community continues in this blog post. Please see Part 1 for an introduction to the series, disclaimers, and […]

Current Statement on AI/ML Use

The Board of Directors of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has been monitoring the rapidly evolving technological and legal landscape as it pertains to machine-generated works. We continue to hold conversations inside our organization, as evidenced by our recent call for posts that brought in a wide variety of important perspectives. Additionally, […]

The LGBTQ+ Speculative Experience

(Kind of like the Star Trek Experience—lots of diversity that some accept, some fight, and others never see) by Elle Ire Blog Series Mission To boldly explore the experiences of a variety of LGBTQ+ speculative fiction writers with regard to how they first came to spec. fic., how that may or may not have affected […]

“And What’s So Fantastic About It?!”: How To Write Fantastic Noir

by May Haddad Fantastic noir is a subgenre that blends film noir or its literary inspiration and counterpart, hardboiled fiction and roman noir (respectively), with the more outlandish elements of speculative fiction. It crops up here and there in films like Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers and Pokémon Detective Pikachu or novels like Jonathan Lethem’s […]

SFWA Members Weigh in on AI & Machine Learning Applications & Considerations

Recent developments in the use of technology to produce creative works have driven both insightful commentary and strong feelings in the science fiction and fantasy community. These artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools and applications are being used to generate artwork, audio narration, nonfiction articles, and fictional narratives with increasing frequency. There are important […]