How to Write Speculative Fiction
with Aliette de Bodard
Registrations for this course are now closed but do join our mailing list here to be updated on future courses like this.
Summary
Course code: ADB1
4 online workshops of 2.5 hours each
For Intermediate to Advanced Writers
Limited places available
Selective entry – we’ll offer places to writers who show promise
Dates
7 May, Sat, 5pm to 7:30pm SGT
12 May, Thu, 7pm to 9:30pm SGT
21 May, Sat, 5pm to 7:30pm SGT
25 May, Wed, 7pm to 9:30pm SGT
No partial sessions accepted
Venue
Workshops will take place online via Zoom
Successful participants will receive a private link to the workshops
Overview
Generating ideas with a focus on worldbuilding
Exercise focus: design an imaginary world with the help of prompts
Module 2: Character and Plot
Whose story? Character and Plot
Exercise focus: find a story seed from worldbuilding, expand on the seed
Module 3: Drafting. Whose story?
Point of view and exposition, how to convey information in a balanced manner
Exercise focus: write part of a draft
Module 4: Revising and the story lifecycle
Distance, rewriting, revision: what to look for, when to stop revising
Exercise focus: revising a draft
Learning Outcomes
- develop their ability, skills & techniques in harnessing their creativity, developing, plotting, planning, writing, and editing speculative fiction
- discover and define their writing process from first idea to completed draft of a speculative fiction story
- have their writing improved through peer critique and presenter guidance during the workshops
- come away with an understanding of the fundamental building blocks of a speculative fiction story (character, plot, world) and what it takes to write speculative fiction on their own.
The main course focus is on fostering creativity and developing participants’ own voices, with strong encouragement towards the production of materials and the building of a writing practise.
Modules are a mix of formal lectures and hands-on exercices. Assignments include production of pre-draft materials (designing an imaginary setting both in class and out of class), brainstorming a story (producing a plot), and producing and revising a draft (part of a story).
Please note participants are required to attend all 4 online sessions.
Who should register?
- Intermediate Writers — Writers who have chosen to pursue writing as a full time or part time career with a serious, professional intent but who are not yet published with a mainstream or recognised independent publisher, or
- Advanced Writers — Writers who have published at least one book with a mainstream or recognised independent publisher, and/or published in at least one literary journal and/or anthology.
Participants will be selected by the Visiting Writer with assistance from the Asia Creative Writing programme. A waiting list will be maintained.
Registration and Pricing
Course Prerequisites
To sign up, please register at the link above with the following documents:
- A 500 word writing sample (your writing sample does not have to be from the genre of the course nor your current writing project; it will be an assesment of your standard and style of writing)
- A short summary of your writing project of ~100 words
- A short biography of ~100 words
Course Fees
- For 4 workshops of 2.5 hours each:
- $125 for adults
- $50 for students, unemployed, low income migrant workers
- Free for undergraduates and postgraduate students from Singapore tertiary institutions
- Non refundable if cancellation 2 weeks or less before course starts
- Please email us if financial assistance is needed
About Aliette de Bodard
Aliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris. She has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award, a British Fantasy Award and four British Science Fiction Association Awards. She was a double Hugo finalist for 2019 (Best Series and Best Novella).
Her most recent book is Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. She also wrote Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press), a space opera where a sentient spaceship and an upright scholar join forces to investigate a murder, and find themselves falling for each other. Other books include Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders, (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.), a fantasy of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court.
Her space opera books include The Tea Master and the Detective (2018 Nebula Award winner, 2018 British Fantasy Award winner, 2019 Hugo Award finalist).
Her short story collection Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight is out from Subterranean Press.
Other Courses & Events with Aliette de Bodard
Writer to Writer with Aliette de Bodard
Book a one-on-one mentoring session with Aliette de Bodard to discuss your writing project. Aliette will provide guidance to help your creative practice and support your writing life.