Dave's Somewhat Complete SF/F Writers' Internet Resources

Welcome!

If you haven't yet, go ahead and read Dave's intro blurb.

In an effort to keep this page as useful as possible, I will update it as often as possible. If you have a site in your bookmark file that I don't have here, please email me, and I will include it as soon as possible. Thank you!

Original Articles

Getting Published In Magazines, by C. Patrick.

Publishers

Organizations

SFWA -- Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
HWA -- Horror Writers Association.
NESFA -- New England Science Fiction Association. Boskone information, book publisher, much more.
SFF Net -- An online writer's community, plus much, much more. Join the fun!

Market Information

The Market List -- You must have this. Complete guidelines to tons of SF/F markets.
Writer's Market Webzine -- This site blew me away. Complete guidelines to just about every market, plus cover snapshots and reviews of selected magazines. AWESOME.
Market Response Times -- Find out what's par for the course concerning response times.
Speculations -- The magazine that keeps tabs on the markets, plus much more.
Tangent -- SF/F short fiction review. Reviews every story in ever issue of every major publication.
Market Sightings -- Find out if anyone else has seen your favorite market lately.

Online Workshops

Critters Workshop -- The one and only. Often imitated, never duplicated. Check them out today.
SFNovelist -- Dedicated to hard SF novels.
The Horse Latitudes -- Workshop for Fantasy novelists.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop -- Snail mail workshop.
Odyssey, the Fantasy Writing Workshop -- A New Hampshire summer workshop for writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Black on White -- Not really a workshop, but I didn't know where to put it. Sign a "contract" that allows people to badger you if you don't produce what you promise. A great way to get (and stay) motivated to write.

Research/Reference

The Argus Clearinghouse -- Internet research library.
The Encyclopedia Mythica
Odin's Castle of Dreams & Legends -- An archive of history and historical resources.
Myths & Legends -- Another great site for delving into the myths of the past.
JMS on Writing -- The creator of B5 talks about writing. Great stuff here.
World Building 101 -- An online class in world building.
World Builders -- Another class, this one non-interactive (or rather, you don't need to be "interacting" to get some use out of it) but still very good.
Patricia C. Wrede's World Builder Questions -- Excellent list of questions to ask yourself when designing a world.
Big Dog's Down and Dirty Grammar -- A great page for those of us plagued with grammar snafus.
Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. -- Apparently the whole book, online. Wow.
Hypertext Webster Gateway -- A fast online dictionary that consults multiple sources.
Webster's Dictionary -- ARTFL Project: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 Edition.
Roget's Thesaurus -- ARTFL Project: ROGET'S Thesaurus Search Form.
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database -- Find out what's out there now.
Manuscript Preparation Guidelines -- Some of the best I've found. Read them and use them.
Relativity and FTL Travel -- Find out why FTL travel always implies time travel. Great for the non-scientist.
3D starmaps -- Learn how to create them and what they mean. Awesome site.
Story Builder -- A rather pricy piece of software that is supposed to help you write stories. *shrug*
Logicrucible, Inc. -- Home of the Astrologicus Galaxy Simulator and the Terralogicus World Simulator. Geared more towards RPG's but great resources for writers as well. I own both and recommend them both.
The Language Construction Kit -- Information on creating your own languages.
Language Creation -- More on language creation.
LangMaker -- Model languages: like model airplanes, but less glue.

General/Advice

How To Quit Your Day Job To Write Full Time by Holly Lisle -- Isn't this what we would all like to do?
How To Get Published by Holly Lisle -- You'll probably want to get this step out of the way before you dream of writing full time.
Career Plan For Fiction Writers by Victory Crayne -- Start planning now!

Clarion

Clarion East -- So big it deserves it's own section. If you don't know what it is, you haven't been an aspiring SF/F writer very long!
Clarion West -- "Separate but equal" is the phrase that best describes these two workshops. Here is the west coast version.
The Clarion Call by Clarion alumni Michael A. Burstein -- This is a must read for those of you who still wonder just what Clarion is all about.

Books

These books are available for purchase. Click for more information.

General

Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card -- If it hasn't happened already, somebody, somewhere, at some time, is going to encourage you to read this book. Pick it up now and save yourself the hassles later. It's interesting to note that every other entry in the "Writer's Digest Genre Writing Series" is currently out of print. Go Orson! Go Orson!
The Writer's Digest Guide To Manuscript Formats -- I'd be lost without this book. Everything you need to know on manuscript formats, for everything from short stories and novels to audio-visual scripts. A must have.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Sourcebook -- Market and agent listings geared towards us, for a change. Instead of getting the full-blown "Writer's Market" you can just get this.
1998 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market -- Just what it sounds like.
The Writer's Guide To Creating a Science Fiction Universe by George Ochoa and Jeff Osier -- Great book that gives you the information you need to know to create believable SF settings. Includes the math you need to know to figure out things like orbital velocity and relativistic time dilation but explains everything in layman's terms for ease of digestion.
On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner -- This is geared toward the "serious" novelist, and he even runs down Harlan Ellison at one point during the book. But if you're thick-skinned enough, it's well worth the read. Unfortunately, amazon.com cannot guarantee delivery of this book, as it is out-of-print, but they try their best.

Elements of Fiction Writing Series -- This is an excellent series. The titles are self-explanatory. If you have a weakness as a writer, they have a book to help you.

Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress.
Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card.
Conflict, Action, and Suspense by William Noble.
Description by Monica Wood.
Dialogue : A Socratic Dialogue On the Art of Writing Dialogue In Fiction by Lewis Turco.
Manuscript Submission by Scott Edelstein.
Plot by Ansen Dibell.
Revision by Kit Reed.
Scene and Structure by Jack M. Bickham.
Setting/How To Create and Sustain a Sharp Sense of Time and Place In Your Fiction by Jack M. Bickham.
Theme and Strategy by Ronald B. Tobias.
Voice & Style by Johnny Payne.

Science Fiction Writing Series -- Another great series. Check them out.

Aliens and Alien Societies by Stanley Schmidt.
Space Travel by Ben Bova, Anthony R. Lewis, and Tony Lewis.
Time Travel by Paul J. Nahin.
World-Building by Stephen L. Gillett and Ben Bova.

Recommendations

Gardner Dozois' Recommended Reading List: Novels -- The editor of Asimov's and numerous "Year's Best" collections gives his recommendations.
Gardner Dozois' Recommended Reading List: Short Stories -- More of the same, this time short stories.
Alexandria Digital Literature -- Tell the computer what you've already read and enjoyed, and it will give you a list of other books you will probably like.

Talk To Us

We'd love to hear from you. Feel free to send email.