I’m entering the fifth month of my new obsession with science fiction and fantasy (SFF). Last month, I focused solely on sci-fi. The genre is somewhat new to me, and I wanted to build a foundation by reading the classics and penning some stories.

April, however, has been all about fantasy. I read some great books in the genre, my favorite being Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. I’ve fallen in love with his writing and have since bought three more (massive) books by him that I plan to get to soon.

Short Stories

I finished my story “Mother” at the beginning of the month. For my second science fiction story ever, it wasn’t awful, though not necessarily something I would submit unless I thoroughly edited it. While I liked the characters, the plot felt like well-trodden ground especially toward the end.

I outlined another story set on Atha—the same planet as “Mother”—but I didn’t get beyond the first three sentences. For about a week and a half this month, I had what I called a “creative blackout.” My imagination stopped working and I got almost nothing done.

When I emerged from the blackout, I immediately began a new story—fantasy this time. It was called “The Bound God.” It started strong before falling apart around the middle. Still, I like the story concept and I plan to rewrite it later this week.

A New Project

I’ve had the idea for a fantasy novel for over a decade now. The plot, the characters, the world, even scraps of dialogue have been swimming in my noggin all this time, but I never wrote a word. I kept putting it off.

I had an arsenal of excuses: “I can’t write a fantasy novel, I’m a horror author” or “it’s such a long story, I should wait until I have more time” and on and on. Now that I’m writing SFF and I’m ready to start a new project, I have no more excuses.

It will be a long project, the longest I’ve ever written. With the number of subplots and viewpoint characters, not to mention the scope, I imagine it to be over 150,000 words. I love massive fantasy epics—I have since I was a teenager—and I’m eager to finally write my own.

I’m trying not to hype up this project prematurely. After all, I haven’t even written an outline, though I’m hoping to start it sometime early this summer. Part of me says I should start it now. After all, why wait? But I want to submit a few SFF short stories before I begin. Is that another excuse? Absolutely.

SFF Lectures

On researching Brandon Sanderson, I discovered his YouTube channel and a series of lectures he gave called “Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy.” He teaches that course at BYU and was kind enough post the videos.

While there were topics I was already familiar with, I learned a lot, especially when it came to worldbuilding and his method of outlining. There are 13 lectures, of which I’ve watched 12. In the process, I’ve taken 42 pages of notes. If this is a topic you are interested in, I would highly recommend the series.

Update – M: The Plastic Prometheus

My first beta reader has finished going over the manuscript of M: The Plastic Prometheus. There weren’t too many changes. However, making those edits has proven difficult. My brain is in SFF mode and my passion for horror has waned.

Still, I hope to pitch it at KillerCon in August. I’ve also discovered that a horror publisher I love is holding open submissions around that same time. If I’m to get the manuscript to a couple more beta readers, I should probably hurry.

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I hope to incorporate more science fiction into my reading and writing next month; I just had to take this quick (fun) detour into fantasy.

Tchau,

Zé