A Writer’s Guide to Speculative Fiction

Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre enveloping the ever-expanding genres of science fiction and fantasy, and best-selling science fiction and fantasy authors Crawford Kilian and Silvia Moreno-García come together in this book to show writers how to craft believable worlds and plausible characters, and ultimately, how to craft good stories.

Their hands-on, practical, put-the-book-down-and-start-writing advice speaks to new and emerging authors of science fiction and fantasy. They offer more than pep talks and success stories; they explain genres and how to bend and blend them, and give concrete suggestions on how to overcome the inevitable problems writers face, such as self editing, writing plausible characters, and building a plot without writing formula fiction.

With a combined nearly 50 years of experience, Kilian and Moreno-García save writers time, energy, and grief by showing them how to master the craft of storytelling and how to market their stories as successfully as possible. Their invaluable advice persuades writers to go beyond their, and others’, expectations of market and genre. They push readers to be better writers, and to add their own unique storytelling voices to the growing speculative fiction arena.