Speculative Fiction Essentials: From Vision to Submission with Alex Jennings

It’s often said that the only goal of speculative fiction is to entertain—but is that true? What do the tropes, imagery, and narrative quirks of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their attendant subgenres have to offer that can help us illuminate the human condition?

In this two-day intensive, led by award-winning science fiction author and educator, Alex Jennings, we will look closely at narrative tactics, devices, and techniques on display in passages by writers such as Ursula K. LeGuin, Terry Bisson, and P. Dieli Clark. We will then use what we discover to hone our vision and ideas for development of our own work through guided in-class writing exercises.

By the end of this session, writers will have a better understanding of speculative fiction and some of its subgenres, including foundational works, new writing from guided exercises, and an understanding of the state of the field and how the submission process works.

This course is appropriate for writers of all levels.