Discussion of different types of sci fi (hard sci fi, space opera, etc) and fantasy, high fantasy, urban fantasy, etc. Writing assignment will be to sketch out a rough outline of the piece students will be working on for the class, using the above guidelines, whether a short story or novel beginning.
Discussion of tropes and how to avoid them. Drawing characters. Power Point presentation on world-building. Lessons from AVATAR on how to shortcut some world-building by using similar concepts that people already know. Writing assignment will be to continue to embellish the outline with interesting characters, situations and oddities of the world they are creating.
WEEK THREE:
Watching Firefly episode “Out of Gas,” an exercise in learning how to insert small details so that it doesn’t look like heroes are God-moding when they can suddenly do everything at the climax. Writing exercise will be to analyze piece for possible placement of such details.
WEEK FOUR:
Sharing the works we’ve done over the month, feedback offered, “pickles of praise” as well as whatever participants request. Discussion of what might be done to expand this piece into something longer, and encouragement offered!
INSTRUCTOR BIO:
BABS MOUNTJOY always dreamed of faraway worlds and interesting alien contacts. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species.
She has published fourteen science fiction and fantasy novels as Lyndi Alexander, and seven romance and suspense novels as Alana Lorens, as well as having five stories in book-length anthologies, including two in the Cup of Comfort series. She is a former newspaper journalist, lawyer, floral designer and erstwhile pizza cook who currently volunteers with Project Linus, and Furever Friends, where she fosters kittens and cats in need. On Thursdays and Saturdays, she is also a proud member of the Fellowship of the Quill.
Website and Blog:
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lyndi-alexander
Smashwords | Lyndi Alexander:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lyndialexander