Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson & Greta Kelly for a masterclass panel on How to Query Agents, featuring literary agents Laura Crockett, John Baker and Jennifer Chevais. During the panel, they lay out the fundamentals of query letters and agents, discussing what literary agents do, what a query letter is, the anatomy of a query letter, comp titles, blurbs and author bios, whether or not social media presence is important, how authors can seek out agents (and how to find the right one for you), agents picking up self-published authors, query letter mistakes and no-nos, managing expectations, professional transparency and more.
Masterclass
SFF Addicts Ep. 196: Memory & Time with Mark Lawrence (Writing Masterclass)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson as he delves into a writing masterclass on Memory & Time with bestselling author Mark Lawrence. During the episode, Mark unlocks the secrets of the mind, including how memory and time play into the human experience, the relationship between memory and identity, forgetting and how memories change across time, the role of emotions in forming memories, collective stories and history, unreliable narrators and narratives, flashbacks and non-linear story structures, revealing the passage of time and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 194: Writing Romantasy with Carissa Broadbent (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson &Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing Romantasy with bestselling author Carissa Broadbent. During the episode, Carissa opens the door to the heart of romantasy, including what the subgenre is and why it’s so immensely popular, romantasy’s target audience, organically interweaving romance and fantasy, the importance of characterization in romantasy, sex and the spectrum of spice levels, representations of sexual violence in romantasy and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 192: What is an Antihero? with Jeremy Szal (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson & M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a writing masterclass on What is an Antihero? with author Jeremy Szal. During the episode, Jeremy delves into the dark core of the antihero, including how we can define antiheroes, the antihero as antithesis to the “heroic ideal”, moral ambiguity and cynicism, flawed motivations and selfishness, why audiences root for antiheroes, how an antihero is a product of their world, using an antihero to play with expectations, good/bad antihero tropes and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 190: LitRPG 101 with Matt Dinniman (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts M.J. Kuhn & Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on LitRPG 101 with bestselling author Matt Dinniman. During the episode, Matt gives the lowdown on the LitRPG subgenre, including what it is, the rising popularity of the subgenre, incorporating game systems into your story, power progression and consequences, how to pace a LitRPG, writing from the perspective of NPCs and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 188: How to Talk About Writing with Worldbuilding for Masochists (Crossover Panel)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly for a crossover panel on How to Talk About Writing with Marshall Ryan Maresca, Cass Morris and Natania Barron from Worldbuilding for Masochists podcast! During the panel, they talk about talking about writing, including the importance of communication and marketing for modern authors, building your “author brand”, algorithms and authenticity, community and conventions, meaningful interactions, expectations and career longevity, public speaking and talking confidently about your writing, training your voice and body language, how to sell your book (and yourself) and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 187: Revealing Character Through Dialogue with Scott Lynch (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn & Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Revealing Character Through Dialogue with bestselling author Scott Lynch. During the episode, Scott reveals his thoughts on dialogue, including the relationship between dialogue and the human experience, the dialogue that inspired his writing, style and shock value, conveying characterization through dialogue, code switching, colloquialisms and cadence, how word choice can reveal external/internal persona, taking advantage of limited page space, contextual clues, character dynamics, banter and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 185: Building a Supporting Cast with Nicole Glover (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a writing masterclass on Building a Supporting Cast with author Nicole Glover. During the episode, Nicole gets by with a little help from her friends, exploring what a supporting cast is, secondary character archetypes/tropes, dynamics between the protagonist and supporting characters, conveying character backstory, the motivations and goals of the supporting cast, balancing character development and skills, creating supporting “baddies” and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 182: Heroism & Villainy with Christopher Ruocchio (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Heroism & Villainy with author Christopher Ruocchio. During the episode, Christopher treads the fine line of morality, delving into how we define heroes and villains, moral ambiguity vs. complexity, laying the foundations for your heroes and villains, establishing the moral framework of your story, character relatability, motivations vs. justifying actions, threats to your characters, how characters can shift over time and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 180: Planning a Trilogy with Jay Kristoff (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Planning a Trilogy with bestselling author Jay Kristoff. During the episode, Jay lays out the foundations for writing trilogies, including what works about the “trilogy” format, examples of iconic trilogies, starting with the midpoint climax, satisfying arcs across each book AND the trilogy, foreshadowing and laying seeds, rewriting and second book syndrome, mapping character arcs across three books, strategies for long-term worldbuilding, structuring/pacing a trilogy, maintaining creativity/motivation across multiple books and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 178: Prose & Rhythm with Alix E. Harrow (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Prose & Rhythm with award-winning, bestselling author Alix E. Harrow. During the episode, Alix expounds upon prose and rhythm essentials, including what prose and rhythm are, setting expectations with prose style, fine tuning your prose and rhythm, the musicality of prose, beauty and truth in language, the flexibility of prose styles, how prose informs characterization, description and world, the fluidity of authorial voice, how to have FUN with your prose and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 176: Writing Cozy Fantasy with Julie Leong (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing Cozy Fantasy with bestselling author Julie Leong. During the episode, Julie gets comfy and lays out the cozy fundamentals, including what cozy fantasy is, the growing popularity of cozy stories, stakes and realism in cozy fantasy, wish fulfillment and reader expectations, whether romance is necessary in every fantasy story, approaches to cozy worldbuilding and character arcs, the roles of community, antagonists and secondary characters in cozy fiction and more.