Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a writing masterclass on Reading to Become a Better Writer with author/content creator Evan Leikam (AKA Book Reviews Kill). During the episode, Evan examines the relationship between reading and writing, including how reading shapes us, how to read as a writer, finding the time to read, reading however (and wherever) you can, reading for enjoyment vs. learning, improving your writing through the books you read, applying lessons and breaking the rules, writing craft books and more.
Masterclass
SFF Addicts Ep. 152: Writing for Different Mediums with Luke Arnold (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing for Different Mediums with author/actor Luke Arnold. During the episode, Luke breaks down his approaches to four different mediums (prose, comics, screenwriting and video games), including expressing your creativity through various mediums, learning from other mediums, researching and understanding your medium, as well as comparing story structure, pacing, expectations, character development and worldbuilding across mediums.
SFF Addicts Ep. 150: Writing Nature & Wildnerness with Hannah Kaner (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing Nature & Wilderness with bestselling author Hannah Kaner. During the episode, Hannah ventures out into the wilds of storytelling, including incorporating your natural surroundings into fiction, drawing influence from environments you’ve never visited, using landscape/environment to enhance story elements, awe and the unknown, nature as a character, the economy of nature and its resources, agency and control in the natural world, elemental magic, spirits and monsters, cities in contrast to nature and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 148: Finding the Emotional Core with Nicholas Binge (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Finding the Emotional Core with bestselling author Nicholas Binge. During the episode, Nick delves into the emotional heart of storytelling, including what “emotional core” means, why characters and relationships are vital for emotional investment, developing a character’s emotional journey, emotional resonance through plot and structure, the malleability of the emotional core, how worldbuilding can reflect the emotional journey, endings, expectations, emotional payoff and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 144: How to Train Your Character with C. L. Clark (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on How to Train Your Character with award-winning author C. L. Clark. During the episode, Cherae works out the fundamentals of character strength and training, including the body and the stories we tell ourselves, convincing fictional examples of physicality, how the body affects plot and character, biological sex, body type and societal standards, how to determine your character’s starting strength, an early defeat and setting the stakes, finding the ideal method for training your character, satisfying climaxes, boss battles, injuries and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 140: Creating a Shared Universe with Richard Swan (Mini-Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a mini-masterclass on Creating a Shared Universe with bestselling author Richard Swan. During the episode, Richard lays out the foundations for creating a fictional shared universe, including what a shared universe is, examples of shared universes (such as the MCU, Star Wars and Discworld), giving your world depth through details, languages, geography and more, the chronology of a shared universe, keeping track of world history, loose shared universes vs. linear shared universes, avoiding problematic plot holes, writing in different formats and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 139: Richard Swan talks Grave Empire, Warfare, History & More
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they chat with bestselling author Richard Swan about his new novel Grave Empire, his lifelong love of video games, Star Wars and science fiction, The Art of War series and his experiences in self-publishing, working in law, lessons learned from publishing, leaving beloved characters behind, his historical fascinations, the brutalities of warfare and colonialism, soldiers and diplomacy, the afterlife, the ocean, sharks, fear and much more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 138: Choosing Your Publication Path with Christopher Ruocchio & Tatiana Obey (Masterclass Panel)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly for a masterclass panel on Choosing Your Publication Path, featuring authors Christopher Ruocchio and Tatiana Obey. During the panel, Christopher and Tatiana share their publishing experiences, discussing the dream of being an author vs. the reality, querying and literary agents, the essentials of being an indie author, self-publishing costs/cover art/marketing, writing series and/or standalones, hybrid publishing, getting indie books into stores, publishing contracts and rights, compromises and making mistakes, writing supplementary books, crowdfunding/Kickstarter, trends, community and more. We hope this panel helps any of you out there trying to decide your publication path.
SFF Addicts Ep. 132: Writing for IP with Peter F. Hamilton, Mike Chen & James L. Sutter (Masterclass Panel)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn for a masterclass panel on Writing for IP, featuring authors Peter F. Hamilton, Mike Chen and James L. Sutter. During the panel, Peter, Mike and James explore the intricacies of writing for intellectual properties, including how to get involved in IP, deadlines and contracts, the pressures of writing in an established universe, love of the IP vs. the realities of earnings, editors and author freedom, translating visual IPs to prose and vice versa, catering to existing fanbases, author voice, IP attachment and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 131: Writing Multiple POVs with Lavanya Lakshminarayan (Mini-Masterclass)
Join host Adrian M. Gibson as he delves into a mini-masterclass on Writing Multiple POVs with author Lavanya Lakshminarayan. During the episode, Lavanya unmasks the many faces of multiple points-of-view, including why you would write multiple POVs, how to choose the right POV characters and tenses, making character voices unique, connecting with characters (as readers and writers), structure and pacing in a multi-POV story, viewing the same scene from different perspectives and more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 130: Lavanya Lakshminarayan talks Interstellar MegaChef, Food, Video Games & More
Join host Adrian M. Gibson as he chats with author Lavanya Lakshminarayan about her new novel Interstellar MegaChef, The Ten Percent Thief, working in the video game industry, storytelling and worldbuilding, cultural identity and imagined futures, VR and future technologies, blending culinary arts with space opera, food as cultural exchange and history, cooking TV shows, contrasting characters and much more.
SFF Addicts Ep. 129: Fictional Family Dynamics with Tasha Suri (Mini-Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a mini-masterclass on Fictional Family Dynamics with award-winning author Tasha Suri. During the episode, Tasha unpacks the complexities of family, exploring what makes family dynamics compelling, the role of family in her work, the key to successful fictional families, types of family dynamics, conveying individual and group character growth, external forces that can shape a family, romantic partnerships, marriage, found family and more.