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. 195: Mark Lawrence talks Daughter of Crows, Assassin Schools, SPFBO & More
Join host Adrian M. Gibson as he chats with bestselling author Mark Lawrence about his new novel Daughter of Crows, writing an older protagonist, showing a character across their life, new twists on assassin schools, evoking an eerie atmosphere, drawing inspirations from pagan mythologies, the meaning of “grimdark,” the evolution of self-publishing and SPFBO (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off), working in mathematics, hard science, “detail porn” 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. 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. 179: Jay Kristoff talks Empire of the Dawn, Vampires, Creative Reinvention & More
Join co-hosts M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly as they chat with bestselling author Jay Kristoff about his new novel Empire of the Dawn, writing vampires and monstrous characters, (un)reliable narrators, handling heavy themes, the costs of victory, creative reinvention, shifting genres, writing for younger audiences, approaches to beautiful yet brutal prose, Tolkien and the magic of fantasy books and much 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. 177: Alix E. Harrow talks The Everlasting, Lady Knights, Mythmaking & More
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly as they chat with award-winning, bestselling author Alix E. Harrow about her new novel The Everlasting, the significance of foundational myths, mythmaking and subverting heroism, the spectrum of cowardice and courage, sexuality and obsession, symbols and the weight of history, magic and time loops, breaking in and changes in the publishing industry, being a second generation book nerd, villains, agency and much more.