Back in May when I had turned… well, older (*cough*thirty-four*cough*), my lovely wife bought me a gift that meant more to me than all the material things she could have purchased for me. She went out of her way to ensure I had the weekend off and bought me a two-day course with Pamela Freeman (also known as Pamela Hart) titled, “Fantasy, Science Fiction and More…” which was all about writing Speculative Fiction. This meant a lot to me because not only did she spend a bit to get me there, she got me the weekend off and proved that she certainly supports me in pursuit of my writing career. There. Are. No. Words.

I am writing this post as my writers’ group (Hi folks! *waves*) were unable to make it and requested I do a post about it. For them, considering I put them through reading my work, it’s the least I can do. Now, for you folks out there beyond the screen, if you can make it, please take this course! My quickly hand-scrawled notes are hardly the tip of the iceberg that is this class (not to mention the tip of Pamela’s infinite amount of sass, which I love and endorse wholly). I thought I’d share some key takeaways in the hopes I can help someone, as well as if you’re considering taking the course, help you make that decision!

I’ll break it down into the two days, as it was a good way of doing the class. The one thing you won’t get from this post is your own tribe, which I’ll talk a bit about in a few moments

DAY ONE

Leading in, we were encouraged that small presses are fantastic for Speculative Fiction, as so many of us would love that huge deal with a big five publisher. She stressed that eBooks have the same reach between self publishing and the big five and that the market on eBooks is huge for us as well. Also, self publishing doesn’t have the same stigma that it used to but it is still very much for the control freak/DIY publishing crowd. She warned us that to really make a living at writing, you need to get published overseas. Depending on what you’re writing, the market size changes and where you need to focus your energy changes as well.

Pamela told us to find our tribe, starting in that room or online. What she meant by this is surround yourself with writers who are serious about the craft as well as write what you write. You need these people to boost your morale when things get rough and also to celebrate the wins when things are looking up! She said forming a writers’ group (I’m in, well… three online and one in person) also helps improve your writing and raises the abilities of everyone involved. Current experiences for me definitely prove her right.

Pitching came into play very briefly here and I found it helped me with mine. I put this into practice two weeks later at the Speculative Fiction festival and had a fellow writer say I had mastered it. Don’t know about that, but it certainly didn’t hurt! Pamela stressed to know your genre well and your comparison books. DO NOT mention Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones. Just don’t. They’re too mainstream now and hurt your pitch more than anything. The formula she gave us should be contained within two sentences and mention the title, genre, specific audience and the core idea. Mine is as follows:

Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse is an adult high fantasy that follows Jefferson who is struggling to find his purpose in a world where magic is secretly evolving. As war looms between those who abuse this power and those who protect it, Jefferson finds his purpose is directly linked to the evolution of magic and could tip the scales for good, or for evil.

The above pitch is broken down like this “(TITLE) + (AUDIENCE) + (GENRE) + (MAIN CHARACTER) + (CORE IDEA). (EXTERNAL PROBLEM) + (INTERNAL PROBLEM) + (CONSEQUENCE).” Hope that helps, it’s in no way as simple as that, but fine tune and perhaps this may get you on track to your perfect pitch!

Pamela also had a wonderful side note for those trying to figure out the difference between Middle Grade and Young Adult. She said Middle Grade is a story where the protagonist is forced from home and wants nothing but to be back there. Young Adult is more of a going out into the world to discover themselves type of story. Of course themes play into that as well, but I thought it was a good little note!

Worldbuilding came next and honestly, I’ll lay out some notes for you folks but seriously, I am just scratching the surface. Pamela’s “geology up” approach literally has her looking at the rocks and terrain of her world before much else. She acknowledged this is pedantic (as is her attention to detail in time period language usage) but to each their own!

“You can’t know your characters until you know their world.”

-Pamela Freeman

Pamela lined up a few key elements and stressed how different genres place their emphasis:

• Character (focuses on this are at the heart of Literary works)
• Plot (Crime is driven by this, obviously can focus on the others too)
• Setting (Spec Fic lives in the details here)

Which brings us to what many of us do; we create secondary worlds. For this, we need to ask a million questions. No, I’m not going to list them here (this post is getting too long as is) but what you need to think about is how close to our world is it and build off that. But as a Speculative Fiction writer, we need to deliver on the richness of this world as well as show as much of it as we can (think the epic journey of The Lord of the Rings).

To deliver on the promise of setting, you need to pay attention to the details. The foliage, the wildlife, the climate, the seasons and the list goes on. If possible, move from place to place. Show varying degrees of your world and how different each city is to the last. Wonder can be instilled, but be sure to use your senses. Also, think about how the special and specific traits in your world affect your characters! What are the limits, not just physical but societal and mental? What are the outside influences?

Okay, I said I wouldn’t go too far down the rabbit hole of questions, but those are a few key ones I absolutely loved. For your world it HAS to be believable within the confines you create. If you make rules, don’t break them to be convenient. Pamela also stressed balancing your technology with your magic. If magic runs your world, how does it affect your technology? Pamela also recommended grounding your world in a time period for accuracy to the technology of the time.

Diversity is a huge one. DO NOT have the token folk to tick the diversity box. If you’re going to have characters of any minority group, they must be threaded throughout your world and have a history there. She said one character to carry the burden of representing a whole group of people stands out and does more harm than good. Be mindful of this and giving multiple characters the job of representing that group, will not only provide a deeper sense of the world you’re building, but also be more considerate of those people.

Pamela recommended introducing the world through your main characters. What your characters notice and think tell you a lot about who they are. Also when it comes to scenes, it helps to introduce areas in advance where you know action will take place, so as to avoid slowing down your action to set up the scene. Pamela warned that if we were using dialogue to tell information, it needed to be relevant to that character or advance the plot.

Okay! I realise this post got out of hand quite quickly, but keep in mind… this is twelve paragraphs which we elaborated on for six full hours. I’m going to write another post shortly in regards to day two which will encompass writing a series, a sequence or a universe as well as some common character types!

Last, but not least… please feel free to comment below or use my contact page if you’ve got any questions!