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Best resources to learnFantasy & Science Fiction Writing

Study sheet

Speculative fiction builds worlds and systems as well as characters. You will learn genre conventions, worldbuilding and magic systems, plotting at series scale and the craft lectures the community swears by.

6 resources · · How we curate

📺YouTube(1)

youtube

Brandon Sanderson's Writing Lecture Series (2025, BYU 318R)

Sixteen filmed sessions of Brandon Sanderson's BYU English 318R course on writing science fiction and fantasy, covering plot, character, magic systems, short fiction, revision and the publishing business, with guest lecturers from inside the industry. The most-cited free SFF craft course in existence. It is an actual accredited university semester, not a content channel: 16 hour-long sessions on plot, character, worldbuilding, short fiction, revision and the business, plus guest lectures from agents and indie publishers. It anchors the entire topic and makes several paid 'learn to write fantasy' products redundant.

beginner🇬🇧

📚Books(4)

bookPaid

The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

Twenty-four essays on why fantasy and science fiction reward serious reading, on myth and archetype, on genre prejudice, and on the making of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness. Scribner 2024 edition, introduced by Ken Liu.

intermediate🇬🇧
bookPaid

About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews

Seven essays, four letters and five interviews on what Delany calls the mechanics of fiction, plus thirteen appended mini-workshops on grammar, dramatic structure and point of view. Demanding, sentence-level and skeptical of formula. Wesleyan University Press, 432 pages.

advanced🇬🇧
bookPaid

Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story

Ten short chapters on the mechanics of narrative prose - sentence sound, punctuation, verb tense, person and point of view, crowding and leaping - each with examples from published fiction and an exercise. Revised 2015 edition, 160 pages.

intermediate🇬🇧
bookPaid

Wonderbook (Revised and Expanded): The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Illustrated genre-craft manual covering inspiration, beginnings and endings, narrative design, characterization and revision, with diagrams, annotated manuscript pages and exercises. The revised edition adds fifty pages; sidebars and essays come from working writers including George R. R. Martin.

intermediate🇬🇧

🌐Websites(1)

website

Turkey City Lexicon: A Primer for SF Workshops

The shared critique vocabulary of professional science fiction workshops, compiled by Lewis Shiner and Bruce Sterling. Names and defines recurring failure modes - infodump, idiot plot, plot coupons, eyeball kick, hand waving - across prose, story structure, background and viewpoint. Short, free, and the highest-density genre-craft document that exists: it is the diagnostic language SFF professionals use on each other's manuscripts, so it converts vague 'this isn't working' into named, fixable defects.

intermediate🇬🇧
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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best free resources to learn Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing?

Dantes has curated 6 resources for Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing, including 1 YouTube videos, 4 books, 1 websites. All resources are hand-picked for quality — no algorithmic filler. Browse the full list above to find the format that works best for you.

Is Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing hard to learn?

Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing is approachable at the beginner level — there are resources here specifically for those starting from scratch. As you progress, intermediate and advanced material is also available to take your skills further.

What types of Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing learning resources are available on Dantes?

For Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing, Dantes has curated 1 YouTube videos, 4 books, 1 websites. Each resource type serves a different learning style: videos and YouTube for visual learners, books for depth, courses for structured progression, and websites for quick reference.

How does Dantes select Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing resources?

Dantes is an algorithm-free learning directory. Resources are hand-curated based on quality, accuracy, and usefulness — not engagement metrics or paid placements. The goal is to surface the best learning material for Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing, whether it's a free YouTube series, a classic textbook, or an open courseware from a top university.

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