Spec Fic For Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

by Tiffani Angus, Val Nolan

Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) met at the 2009 Clarion Writers' Workshop in California and since then have collaborated many times as fans and scholars on panels for SFF conventions and writing retreats. Working together on this book and combining their experience as SFF writers and as university lecturers in Creative Writing and Literature made perfect sense!
Every year they see new students who want to write SFF/Horror but have never tried the genres, have tried but found themselves floundering, or, worse, have been discouraged by those who tell them Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror are somehow not "real" literature.
This book is for all those future Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror writers. Tiffani and Val are approaching these three exciting fields by breaking them down into bite-sized subgenres with a fun, open, and contemporary approach.
Each chapter contains 10 subgenres or tropes, with a quick and nerdy history of each derived from classroom teaching practices, along with a list of potential pitfalls, a description of why it's fun to write in these subgenres, as well as activities for new writers to try out and to get them started!

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2023

About the author

Tiffani Angus, PhD, is the co-author of the multi-award-finalist Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, volumes 1 and 2, from Luna Press. She's also the author of the multi-award-finalist historical-fantasy novel Threading the Labyrinth (2020), which was re-issued in 2024 by Luna Press as an extended 2nd edition. In a former life she was a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Publishing, Course Leader for the MA Creative Writing, Co-Course Leader for the MA Publishing, and General Director of the Anglia Centre for Science Fiction & Fantasy at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK. A graduate of Clarion 2009, Viable Paradise XII (2008), and a regular attendee of the Milford Writers' Workshop UK, she's published short fiction in a variety of subgenres. When she's not working on her next stories and novels, she's freelance editing, proofreading, writing, and mentoring, and she has a regular column on the British Fantasy Society's website doing deep dives on SFF/H subgenres. She also owns the book typesetting business Book Polishers.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been reading a chapter or two of this sporadically throughout the year. As someone who writes SF, I still learned a heck of a lot about the different genres/sub genres and their histories—and came away with a longer reading list. That is how it should be. It’s also a lot of fun.

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful guide to the speculative world of sub genres and while I’m not an author even as a reviewer or reader lots to enjoy

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A throughly educational yet also entertaining book, offering readers a concise but interesting look at thirty different subgenres/categories from across science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

In between the wonderful quips that kept the mood upbeat, conversational, and engaging, readers can expect to find plenty of useful information on a wide variety of topics. It's a great place to get inspiration from, thanks to the numerous examples from a variety of media for each section, providing readers with lots of potential options for further research should a particular subgenre or category strike their fancy.

In addition, each section ends with two activities to guide the reader for further practice and each encourages playful twists on the tropes of discussed category, prompting real engagment with the text and what the reader has learned. Personally, I'm looking forward to taking a proper crack at the epistolary story prompt from the Gothic Horror section.

I also appreciated the fact that this book reminds the reader throughout that as a writer you have to be aware of things such as racist tropes and other potentially problematic issues when writing a story. For example, I particularly liked the bit in the 'Aliens' section that warned against the stupid idea that aliens built things like the pyramids, because, as the authors say, "just because White people didn't do it doesn't mean it was aliens" (p.21).

Also, I will say that it's very fun before you read a section to take a guess at what books or films they might mention and see if you're right. I was super pleased when I guessed correctly that they would mention Grady Hendrix's 'The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires' in the suburban horror section.

Overall, this was really helpful read that's made me feel more motivated about my own writing. I was particually happy to see splatterpunk was included under the horror section because I've been reading some lately and have been considering dipping my toe in to writing some myself.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A survey book with overviews of the most popular subgenres of spec fic. It's pretty good, with enough history and examples to be interesting and written in an entertaining style, but I have to say (because it's bugging me): the section of Cosmic Horror has a paragraph is extremely misleading. It begins:

The original cosmic horror stories by Lovecraft introduce a loose pantheon of Great Old Ones with such colourful names and identities as Ammutseba, Devourer of Stars; the mutagenic, foul-smelling cloud known as The Colour; Gog-Hoor, Eater of the Insane; the coiled, writhing tentacle mass Kassogtha, Bride and Sister of Cthulhu; the larva-like exile Nycrama, The Zombifying Essence; as well as Other or Outer Gods such as Yog-Sothoth, an all-knowing conglomeration of glowing spheres.

The problem is only one of these named Great Old Ones was actually introduced by Lovecraft (Yog-Sothoth). All the others were invented by later authors. It feels a bit sloppy, and irritates me as a result.

[Owen Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget ‘newbies’ in the title and ‘beginners’ on the cover; this is a helpful compact overview and reference guide for speculative fiction authors. The book is divided into three sections, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, each with ten sub-genres. Within each is a short history of the genre, a list of common tropes/themes/settings and a list of ‘what’s cool’ about the style. Chapters close with suggested writing exercises and topics to explore.
A second volume, in the same format, describes ten more sub-genres of the categories. The books represent a valuable checklist, particularly for writers wishing to explore a new area, helping them to avoid cliches.

[Rick Danforth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and informative book. Gave some great insights into unfamiliar sub genres in an entertaining and humurous way. My only complaint is that it listed so many great books as reference points that my tbr pile has tripled 😂

[Jackie Carreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of great tips and techniques for those starting out on their Spec Fic writing journey from those who have been there before.

[Rosemarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended for the novice and advanced writer interested in SFFH.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it's a book primarily intended for authors, I ended up picking up Spec Fic for Newbies since it had been on a list of potentials for the related work category of the Hugo awards and it was actually pretty interesting just as a reader of speculative fiction. Each chapter covers a different subgenre of sci-fi, fantasy or horror and gives a brief overview, calls out some specific examples and then goes over pitfalls to watch out for and some writing exercises to try.

I doubt that I'll ever try to get into writing but it was interesting to see the details on the subgenres and it certainly added to my TBR in terms of a lot of books I either hadn't heard of or was newly tempted by. If you're at all interested in writing speculative fiction, it definitely seems like a handy resource to have.