How to create the perfect monsters for your worldbuilding

How to create the perfect monsters for your worldbuilding

Last updated Jul 27, 2023 | Writing Tips

The monster is a staple of fantasy and science-fiction worldbuilding, from Tolkien’s dragons and Balrogs to Hyperion’s Shrike. It is something other and strange, often terrifying, and normally far beyond the capability or experience of normal humans – a monster is not...
15 top fantasy and science fiction publishers

15 top fantasy and science fiction publishers

Last updated Jun 20, 2025 | Writing Tips

If you’re considering publication for your finished novel or work-in-progress, you’ve probably learned a thing or two about your options. That might include the two most commonly discussed paths: (1) self-publishing or (2) securing a literary agent, who, for a...
This prologue welcomes you absolutely

This prologue welcomes you absolutely

Last updated Nov 29, 2022 | Writing Tips

‘Come inside and meet the prologue,’ begins Catherynne M. Valente’s science-fiction novel Radiance, from which this article takes its title. ‘The prologue is patient. She has been told often that she is wholly unnecessary, a growth upon the story that the wise doctor...