Today, we’re thrilled to welcome Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan back to the Hive.

They’re here to tell us about the new volume of their guides SPEC FIC FOR NEWBIES. Before we hand over to them to find out more, lets take a quick gander at the official blurb:

Beam aboard your own Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror classroom with the next volume of the BSFA-shortlisted writing-guide series!

Join Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) for a whirlwind introduction to the storytelling basics of 30 more subgenres and major tropes from across the limitless realms of Speculative Fiction.

Learn about Space Opera, Folk Horror, Climate Fiction, Werewolves, Astronauts, Mythic Fantasy, Goblin Markets, Dragons, and many more with deep dives into each subgenre’s history and development, spotter’s guides to typical examples, pitfalls to watch out for in your own writing, and activities to help you get started! All derived from a combined two decades of university-level practices and experience!

Spec Fic for Newbies breaks genres into bite-sized pieces for students or for any budding writer. It offers a welcoming introduction to how writers, filmmakers, and other creatives can begin to explore the infinite potential of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror to create new stories beyond the boundaries of the ordinary.

This is not another dusty rulebook. This is a portal to endless other worlds!

Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2 is due for release 2nd July. You can pre-order your copy HERE

Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Vols 1 & 2

by Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan

You’re a newbie writer – or a more experienced one – and you have a pile of books on how to write but … they aren’t helping you figure out how, say, Military Science Fiction is different from Space Opera, or how Sword & Sorcery is related to but different from Mythic Fantasy or Grimdark. You have an idea for a new story but you’re having an internal fight between what you think you know about its subgenre’s context and history and what you know you don’t know but want to tap into. And you’re looking for a place that will give you the info you crave along with practical advice about how to approach your story idea. Well, guess what? You’re in the Spec Fic for Newbies wheelhouse!

A Short History of Spec Fic for Newbies

The Spec Fic for Newbies series was born during an online convention in the lockdown days (see Pandemic Fiction, Vol 2). Tiffani gave a workshop at the online 2021 Eastercon on writing historical fantasy (see Historical Fantasy, Vol 1). Afterward, Francesca T. Barbini of Luna Press asked Tiffani to online lunch and pitched the idea to her of producing a new writing guide. Tiffani said yes but immediately knew she needed help to fulfil the idea she had, and Val Nolan, an old writing friend – also an academic – from their Clarion 2009 days, was the perfect candidate. Their interests overlapped in some ways and, in others, were totally separate: the perfect way to write about all the aspects of their favourite genres! 

As academics, we had a lot of experience teaching and supervising developing writers, especially those who wanted to write SFF/H. So, the idea was to produce a writing guide for students (and non-students!) who were new to our favourite genres, or, if not new, perhaps inexperienced in writing specific subgenres they liked to read. And, sure, every writer has a shelf of writing guides, some possibly focused on SFF/H, but none approach the genres like this: with a look at one subgenre or trope at a time instead of a vague skim over the whole. Our next step was to come up with a table of contents full of various subgenres and major tropes we wanted to cover (and oh my gosh was that fun!) and figure out a format for the book. Hashing this out took some testing, as did limiting the table of contents to only 30 subgenres and tropes (Try to do it and you’ll see why we’re now on Volume 2!). 

Both books contain three chapters covering Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, each with its own introduction looking more closely at an aspect of the genre itself. Each chapter then contains ten sections covering a particular subgenre or major trope; each book also has an introduction and concluding thoughts as well as an extensive bibliography. Writing a section required consideration of how to approach a subgenre/trope, and we asked many questions: When did it start? What was its initial context? Who are its early authors? How did it change over time? Where is it now? Why is it important to the bigger scheme of things? (Because, seriously, SFF/H isn’t just pulpy ray guns and tentacles but a commentary on our lives here now.) And how can a new writer step into trying it out? (And how can we make any silly jokes about it?) So, we start with a list of ideas that includes titles of books, television shows, and films we know fit into the subgenre or trope. From there, we do a lot of research digging into the past to find out the subgenre’s earliest manifestations; sometimes, that first seed is much older – or newer – than we suspected, and we get to look at texts such as The Blazing World (1666) by Margaret Cavendish (see Portal Fantasy, Vol 2) or share the fact that the term “Big Dumb Objects” was only coined in 1981 (see Big Dumb Objects, Vol 1). We develop a chronology complete with representative titles that might be familiar and some that might not be because we try to include work from around the world and authors from more diverse backgrounds, as well as quotes and perspectives on the subgenre/trope from academics, critics, historians, and authors. A final important aspect is that we look at how the subgenre/trope connects to wider history and culture because SFF/H changes as the world changes. This way, the history of a subgenre/trope is like a mini classroom lecture (but with more silly jokes, we promise!). 

The first volume was published March 2023 and went on to (so far) be a finalist for the BSFA Best Long Nonfiction Award and be included on the Locus Recommended Reading List! Along the way, it earned glowing reviews. But we knew we weren’t done; we still had so many more subgenres and tropes to cover. Hence Volume 2, launching 2 July 2024, and we even have a draft table of contents for a possible third volume…

Spotter’s Guide: It’s All About the ToC

Volume 2 introduces novice writers to the mechanics of (deep breath!): Space Opera, Astronauts, First-Contact Stories, Climate Fiction, Pandemic Fiction, Uplifted Animals, Submarine Stories, Mysterious Islands, Biopunk, The Multiverse, Mythic Fantasy, Fairies, Goblin Markets, Enchanted Clothing, Dragons, Cryptozoology, Body Swaps, Portal Fantasy, Carnivalesque, Comedic Fantasy, Folk Horror, Ghost Stories, Werewolves, Possessed/Haunted/Cursed Items, Animals That Attack, Evil Children, Ecohorror, Gendercide, Places People Shouldn’t Go, and Last Person Left Alive Stories!  

And that’s on top of what we covered in Volume 1: Spaceships, Aliens, Big Dumb Objects, Robots, Military SF, Utopia, Dystopia, Apocalypse, Cyberpunk, Solarpunk, Folktales and Fairy Tales, Witches, High Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Grimdark, Historical Fantasy, Steampunk, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Time Travel, Gothic Horror, Supernatural Horror, Vampires, Psychological Horror, Body Horror, Zombies, Suburban Horror, Techno Horror, Splatterpunk, and Cosmic Horror!

Things That are Cool About Spec Fic for Newbies

• A thorough examination: After the short history of the subgenre/trope, each section includes a few more subheadings: a bulleted spotter’s guide that lists typical examples (such as the various types of ghosts found in Ghost Stories, for example, from Vol 2); sometimes an element spotlight that covers writerly topics such as POV or character motivation (or even tips on writing sex scenes in the Paranormal Romance section, Vol 1); a description of things that are cool about writing it; a list of pitfalls to avoid in your own writing (a silly title introducing another bulleted list with specific writing advice); and two activities to get you started. 
• No need for a compass: Sticking to the format means a reader knows what to expect and can find information quickly in any section in either volume. 
• We are do-bees not don’t-bees: The advice and information we offer isn’t presented as rules that must be followed but, instead, as guidelines to help writers figure out the best way they can approach trying something new. In all cases it’s about having a conversation rather than doling out lists of Dos and Don’ts!
• Wocka, wocka: Also, did we mention the silly jokes and puns? We are nerds, after all!

Become the Junk Lady in Labyrinth!

• Information is Power: We’ve stuffed these books with as much cool info as we can! So, it’s easy to find yourself reading about a subgenre or trope you didn’t know existed or didn’t think you had any interest in such as Submarine Stories (Vol 2), Folktales and Fairy Tales (Vol 1), Carnivalesque (Vol 2), or Splatterpunk (Vol 1) to name a few! 
• Fire up Your Library Card: Your TBR (or to-be-watched) pile will grow to a concerning height with all the titles that we provide, from far in the past to the latest Netflix offering, including things you’ve maybe never even heard of. 

Activities

• Check it out!: Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2 is now available for pre-order (and Vol 1 is available to get now) in paperback or eBook here: https://linktr.ee/specficfornewbies 
• Tell the world: And if you decide to fall into the subgenre ball pit, tell your friends or leave a review! Oh, and tell us all about the new stories Spec Fic for Newbies has inspired you to create! We love to celebrate our students’ (and readers’) stories!

picture by Mark Westley

TIFFANI ANGUS (PhD) is a BSFA- and BFS-award finalist for her debut novel Threading the Labyrinth. Her non-fiction work includes Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Vol. 1, co-written with author Val Nolan (PhD), which made the Locus Recommended Reading List and the BSFA shortlist for best nonfiction. Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 2 will be released early July 2024 and officially launch at Glasgow Worldcon. She spent over a decade teaching creative writing at universities in the US and UK, the majority of that time as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Publishing at ARU in Cambridge (UK). She now works as a freelance editor and proofreader for SFF publishing houses and private clients, lives in Bury St Edmunds, and is currently at work on a novel, a novella, a short-story collection, and another scandalous new project.

You can find her at:

Website | Bluesky: @tiffaniangus.bsky.social | Instagram | Facebook | Tiktok

VAL NOLAN (PhD) is the author of Neil Jordan: Works for the Page (Cork University Press, 2022) and co-author of Spec Fic for Newbies series (Luna Press Publishing, 2023, 2024). He has published academic articles in Science Fiction Studies, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comic Books, Irish University Review, and symplokē. His fiction has appeared in Year’s Best Science Fiction, Best of British Science Fiction, Unidentified Funny Objects, Andromeda Spaceways, and Interzone. He has been shortlisted for the Theodore Sturgeon Award and twice been a finalist for the BSFA Awards.

You can find him at:

Website | Bluesky: @vallescurarule.bsky.social