Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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Did a search engine bring you here? Go to the main page for tons of information about Robert J. Sawyer, the bestselling author of 23 novels, including the Hugo Award-winning Hominids, the Nebula Award-winning The Terminal Experiment, and the Aurora Award-winning FlashForward, basis for the ABC TV series. Click here for Rob's main page, or scroll down for his HOW-TO-WRITE ADVICE.

"Sawyer is a popular keynote speaker at writing conventions as an industry insider and a master of social media and marketing. Where he leads, many authors follow." —The Ottawa Review of Books

Book Rob for your writers' conference or literary festival

Writing Workshops with Rob

Rob's "On Writing" Columns

First published in On Spec, Canada's leading science-fiction magazine:

• Great Beginnings
• Point of View
• Constructing Characters
• Show, Don't Tell
• Description
• Speaking of Dialogue
• Research
• Heinlein's Rules
• Wordprocessing Tricks
• Cover Letters and SASEs
• Self-Promotion
• Professionalism

Other Advice

• Are the days of the full-time novelist numbered?

• Letter to beginning writers

• On starting out writing nonfiction
• Formal writing training
• Writers' groups

• Manuscript format checklist
• Complete sample manuscript
• Outlines and synopses

• Writing an effective opening line

• A note about characters
• Characterization and aliens

• On infodumps (the "Page 69" test)
• More on infodumps: "As you know, Bob" — Kablooie!

• Fat books and computers
• How trilogies happen

• The book's written, what now?
• Landing an agent
• Getting an agent's attention
• Breaking into the science-fiction marketplace
• Reversion of rights: a case study involving Doranna Durgin and Fitzhenry & Whiteside
• On Canadian film-option contracts

• Getting good press
• Publicity doesn't just happen: A case study
• Using traditional media to promote your book
• On being interviewed
• More advice on self-promotion for writers
• Sample press releases

• Using your website to promote your book
• Advice for authors creating a website

• Why authors attend science-fiction conventions
• Another take on conventions
• How to make a good impression at an SF convention
• Picking which panels to be on at SF conventions

• Tips for public readings

• Generic notes for the copyeditor
• Specific notes for the copyeditor of The Oppenheimer Alternative

• Audio! Rob's lecture on "Point of View" from Odyssey: The Fantasy Writing Workshop in 2006
• Audio! Rob's lecture on "Is your SF element extraneous?" from Odyssey: The Fantasy Writing Workshop in 2006

• Audio! A 37-minute podcast produced by Tee Morris featuring Rob discussing what authors can do to help market their science fiction and fantasy books

• Audio! A The differences between writing for print and for the screen

• Toronto: A Writer's Tour

• WordStar — A Writer's Word Processor
• Complete WordStar 7.0 archives
• Running WordStar on modern computers

• Turkey City Lexicon, the hoary, and somewhat contentious, mother of all workshopping vocabularies

Patreon: Learn directly from Rob

I'm active on Patreon, answering how-to-write questions and often posting new how-to-write material there. Come see:

More Good Reading

Information about writers' workshops with Rob
Novels by Robert J. Sawyer