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In less than 4 hours, you can be writing SFF characters
without stereotypes or harmful descriptions!
Click “JOIN” below.
You will receive access to the Writing An Identity Not Your Own: Speculative Fiction course which includes five sections of pre-recorded presentations, as well as resources, prompts, challenges, an editing checklist, and book recs. This class is suited to fantasy, science fiction, romantasy, speculative fiction, and dystopian writers of all backgrounds (YA, adult, middle-grade, etc.) who want to learn to write stereotype and biased-free SFF stories.
In just 5 lessons, you’ll learn how to develop more complex, authentic characters which will ultimately improve your story, novel, or screenplay, resulting in better feedback from readers, more publishing opportunities, and more.
Click the “Join” button above or check out what’s included below.
Is this class a fit for me?
Award-winning author Alex Temblador of Writing An Identity Not Your Own has taken her writing craft book and created a class that teaches writers of science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, dystopian, and romantasy how to write characters whose identity is not their own.
Temblador (who is a speculative fiction writer herself!) will teach writers how they might approach creating main, secondary, and tertiary characters in a SFF story who have historically marginalized identities in relation to race, ethnicity, sexual and romantic orientation, gender identity, disability, nationality, etc. You’ll learn about bias and how it can influence dialogue, storylines, and characterization. Everything from tropes to stereotypes, mirroring, discrimination scenes, and inspiration porn will be discussed in this class.
Although Writing An Identity Not Your Own provides insight into this writing process for all creative writers, this course will highlight some specific challenges that fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, and romantasy writers of all backgrounds (adult, young adult, middle grade, etc.) face.
What’s included?
Five Video Presentations recorded by yours truly, Alex Temblador, the author of Writing An Identity Not Your Own and a traditionally published speculative fiction writer (magical realism, speculative fiction, and hopefully soon — romantasy!). These presentations last for over 3 hours and feature easy-to-follow PowerPoints with exercises.
8 Exercises: Not only do I explain the exercises within the video presentations, but I also have them listed within the course with full explanations so you can come back after watching the video presentations and do the exercises as many times as you’d like. These exercises are relatable to all speculative fiction writers and can be used for various identities.
5 Writing Challenges: Under each lesson, you will get a bonus writing challenge. Some of the challenges will ask you to write, others to read, and even some will help you prepare yourself for the editing phase.
Resources: Want more information about writing identities not your own -- specifically as speculative fiction writer? I provide multiple resources under each lesson, which include videos and links to essays and articles, some of which were written by your favorite sci-fi or fantasy authors. There are even book recommendations too!
Downloadable editing checklist: Although the Lesson 4 video guides you through the editing process, I even created a downloadable editing checklist for SFF writers. This 12-step checklist will guide you from the beginning to the end of the editing phase, and make sure you focus on catching all the stereotypes, icky descriptions and dialogue, harmful tropes and storylines, and more.
Excerpts and examples: Are you the kind of writer who needs to see an excerpt from a published speculative fiction piece to really understand what to do and not to do? So am I! That’s why I use TONS of excerpts from traditionally published and self published sci-fi and fantasy novels and stories throughout the course.
TESTIMONIALS
30-minute Consultation, $50
My craft book or course might not answer your specific questions about writing identities not your own, so book a 30-minute Zoom consultation and get your questions answered right away!
Add-Ons
Critique + Consutlation, $100
A 20-page critique of your creative writing piece and a 30-minute consultation by Zoom. Perfect for those who want specific written and verbal feedback on their creative pieces that features identities not their own.
Editing Identities Not Your Own Notebook, $17
The Editing An Identity Not Your Own spiral notebook features a checklist on the front cover that you can reference when you're working on your next novel, short story, or memoir.
More about the book…
You don’t need to read Writing An Identity Not Your Own, but it’s a fantastic companion to this course, and even offers more examples, writing exercises, and resources not found in this class.
Is it relevant to speculative ficiton writers? There is a chapter on genre, however, this book provides insight into topics that writers of all genres might face like how to approach dialogue, whether or not to write discrimination scenes (and how you might present it), an in-depth guide to editing for other identities, and how to discuss this topic within critique groups. Not to mention — if you’re writing speculative fiction, dystopian, magical realism, or some forms of sci-fi and fantasy, you might be discussing identities that are present in our reality, which makes this book exceptionally relevant to you as it offers specific insight on how to write about those identities.
This is what one reviewer said about the book and speculative fiction:
“It's a great starting point for any author writing any genre (your fantasy characters have genders and heritage that define them too!), to help make your book intentional and thoughtful!” - Megan K., Goodreaders
You can learn more about the book on this page or order a copy via the button below.
FAQS
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Do you write fantasy? Sci-fi stories? Interested in speculative fiction or romantasy? This is the course for you! Even magical realism writers would get a lot out of this class. It should be noted that the class is well suited to those who write adult, young adult, or middle-grade fiction, screenplays, plays, or poetry that fall under the realm of all things speculative, imaginastic, magical, fantastical, and futuristic.
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Have your laptop or a pen and paper by your side so you can take notes or participate in the various excercises.
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The short answer is no. You don’t have to read Writing An Identity Not Your Own before you take this class.
The class will make sense without having read the book. People who have taken the course have said that the book is a “great companion,” since it has a lot of helpful information not in the course. (There are a lot of things in the course that are not in the book!)
That said, I highly suggest grabbing a copy of the book after the class, as the book has a wealth of information that is applicable to sci-fi and fantasy writers. Not only can you find other excercises and examples not provided in this course, but there is an editing checklist and a phenomenal resource in Chapter 11 that includes lists of stereotypes, tropes, and terminology for various identities.
Please buy the book through your favorite independent bookstore. If you prefer to buy online, please buy it through Bookshop or Libro.Fm as both support independent bookstores.
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I’m always open to connecting with writers in different formats, so if you are interested in taking this class live, please send me a message through my contact form. If there seems to be interest from multiple people, then I’m more than happy to offer the class live or do a “Ask Me Anything” session.
Please check out my Events page because I often teach a general version of this class for writers of all backgrounds in-person and online with various writing organizations, companies, and at conferences. This would offer you a chance to ask me live questions.
If you’d like to hire me to give a live presentation to your university or high school class or to teach this course through your writing organization or business, please reach out through my contact form.
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I have been teaching courses and seminars and providing presentations on writing identities not your own in-person and online since 2020. Whether those presentations were one hour or four weeks long, I’ve always received ecstatic feedback. (I even gave a presentation on this subject to Macmillan Publishers! Does it get any bigger than that?!)
There is not a refund on this course, as I treat it just like I would if this was a live course. The information in this course is not easy to find on the Internet or from other authors. That said, if you’re concerned about the price, buy Writing An Identity Not Your Own first. It’s affordable and has a ton of information. Or check it out at your library for FREE! If you like the book and want more information, this course will be waiting for you. Did I mention it has exercises, excerpts, writing challenges, and resources NOT in the book?!
I will add that if you have strong feelings or concerns about anything in this course, please reach out to me. I love having conversations and am open to always improving this course for writers.