Routledge presents “Writing Speculative Fiction: A Guide”, authored by Dr. Anna Faktorovich. This authoritative textbook challenges contemporary writers to reject hyper-repetitive formulas and subgenre cliches that flood the modern literary market. The volume equips ambitious writers with the tools to construct unique plot structures and new genres out of the raw elements of storytelling, rather than blindly copying past winning novels' structures. Rather than relying on vague character descriptions, Writing Speculative Fiction: A Guide instructs creators on how to design characters from scratch by researching and combining anatomical and behavioral elements from strange zoological species, or deep-sea fauna. It moves beyond superficial worldbuilding tropes, teaching authors how to construct the illusion that a secondary world is real by providing sufficient architectural, ecological, and philosophical details to convince readers they are stepping into it. Chapters explore innovative methods for developing speculative ideas through tricks typically ignored by fiction-writing-guides, such as the open-shut mechanism, syllogisms, and the deployment of logical fallacies. Writers receive directions on mapping plot trajectories across narrative time, examining traditional climax structures and questioning standard elements such as predictable villain defeats at narrative peaks. Additional topics include designing new mythologies, inventing speculative concepts across the social sciences and humanities, and establishing unique rules of science or magic. Explanations are proven with case studies, such as the analysis of 14 speculative releases to compare quantitative and qualitative elements in the opening and closing pages. To facilitate both self-directed study and academic instruction, each chapter includes writing exercises, and concept definitions. This release follows Routledge's previous publication of Dr. Faktorovich's monograph “Introduction to the Attribution of Literature”: https://www.routledge.com/Introduction-to-the-Attribution-of-Literature-The-Re-Attribution-of-the-British-18th-and-19th-Century-Corpuses/Faktorovich/p/book/9781032821115 Dr. Faktorovich has taught a spectrum of subjects including Creative Writing, Mythology, Literary Theory and Composition at colleges across the country and abroad, and is the Director of Anaphora Literary Press. Writing Speculative Fiction: A Guide is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Routledge at https://www.routledge.com/Writing-Speculative-Fiction-A-Guide/Faktorovich/p/book/9781041396550.
