How the NASA-SpaceX Collaboration Can Inspire Your Writing

On May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Bob Behken and Doug Hurley were launched in the Crew Dragon capsule by a Falcon 9 rocket, both capsule and rocket provided by SpaceX. The Falcon 9 returned safely to its barge. The next day, Behken and Hurley successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS). This was the… Read more »

The Science in Your Science Fiction: Conventional Space Travel

If you’re writing near-future science fiction involving space travel, along the lines of Andy Weir’s The Martian, or alternate history science fiction, like Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars, you’re going to find your space travel limited to what we can currently achieve. When NASA, or a similar space organization, launches a rocket loaded with… Read more »

Writing Techniques and Devices Should Serve the Story

In my second-to-last installment of ThrillerFest recaps, I’d like to look at a theme that came up in several different panels I attended. Writing techniques and devices should serve the story. Whatever you do in your writing, it needs to work for your story and not against it. Whether you include taboo topics, or humor,… Read more »