Alicia Cay certificates

How To Start Writing

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I have always known that I am a writer. With the kind of knowing you feel deep in your bones and emanates from the very core of your being. And as writers must do, I write. Although that wasn’t always the case. How to start writing...
Dave Wolverton and Algis Budrys

A Different Kind of Writing Workshop

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When L. Ron Hubbard initiated the Writers of the Future contest, he knew that there would be awards and publications for the winners. As Algis Budry, the first contest administrator put it to me, “He wanted to make sure that this helped launch new writers.
L. Ron Hubbard as president of the New York Chapter of the American Fiction Guild in 1936

Advice to the Word-Weary by L. Ron Hubbard

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He wanted, he claimed, an article in which there was a great deal of sound advice about writing and a number of examples.
Pulp magazine covers featuring L. Ron Hubbard stories

History of Helping New Writers by Algis Budrys

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Novice writers who hoped to learn his storytelling and story-selling skills often consulted L. Ron Hubbard for advice. He was happy to offer suggestions and so he began sharing his hard-earned experience with creative writing students.
David Farland winning Writers of the Future Contest in 1987

Prize Writing—Three Things to Know

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If you think about it deeply, everything that you write is really for a competition. You’re competing for publication with other writers, for promotional monies from the marketing departments of various publishers, for literary awards, and of course for your reading audience.
Photo by Tegan Mierle on Unsplash

One Foot in Front of the Other

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One writer's journey of persistence on becoming a writer. And how Writers of the Future has helped him stay the course despite a number of falls.
Frederik Pohl at the 1986 Taos Workshop

How to Impress an Editor by Frederik Pohl

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What goes through an editor’s mind when he reads a story by an aspiring writer? In this article written by Frederik Pohl in 1987 for Writers of the Future volume 3, he is about to tell you.…
Mike Resnick (left) with writer winner Jonathan Ficke and his wife

Mike Resnick – Paying It Forward to New Writers

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Sci-Fi and Fantasy author and editor Mike Resnick on how he pays forward, in more ways than one, to help the next generation of new writers.

The Magic Picture

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In this article originally written for and published in Writers of the Future Volume 5 in 1989, Hal Clement, member of Science Fiction’s First Fandom and Grand Master of Science Fiction, deals with how to effectively “challenge readers with the ‘what if?’ implications of a background significantly different from the familiar and everyday.”
Robert J. Sawyer speaking to writer winners

Eight Things New Writers Need to Know

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Here is the next in a series of articles addressing the barriers to achieving your writing goals as a new and aspiring writer from the science fiction bestselling author, Robert J. Sawyer.