Liz Armbrecht

Or, I watched 14 sci-fi/fantasy writing webinars so you don’t have to, but you totally should if you want to.

Hatchette Book Group’s Sci-Fi/Fantasy Imprint, Orbit, released a series of webinars in 2023 all about ideating and crafting your first sci-fi/fantasy novel.

Overwhelmingly, these were excellent webinars. There was diversity among the authors as well as the books that they were writing or had written, everything from classic retellings to epic fantasy to weird speculative fiction. There were lots of good nuggets in them that I wrote down over the course of three-ish years in as many notebooks. (I know, it took me three-ish years to watch them all, even though they all released in a two-month period in fall of 2023.) I found the content to be inspiring, and watching all these made me feel like, wow, they all did this thing (writing a novel), maybe I could actually do it too!

It just so happens that this very weekend when I wanted to do a little summary of the best things I learned from these webinars, I also got to see Wicked: For Good. Now, I have extremely topical supporting evidence as to why these authors’ advice is good advice, and how I’m going to take it to heart!

~Disclaimer: I have only watched the Wicked movies; I have not read the book nor seen the musical. I will someday!~

Ideating

“The fastest way to make your story nothing is to try and make it all things to all people. Find a niche.”

From “Ideas, Ideas Everywhere: How to Choose an Idea for your Novel”

For as universally beloved as Wicked (both the musical and the movie) is, there are plenty of folks for whom it isn’t their cup of tea. And that’s okay! As a people pleaser, something that freezes me up when I sit down to write is, “OMG, what if someone in some corner of the internet doesn’t like this?”

And, someone won’t. That’s the whole point. What I heard in the webinar was that a good place to start with a novel project is just with vibes that inspire me. “Your love makes a project feel authentic,” an author said. It was a great reminder that if I love a thing deeply, likely someone else will. And my writing won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s OKAY.

Funnily enough, this video as well as the “Taking Inspiration from Classic Stories” webinar both address pros and cons of riffing off other works, of which Wicked is a famous example. (I think the inspiration tree for Wizard of Oz to Wicked is Book > Movie > Book > Musical > Movie? I need a theater nerd to confirm!)

Worldbuilding

“Ask questions, answer them, and the world builds itself from there.”

From “Creating Otherworldly Cultures”

I like to think that Frank Baum and Gregory Maguire (and, to an extent, too, Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox) had to ask questions like, “How do speaking animals fit into the social structures of Oz?” “Where do people live if not in Munchkinland or the Emerald City?” “What impact does a conman from ‘our world’ have on a magical otherworld?”

From the webinars, additional questions that the authors threw out there included:

• “How does geography influence the social?”
• “Why do we wear certain clothes?”
• “Why do we do certain activities inside or outside?”

Especially if you get stuck, these authors agreed, asking more questions about how your characters might interact with the world could help unstick you.

Waving a Wand (or Hands)

“Science isn’t all known, neither would be magic.”

From “A Method in the Magic: Creating Magic Systems”

One of the things the authors in this panel said was that “Magic systems can be in the background of your worldbuilding or they can be part of the main conflict and central to the story.” Who has magic and how does that reflect their power in the world? In Wicked, of course, Elphaba has real magic but green skin and, therefore, low public opinion, while Galinda has no magic but all the political power. This creates conflict that leads to very satisfying character arcs and resolution at the end of the story.

Another piece of advice from the webinar was to draw diagrams that list out, “What do I know about the magic?” and “What do the characters know about the magic?” while remembering that the readers want to know about the magic, and that’s what keeps them reading. Magic can be a useful way to give characters solutions to problems as well as create tension and contribute to worldbuilding, as in Wicked.

Setting Characters Up

“One way to get people to bond really quickly is to get them to suffer together.”

From “Love Triangles and Other Shapes”

I think one of the best tidbits I wrote down from this webinar was that to tie a relationship subplot into the main plot, you have to think through what your characters actually want, because their desires and goals will impact the choices they make. Wicked has many characters who come together and separate for many reasons, but, of course, the main relationship is the deep friendship between Elphaba and Galinda that gives the movies their emotional resonance.

I hope to someday write a relationship that keeps you watching for what’s going to happen next like that! The keys, according to the authors, include:

• The characters sharing secrets or backstory
• The characters expressing feelings
• The characters being vulnerable

I just think of the initially devastating and then delightfully joyful dance scene from Wicked, Part One when I think of an example of characters being vulnerable. Because Galinda picks up what Elphaba is putting down, they get a bond is forged that eventually brings down a wicked wizard.

Applying Structure

“What’s the coolest thing that can happen here?”

From “How to Structure a Scene”

I was comforted to know that the authors on this panel felt that scenes can sometimes get shaped more in the rewrite, and not always in the first draft. And, when I think about it, the last thing you want to get bogged down in while drafting is how your scenes are structured. “The initial draft is playtime; don’t take the scene too seriously and get out of your own head,” one of the authors said. “Then in revising, you can take it more seriously.”

Thank goodness to revision for the many epic Wicked scenes we get throughout the two movies. But I have to imagine that, in one case, the answer to the question of “What’s the coolest thing that can happen here?” was Glinda and Elphaba fighting wand vs. broom in the Munchkinland plaza until they got their feelings out. Epic, and pretty accurate for girl friendships.

This was only a small selection of my favorite moments from these webinars as well as brief examples from Wicked. ALL worth a watch, in my humble opinion, but, whatever you watch and whatever you write, enjoy it!