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by James Stegall

Read by Misha Grifka Wander

How often do you escape doomscrolling, capture the spark of an idea, then find time to write only to open your laptop to a buzz of distractions?

Restart to update Word. Here’s a tool tip. Please rate our app. Copilot can rewrite that for you! 

Did you forget what you wanted to write?

Sure, handwriting is an option, but you need to maximize available time. It would be nice to write on a device that doesn’t actively get in the way.

You’re not alone. In response to this swarm of digital mosquitoes, writers and tinkerers have started building their own devices they call writer decks.

A well-used Alphasmart Neo2. Photo by James Stegall.

The goals of a writer deck are simple: get to the cursor as fast as possible, long battery life, usable screen, and the ability to easily save and move files. Portability, ergonomics, keyboard quality, and personal style also play big roles. A writer deck is for enabling flow state, not editing.

The name writer deck evolved from building cyberdecks, a hobby paying homage to the history of computing, while imagining alternate timelines of industrial design.While cyberdecks can be more for art than utility, writer decks are designed for productivity. They can be purpose-built or be a repurposed old laptop with reduced connectivity, or a commercial device made for instant-on word processing.

On reddit.com/r/WriterDeck, newcomers ask “Why?” so often that it’s become an inside joke. Why not just use your laptop? Why not just turn off the Wi-Fi? Why not tap into your endless reserve of discipline to crank out words when the whole world wants to get inside your head?  The answer can be frustration, the hunt for better tools, accessibility, a desire to express yourself through your devices, or reduce carbon footprint by using an older device as long as possible. It could also be reclaiming headspace in an increasingly hostile software environment or a desire to protect your work from a future where platforms lock it behind a subscription or incompatible file types.

Getting Started

Many newcomers start with devices in their drawers and closets. The most basic writer deck can be an old phone in airplane mode running Word or Google Docs on an adjustable stand, paired with a Bluetooth keyboard. The upside of this setup is keyboard customization, ergonomics, and simply getting started. Breaking out of the standard shape of a PC to write with a keyboard on your desk and the screen at eye-height can be a game changer for accessibility.

Older Laptops

Any older laptop with a USB port can make a great writer deck. The oldest don’t even have Wi-Fi, which is ideal.

The Achilles’ heel of most laptops is the battery. Remove it completely, making the device lighter, and use a 100-watt portable battery designed for laptops, with a USB-C to DC power jack adapter available at many retailers.Your laptop probably still has Microsoft Word. Or other word processors can be found on archive.org. Don’t let tinkering with the laptop get in the way of using it as a writing device though. Notepad will do the job and save to a USB stick.

A ThinkPad X61, 12-inch laptop. Photo by James Stegall.

A warning: Remember that older devices don’t autosave. Get in the habit of pressing CTL-S on PC or CMD-S on a Mac every few minutes. Save everything to a USB stick for easy transfer. If you’re feeling adventurous, replace the old spinning hard drive with an inexpensive SATA SSD to really speed things up. 

It can be fun to repurpose a cool older laptop with early 2000s design language and hand-friendly curves. While some keyboards are unequivocally terrible, others can be much nicer than the standard chiclet keyboard on today’s machines. And without all the cloud bloat in modern operating systems, an older CPU with limited RAM is often snappier than expected. 

If you don’t have an older laptop, a user on /r/WriterDeck has developed an OS on a USB stick that boots to a simplified desktop for distraction-free writing. Another option is MicroJournal for PC. 

Off-the-Shelf

Ready-made writer decks probably started with the AlphaSmart, but now companies like Astrohaus serve the niche. Their Smart Typewriter, Traveler, and Alpha devices offer e-ink screens, cloud syncing, and long battery life. The boutique nature of these products are reflected in the prices though. 

The Pomera D250US. Photo by James Stegall.

As AlphaSmart devices disappear from secondary markets, more commercial products are available every day. Kickstarter has enabled devices such as the Zerowriter, BYOK (Bring Your Own Keyboard), and Pomera D250 with US Keyboard. E-ink tablets are also growing more popular and offer long battery life and screens free of blinking distractions.

DIY

The popularity of the Raspberry Pi single board computer has greatly lowered the barrier to entry on building your own writer deck. Most projects are open source with build guides on GitHub. YouTube, Hackaday Reddit, and WriterDeck.org also have resources to get started. Members of the writer deck community love to see builds in progress and enjoy offering thoughts on case design, hinge operation, power management, and whatever else makes the device work. 

The BYOK with a Bluetooth keyboard. Photo by James Stegall.

The key behind a great build is to think of the drafting device as a tool that serves you, and mod it any way you like. Clamshell cases, chunky typewriter styles, ultra portable or alternate materials like wood, leather, or metal are all fair game. 

Personal Style

Whether you decide on an older laptop or build your own, the best feature of writer decks is personality. Writers love to decorate their decks with stickers, paint, fuzzy fabrics, or custom keyboards to make them a joy to work on. The goal is to create a device that inspires you and doesn’t get in the way of creation.

Sounds like fun? Time to check the closets for old tech and get some work done.

Explore more articles from Writing by Other Means

James Stegall is a member of SFWA. Writing as James S. Aaron, he is the author of the Aeon 14: Sentience Wars and Galactic Law series. His novel Retreat Hell is coming in 2026 from Aethon Books. He lives in Oregon and likes doing dad things, tinkering, digging in the yard, riding bikes and reading. Learn more at jamesaaron.net.

The post Reclaiming Your Focus with a Writer Deck appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works published in 2025 has been announced. The awards will be presented during the 2026 World Fantasy Convention, scheduled for October 22-25, 2026 in Oakland CA.

The World Fantasy Awards finalists are:

Best Novel

• Audition for the Fox, Martin Cahill (Tachyon)
• Once Was Willem, M.R. Carey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Secret Market of the Dead, Giovanni De Feo (Saga)
• The Everlasting, Alix …Read More

  The post 2026 World Fantasy Awards Finalists appeared first on Locus.

Ursula K. Le Guin's longtime residence at 3321 NW Thurman St. in Portland, Oregon has been added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its significance to American literature and women's history.

During the 58 years she spent in the distinctive Queen Anne-style home until her death in 2018, Le Guin wrote many of the novels that have since been canonized among the most celebrated classics …Read More

The post Ursula K. Le Guin’s Home Recognized as National Historic Landmark, to host Writers’ Residency appeared first on Locus.

The 13-title longlist for the 2026 Booker Prize has been announced, with works and writers of genre interest including:

The End of Everything, M. John Harrison (Serpent's Tail)

The Renovation, Kenan Orhan(Hamish Hamilton)

The Vivisectors, Missouri Williams(4th Estate)

Helen of Nowhere, Makenna Goodman (Coffee House)

Switzy, Emma Cline (Random House)

The Disappearers, Marlon James (Riverhead)

The shortlist will be announced September 22, 2026. Shortlisted authors receive £2,500. The winner will …Read More

The post 2026 Booker Prize Longlist appeared first on Locus.

The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation (NCSFF) has announced the winner for the 2026 Manly Wade Wellman Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in science fiction and fantasy novels written by North Carolina authors.

• WINNER: Transmentation: Transience, Darkly Lem (Blackstone)

• The Unseen, Ania Ahlborn (Gallery)
• Last Chance Live!, Helena Haywoode Henry (Nancy Paulsen)
• Infinite Archive, Mur Lafferty (Ace)
• The Coming Dark, D.J. Molles (Self-published)
• Labyrinth, A.G. …Read More

by Julie Le Blanc

Read by the author

All you need to get back to writing is one sentence a night.

Let me explain.

When my baby arrived, I wish I could say I had a stash of stories ready for that first round of edits once I’d emerged, moth-like and ethereal, from my maternity cocoon.

Instead, it felt like stepping out of a nuclear bunker.

In between toys, the craft box, and snack time, parents can find time to write again. Photo by Julie Le Blanc.

What is this random page?

What does this note mean?

Never mind fear of the white page. I couldn’t even get near a laptop. Setting up my laptop felt too difficult when I didn’t have enough hands. Also, who was that person who wrote before? They didn’t feel like who I was now.

But what I did have—playing soft, dreamy music in the darkness of my baby’s room—was my smartphone.

The Parent Toolkit

I’ve tried all of these at one point or another postpartum. Some of them I use all the time, and others I pick up and set down as needed. Please feel inspired to do the same. That’s the first piece of advice.

Tell yourself, I am allowed to try. 

And unlike what Yoda says, I can promise you that if you try, you will succeed. One sentence at a time.

1. The One Sentence Wonder

Open the notes app on your phone. Find a good spot to nestle near enough to hear your child breathing but not so close that light would wake them.

The best time for me ended up being just after I breastfed, but before I jumped into a quick cup of tea and/or chores. Alone with them sleeping sweetly next to me in the dark, I’d write one sentence.

That’s it. That’s literally the only step.

The magic of this approach is that you will always write at least one sentence.

I say “always,” but you know what I mean. It’s hard to think you can’t write just one sentence. Even if it’s just:

“Really?” she asked.

The magic comes right after that. You’ve jump-started your brain into thinking about the scene. 

Sometimes, I’d do my one sentence and call it a day.

But often, I’d write more than one sentence.

You will forget what happened sometimes, and you might benefit from a quick reread before you write. But you’re a writer. Reading’s pretty fun too.

With just one sentence a night, what do you have to lose?

2. Voice Memos

Maybe typing takes too long, so if the baba is eating or playing and something comes to mind re: your writing, it’s easy enough to (secure the child with duct tape and a safety harness and) leave yourself a quick voice memo. 

This is especially good for those who are breastfeeding and might have only one hand available, or those with monster work commutes. Call yourself. Leave a message at the tone. Because that idea will most likely have disappeared by the time you get home.

3. The Art Supply Thief

Raise your hand if you are the crafting parent. 

That doesn’t mean you have to be good with crafts, only that you have access to colored paper, wax crayons, and the key to the safe that contains the scissors. And the sticky tape, for some reason.

I find investing in a small notebook, a good cardigan with enormous pockets, and whatever colorful marker your toddler last tried to use as a teething ring works wonders to ensure you have the bare minimum to take some notes for yourself.

None of the elements in this toolkit are meant to be silver bullets. It’s more about how you can get out of your own way, while still giving yourself the dynamic, amorphous time-eating space you need to parent your new human. And having 24/7 access to a pen and paper? Priceless.

4. Sleep Brainstorm when the Baby’s Sleeping

Ah, that sage little walnut. Sleep while the baby’s sleeping.

You know what I like more than sleep?

Writing my first draft.

It must be said that some babies might not sleep well at night, and that makes every aspect of parenting harder, never mind finding a moment to be creative. So please, be kind to yourself if the best way to refuel your writing tank is to follow that age-old advice. Get what sleep you can and consider coming back to this advice once your little one enters a period of more regular sleep.

If you’re too tired but also incredibly stubborn, the next best thing is to lie down beside them and brainstorm. If your fantasy world really does use live snakes as currency, what would that mean for other aspects of their world? If you have a pen and paper or a tablet around, you could even write down your ideas for later.

You might drift off, which is no bad thing; you might also get a bit of worldbuilding sorted out. Win-win.

5. Doe-a-Deer Mnemonics

Listen, Ms. Rachel’s songs will be stuck in your head anyway: Let’s take the reins here and use them to help us remember things when all other methods have failed us.

Perhaps today you don’t have any pockets. And you forgot to plug in your phone. And the baby skipped their nap.

Kids love music, and mine loves it when we make up songs together. This piece of advice is more for parents of toddlers than babies, but if that’s you, tell your kid you’re gonna sing a song about a mermaid, mentally bring up the backstory of your character, and start trying to rhyme on the fly. They’ll think it’s hilarious, and they don’t need to know that it’s from your sea-shanty-themed WIP. And if you both collapse into giggles, it’ll just stick in your mind even easier.

A Final Note

In the end, I promise you, you’ll have something. 

But please be kind: Know that any inevitable imperfections don’t mean your work is garbage. Heck, the first draft is always the hardest. 

I’ve managed to complete the first draft of a short story this way. It took me about two months, and it’s now ruminating quietly in a drawer for me to return to it and start the process again.

Is this strategy perfect?

Would I rather be able to sit down and do hours of creative work at a time, in the flow-state, on a sunny afternoon with zero commitments?

Well, sure. But I wouldn’t trade that for being a parent in a million years. 

So I do what parents have done for millennia. I adapt. I drink my tea lukewarm-to-cold. And I find new ways to catch that creative spark.

I know you can do this too.

You’re a writer, after all.

Explore more articles from Writing by Other Means

Julie Le Blanc is a speculative fiction writer living in the west of Ireland. Her stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Diabolical Plots, and Cast of Wonders. Her nonfiction about Old Irish literature and mythology has been published by Wiley-Blackwell and Brepols. She also once wrote a PhD about the Irish war-goddess, the Morrígain, and got away with it. You can find her drinking lukewarm tea and crocheting while the baba sleeps at www.julieleblancwrites.com.

The post Writing Tips and Tricks for Time-Poor Parents appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

Winners for the2026 Imadjinn Awardshave been announced. Winners were selected by jury and announced at theImaginarium Convention, held July 17-19, 2026 at the Holiday Inn Louisville East in Louisville KY.

Best Science Fiction Novel

• WINNER: Dead to Rights: A Car Warriors Autoduel Novel, Jay Barnson (Three Ravens)

• Frozen Echoes, Ed Downes (Undertaker)
• Bifrost Down, Jon R. Osborne (Seventh Seal)

Best Fantasy Novel

• WINNER: Rise From …Read More

Fan and organizer Robin Johnson, 89, died July 6, 2026 in Ballarat, Australia of underlying causes after a fall.

Johnson was born March 9, 1937 and lived variously in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, and Ballarat, as well as in England. He chaired the first Australian Worldcon in 1975 as well as Thylacons 1-3. He was awarded the Ditmar Awards Special Award in 1974 and in 1983, and he received the Big …Read More

Dark Carnival, the second oldest science fiction bookstore in the US, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday, August 1, 2026 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at its longtime location on Claremont Avenue in Berkeley, CA.

The sprawling establishment, which specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery books-as well as comics through its next-door sister store, Escapist Comics-first opened its doors in 1976, resiliently weathering challenges including …Read More

Russell Kirkpatrick, 65, died June 26, 2026 in Canberra Hospital. He was diagnosed with aggressive melanoma.

Kirkpatrick was born April 11, 1961 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He received a PhD in geography from the University of Canterbury and was at separate times a lecturer at the University of Waikato and the University of Canberra. He wrote the Fire of Heaven series and the Husk series, the latter known as Broken …Read More

Titan US publicity director Katharine T. Carroll, 68, died June 28, 2026. The cause was attributed to aortic dissection.

Carroll was born Katharine Trowbridge in January 1958. She attended Manhattan Country School, Riverdale Country School, and Boston University and lived in New York City and Maine. She began work as a publicist in 1980 with Time Inc., formed her own publicity consulting company in 1990, then joined Titan Publishing Group's …Read More

On July 20, the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of the $1.5 billion settlement proposed in class action suit Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, in which authors accused the Amazon-backed company of illegally obtaining and using their books to teach its AI system.

According to a Bloomberg report, Bartz v. Anthropic is the largest copyright class action settlement in US history, paying about $3,100 …Read More

Westercon 80, to be held in 2028 by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) in conjunction withLoscon 54, will officially be the final Westercon after voters at its2026 business meeting ratified a motion to repeal its bylaws. Following Loscon 54/Westercon 80, the convention will be deemed to have 'returned its charter' to the owner of the Westercon service mark, LASFS, which will determine its future going forward.

Westercon's press …Read More

Following a careful review, Apex Magazine has removed the story Vigil of the Tenth Air from Apex #153 amid skepticism around the author's potential use of AI tools for its writing.

Though ultimately not selected for publication, a shortlisted story for Apex imprint Violet Lichen's upcoming ECO25: the Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction was also struck from website listings after it came to light that other work associated with the author's …Read More

Now Hiring:
Events Coordinator and Web Contractor

Our team is growing!

SFWA is excited to announce two new positions as part of our continued commitment to creating meaningful opportunities and resources for writers. If you missed the open call in Singularity for the position of Executive Director, please refer back to last week’s statement for more details.

From Kate Ristau, SFWA President:

“The Events Coordinator will support our engaging and accessible programming for writers, and our Web Contractor will help ensure that our digital resources remain secure, useful, and easy to navigate. Together, these roles will allow us to expand professional development opportunities for writers, from building worlds to navigating the business of writing, while strengthening SFWA’s ability to serve our community into the future.”

Organization Overview

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization for published writers and industry professionals in the field of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres. Founded in 1965, SFWA runs the annual Nebula Conference, the Nebula Awards, and a number of programs to assist authors worldwide.

Events Coordinator

UPDATE: This position has been filled. The post remains up for archival purposes.

Compensation: $30,000-$35,000 annual salary, commensurate with experience, with benefits.

Status: Part-time, salaried, benefits-eligible W-2 position. This position averages approximately 20 hours per week over the course of the year. Due to the annual Nebula Conference, workload will increase during the months leading up to the event and decrease during other periods.

Location: Remote, with required travel to the annual Nebula Conference.

Position Overview

The Events Coordinator is responsible for the planning, coordination, and administration of SFWA’s major events, including the annual Nebula Conference and the quarterly Constellation professional development series. Working closely with the Executive Director, staff, volunteers, key committees, and the Board of Directors, the Events Coordinator oversees event logistics, supports volunteer teams, maintains event documentation, and helps ensure successful execution of SFWA’s programming.

The Events Coordinator reports directly to the Executive Director and collaborates with staff on planning, budgeting, communications, and production needs.

Key Job Responsibilities Event Management: Coordinate SFWA’s major events from planning through execution.

● Oversee planning and administration of the annual Nebula Conference and quarterly Constellation events.

● Attend the Nebula Conference and Awards Ceremony in person, supporting staff and volunteers and troubleshooting issues as they arise.

● Attend other sanctioned events as directed by SFWA, with additional event attendance based on organizational needs and work schedule.

● Coordinate planning timelines, deliverables, and communication among staff, volunteers, and board members.

● Assist with correspondence and follow-up on event-related tasks to ensure deadlines are met.

Volunteer Coordination: Build and support volunteer teams that make SFWA events successful.

● Recruit, onboard, and supervise volunteers supporting the Nebula Conference and Constellation series.

● Coordinate with SFWA’s Volunteer Team to facilitate volunteer assignments.

● Schedule and facilitate core team meetings, volunteer meetings, and all-hands calls related to ongoing events.

● Work closely with the Core Nebula Team and volunteers to identify responsibilities and ensure successful completion of assigned tasks.

Documentation and Administration: Maintain organizational knowledge and support continuous improvement.

● Maintain and update the Nebula Playbook to document event procedures and best practices.

● Develop and maintain a Constellation Playbook in collaboration with volunteers, staff, and the Board of Directors.

● Serve as the primary administrator for the Nebula Conference Team.

● Monitor and respond to inquiries received through the events@sfwa.org email account, serving as a resource for event information and institutional knowledge.

Communication and Reporting: Ensure effective communication across the organization.

● Provide monthly status reports to the Executive Director.

● Prepare conference status updates for the Executive Director and Board of Directors upon request.

● Coordinate with staff to support planning, budget tracking, communications, and printing needs.

● Foster clear communication between staff, volunteers, board members, and conference teams throughout the planning process.

Community Outreach: Support SFWA’s visibility within the speculative fiction community.

● Identify conventions and events that provide outreach opportunities for SFWA.

● Encourage participation by members, volunteers, and Board members at community events that align with SFWA’s mission.

Skills and Qualifications

● Experience coordinating conferences, conventions, nonprofit events, or comparable large-scale projects.

● Strong organizational and project management skills with exceptional attention to detail.

● Experience coordinating volunteers or leading collaborative teams.

● Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

● Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.

● Comfort working independently in a remote environment while collaborating with distributed teams.

● Proficiency with common online collaboration and project management tools.

● Ability to travel to and attend the annual Nebula Conference.

Web Contractor

Compensation: Hourly, with a monthly cap.

Status: This is an hourly, contract position, which is not benefits eligible. Candidates must be US-based and eligible for legal employment.

Location: Remote

Position Overview

The Web Contractor will provide website maintenance, technical support, and development services for SFWA’s website and related web systems. This position requires experience with WordPress and the ability to become familiar with SFWA’s custom web platform built on PHP and JavaScript. The ideal candidate will have an understanding of website security, web hosting, and systems refinement, with experience in WooCommerce and MemberPress. Technical writing/documentation considered a plus.

SFWA’s website supports more than 2,000 members and includes a wide range of functionality, including membership applications, online forms, member databases, and regularly updated information about the organization’s many online and in-person programs and events. The Web Contractor will collaborate with SFWA staff and the volunteer InfoSys Team to maintain, troubleshoot, and improve the organization’s website and related systems on an as-needed basis.

Key Contract Details

Website Management: Provide technical support for the maintenance, improvement, and troubleshooting of SFWA’s website.

● Collaborate with staff and the InfoSys Team to update, refine, and repair website features and functionality.

● Maintain and troubleshoot WordPress and custom PHP/JavaScript components.

● Identify and resolve website issues related to performance, usability, security, and hosting.

● Implement approved website enhancements and technical improvements as requested.

Technical Collaboration: Coordinate with SFWA’s technology volunteers and staff on ongoing technical initiatives.

● Attend the bi-weekly InfoSys Team Zoom meetings to discuss current projects, priorities, and technical issues.

● Coordinate with volunteers working on website development, Google Workspace administration, online forms, and other technology initiatives.

● Provide technical documentation related to completed work when appropriate.

Skills and Qualifications

● Bachelor’s degree or relevant certifications preferred.

● Minimum 5 years of demonstrated experience in website design and development.

● Experience with WordPress required.

● Working knowledge of PHP, JavaScript, website security, and web hosting environments.

● Experience with WooCommerce, Memberpress, and technical writing/documentation is a plus.

● Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with a remote team.

● Strong problem-solving, communication, and organizational skills.

Deadline for Applications

Until filled.

How to Apply

SFWA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender identity, religion, color, sexual orientation, sex, marital/family status, national origin, age, physical ability, or income. We strongly encourage applicants from traditionally underrepresented and marginalized communities.

For Events Coordinator:

Email a cover letter and resume in a single file (MS Word or PDF only) to jobs@sfwa.org. Please include “Events Coordinator” in the subject line.

Please note that all job applications will be reviewed by members of SFWA staff and the Board of Directors. No AI will be used in the assessment of applicants. Additionally, the selected candidate will be required not to engage generative AI in the performance of their duties.

For Web Contractor:

Email a cover letter, resume, and links to 3–5 sample websites in a single file (MS Word or PDF only) to jobs@sfwa.org. Please include “Web Contractor” in the subject line.

Thank you for your interest in working for SFWA!

The post Now Hiring: Events Coordinator and Web Contractor appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

Noidanlanka by J. S. Meresmaa (Myllylahti), is the winner of the 2026 Tähtifantasia Award, presented by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society for the best Finnish fantasy book published in the previous year. Other nominees were:

• Kuulotorvi, Leonora Carrington, tr. by Kristiina Drews (Kosmo)
• Lumenlaulaja, Emmi Itäranta (Teos)
• Kun aurinko kuoli, Yan Lianke, tr. Riina Vuokko (Rìxī)
• Vahalapsi, Olga Ravn, tr. Sanna Manninen (Voksbarnet)

The 2026 jurors were Jukka …Read More

Matt Haig announced on Instagram plans to open a bookshop and coffee place called Golden, to be located in Brighton UK in the Seven Dials neighborhood, which according to Haig does not currently have a bookshop. The shop aims to open by Christmas.

Haig said,

My belief, as someone who grew up in a town without a bookshop, is that all communities should have a bookshop because bookshops …Read More

by Marlee Baldridge

Read by the author

Readers don’t always care about the finer details of orbital mechanics in deep space mining or the geophysics of a climate dystopia story, but they do care about richly textured worlds that feel real and present. Fact-checking is an opportunity to build a complex world where the reader truly feels like a member of a mining crew or a resident of a frigid snowball planet.

While Google Scholar can do a lot of heavy-lifting, it doesn’t always answer the specific question that can trouble a narrative. What kind of outer shielding is needed for a ship to break orbit? Why are octopus eyes like that?

Maybe you don’t need a chemistry consultant. Maybe you only have one or two items you’d like   cleared up, and Google Scholar is getting you nowhere.

For specific questions, it’s often best to go straight to the source: the scientists. In this article, I spoke with two scientists who work directly with the public.

Getting Inspiration

This might mean consulting trade publications or following interesting persons on social media. Professional conferences are another great resource. For example, the American Geophysical Union’s session notes are a treasure trove of both good story ideas and scientists who have made a point of doing outreach.

There are also public meetings for city and county-level decision-making that involve scientists such as Margaret Garcia, PhD. Dr. Garcia is an associate professor at Arizona State University and serves on a local board involved with water and wastewater management. “So you can listen in on what the conversation is about: water resources, planning, considerations on different investments…”

Dr. Garcia added that while climate tipping points are a popular idea in media (and important), “there are social and government tipping points as well. And those can be interrelated.” At this point in the interview, the lights in her office turned off. Garcia backed up from our Zoom call, arms wide, to trigger the motion sensors and turn the office lights on again. “Sorry, we have a very energy-efficient building!”

Small, familiar elements of everyday life can find their way into a fantastic story. How would a hyper-energy-efficient building affect a Zoom call between protagonists trying to decide the fate of the planet?

How to Find Scientists

Scientists are professionals who are in love with hyper-specific topics they are rarely asked about. Don’t be afraid to!

“Most people are super open about it and would love to be contacted, but writers actually do not do it that often,” Helena Hartmann, PhD, said in an email. She is a postdoc at the University Hospital Essen and works in Psychology with a focus in Biological and Clinical Psychology.

“It’s within the scope of our role as professors to work with community members around the science or scholarly work that we do,” said Dr. Garcia, who works within the School for Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment at ASU. A professor at a local university, especially a public university, will be much more likely to help than perhaps a researcher in an industry that might have proprietary or management concerns.

Scientists can usually be found on social media, via the email listed on their published papers (that’s why it’s listed, so they can be contacted by interested parties), or through their departmental email if they’re with a university. Try this before a phone call—not everyone has a voicemail set up.

How to Ask for Their Help

Like any professional email, start with expectations and deadlines. Even giving a scientist a deadline a month or two in the future helps demonstrate a respect for their time. Don’t include the questions upfront—that might read as taking their time for granted—but do include the specific subject matter you’re interested in.

“I generally like this kind of informal outreach, but it should still stay professional,” Dr. Hartmann said. “I sometimes get very generic emails with a few questions and the deadline of tomorrow for an article—that is not very nice or considerate of people’s time.”

Asking about availability for the next month, however, is much more approachable.

What to Ask

Once expectations are set, now you can get into the nitty-gritty of your question:

●   Start with the basics. What is the specific goal of this mechanism you have questions about? “In this scene, the protagonist is in deep space, surrounded by fog after a weird space event. I want to build an atmosphere of suspense and mystery.”

●   What part of the mechanism are you having trouble with? “Space is a vacuum, though, right? So can there be fog in a vacuum? Isn’t it supposed to be really cold?”

The purpose of this is to be as concise as possible while also giving the scientist enough material to suggest changes. They might say, “The phase-change for water would have happened much earlier at 2.7K, so it would probably be ice-crystals forming over the protagonist’s visor. Alternatively, it might not be water. Helium or hydrogen remain gaseous at extremely low temperatures. There’s also lots of dust in space, could the fog be dust?”

Suddenly the protagonist is floating through the debris of a destroyed moon, not just water vapor. Doesn’t that make the scene all the more ominous?

How to Credit a Scientist

These scientists aren’t being paid for helping you, and this should factor into asking for assistance. For academics, there is what’s called a “service burden” that especially applies to women and people of color. For industry professionals, they may be sacrificing important crunch time in research to help clear up a few world-building problems.

Crediting the scientist in the acknowledgements of your book is an obvious first step. An author can also credit them on social media in any promotion that happens from a published book.

And One Last Thing

Scientists aren’t always in consensus. One example is the Anthropocene. Everyone is pretty sure it started immediately after the Industrial Revolution. However, there’s also a group of paleoclimatologists that argue it started closer to the 1500s, shortly after the mass-genocide of Indigenous people of the Americas, when previously agrarian land became reforested and (though this is unlikely) influenced the Little Ice Age.

Another important note is that this advice isn’t one hundred percent accurate either. Scientists are people, and people have different opinions on how to be solicited for help. So when in doubt, just ask!

Explore more articles from Wring from Science

Marlee Baldridge is a science communicator based in the Midwest. She’s written for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, an NSF grant, and Ames National Laboratory. Learn more at marleebaldridge.com. 

The post How to Fact-Check Your Science and Gain Inspiration Along the Way appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

Author Dafydd ab Hugh, 65, died in June 2026.

Ab Hugh was born David M. Friedman on October 22, 1960 in Los Angeles CA. He began writing SF/F as early as 1987 with Heroing: or, How He Wound Down the World, first of two books in the fantasy series Jiana. He wrote Arthuriana books Arthur War Lord (1994) and Far Beyond the Wave (1994), as well as several tie-in novels …Read More

Our Heads Are Better Than AI: Working Together on Challenges in Industry

Dear writer,

Right now, the SFF online conversation is potent and proactive (read: FIERY). The topic? AI scammers, the increasing complexity of their scams, and the challenges they pose as they infiltrate one publication, then use that credit to break into more.

To catch you up, I’ll share some resources at the end of this letter. Not everyone is as keyed in on the daily blow-by-blow of social media or reading at the speed of the Internet (I don’t know how you all are even writing creatively these days). For those of you who are online all the time, skim freely. 

We want to provide useful guidance for a discussion that airs out the challenges many publishers and writers face in this age of LLM tools. It is so easy to feel shame, frustration, and anger after any scam, but we can’t let that keep us from growing as a community. When we all know what’s going on, we can work toward the changes we want to see.

Thanks to the work of many thoughtful creators on the frontlines, our genre community is now engaging with big questions, like how do we keep our trust networks strong? How do we expand the genre and extend the platform to new and global writers when verification is much harder? And how do we do all of this with the small human teams who run so many of our great publications?

In recent days, the community has come together, through data and compassion, to help answer these questions and to let fellow editors and writers know that they are not alone. 

SFWA was hit, too, when Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA encountered scammers savvy enough to get past other major publications first. The old model of trusting in legitimate writing credits needs adjustment in our new era. But thanks to our responsive community, we were able to flag the work, take it down, and work on next steps.

Not Everyone Is Taking The Same Next Steps

Some teams, like Planetside, are changing processes for author verification and transforming editorial training. Others are using AI detection tools with final human oversight to reduce the load for their frontline volunteers. We all want our humans to keep working with humans. 

But how each team evaluates their own next steps is a complex decision, wrapped up in nuanced discussions of detection workload and data privacy. 

Sometimes I’m longwinded, so let me be clear: 

1. Blacklisting by geographical region degrades and diminishes our community; and 
2. AI cannot save us from AI. We want, and need, humans making these decisions.
   

We know that a stronger publishing industry is built on openness, diversity, and trust. Equitable practice has to create inclusive on-ramps while balancing the work of fraud detection and account moderation. The protection of contributors’ rights and work must be at the center of every community practice we adopt in response to the latest threat. 

New Battles in an Old Arena

This new era can seem daunting, but these are not all new challenges.

Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware® has written about online scams for us for years, while SFWA’s Advocacy Team, including our Legal and Contracts Committees, are always following key case law for opportunities to push back. 

SFWA’s mission is to serve writers coming from many backgrounds, and we do not approach creating any blanket policies or procedures lightly. Detangling the current crisis in publishing will require patience and cooperation. 

But we will not back down from our unwavering desire to see HUMANS typing on keyboards, writing in notebooks, and scrawling stats for RPG playtests. 

That’s where we need your help, writer. We need YOU in the conversation.

The main thing I’ve learned as SFWA President: we create our best solutions together. 

In that vein, this summer and fall, we are inviting you deeper into the conversation, with the ultimate goal of making sure we are all better prepared for the future ahead as we fight for the one we want: wildly human, creatively vibrant, and written by us. 

Join Us to Learn More, Get Engaged

Building on a groundswell of excellent member and community feedback last December, our Emerging Tech Committee has been crafting resources to help writers, readers, educators, and students. This weekend’s Emerging Tech conversation is the first in a series of opportunities to bypass the hype and make informed, pro-human decisions for ourselves and our writing tools.

If you can’t attend “Understanding AI: A Hype-Free Overview” this Saturday, July 18 at 1PM PDT, please submit questions and other feedback on our preliminary resource page. Your questions will be answered by panelists on Saturday, and that page will grow this summer to provide more tools to sharpen our understanding together of key terms and industry products. 

This event is open to the public, as part of our Givers Fund Fundraising Kickoff weekend. You can donate to the Givers Fund, which supports human creators growing the SFF community, when you RSVP for access to all our weekend’s kickoff events.

Also this summer, our Short Fiction Matrix Project will be launching Phase One of another community-driven resource page, which will support writers and publishers in a market where professionalism, transparency, and a commitment to writers’ rights are requirements to be part of the genre conversation. We are here for that! Help push for the changes you want to see by working with their team, just as you have done for years by sending sample contracts to our Contracts Committee. Your questions and contributions help us all.

If you are with a partner organization or magazine, or are an industry pro, touch base with me personally. We have resources behind the scenes to get you further connected and supported.

It’s going to be a good weekend. I can’t wait to continue the conversation with you. I’ll bring along questions of my own. We’ll work through them together.

Keep creating,

Kate Ristau
SFWA President

Resources for Further Reading

Apex Books & Zine. “Facebook Visual Post Rescinding Publication.” July 10, 2026.

Bona Books. The Machines Are Coming for Your Masthead: Small Press Publishing in the Age of AI. July 2026

Cast of Wonders. “Bluesky Post Thread Rescinding Publication.” July 7, 2026.

—. “The Many Faces of Charity Ogechi.” July 7, 2026.

Clarke, Neil. “AI and Short Fiction #1 – some recommendations for readers” and “AI and Short Fiction #2 – some recommendations for editors.” July 14-15, 2026.

DeLuca, Michael J., Reckoning Press. “AI: A Press Statement.” July 6, 2026.

Strauss, Victoria. “The First Clue to an Email Scam May Be the Address,” Writer Beware® , June 30, 2026.

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