3 YouTubers for writing innovative genre stories for speculative fiction writers
Avoid common beginner mistakes by learning from those who have been there.
Learning how to write Speculative Fiction is hard.
I learned a lot taking 4 quarters of creative classes at Stanford University. But not everyone has the time or resources to do so. Luckily, everything you need to know to get started, become proficient, and start publishing, you have access to online—for free.
Just subscribe to these 3 YouTube channels:
Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson's free course is a masterclass on everything you need to know to write Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Brandon Sanderson is one of the highest earning writers of all time. In March 2022, his kickstarter campaign raised over $41 million dollars.
Following his advice will save you hundreds of hours of wasted effort. What many beginner writers fail to understand is that all stories share the fundamental components. In order for your story to be understood by the reader, and to move them, you must respect those conventions.
The necessary components for creating a speculative fiction story are presented clearly and elegantly as a series of checklists to look for in your outline and editing. It teaches you that so much of the story is thinking deeply about our characters, themes, and worldbuilding.
So do yourself a favor and avoid the same mistakes every beginner makes by following his advice.
Story Grid
Do you plan to work with an editor? Probably not.
Most people don't have the luxury of having a professional editor look over their work. Yet editors provide real value, they know what sells. They can tell when an obligatory scene for your genre is missing.
The solution is to become your own editor.
In Story Grid, legendary Editor Shawn Coyne distilled his 20+ years of wisdom into easily digestible videos.
His framework for editing can be applied to any genre. I found that Story Grid goes into greater detail on similar topics from the Brandon Sandesron course, making it a great complement to the above. For example, he gets into the minutiae of conventions and obligatory scenes for the most popular genres.
If you're ready to start editing your stories like a pro, his book The Story Grid is a distillation of much of the content on his channel.
Ali Abdaal
The topic of this channel ostensibly is productivity, but in essence Ali Abdaal is a writer in spirit and execution.
His video on his second-brain system was an absolute game changer for me. I went from reading books for entertainment to reading to learn and retain new information.
Reading as a writer requires you to think critically and analytically about what you are reading. You'll need a way to highlight, take notes, and aggregate information digitally so you can write / think about it later.
One thing both Brandon Sanderson and the Story Grid suggest is studying your particular genre. You need to understand how it works in order to innovate it.
Since I've started using the second-brain system, my velocity has exploded.
I used to be adamant about reading everything in print.
Now I realize that the skills I've acquired as a programmer can carry over into my writing. By digitally capturing and organizing my thinking, it's become much easier to write non-fiction content.
All I have to do is look at my notes taking app and turn it into a post!
Avoid wasting time by learning from those with decades of writing experience. I wish instead of taking classes at Stanford, that I closely studied these channels instead.
What are your favorite YouTubers that talk about writing? Let me know in the comments below.