Image: Cover for Havemercy. Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. (Spectra, 2008).
The books Havemercy, Shadow Magic and Dragon Soul are part of a fantasy trilogy written by 2004 Scholastic Writing Portfolio Gold Medalist Jaida Jones and her co-author Danielle Bennett. The books begin with a tale of two cities, Volstov and Ke-Han. Amidst warring magicians, macho dragon riders and their mysterious mechanical steeds, these rich characters must ultimately work together to find lasting peace. How did Jaida and Danielle publish three books (with a fourth on the way!) and conceive a rich fictional world with original characters? Like many epic sagas, it started out with a Scholastic Award, a story about firefighters, and a sensitivity training class at a summer job. Read More
Image: Madeleine L’Engle. Juror for The Scholastic Writing Awards, Short Story Division. Literary Calvacade, 1973.
Sci-fi author Madeleine L’Engle enjoyed careers as a librarian and an actress by the time she judged short stories for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in the early 1970s. But like the young writers whose work she evaluated, she was no stranger to criticism. L’Engle’s best known work, the sci-fi children’s classic A Wrinkle in Time, was initially rejected by dozens of publishers in the early 1960s. Why? According to Madeleine L’Engle: “A Wrinkle in Time had a female protagonist in a science fiction book, and that wasn’t done.” Read More
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are one of the best opportunities out there for aspiring writers of science fiction and fantasy to get their work recognized. But the Awards are not the only writing competition that accepts entries in this category. Below is a sampling of opportunities devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy. Some contests offer cash prizes and opportunities for publication, so please read the directions/rules carefully as some restrictions and entry fees may apply. Read More
What makes the science fiction and fantasy genre so appealing is that anything can happen – the sky’s the limit! Even when you’re writing about an imaginary world, it’s still possible to incorporate elements that are familiar. When director James Cameron conceived the natural environment of Pandora for the movie Avatar, he drew heavy inspiration from his dives in tropical coral reefs. And multilingual lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz adapted words from Latin, Egyptian, Greek, German and Italian to create incantations for Wicked Witch Elphaba in the musical Wicked. Read More
Image: Cover for Havemercy. Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. (Spectra, 2008).
