OH HELP! WHAT DOES A BLOG POST LOOK LIKE?! (?!?!)

"Just write a blog post," she says. "No big deal. Just write about things that interest you. And be interesting. Oh, and write in a way that's easy to understand." That sounds great and all, Mrs. Swan, but what does interesting, casual writing about science fiction even look like?

Fear not! I am here to accumulate lists of geeky stuff for you. This is really the tip of the iceberg--if none of these look like the kind of thing you want to write, that's fine. If you really appreciate seeing examples, though, I've got your back on this one. Voilà!

Look, all of these people put some time into writing these posts and articles. Some are even professionally published. Virtually all of them (except perhaps the "humans are scary" business) are longer and more detailed than I expect from you. These are really just a few suggestions about the type of thing you might enjoy writing.

1) How America's Leading Science Fiction Authors are Shaping Your Future

This impressive (professional) article from Smithsonian.com looks at the intersection of fiction and technological advancement. (written by Eileen Gunn, lead art by Mehreen Murtaza)

2) This delightful and ridiculous exchange on tumblr

I pulled a reblog by David J. Prokopetz. The original post comes from bogleech.tumblr.com.

This one is certainly not too hard for you to manage in one blog post. In fact, each individual has written less than I'd like you to give me in a blog post. I love the creativity of these ideas, though--these people are coming at sci fi from an unusual direction. And I love the way this concept grows and becomes more monstrous (and awesome) as they interact. This kind of exchange is exactly what we're aiming for in blogging.

It's also nice to see that you can be really informal in your style, as long as you don't get lazy. (These people aren't incapable of academic language. They're making the choice to write more colloquially.) On that note, though, do not, do not, do not drop an s-bomb in the things you write for class, okay?

3) Who Is Boba Fett? What We Can Learn from the Prequels

Professional artist and fan Noelle Stevenson created this glorious, absurd theory about...well, about Boba Fett. Kind of. Have you seen Star Wars? Are you familiar with Boba Fett? She practically goes off the rails with this one, and I'm not exactly putting on my "scholar" cap and nodding in full agreement with her theory. But once your theory gets this fun, who even cares if it's likely? This is an elective class--if we can't have fun here, what's left to us? If you wrote something this wacky and entertaining, I would be delighted.

4) It's not a real heart, it's a real artificial heart

(Cover art from Ancillary Justice, a novel by Ann Leckie)

Science fiction author Ann Leckie writes about gender, race, sexuality, and building a canon of literature in current sci fi. (Or, as my friend Shannon said: "how we decide which books are 'significant.'") If you are interested in diversity in the sci fi community (as an issue--I assume you have no problem with reading a diverse set of authors), this is a common topic of conversation.

One caveat: You owe me three blog posts per six weeks grading unit. You're welcome to write creatively, to connect what we read to science, to go old-school and analyze it, to look at historical background, to post your personal musings, or whatever you like. But a lot of the above posts aren't tied to particular works, and  I do want your posts to relate to the literature we read. (Three, at least. If you get inspired and want to write more, do whatever you like.)

I'll try to keep up with the three-per-six-weeks thing, too. Have fun!

-Mrs. Swan