Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Live Seminar via Zoom from 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM ET

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Instructor Bio

Instructor Alex Temblador is the award-winning author of a writing craft book, Writing An Identity Not Your Own, and two magical realism novels, Half Outlaw and Secrets of the Casa Rosada. In addition to receiving her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma, Alex's creative work has been published in literary outlets like PALABRITAS, D Magazine, Colorado Review, as well as two anthologies — Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America and Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology. Alex has taught creative writing seminars, workshops, and classes with WritingWorkshops.com, the Women's Fiction Writers Association, the Writer's League of Texas, StoryStudio Chicago, WorldShift: The Speculative Fiction Writer's Summit, Texas Book Festival, Macmillan Publishers, Abydos Learning Conference, and more. When she's not writing her next book, Alex is working as an award-winning journalist, traveling, gardening, or exploring her home base of Dallas with friends.

Who is this class for?

This seminar is for writers of speculative fiction, science fiction, magical realism, fantasy, dystopian, and related subgenres who want to learn revision and editing techniques that will prepare their manuscript for submission to literary agents and publishers. Open to writers of all levels, including those still in early drafts—you do not need to have a complete novel to take this seminar.

What to expect:

In this two-hour online writing class, award-winning speculative fiction novelist Alex Temblador will guide writers through the editing process of novels that feature speculative, fantastical, or futuristic elements. Writers of science fiction, magical realism, fantasy, speculative fiction, and dystopian novels will learn how to analyze their magical and technological systems for holes that need to be filled, the impact of the first few chapters, and how pacing can shape stronger character arcs and more compelling plots.

Equally important is the seminar's focus on editing identities not your own—how to recognize and remove unconscious bias in your draft that may be producing stereotypes, harmful tropes, or mischaracterizations. As the author of the writing craft book Writing An Identity Not Your Own: A Guide for Creative Writers, Alex brings deep expertise to this often-overlooked dimension of revision.

This live Zoom seminar makes the revision and editing process more understandable through a multimedia presentation paired with exercises, excerpts, and concrete examples. While the session will touch on grammar, reverse outlines, and the role of beta and sensitivity readers, writers will leave the class with a clear, actionable plan to revise and edit their speculative novel so that it may one day be ready to submit to literary agents and publishers.

What are the writing goals?

In this seminar, students will produce a revision and editing plan tailored to their speculative fiction novel-in-progress. Each student will also receive a free editing checklist for editing identities not their own, designed to guide them through catching stereotypes, harmful tropes, and mischaracterizations during the revision process.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from a range of science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, magical realism, and speculative fiction novels. Recommended craft texts include Writing An Identity Not Your Own: A Guide for Creative Writers by Alex Temblador and Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, among others.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• A concrete, actionable revision and editing plan for your speculative fiction novel
• Techniques for stress-testing magical and technological systems and identifying world-building holes
• Strategies for evaluating the impact of opening chapters and using pacing to strengthen character arcs and plot
• A framework for editing identities not your own, including how to recognize unconscious bias, stereotypes, and harmful tropes
• A free editing checklist for editing identities not your own
• An understanding of how reverse outlines, beta readers, and sensitivity readers fit into a submission-ready revision process

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $99 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Alex Temblador
• Begins Wednesday, October 14, 2026
• Class will meet once via Zoom on Wednesday, 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $99 USD.