Building Your Speculative Fiction Novel: A 4-Week Workshop with Alex Temblador

Begins Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Wednesdays, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM ET

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PDT): 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM / Chicago (CDT): 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM / New York (EDT): 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM

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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 introductory online writing class is for writers drawn to speculative fiction, fantasy, dystopian, science fiction, or subgenres like romantasy or science fantasy. (Writers focused on magical realism or surrealism should take a different class.) All writing backgrounds are welcome — whether you're building a speculative novel from the ground up or returning to a draft you've already started, this creative writing workshop will give you fresh tools to write, revise, and finish.

What to expect:

Internationally known speculative fiction author Salman Rushdie once said, "Speculative fiction has always been a good vehicle for the novel ideas. If you have ideas that you want to set in motion, interrogate, or argue about, science fiction and fantasy fiction has always done that and done it very, very well."

Whether you want to use Fae, robots, vampires, AI, alternate worlds, or dystopian landscapes to examine novel ideas, this 4-week online writing workshop is for you. Award-winning speculative fiction author Alex Temblador will teach writers how to build futuristic and fantastical worlds, craft dynamic storylines, and create memorable characters. Everything from pacing and tone to dialogue, magical and technical systems, and how to approach writing identities not your own in speculative stories will be covered.

Alex begins with an overview of the speculative fiction umbrella — fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, and speculative fiction — and what sets the genre apart. From there, she'll dive into world-building and how it shapes setting, character, and plot. Writers will learn to construct intersectional characters and ground them in their speculative worlds. Through exercises, excerpts, writing and editing challenges, and discussions of required readings, you'll build confidence and concrete craft skills you can apply for the rest of your novel.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce a world guide for their fantastical, futuristic, or speculative setting and a dossier on their main character. They'll also build an outline for their speculative fiction novel and write or edit at least the first chapter. Each student may volunteer to submit up to 10 pages (double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman) of speculative fiction and receive written feedback from the instructor within one week. Students will be split into two groups with scheduled submission deadlines.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from "The Weight of Your Own Ashes" by Carlie St. George, "Valedictorian" by N.K. Jemisin, When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Bridge by Lauren Beukes, and The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, among others.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1 (Wednesday, September 9, 2026): The Speculative Fiction Umbrella and Worldbuilding — in-class presentation with exercises and examples.

Week 2 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026): The Intersection of Characters and Worldbuilding — in-class presentation with exercises and examples and discussion of the required reading; students draft the first chapter of their novel for the next class.

Week 3 (Wednesday, September 23, 2026): Plot and Character Arc — in-class presentation with exercises and examples and discussion of the required reading; students craft an outline.

Week 4 (Wednesday, September 30, 2026): How to Write Identities Not Your Own and Edit Speculative Stories — in-class presentation with exercises and examples and discussion of the required reading; students are provided with an editing checklist.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Build a complete world guide for your speculative fiction setting, including geography, society, history, and magical or technological systems
• Develop a detailed character dossier for an intersectional protagonist grounded in your speculative world
• Construct a chapter-by-chapter outline of your speculative fiction novel
• Draft or revise the first chapter of your novel with instructor-supplied editing tools
• Learn how to authentically and responsibly write identities not your own within the speculative genre
• Identify and avoid common tropes, stereotypes, and pacing pitfalls in fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian fiction

TESTIMONIALS:

"I will look for Alex Temblador's workshops again because I found a unique connection and synchronicity with her methods, writing experience, and knowledge, and my own needs at this point in my writing journey. I'm a published author, yet I'm writing, for the first time, about race and ethnicity from my personal experience in South Africa in a fictional context. I'm drawn to speculative fiction for its ability to portray complex socio-political worlds and resistance to oppression in an adventurous, yet true way. I know I'll learn more valuable insights from Alex." — Former Student, Speculative Fiction Toolbox Seminar

"I enjoyed Alex Temblador's Speculative Fiction Toolbox seminar, especially the discussions warning us about mirroring, world dumping, and unconscious bias, as well as emphasis on doing real research, even when we're inventing a world." — Former Student, Speculative Fiction Toolbox Seminar

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $330 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, September 9, 2026
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Wednesdays, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM ET
• Tuition is $330 USD.