Northwrite SF

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We are a group of speculative fiction writers writing short stories and novels for publication worldwide. Our members are published authors from across the northern half of Britain (mainly, but not exclusively, Yorkshire and Lancashire). Although we intend to stay small and select we welcome membership enquiries from published authors writing science fiction and fantasy.

“It’s your job, as a writer, to seek out harsh criticism
– and learn from it.”

– Paul Cornell

We meet to constructively critique each other’s work and to discuss the nuts and bolts of writing speculative fiction, and of selling it on both sides of the Atlantic. The aim of the group is to provide social interaction as well as professional level critique delivered supportively. Thorough constructive criticism, delivered sensitively, is encouraged, sarcasm and/or ad-hominem attacks are not.

Schedule

• Sunday 19th July 2026
• Sunday 18th October 2026
• Sunday 17th January 2027 (online)
• Sunday 18th April 2027
• Sunday 18th July 2027
• Sunday 17th October 2027

Manuscripts for critique are delivered in advance (preferably at least 2 weeks before the meeting) by email. Word count for the submission is limited to 10,000 words and earlier delivery of longer pieces is appreciated. There is no reading aloud. We are concerned with the words on the page not the ability of a person to enthral an audience with their voice and presentation.

Writing Advice

Apply the seat of your pants to your chair, fingers to your keyboard, and write. When you have finished a piece and edited it to the best of your ability, submit it to a publisher. Then apply the seat of your pants to your chair, your fingers to keyboard, and write something else. Rinse and repeat.

Eight Writing Tips from Kurt Vonnegut

Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

• Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
• Every character should want something, even if it’s only a glass of water.
• Every sentence must do one of two things – reveal character or advance the action.
• Start as close to the end as possible.
• Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters make awful things happen to them in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
• Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
• Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Links

• Brandon Sanderson has a series of lectureson youtube. This is the first.
• CJ Cherryh’s writing advice.
• The Evil Overlord List – a kick up the cliche
• The Turkey City Lexicon – things to avoid in your writing, plus a few to grasp with both hands. Includes explanations of ‘plot coupons’ – ‘as you know, Bob’ – ‘deus ex machina’ – ‘said bookisms’ plus the apparently highly desirable ‘eyeball kick.’
• TV Tropes — be prepared to lose several hours if you visit this website. It’s another great kick up the cliché

Writing advice is worth what you pay for it, so use what’s relevant to you and ignore what isn’t .

Who We Are

Jacey Bedford has fifty-plus published short stories in print anthologies, magazines and online. Two trilogies published by DAW: Psi-Tech and Rowankind. Psi-Tech is now being published by Wizard’s Tower in the UK. Fantasy novel, The Amber Crown, DAW, 2022. She is secretary of Milford SF Writers in the UK. She blogs at WordPress, book-blogs on Dreamwidth. Sign up to her mailing list. Northwrite founder member.

Gus Smith writes under the name of Gus Grenfell and Gus Smith. Author of short stories and several novels for children and adults including Woodenface and Feather and Bone.

Tony Ballantyne joined Northwrite in summer 2014. He has sold short stories worldwide. Recursion, his first novel, was published by Tor UK in 2004. Has been nominated for the BSFA and Philip K Dick awards. Dream London is published by Solaris and Dream Paris followed in September 2015. Twitter @TonyBallantyne

Cheryl Sonnier has short stories published in several UK and worldwide indie publications, most recently online in Plasma Frequency, Cosmic Roots, Eldritch Shores and Emerging Cryptids. Mostly working on novel-length projects currently, including a sword and sorcery epic and an urban fantasy inspired by Irish mythology.

Sue Oke: is a science fiction novelist and short story writer. Her work is both informed and inspired by the years she spent living and teaching in the UK and West Africa. She currently works as the Reviews Editor for Vector – the critical journal for the British Science Fiction Association. You can find Her on Twitter @SueOke and on LinkedIn. She has (amongst other qualifications) an MA (Distinction) in Creative Writing (SFF) from Middlesex University.

Shellie Horst: Never far from a castle or a cuppa, Shellie Horst first started writing for local newszines after handing over her ice cream van keys. Since then she has written for governments, new startups and high street chains. Her first fiction, Virtually Everything, was published in 2013 by Alfie Dog Publishing and she has gone on to have stories featured in a number of anthologies. Shellie graduated Hull University with a Creative Writing degree in 2015.

David Lascelles: Author of Gods of the Sea (Pulp Empires) and Transitions (Mundania Press). He blogs at: https://dalascelles.co.uk/

Dave Langdale has been copywriting professionally for over 10 years and has worked in the healthcare industry for more than 6. He’s held a number of roles, including Account Director and Digital Lead, making the leap to freelance writing in August 2018.

Georgina Kamsika is a speculative fiction writer born in Yorkshire, England, to British Asian immigrant parents and has spent most of her life explaining her English first name, Polish surname and South Asian features.

John Biglands lives in Yorkshire with his wife and children. He is a writer of short stories, even shorter folk songs and very long ‘to do’ lists. Due to his inability to make decisions he has qualifications in physics, machine perception and drumming and a PhD in medical imaging. He divides his week between working as a scientist, teaching drums and educating his two children.

Jeremy Pak Nelson is a writer and artist from Hong Kong. Based in Manchester, he holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon. His preoccupations include outdated methods of putting words on paper, folk fiddle, accordion and the game of go. His work has appeared in Jellyfish Review, Solarpunk Magazine and has been selected as an Editors’ Pick for the Imagine 2200 climate fiction project.

Andrew Knighton has Over sixty short stories published in anthologies, magazines, and websites; comics for Top Cow and DC Thomson; and the novellas Ashes of the Ancestors from Luna Press and Silver and Gold from Candlemark & Gleam. Has also ghostwritten over forty novels as a freelance writer.

Past and currently non-active members include: John Moran; Terry Jackman; Ian Creasey, Sue Thomason, Kari Sperring, Tina Anghelatos, Jim Gotass, Liz Sourbut, and Terie Garrison (RIP 2019).

Northwrite Successes

Sales of stories and novels that have been through the Northwrite critique process since our inception in June 2012. (Short stories unless stated otherwise.)

• Tony Ballantyne: DREAM LONDON (Novel), Solaris (2014)
• Tony Ballantyne: THE REPRESENTATIVE in Lightspeed (2017)
• Jacey Bedford: EMPIRE OF DUST (NOVEL) DAW 2014 and republished as PSI-TECH (Wizard’s Tower) 2026
• Jacey Bedford: CROSSWAYS (Novel) DAW (2015)
• Jacey Bedford: NIMBUS (Novel) DAW (Oct 2017)
• Jacey Bedford: SILVERWOLF (Novel) DAW (2017)
• Jacey Bedford: ROWANKIND (Novel) DAW (2018)
• Jacey Bedford: THE LAST WILD PLACE in Bloodbond (November 2015)
• Jacey Bedford: WEIRD IS THE NEW NORMAL in Alien Artifacts anthology, ZNB (2016)
• Jacey Bedford: METHUSELAH in Derelict (Anthology) ZNB, (2021)
• Jacey Bedford: THE AMBER CROWN (Novel) DAW (January 2022)
• Jacey Bedford: THE WAGER in Familiars anthology, ZNB (2024)
• Ian Creasey: ESCAPE FROM THE ANDROMEDAN EMPIRE in Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (November 2013)
• Ian Creasey: RESTORING THE MAGIC in Neverland’s Library (Antho) edited by Roger Bellini, Ragnarok Publications (2014)
• Ian Creasey: THE UNPARALLELED DEATH-DEFYING FEATS OF ASTOUNDIO, ESCAPE ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE in Asimov’s (September 2013)
• Ian Creasey: MY TIME ON EARTH in Asimov’s (Oct/Nov 2015)
• Ian Creasey: THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS in Analog (2016) Nominated BSFA Award
• Ian Creasey: BOB’S NO-KILL MONSTER SHELETER in Unidentified Funny Objects 4 (Antho) edited by Alex Shvartsman (UFO Publishing, 2015)
• Shellie Horst: MY LITTLE MECHA in Distaff A Science Fiction Anthology by Female Authors (KDP, August 2019)
• Georgina Kamsika: THE STAR’S BRILLIANCE in The Daily Tomorrow (substack)
• D.A. Lascelles – COCH A GWYN in Gwyllion Magazine, October 2023
• Sue Oke: Little Gems in BAM magazine 2026
• Sue Oke: BEST CASE SCENARIO in Amazing Stories (Readers Choice Awards Winner)
• Cheryl Sonnier: INVESTIGATING THE SEA HAG in Dark Cheer Cryptids Emerging (Anthology) 2021

Contact

jacey(at)jacey-bedford.com