Miami Book Fair presents First Draft, a series of free and informal writing events where community, craft, and rapid-fire creativity meet for monthly themed virtual salons where writers get social, share their work, and leave with great stories.

Instructor: Alex Yuschik
Theme: This Is a Gift, It Comes With a Price: Making Magic Systems That Make Sense in Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Join us for a 90-minute craft discussion and freewrite on the intricacies and pitfalls of creating a magic system. We’ll explore common rules and costs of power, how to set a baseline for your reader, and tricks to building the laws of magic into your world while maintaining balance using recent industry examples and genre favorites. Attendees can come prepared with an idea or work-in-progress to tinker with, or start from scratch.

Alex Yuschik is a writer, professor, and freelance editor specializing in science fiction and fantasy.  Alex’s short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Escape Pod, Glittership, and most recently in Kaleidotrope. When not teaching calculus, Alex is the force behind Constellation Editorial, a boutique editing service which boasts over ten years of helping authors across North America reach their creative potential.