Itinerary of fantastic literature and science fiction

How to write fantastic, science fiction and horror

Centaurs beyond Orion is a three-level curriculum - spread over three academic years - designed for the training of fictional literature writers.

This itinerary is for all those lovers of fantasy genres who want to train as writers and find a cozy atmosphere in which to share their stories and their tastes with colleagues and teachers. In these three courses, you will learn how to develop yourself as a writer, to correctly use resources and stylistic tools, and to plan and carry out the writing of a literary project (book of stories or novel) of fantasy genre.

You will also know how to work specifically in each of the fantasist genres; a term coined by one of our teachers that brings together all those genres that are not realistic, such as fantastic terror, epic fantasy, science fiction, wonderful literature, magical realism, steampunk, fantastique, etc.

Thanks to this approach, you can develop your facet of writer in any of the named genres. So, if you like to write science fiction this is your house, even when your companion what excites you is magical realism.

Objectives of the Itinerary

The main objective is that you leave the itinerary with enough ability to manage future literary projects and carry them out with the security and confidence that every writer needs and that will give you the completion of a project with the help of the tutor. You will also acquire a method and a discipline of work appropriate to your needs and your project.

For this, we will also have the talks of authors, publishers, literary agents ... who will come to tell their experiences, which we understand will help you strengthen the practice and enrich the knowledge about the book world.

The three courses of the itinerary

Each of the novel courses have a duration of academic course (more than eight months each course). This table shows the characteristics for each of the modalities we offer (the face-to-face mode is taught in Madrid).

Virtual mode

• Duration: 8 months (approximate dedication: 160 hours)
• Price: 1,200 euros
• Number of students: 12

Face-to-face mode

• Duration: 90 hours (distributed in 32 classes of 2.5 hours plus 10 hours of activities and extraordinary meetings)
• Price: 1,200 euros
• Number of students: 12

First year: Introduction to fantasist literature

In Internet / in Madrid

The course will have two subjects taught in alternate weeks: Applied Narrative Techniques I and Genuine Fantasies I. In the first one we will know the resources and narrative techniques essential to improve your writing and your style, and apply them to the writing of fantasy literature. We will also work and enter, in the second of them, in each of the genres: wonderful literature, fantastic, science fiction, etc.

Both subjects will have a practical part of individual writing in the form of proposals that will be commented by the group and the teachers and in which we will apply the theory seen in each session. In the forums of monthly readings we will analyze and see applied the whole theory of the course.

The course will be completed with meetings with professionals from the publishing world of fantasy literature.

Second Year: Advanced Fantasy Literature

In Madrid

In this course we will take a step closer to the knowledge of the fantasist genres (fantastic epic, wonderful realism, fantastic terror, etc.) during the subject Géneros fantasistas II.

We will also delve into the subject of applied narrative techniques II in the narrative resources essential for any writer and we will enter into another stage in which the experimentation will allow to transgress the limits that were marked in the previous course.

We will continue to cultivate the narrative voice and polish the style of writing. During the individual writing proposals we will continue to advance in the theoretical application of techniques and genres and begin to plan and structure the projects (novel or book of stories) that we will write in the third course.

Like the first year, we will enjoy new encounters with professionals in fantasy literature and we will analyze new readings.

Third year: Fantastic projects

In Madrid

This course will be devoted entirely to finishing planning and writing a gender project, be it a book of stories or a novel. The tutor and classmates will comment on each project week by week as they progress. The readings we will work will be student-specific according to your project. We will also have hours of meetings and conferences related to the world of fantasy literature.

More information and registration

In Internet

• Beginning: Beginning: October

In Madrid

• Beginning: Initiation: October 11; Advanced: October 20
• Hours: Wednesdays, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm; On Fridays, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Content of the courses

First year: Introduction to fantasist literature

Fantasy genres I

• Fantasy literature
• The effects on fantasist literature
• Plausible worlds
• Readers Forum
• Fantasy without clichés
• Magic, science and reality
• The fantasy element
• Readers Forum
• Wonderful literature
• Fantastic literature
• Science fiction
• Readers Forum
• Build a world
• The map
• Ambiences in the fantasy
• Readers Forum

Narrative techniques applied I

• Reality and fiction
• The voices of the text
• The Covenant with the Reader
• Fantastic style and its virtues
• Plasticity and visibility
• The construction of history
• Creation of characters
• Conflict and change: a story in which something happens
• The narrator
• Narrative space keys
• Keys to narrative time
• The narrative structure
• The composition of the story
• Action and argument
• Atmosphere and setting
• Narrative tension: intrigue, suspense and rhythm

Second year: Advanced fantasy literature

Fancy Genres II

• Fantastic epic
• Wonderful Realism
• The story in the fantasy
• Readers Forum
• Fantastic horror
• Travels
• Subgenres of science fiction
• Readers Forum
• Political intrigues
• Narrate battles
• Races and their languages
• Readers Forum
• Humor and eroticism in fantasy
• Bordering genera
• A laps with the genres
• Readers Forum

Applied Narrative Techniques II

• Empathy and identification
• Plot and theme
• Narrative Discourses
• The dialogue
• Heroes, anti-heroes and antagonists
• Continuity and precision
• The beginning and end of a story
• Singularization and estrangement
• Some rhetorical figures
• The imaginary time
• The turning points
• Secondary frames
• The correction
• Written language, narrative language and poetic language
• The experimentation
• We started our project

Third year: Fantastic projects

• Individual project