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“One thing I recommend is that if you're really sure about something look it up cause you're probably wrong.” - Sue Burke
In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, titled, “Goal-Based Sci-Fi Research With Sue Burke,” host Beth Barany talks to author and translator Sue Burke on the importance of goal-based research and how it can help generate conflict in your stories and avoid clichés.
ABOUT SUE BURKE
Sue Burke is an author and translator. Her novel Semiosis was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Locus Best First Novel Award. Its sequels are Interference and Usurpation. She has also written the novels Immunity Index and Dual Memory, short stories, poetry, journalism, and essays, and she won the 2016 Alicia Gordon Award for Word Artistry in Translation from the American Translators Association. She was born in the Milwaukee, lived in Texas and Spain, and is now in Chicago.
Website: https://sueburke.site/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burke.sue
X: https://x.com/SueBurkeSpain
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sueburke/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sueburkespain/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sueburke.bsky.social
RESOURCES
FOR CREATIVE WRITING PROFESSIONALS - BUILD YOUR BUSINESS SERVING WRITERS
Sign up to be notified when our training opens and get a short Creative Business Style Quiz to help you create success.
https://bethbarany.com/apprenticeship/
Support our work for creatives!
Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/bethbarany
GET HELP WITH YOUR WORLD BUILDING - START HERE
Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/
c. 2026 BETH BARANY
https://bethbarany.com/
Questions? Comments? Send us a text!
Support the show
---
♦︎ JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP: For fiction writers! You've finished your first draft! Congrats! Now what?
Join the Edit the Future: Sci‑Fi/Fantasy Revision Lab. Get premium weekly lessons and a monthly Q&A on Zoom. Subscribe: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2012061/subscribe
♥︎ FREE: Sign up here for the Edit Your Novel Checklist
Helps writers revise faster with less overwhelm by focusing first on diagnosis, not fixing.
Get yours at http://edityournovelchecklist.com.
♡ SHOP: Sci‑Fi & Fantasy 24 Writing Prompts: https://ko-fi.com/s/4ac9160a74
❤️ Want to be interviewed on the podcast? => Email us!
CONNECT WITH BETH
CREDITS
EDITED WITH DESCRIPT (Affiliate link)
MUSIC: Uppbeat.io
DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465
By Beth Barany5
66 ratings
“One thing I recommend is that if you're really sure about something look it up cause you're probably wrong.” - Sue Burke
In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, titled, “Goal-Based Sci-Fi Research With Sue Burke,” host Beth Barany talks to author and translator Sue Burke on the importance of goal-based research and how it can help generate conflict in your stories and avoid clichés.
ABOUT SUE BURKE
Sue Burke is an author and translator. Her novel Semiosis was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Locus Best First Novel Award. Its sequels are Interference and Usurpation. She has also written the novels Immunity Index and Dual Memory, short stories, poetry, journalism, and essays, and she won the 2016 Alicia Gordon Award for Word Artistry in Translation from the American Translators Association. She was born in the Milwaukee, lived in Texas and Spain, and is now in Chicago.
Website: https://sueburke.site/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burke.sue
X: https://x.com/SueBurkeSpain
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sueburke/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sueburkespain/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sueburke.bsky.social
RESOURCES
FOR CREATIVE WRITING PROFESSIONALS - BUILD YOUR BUSINESS SERVING WRITERS
Sign up to be notified when our training opens and get a short Creative Business Style Quiz to help you create success.
https://bethbarany.com/apprenticeship/
Support our work for creatives!
Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/bethbarany
GET HELP WITH YOUR WORLD BUILDING - START HERE
Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/
c. 2026 BETH BARANY
https://bethbarany.com/
Questions? Comments? Send us a text!
Support the show
---
♦︎ JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP: For fiction writers! You've finished your first draft! Congrats! Now what?
Join the Edit the Future: Sci‑Fi/Fantasy Revision Lab. Get premium weekly lessons and a monthly Q&A on Zoom. Subscribe: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2012061/subscribe
♥︎ FREE: Sign up here for the Edit Your Novel Checklist
Helps writers revise faster with less overwhelm by focusing first on diagnosis, not fixing.
Get yours at http://edityournovelchecklist.com.
♡ SHOP: Sci‑Fi & Fantasy 24 Writing Prompts: https://ko-fi.com/s/4ac9160a74
❤️ Want to be interviewed on the podcast? => Email us!
CONNECT WITH BETH
CREDITS
EDITED WITH DESCRIPT (Affiliate link)
MUSIC: Uppbeat.io
DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465

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