How To Write The Future

205. Goal-Based Sci-Fi Research With Sue Burke


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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

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  • SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
  • SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
  • EDITORIAL SUPPORT by Iman Llompart

c. 2026 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

Questions? Comments? Send us a text!

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CREDITS

EDITED WITH DESCRIPT (Affiliate link)
MUSIC: Uppbeat.io
DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465

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How To Write The FutureBy Beth Barany

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