Science Writing Series

Welcome to Science Writing Mondays… on a Tuesday. [Updated 25 June, 2021].

Before I kick off my Science Writing series next week, I thought it would be a good idea to give an introduction and schedule to what I have planned.

My goal for this blog series is to share what I’ve learned about science and science writing. I hope sharing my thoughts and techniques will help other content creators to hone their craft. And let’s be real, a strict schedule of writing is always great for keeping skills sharp.

So far, I have worked out four subcategories for this series:

• Popsci Blog: Rather self-explanatory, this blog will explore some compelling scientific research in the form of a short popular science article. The likely candidates for these posts will be those studies I find fascinating, but can’t seem to place into a formal science writing pitch.
• Method & Commentary: This will be a two-part blog series. The first post, Method will examine techniques available to science writers. The Commentary will feature what I consider to be an excellent work of science writing, and discuss how this article uses the Method discussed in the previous week’s post. I’ll try to keep to current events (within four weeks of publication), but it is possible that I end up with a backlog of great science writing I can’t ignore!
• SciSF Blog: The Science of Science (Speculative) Fiction blogs will explore themes and technology from SF, whether in literature, film, TV or video games. A wide net is cast: scientific misconceptions due to SF, technological predictions (accurate or laughably not), research that illuminates a fictional example, etc.
• Forms, Tools & Techniques: Science journalism isn’t the only kind of science writing. In this blog, I will first outline and explore the different kinds of science writing work that’s available, including discussions on technique and form. The next steps will be to provide my readers with the tools I’ve found useful, and how to use them.

Next Monday (June 21st), I will post my first Popsci blog. The following week will feature the next category, Commentaries, and so forth.

That said, the schedule is not set in stone. If I feel an urgent need to share in another category, some switcheroos could be in order. Also, permissions granted, I may replace a Monday post with an intro and cross-link to my science writing on other sites.

You can sign up here, or follow my on Twitter @ChrisAiriau to keep an eye out for posts in this upcoming series.

-Chris Airiau