How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy

Points out the path

Unfortunately, no one will make you sit down and write, at least, not unless you have someone breathing down your neck, because you have a dealine to make. The best anyone can do is to point you in the right direction and make sure you have a nice map of where to go. OSC does that very well with this book. He is a fountain of knowledge, and I've learned a thing or two from him. Now, all I have to do is sit down and 'rewrite' my two novels. There, that sounds simple enough. :)

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Still one of the best writer's manuals

The descriptions of science fiction and fantasy markets are dated. However, the writing advice is totally relevant and incredibly insightful. Orson Scott Card devotes his largest chapter to the subject of worldbuilding. He emphasizes the importance of setting up the rules for the world in which your story or novel takes place. "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" doesn't give you a formula you can fill in. Card tells you what you need to think about and what goals you have to accomplish to write a compelling story or novel. If you're committed to learning how to write quality science fiction and fantasy, then this is an excellent place to start.

SyFy As It Was

This is a nice retro perspective of how to write good science fiction & fantasy.
The basic rules given here are still applicable, but some parts are truly obsolete. Gives you a feel for how quickly things have changed in last 10 years. Delightful read.

Freelance Reviewer for Midwest Book Review

I'm always interested in how authors write their books. What techniques do they use to develop a character, create a believable setting, how do they hook their reader, unfold their plot and give the reader a resolution that will leave them remembering the story for days, weeks, or months? Most of us have read at least a few stories that seem to stay with us long after we have finished them and if you like to write it is something you strive for, hope for, in your finished book. I am attempting my first fantasy fiction novel and a fellow author let me borrow this book. I finished it quickly because it was well-written and highly interesting. It is written for someone who likes to read the fantasy fiction and science fiction genre but now is ready to try and write a novel for it too. I found all the information in Card's book highly useful, important, and insightful. I almost wish I would have read it before I started my first draft of my novel because it brought up so many things to think about, consider, and remember. Most people trying to write a science fiction or fantasy book will only improve their manuscript by reading this fine resource and applying its principals. I have purchased my own copy so I can constantly refer to it. A valuable writing reference. A. D. Tarbox, author of ALREADY ASLEEP (Oct. 2006)

An Interesting Paradox

I ordered this book, oddly enough, to see if it was as bad as Alain made it out to be. The book is an odd paradox, I found. For someone who is a fan of science fiction, enough so to want to write it, the information in the book should be intuitive. I should hope that someone who likes SF/F enough to write it has read a lot of it. For someone who wakes up one day and randomly decides to write SF/F...well, you can't just wake up one day and write SF. I think you'd have to (and I think ought to) read a lot in the genre before writing it. But by that point, this should be intuitive! Basically what Card does is organize this intuition. That's not without merit. His section on creating worlds, where he explains different means of interstellar travel and their social and technological implications, for instance, provides good insight on what should go into the planning phase of a work of SF/F. The part I enjoyed most was on how he got ideas for some of his books. This part touched on the excellence of Stephen King's 'On Writing.' I think the book would have been better if Card did what King did. Too much of Card's book is spent analyzing the works of others. Most of one chapter analyzes to death the opening paragraph of Octavia Butler's 'Wild Seed.' A rambling analysis could have been summed up by a short list of bullet points that explain why Butler's opening paragraph is well done. That section reads more like a sales pitch for Butler's book. At the end, he provides career advice. He mentions steps like submitting to publishers and finding an agent, and an aspiring writer can never get enough advice in these areas. But then he goes on to write about collaborating with other authors, getting on to panels and getting awards -after- you're a successful author. That information is useless to the aspiring author and probably irrelevant to the successful author. This is one author's idea about how to write and his ideas on the writings of others. The title is misleading. It's not much of an instruction guide, and while it provides good tips, I don't think it will make much impact on my own writing.

A one sided focus

You would think, judging by the title alone, that this book would be about both science fiction, and fantasy. You might also imagine a thick, in depth, everything you would want to know about a genre that has been developing for generations. At just a measly 140 pages, however, Card's 'how to guide' seemed to fall a little short of just about all of my expectations. Now don't get me wrong, Orson Scott Card is a very successful author. He's written dozens of books in the Speculative Fiction genre and I¿m sure he knows what he's doing. While the book was informative, I found it a little short on the juice I was expecting. Maybe if you woke up one day and decided to write a fantasy or science fiction novel without any knowledge on how to do so, this book would be for you. But as a young author myself, who is nearly done with the first draft of a story of my own, I found many of the tips and tricks of the trade a little tedious and generally common sense. Card writes this book with clarity, yet he doesn't present information in a typical, textbook way. Everything, from the introduction to the closing comments, is written in essay format. Vitally important advice is lost among sentences and paragraphs, instead of highlighted in bullets or side boxes. Also, just about every ounce of advice he gives has to be backed up with a long drawn out example, usually from his own life and work. By the time he's done, you have no idea what the hell he was talking about in the first place. Take out the examples and the long, term-paper structured paragraphs, and you have a very short book. Every time I think I¿ve learned enough to execute some of the advice Card offers, the chapter ends and he moves on. In short each chapter only skims the surface of a topic. Indeed, the most helpful chapter was entitled ¿Writing Well.¿ Since this book is about how to write, one would naturally think this chapter would at least be the longest, and consume a good percentage of the book. Quite to the contrary actually, Card admits that this is the shortest chapter in the book, at less than 20 pages. On the other hand, a much longer chapter is devoted to 'The Life and Business of Writing' and includes everything from publishers, to finances and handling money, conventions and awards. Awards! Are you kidding me? First of all, why is there a section devoted to Awards in a book on writing? One must first learn how to write well, and even then he has to be above all others. It would be like having a child's basketball camp teaching kids how to give interviews for ESPN and make layups fancy enough to be on the highlights. Basically, Card writes a descent book, but that's as far as my praise will stretch. No offense, but I see this as just another way for Orson Scott Card to monopolize on his own success.

Clarity

OSC has a rare ability to communicate his ideas clearly--his prose is easy and entertaining. I recommend this book to anyone who is writing.

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