How to write science fiction and fantasy

How to write science fiction and fantasy

Orson Scott Card

Book - 1990

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Subjects
Science fiction > Authorship.
Fantasy literature > Authorship.
Published
Cincinnati, Ohio : Writer's Digest Books c1990.
Language
English
Main Author
Orson Scott Card (-)
Physical Description
140 p.
ISBN
9781582971032
  • Introduction
  • 1. The Infinite Boundary
  • What is, and isn't, science fiction and fantasy, and by whose standards: publishers', writers', readers'
  • What basic concepts and approaches qualify a story as true speculative fiction, and how SF and fantasy differ from one another
  • 2. World Creation
  • How to build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world that readers will want to share with you
  • Dragging ideas through "the idea net" of why, how, and with what result
  • Developing the rules of your world ... and then abiding by them and making them matter: the rules of Time, Space, and Magic
  • Working out the history, language, geography, and customs of your invented world
  • 3. Story Construction
  • Finding a character for an idea, or developing ideas for a character to enact
  • Qualifications for the main character: who hurts the most? Who has power and freedom to act?
  • Should the viewpoint character be the main character? How do you decide?
  • Determining where the story should begin and end
  • The MICE quotient: milieu, idea, character, event--knowing which is most important in your story will help you decide its proper shape
  • 4. Writing Well
  • Keeping exposition in its place
  • Leading your reader into the strangeness, step by step
  • Piquing the reader's interest
  • Keeping the "level of diction" appropriate to the story's imagined world
  • Using invented jargon sparsely and effectively
  • 5. The Life and Business of Writing
  • The markets for short and long speculative fiction--magazines, anthologies, fanzines--and how to reach them
  • Classes, workshops, conferences and conventions
  • Collaboration, adaptation, and shared worlds
  • Professional writers' organizations
  • Awards in speculative fiction
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Basic texts on how to write science fiction and fantasy proliferate, but they are seldom written by one of the acknowledged younger masters in both fields. Card provides considerably more than basic material on ideas, world building, characterization, narrative technique, and style, and he adds notes on marketing and on surviving the science fiction writer's life. Wit, balance, and insight are uniformly present, and the result is a singular, indispensable book for the aspiring science fiction writer. --Roland Green

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review

YA-- Card does not discuss how to write in general, e.g., plotting, style, dialogue, point of view, or characterization, but instead covers creative writing as it relates to the science fiction/fantasy genre. He includes such diverse topics as inventing a world, creating alien societies, the rules of magic, etc. This well-written volume is an excellent resource for beginning writers or a refresher for those already on their journeys to other worlds and other stars. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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