How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy - Orson Scott Card

Very useful, but leaves a sour taste

This is an excellent reference to writing sci-fi and fantasy, with a huge amount of information and advice packed into a surprisingly concise and readable book.

It does have one problem, however. Now, I have a fairly objective approach to Star Trek; I enjoy watching it if it's on, but I usually can't be bothered. But Card seems to absolutely hate it - on the few occasions that Star Trek is even mentioned, he slathers on so much vitriol that it becomes quite distasteful to read. Even as someone with a little more than passing enjoyment of the series, I found myself putting the book down with a grimace after the raving on warp drive (which Card dismisses as "the silliest option for FTL travel").

I have yet to pick it up again.

Fantasy! What Fantasy?

I bought this book as i am currently trying to write a fantasy story and believed this book may help. It would have if my book was science fiction.

There are some good universal parts in the book, but if you are thinking of buying this book for the fantasy part, don't bother.

Exercises for the creative imagination

This is an excellent read and a stimulating package of advice for anyone interested in writing science fiction or fantasy. Orson Scott Card makes an immediate point: no one can teach you how to write in these genres. What he sets out to do is deliver a superb exposition of the process of creativity and how it infests the imagination. He delivers a vision of creativity as a process, one you can stimulate and use, rather than something you sit back and wait for. Inspiration might be creative, but creativity is not limited to inspiration. Here we have an analysis of how ideas emerge and how they take root.

Card questions what is science fiction, what is fantasy? He offers advice and generates a score of absorbing ideas. But his advice takes a vital, practical direction. If you wish to write, then read, read, read!

To succeed as a writer, there is no magic formula. You need to learn the skills of your trade, you need to learn to free your imagination, and then you need discipline and the determination to work hard and improve and hone your skills.

An excellent, stimulating read, well worth the money, and a book you will treasure.

Cas

This is a really good book for beginners, I've been writing for years, and I got this book out of interest. I would suggest buying it and reading it, but remembering this is their way of writing, and not essentially yours!

But it's worth the money. Lots of tips and some clever ideas, but they are all very basic and have the "done before" feel, which is not surprising when you consider the genre.

Cas

Good Primer for New Authors

Orson Scott Card, who is a fairly successful writer of science fiction/fantasy, has written a good small book on how to write in the genre. He includes topics such as defining the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and the more-encompassing "speculative fiction"; how to write about magic and the supernatural in a way that creates internal consistency (the rules of the magical universe are different from ours but there must be rules to avoid deus ex machina and other inane problem-solutions); how to create a fictional universe; the different emphases a story can take (character, action, setting, specific event); and the basic rules of good writing.
One of the best aspects of this book is Card's frequent use of referring to specific authors and specific books as prime examples of concepts. One of the best examples is his reference to Octavia Butler's "Wild Seed" as a prime example of packing meaning into every word and every line of a book; nothing is wasted. I read "Wild Seed" because of Card's reference; I not only loved it, but did indeed find it to be as rich an example of deep, complex, meaning-laden writing as any book I've read.

"How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" is also a technically well-written book, with good flow, coherent structure, no wasted space, and solid logic. It reads quickly while teaching much. Writers who are one or more steps beyond "Beginner" will learn something, but Beginners are the prime target. That target is solidly hit.