Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: How to Create Out-of-This-World Novels and Short Stories

I hope prospective buyers will notice that this is a reprint of two old books, Orson Scott Card's "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy", first published way back in 1990; and "The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference", first published in 2000. Sandwiched between them is an essay on steampunk and an essay on "The State of the Genre" (the latter written by a writer who has no real claim to be considered a serious writer or particularly successful within the genre in any case).

Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction (2013) is the latest edition of this work. It contains four parts, a bio of the authors, and an index.

Part 1: How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card is a minor rewrite of the [[ASIN:0898794161 original]] edition. The primary difference is the elimination of the fifth section -- The Life and Business of Writing -- which is replaced by the next three parts.

Part 2: The State of the Genre by Philip Athans discusses the major aspects of Speculative Fiction in this century. It mentions Harry Potter and other works for young adults, media tie-ins, DIY publishing of eBooks, blogs, and the new literati.

Part 3: The World of Steampunk by Jay Lake covers the return of SF to the Victorian Era. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells were limited in their writing by the restricted understanding of the scientists of those days. With modern knowledge of history, sociology, psychology, and technology, much more becomes possible in retrospective.

Part 4: The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference is a reprint of a [[ASIN:1582970262 separate]] edition by various authors.

- Chapter 1: Traditional Fantasy Cultures by Michael J. Varhola covers elements of feudal society.

- Chapter 2: World Cultures by Michael J. Varhola describes historical societies outside Europe.

- Chapter 3: Magic by Allan Maurer & Renee Wright details various forms of magic throughout the world.

- Chapter 4: Witchcraft and Pagan Paths by Allan Maurer & Renee Wright presents witchery as a religion and a practice.

- Chapter 5: Commerce, Trade, and Law in Contemporary Fantasy by Sherrilyn Kenyon outlines the influence of merchants within Medieval society.

- Chapter 6: Fantasy Races by Andrew P. Miller & Daniel Clark explains the nonhuman folk in traditional and modern Fantasy.

- Chapter 7: Creatures of Myth and Legend by Andrew P. Miller & Daniel Clark lists the creatures of superstition.

- Chapter 8: Dress and Costume by Sherrilyn Kenyon discloses the apparel of Medieval times.

- Chapter 9: Arms, Armor, and Armies by Michael J. Varhola clarifies the military tools and groups of ancient and Medieval times.

- Chapter 10: Anatomy of a Castle by Michael J. Varhola defines the styles, components and besieging of a fortifications.

The Index is fairly extensive -- twenty-two pages -- but does not include the terms in the various glossaries.

The original version is out of print, but a [[ASIN:158297103X reprint]] is available. If you are definitely interested in writing Speculative Fiction, however, buy this version. It is certainly a more thorough guide and is worth the slightly higher cost. Remember, you are getting two books plus additional pages at close to the same price.

Highly recommended for SF/Fantasy fans who want to become authors. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

When I first saw this book appear in the list of books well searching for "writing fantasy," I became excited. However, after reading some of the reviews I became slightly disappointed to find out the book was nothing more than the combination of two separate books:

1) One of which I used to own - Orson Scott Card's "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy"
2) Second which I currently own - "The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference"

Both books are good in their own right and I would give Orson's book a 3/5 (it lacks much on Fantasy and seems to focus on Science Fiction) and Fantasy Reference 4/5. Dumbly cramped in the middle seem to be to essays:

1) The State of the Genre
2) The World of Steampunk

Which I recall seeing these in other books, but sadly cannot place a name to the book or books. So in short nothing is new or fresh. However, I am not blind to the fact that this could be targeted to people who do not own either book or maybe even only one of them and in this case I would give this book a 2/5 instead of a 1/5. Why you ask?

REPRINTED: The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference

The original print of this book contains about 50 images that are NOT in this version of the book. Yes the book may describe the anatomy of a castle and a horse's armor, but it lacks an image to go with as found in the original book. This alone makes this book pretty much worthless simply because some people also learn by having a visual aid and that "aid" was not put in this poorly reprinting of a very good book.

REPRINTED: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy

I don't have much to say in regards to this book as I no longer have my copy and I got rid of it because like most books that say "Science Fiction and Fantasy" they all seem to focus on Science Fiction with Fantasy getting a few chapters. However, if they "took" stuff out of the Fantasy Reference book I'm sure they did it here.

And this is why I give it a 1/5 stars. It is a DUMBED down reprinting of two good books and the only positive this book has is its awesome cover art.

FINAL BREAK DOWN

1) Positive - Cool cover design.
2) Negative - Reprinted books and essays.
3) Negative - Missing information and or images from either original book.
4) Didn't try to bring new information to the table.
5) Publisher replies to negative reviews to make it sound "positive."

Overall Score: 1 out of 5

PHIL SEXTON: Publisher, Writer's Digest

I also took notice of Phil replying to "negative" reviews of this book and I have something to say to him should he read mine:

Phile said, "It's true that this is a collection of two very successful WD books. We consider Card's book, in particular, to be a classic, and it continues to sell particularly well on its own. Buying them in this bound up edition is actually less expensive than buying the two books separately, which we thought would be a good thing."

How can this be a good thing if you took stuff from the original books and call this a "good deal?" That is illogical in all sense because to be a good deal it should have all information and corresponding images from the original books. However, it doesn't so in truth people are better off buying the books individually to make sure they get the WHOLE book.

Phil said, "As for the assertion that the other contributors are somehow lacking, I respectfully disagree."

I think the Steampunk could also use visual aids. After all we live in a world where some people learn better by seeing it in action, in a drawing, in a photograph, etc. As for the "State of the Media" it doesn't do much to try and help writers correspond what is in this section to their own writing.

Phil said, "As to the book not having anything new, we actually made a point of commissioning two new chapters for the book, one from Jay Lake and another from Philip Athans. Those add an additional 46 pages of new material to the book. We also removed another chapter from the original text that we felt was out of date."

That's not the point. If you wanted to add NEW stuff add them to the original books in this new version. Instead you just slopped them in completely random like.

Phile said, "Thanks for pointing out that the copy needs to be explicit about the two books being combined. We've submitted a revision to Amazon and it should be corrected in a few days."

Should you not have been honest the first time so a "revision" of the listing was not needed?

Overall, Phil your trying to hard to make this book sound "good" I don't see other writers or publishers coming to defend their negative reviews? Just admit your faults, apologize to those who feel ripped off and do better next time. Don't make excuses for yourself or your products as it is very becoming of you.

This is a "different" book in terms of helping you write Science Fiction and Fantasy. The first hundred-odd pages are an overview of the basics of writing/selling the two title genres, written by Orson Scott Card. For its length, his discussion is good, and suggested a potential market for a short story I'm thinking out. But that part is only the first 100 pages, out the book's 400 total.

The rest of the book is a series of discussions on different topics, written by a collection of editors at Writer's Digest. They cover a variety of topics of *potential* interest to the writer, depending on their story and subject. This part of the book consists of 10 chapters, on topics that include such topics as "Traditional Fantasy Cultures," "Magic," "Witchcraft and Pagan Paths," "Creatures of Myth and Legend," and "Anatomy of a Castle." Some of these chapters give you perhaps a paragraph to a page of writing suggestions/ techniques. The rest seems intended to give you a jump start on research topics you might wish to explore. For instance, many of these chapters include lexicons of words you might encounter -- if your Medival fantasy has a farmer talking, you can learn an odd-shaped piece of farmable land is called a "gore," or that the "headland" is the space used at the edge of a field to turn a plow around. Need to know the respective importance of a Duke to an Earl? This book will tell you. The chapters about Magic and Witches do not talk about the details of legends, myth, and folklore -- they are talking of real, actual practices and belief systems in use today and the recent few centuries past. This kind of thing can be immensely helpful if your story needs it, or if the discussions of power animals, Wicca, or Santeria inspire new lines of thought. If you story has nothing to do with the particular topic, however, things can become eye-glazing.

It's a good book, for what is. It's not a book I regret having, but it's also not the first book I'd recommend to somebody wanting help with writing Science Fiction or Fantasy.

I wish I’d read the reviews more thoroughly before purchasing this title because it’s a great disappointment and some eagle-eyed reviewers had already spotted the problem with this book.

I was very excited to see a new book on this subject so I couldn't wait to add it to my collection but it’s basically two earlier books now published as one: How to write science fiction and fantasy by Orson Scott Card (1991) and The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference (2000) published by Writer's Digest. The only changes are that one chapter has been omitted from one book and there are a couple of new chapters in the middle to briefly cover fantasy and science fiction changes since the original books were published. Other than this the text is identical. And as I already own the original two books, this book adds nothing to my library. Plus because they’ve pushed two books into the space of one, the print is tiny and it’s not a pleasant reading experience.

And I feel a bit like this is a very sneaky attempt to make money off the unsuspecting as there is nothing in the copyright pages or anywhere else that I can see to say that this is a reprint of old material. Most copyright pages flag when material has been previously published and I’m not sure why Writer’s Digest omitted this information. I’m hoping it was an oversight.

Because the quality of the content is still good some twenty to thirty years after first publication I can’t give this less than three stars but because I’m annoyed at having bought something I already own I can’t give it more than three.

Although this book is titled "Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction", don't be fooled dear reader. This book has very little to do with science fiction and writing. Mostly this book is only useful as a reference for fantasy elements, such as different forms of magic and races, although even as a reference book it falls short. The book begins with some useful information about time travel and space travel in chapter 2. After that, we move into a discussion about fantasy and science fiction in the 21st century. Needless to say, this information is pointless and dull. There is a chapter on steampunk, which would be nice if the book were supposed to deal with steampunk, and then we have a guide of reference for fantasy writing.

That is the extent of this book.

If you are looking for a book that might inform your writing and make you better... keep looking.

I love this book. It took two books that I consider essential reference guides and consolidated them; also providing me with some additional information on the industry. The only thing I was disappointed by is that i m this volume cut out the section Card wrote on living as a writer. Card's candid information should have been included.

Overall, this was a great purchase, and I will be getting copies for some of my writer friends for Christmas.

I don't really recommend this book for anyone trying to write F&SF.
Although this book is good as an introduction i would instead recommend "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card, which is the book that forms the first part of this book, but there is a lot of information lacking. After the first part (the one taken from the other book i refer to) this book just becomes a little description of topics like Magic, Steampunk, etc, and a glossary of those topics.

At the time of writing this, I was looking to find help on beginning to write sci-fi. Card's section in this book is the best section in my opinion. It is the first 100 pages or so of this book which is roughly 400 pages long.

Card gets you to ask the right questions and suggests looking towards things you might not think about early on. It provided a very solid direction for me to start thinking about my story. He lays out how many novice writers gravitate towards the "Idea" story structure which begins with a question and ends with an answer. Card suggests many other kinds of story structures which might better suit what you're after. Overall his part in the book is my favorite.

As for the rest of the book I suppose I was topically disinterested, but it appears to have alright info regarding fantasy of many types. It includes anything from medieval, magic and even steampunk. This section is written by various other writers and editors from the publisher's own.

Overall, I recommend the book if not for Card's section. Not a book I have any doubts in having bought it. Good addition to any aspiring writer's collection, or even those who want to get pointers on brainstorming differently.

Although I enjoyed the subject matter of the book, it really consists of some history of the genres, a chapter on "Steampunk", and the rest is just a big glossary of terminology involved mainly in fantasy lit. So if you're looking for help on actually writing in these genres you'll be disappointed.