Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, Vol. 1: Alchemy with Words (The Compete Guide Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've picked up many "genre" writing books that have proved a huge disappointment -- maybe a chapter or two of genre info followed by the usual "how to type a manuscript" stuff. This book is a refreshing change! For anyone seeking to build a "realistic" fantasy world, it's a compendium of expert advice -- covering food, clothing, weapons, warfare, religion, even a fantastic (no pun intended) section on diseases. There have been criticisms of this book based on the fact that many of the contributors aren't "established" fantasy authors. What they ARE is experts in the fields upon which they are contributing, whether that field is medicine, weaponry, or what-have-you. In short, if you were going to look up "experts" to talk to about some aspect of the world you're building, these are the people you'd ask. This book will stay on my shelf! --...

The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy is a great reference guide for the aspiring fantasy author who is bubbling over with all the "How do I" questions. It is also a wonderful resource for those who have been writing in the genre for some time, but maybe need to understand one aspect of the genre more than another.

I personally found the sections on medieval food, medieval clothing and the sections on armor and combat very helpful.

You can't go wrong with this on your bookshelf.

This book is a great resource for fantasy writers. It draws attention to details that could easily be overlooked by a writer in this genre; details that would make a story richer for their inclusion. It stimulates the imagination as one considers how information from each chapter might work in the world/story he or she has created.

However, it has been poorly edited and is full of typos, spelling mistakes and poor grammar. One occasionally stumbles upon a sentence so poorly constructed that it requires a struggle to understand the author's meaning, and one chapter is so disjointed and full of errors that it is very difficult to follow. This inattention to detail would make me leery of accepting the information on medieval customs as fact, and I would be careful to check any of the information from this novel against another source before using it (though some would say that's a good idea with any research).

Aside from that caveat, I still highly recommend this book to beginning fantasy writers, as it may open your eyes to avenues of world and character creation you never considered before.

Scanning this book, I found it to be a collection of useful and well-researched information. As a librarian, I value the quality of research more than whether I have heard of the author, and the depth of coverage speaks for itself in this volume. Don't be put off if you might not have heard of some of the authors, for the sections are insightful, knowledgable and prompted some very interesting story ideas.

If you're a fantasy fan like me, you probably have a novel or story idea you want to write. This book will help.

The book is written by several fantasy authors, and they devote chapters to different aspects of fantasy: plot, characters, medieval medicine, medieval food, humor, marketing, etc.

I found the chapter on Magic to be worth the price of the whole book, as it sent my idea in a whole new direction. Great book.

Volume 1 seems to suffer from a split personality: is this book designed for fan readers or for writers wanting to break into the fantasy genre? The combination of various authors and collaborators creates an uneven quality to the articles. Some are pretty thin. Some -- such as those on worldbuilding and combat -- are worth reading. This book is best used as a basic overview. If you want more in-depth information, you'll need to research other sources.

This book is very helpful if you are interested in writing fantasy. It has world building tips, web sites to visit, facts about all sorts of things invoved in fantasy, ect. It goes on. Even if it is a reference book it is interesting. It shows you how or why something is like it is and is extreemely helpful. I know a lot about medieval times and yet I still learned loads. Great Book!!!

My husband is a publisher with little time to read for pleasure, so when I saw that the book he had purchased had quickly gone from "brand new condition" to "over worn and dog eared" I had to read it for myself.

The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy is a great book for anyone who is interested in writing fantasy. It is an excellent book in the sense that it covers the basics giving the reader fundamentally all the information that they would need to know to construct their own fantasy world from scratch and how to do so with confidence.

Some of the review posted here are in my opinion very harsh and edged toward the bitter. Collectively, the biggest complaint appears to be that the authors who participated were not "big enough names" in their field. To that I say, Steven King's non-fiction novel, On Writing, is currently on the shelf in many Dollar Stores.

Theresa "Terry" Bane, author of The Bloodthirsty Weasels: On the Loose and Buck Wild

I'm a published writer and discovered this book to be very useful with an in depth analysis of the fantasy genre. I found some parts of this book to cover aspects that would have taken me many days or weeks to research. The book is layed out in a very easy to read format. Altho I'm not familiar with most of the authors' names, I have seen a couple of them, it is obvious that they know their craft and are willing to share that knowledge in a manner designed for both the newbie and old hack. This book will definitely be a great asset to my heavily used research library.

I'm a published writer and needed information on horses and medieval banquets. Since my deadline was close, I didn't want to spend too much time researching; I remembered seeing references to these two subjects in "The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy". I easily found the exact information I was looking for in the book. It is extremely handy (and very navigable!) when you need answers fast. Highly recommended to anyone working in the fantasy genre.