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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Useful if sometimes self-indulgent,
By
This review is from: Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy (Paperback)
Gerrold is a noted science fiction writer, best known for bursting on the scene with his Star Trek script, "The Trouble With Tribbles," still the favorite classic Trek episode.Here he distills his ideas on good writing and good storytelling into short, punchy chapters, briefly addressing just about every topic one could imagine on the subject, from style, theme, and story to first lines and last lines to love scenes and sex scenes to not using "is" in one's writing. Sometimes a little self-indulgent and overly clever: he writes short sentences on the virtues of short sentences and long sentences on the virtues of long sentences, and too many of the exemplars come from his own efforts. Still, he knows whereof he speaks, and this is definitely a useful book.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring!,
By
This review is from: Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy (Paperback)
1) PRO: Nice small chapters. Clearly demonstrates the points to be made and uses Sci-fi/fantasy stories as examples.2) CON: Most of the examples used are from the authors own writings. A few times I wanted to shout, "Marketing ploy", but he was honest enough in his sharing that the irritation was short-lived. 3) PRO: This is the book to the art of Writing, that drafting a mission statement is to running a business. You get the insipriation, the vision, for where the writing needs to go in many areas without the speicific checklist on how the logistics need to flow. The logistics is what he encourages me as a writer to discover for myself...as I write. I left this book feeling "empowered" to write. I have my mission statement. 4)PRO: One of the most eye-opening chapters were, Memes and To Be Or Naught To Be. I walked away enlightened to the greater universe of possiblities that are at my fingertips as a writer.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Revives classic science fiction writing. Very useful!,
By AMC "scifiali" (Atlanta, Ga) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy (Paperback)
Worlds of Wonder starts out like a lot of other books of this type, but after the first few chapters you'll find some really useful and specific advice. My favorite sections are those on writing in E-prime (shunning the passive verb "to be"), writing in the discomfort zone, making critical distinctions and creating powerful paragraphs. Gerrod has two long chapters on fantasy and alien world building which I found useful even though I'm not a fan of fantasy worlds. I like Gerrold's style. It's easy to follow and entertaining. Yes, it seems self indulgent when he uses his own examples in every chapter but he's also a big fan of classic science fiction and uses Robert Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon and others for balance. This is a really superb book. Writers outside of science fiction could benefit from the advice, but I'm glad to see it focusing on science fiction. Gerrold offers writers a great deal of insight and enthusiam. My favorite line comes near the end, "If you haven't written a million words, it's all practice."
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