Customer Reviews

Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy

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

 

 

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.

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.

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."

When my sci-fi fanatic brother handed me this book and raved about Gerrold's exemplary writing style as well as his abiity to coach on the craft itself, I was skeptical. What can a sci-fi/fantasy writer offer a writer of mainly creative nonfiction? The answer is EVERYTHING.

I haven't read any of Gerrold's works, but now I want to. His style, voice, and realism stand out even in a book about writing. I've highlighted nearly every page for either tips I want to remember far into the future - especially when revising and perfecting my own work - or for quotes on the craft or life in general that match my own philosophies. This isn't just a book covering the practical how-to of writing something others will be glued to but also a book on viewing life in general and how writing and life go hand-in-hand, if they aren't one and the same.

Gerrold's clear advice broken into palatable chunks applies to all writers and is guaranteed to introduce new elements to consider for your own work and draw you out of your comfort zone. New ways of looking at the basics, as well as more in-depth knowledge/techniques, such as memes and writing in E-prime, are covered.

Sure, Gerrold uses his own work in example, but that doesn't bother me. Why would you buy a book BY a successful writer if you weren't looking for his own take on writing and how he's developed his own ideas? I've read technique books by lesser authors who, frankly, don't even have enough successful works to quote from. Gerrold doesn't have to mention his own published titles to plug; his name on the cover of the book already does that.

The fact is that he knows what he's writing about and his own work provides perfect examples of all the thought he proves he puts into his creations to make them as near perfect as possible. That's why the book is an excellent resource for writers.

P.S. Gerrold also sites examples from several other authors. :)

Worlds of Wonder is a nice surprise. It'll suck you in and keep you (most of you) turning pages. Its author, David Gerrold, is a neat guy with a neat voice. He's been in the industry for a long time and is probably best known for writing the most famous of Star Trek episodes, "The Trouble With Tribbles."

"Oh," you say, "that guy."

Yeah. Him. But that's not all he's done. He's written for Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Next Gen, and more, in addition to lots more, TV and novels: The Martian Child, Yesterday's Children, When Harlie Was One. . . . He's well equipped to write this guide (the full title being Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy).

The first time through, reading WW is a 5-star experience. Gerrold will not only give you continually good advice from page 1 all the way to page 238, he'll keep you laughing. Or nodding, if you're not easily tickled. The guy made me want to know more about him. He's not only a capable fiction writer, he's got non-fiction stories to tell, that much is obvious, and you'll be interested to read more by him. His experiences in the industry scream to be told, and in a perfect world, he would have been able to go off on long tangents.

But, no, he (pretty much) keeps us grounded on the subject matter. He takes you through the writing process, from structuring your story, to composing love scenes, to using metaphors and pronouns--from beginnings to middles to ends, he touches them all. He talks about the differences between science and fantasy. He talks about world-building, alien-building, plot-building. His chapters are bite-size treats, inviting, non-threatening, and as soon as the chapter is over you wish it had been longer. Chapter after chapter fly by until, suddenly, you've finished the book--craving more words from this intelligent author.

For me, that was part of the problem, though, and that's why the book only gets, in the end, 4 stars. Upon completion of the last page, my satisfaction went from a light, happy sigh, as I closed the book, to a heavy, brow-furrowing harrumph. After reading Worlds of Wonder, though the advice was indeed helpful, I didn't feel empowered to write a science fiction tale of my own. I did feel damn ready to drop everything and get to work on a "normal" story--the advice crisscrosses all fictional boundaries. But specifically sci-fi? Fantasy? Nuh-uh. As it turns out, Gerrold's book wasn't enough.

I examined my feelings on this matter until I realized what went wrong. My mistake had lain in assumption.

I assumed I would be reading a nitty gritty book for building science fiction; I assumed I was going to find equal and opposite help painting fantasy backdrops. I was EXPECTING this book to give me a lot of technical help, which I need, because scientific fact is my weakness. I was expecting, on the fantasy end of the genre, ideas for adding a fantastic flavor to my stories. These chapters were completely missing. (I'm beginning to suspect that they were never included in the first place, that there's been some sit-comical mistake, and I'm still waiting by my mailbox hoping Gerrold will realize his error and send the missing pages out to his fans, post haste. I'm growing weary of holding my breath, though.)

To those of you who are hoping Worlds of Wonder will solve your technical "sci-fan" writing questions, I say, "Keep shopping." It won't. Rather, it's an overview of the genre. A darn well written overview, though. It WILL entertain and educate you, despite it's lack of specifics. In and of itself, World's of Wonder is a good read.

As a how-to book, it only gets 3.5-ish stars. As you can see, when faced with extreme doubt, I sided with 4 stars. Some of you might have toppled leftward to 3. But you people are Negative Nellies. The book is too good to be called "okay."

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Highlights in no particular order:
* David Gerrold's writing teachers, the worst of them being the "best" of them.
* A few spontaneous exercises
* A difficult task: writing in E-Prime (or: eliminating "to be"). Good stuff.
* More good stuff: metric prose for high impact moments. I just wish Gerrold had expounded this technical style. The chapter ended too quickly, David!
* Language, distinction, mastery, and other memes.
* Love scenes versus sex scenes.
* Beginnings, middles, and "punch lines."
* Distinguishing science and fantasy
* "What is a story?"
* The power of the word "if."
* A yoooosssssful guide for deciding what should go in a paragraph. Plus: how to spread out description over several paragraphs.
* And pretty much anything else he has to say. Even though he is "some Star Trek" author (so called by "A Reader From USA").

If "A Reader From USA" had actually read this book, he'd have known that David Gerrold is much more than a Trek writer. I discovered that myself while reading about him. I'll give one thing to this mindless, slapdash reviewer from USA, however. He's right in that there's a lot in this book that many of us already know. But try finding an advice book on writing that doesn't repeat the sound advice of others. Then email me and tell me what planet it's on. Writing books are not about complete newness, they're about new slants on old ideas. Worlds of Wonder's greatness is about how Gerrold puts things--in his own, distinct voice.

By addressing how to write directly, Gerrold teaches more about writing science fiction and fantasy in 200-some pages than other 500-page instruction manuals on the market. The book is filled with examples and anecdotes, making it enjoyable reading as well as a helpful guide.

Oftentimes, though, Gerrold falls short of helping the reader. In some chapters, he provides only examples instead of actual help, such as in his chapters on Sex Scenes and Love Scenes. In others, the chapters are so short and abrupt that they leave the reader wondering if they missed something, forcing them to go back and reread, such as his bits on simile and metaphor.

Thought a very helpful book, there's a reason this book is out of print: most everything written here can be found in other books, phrased in better ways.

The first time I read this book i hilighted the most helpful parts. I went through three hilighters. This is a must read for any writer! I myself don't really like books that teach writing but this one is amazing. It covers everything from grammer to the difference between sex scenes and love scenes. It talks about how to think through your plot logically and some helpful little tricks to making your story extra interesting. It discusses how to construct your first and last lines and it is written extremely well and on a level anybody can understand. If I could I'd give this book a hundred stars. Not only was it helpful but it was able to keep my attention, a feat very few fiction books can do.

Although this book doesn't qualify as a traditional how-to reference, but mainly as a collection of tips, tricks and techniques on improving your science fiction and fantasy writing, it does rank high above the majority of references available on this topic, which are usually only aimed at psyching up the reader with nothing more than fluffy, feel-good advice that's completely useless to anyone with little more than some basic schooling, some common sense, and a few hours of writing practice.
Award-winning author David Gerrold, particularly well known to Trekkies for his Star Trek Original Series' episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," presents this book in such a pleasant, entertaining and enthusiastic style that you'll be enticed not only to read it through on your first sitting, but also to keep coming back to it time and again.
The short and very easy to find sections into which the book is divided go straight to the point without overlooking anything of importance and retaining all the necessary ideas to clearly explain the points being made. The selection of basic and not-so-basic topics included range from conceptualizing your first ideas (characters, settings, plot) to editing and selling your completed manuscripts. The chosen examples, picked out of both the author's own work and classic sources of the genres, are always accurate and easy to understand. And the very practical suggestions on technique and the reminders on style sprinkled throughout the book will undoubtedly help you create and maintain healthy and fruitful writing habits if followed.
Whereas, in this volume, the ever-present anecdotic remarks of the author might be more appealing to the practiced writer who's lived through similar experiences than to the beginner, the sound information on the craft of writing itself will certainly be useful to both. This may not be the ultimate reference on science fiction and fantasy writing - for that I would turn to either "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card or "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Crawford Kilian - but it is definitely a useful and enjoyable reading. Buy this book, enjoy it, and take the counsel it gives as you would that of a good friend.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar

Don't let the "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy" sub-title fool you! Yes, that's in here, but this is possibly the best book about writing that you'll ever come across. Friends who have read the book agree. It's a pity that the book is out of print, but don't let that stop you. Find a good used copy from one of the Amazon sellers and enjoy this marvelous book!

Worlds Of Wonder

Worlds Of Wonder is a very useful book for writers wishing to explore science fiction and fantasy. David Gerrlod manages to keep this book fun and informative.

I love the way David starts this book, a tribute to his college professor. "He was a bleary eyed, red-nosed, overstuffed, walking elbow wrinkle of a human being." How's that for descriptive writing? Too many adjectives you say? I think it paints a clear picture of his professor and anti-hero. David claims that five words his professor spoke to him changed his life. "You'll never be any good." I guess his professor was wrong.

Worlds Of Wonder is so informative that I do not have time to cover all the information offered in this book, so I will try to condense and most likely butcher the advise this author offers.

Let me start by naming a few chapters from this novel: The Literature Of Imagination, Inventing Wonder, If-The Most Powerful Word, Science, Science Fiction, ... and Fantasy, What Is A Story, A Story Is, Crises and Challenges, and so forth. Each chapter contains insights to the given title and some chapters offer helpful writing exercises. My favorite chapter where about world building and building aliens, you can only imagine the fun these chapters contained. Dr. Jack Cohen a British biologist is given credit for working with many authors including David Gerrold, so the information in these chapters is quite informative.

These simple words from David Gerrold have stuck with me long after reading the book. "The literature of the fantastic is about awakening the feeling of awe- and exercising it."

This is a very good book and a must read for writers of every level. I wish I had the time and energy to explore this book in depth, but that would take much too long.