Customer Reviews

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (Genre Writing)

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Only the first two of Card's five chapters deal exclusively with SF&F. The other three apply to all genres. Card spends the first chapter defining just what is SF, what is F and how to tell the difference. SF&F have many sub-genres (space opera, hard SF, cyperpunk, sword & sorcery, etc.) and Card shows the reader that they all have several elements in common. The second chapter focuses on creating believable worlds that readers will want to explore. SF&F is not an "anything goes" genre; you must have rules and follow them, especially with regard to time, space, and magic. You also have to work out problems in your world's history, language, geography, and of course science.

Chapter 3, Story Construction, has already opened up new worlds for me (no pun intended). Almost every story, no matter what your genre, falls into one of four categories: milieu (the time or place of the story is the most important element), idea, character, and event. Knowing which your story is will help you write it better. Very helpful examples are given.

Chapter 4, Writing Well, shows how to unfold your story. True, this chapter is geared to the specifics of SF&F, but contains extremely valuable information. How much information should you share with the reader early on? How much is too much? Have you dropped enough clues or interesting pieces of information early on to keep the pages turning? This chapter answers those questions and more.

Chapter 5, The Life and Business of Writing, is probably the most honest look at the writer's life that I've ever read. Not only does Card offer advice on how to get your stories published, he also covers the pros and cons of conventions, classes, workshops, conferences, contests, handling your finances, and a subject that doesn't get addressed enough: balancing your writing life with your home life.

How to Write SF&F is a book written by an author that cares about the genre and cares about writers. He doesn't pull any punches, but you come away with the sense that Card wants (and expects) you to succeed as a writer. I was extremely impressed with the way he uses examples from other writers' work and not his own. I've read so many books and articles in which the author cites, "In my book 'Pluto Goes to Town with Gorfzork,' I deal with the problem of faster-than-light travel in a new and fascinating way." Not Card. He praises others instead of himself.

Again, this is a book for ALL writers. The book has already made me re-examine several of my own stories. Now I can look at them and say, "I knew something was wrong with it...NOW I know what it is."

137 pages

If you're looking for the ultimate tome and guide that will take you from simply reading science fiction and fantasy to a best-selling writer of it, then this book is not for you. However, NO book fills that role, nor can it, as writing is something best learned by doing, not following a formula in a book.

Card, like most writers, is well aware of that fact and does not take the pretention that his book is a how-to that will have you churning out sci-fi and fantasy like a pro. However, for those enthusiasts who aren't sure where to begin or what mistakes to avoid, Card's guide is a good, if ill-titled, one; it describes the different types of stories (idea, character, event, etc.), plus offers tips on building a world with consistent and believable rules, what constitutes sci-fi/fantasy, etc.

More advanced writers or even rather astute readers may find some of the book's guidance obvious or a matter of common sense, and the book is not the only one an aspiring writer might wish to own (Writer's Market, various plotting, characterization, marketing, etc. books also being invaluable), but it is a good starting point for the average sci-fi enthusiast.

I am not biased for or against Orson Card. I simply own the book, and I have the right to say that there is nothing wrong with it. I've noticed people complaining that the author doesn't keep up with science, is biased against Star Trek, gives nonsemsial info in order to confuse you, etc.

This is not true. Moreover, that is not what the book is for. The author encourages you, gives you examples, and makes you comfortable with writing fiction. Card doesn't give you specific advice ( insert character A here). He gives you examples of tone. He doesn't give you a compendium of data on the medieval world. He shows you what it feels like to write about it. He points you in the right direction, gives personal pointers, uses fine humor. You supply your own storylines. Enjoy this book.

If you are familiar with Orson Scott Card's Hatrack River site, you know that there is nobody in the field of science fiction and fantasy who is more committed to helping new writers. If that is news to you then certainly his resume as a writer is well known to any one interested in writing in this field. This is one of the thinner books on writing you are going to fine and that is because Uncle Orson is extremely focused in explaining his craft. Consequently, there are but five sections to this volume in The Writer's Digest Genre Writing Series. (1) The Infinite Boundary looks at the spectrum covered by science fiction and fantasy with some attention to the distictions between the two as well. (2) World Creation details how to build, populate and dramatize your new world, including working out all the necessary elements such as history, language, geography and customs. (3) Story Construction deals with finding the right character for an idea or the right idea for a character (and do not forget about "the MICE quotient"). (4) Writing Well is a collection of fundamental tips, otherwise known as the "don't do this at home" section. (5) The Life and Business of Writing deals both generally with the business but also the specifics of science fiction and fantasy. I find his use of examples, especially when he lays out a series of variations on a theme, to be helpful because they demonstrate in practice what his theoretical points and show how many additional ideas each idea generates. Perhaps most importantly, Uncle Orson is having a conversation with you; he is neither lecturing nor pontificating. His non-fiction is as readily as his award-winning fiction, and that should come as a surprise to no one. There are other books better suited to getting into the nuts and bolts of constructing brave new worlds, but I have yet to find a better book at covering the basics than this one.

This excellent how-to book is cram-packed with practical suggestions on how to write good fiction. Although it focuses primarily on science fiction and fantasy, the principles it explains are applicable to any type of creative writing.

I especialy liked the chapters on consistency in world-building. In science fiction lingo, "world building" refers to the process of creating an alien culture. In order to be convincing, that culture must make sense in terms of its ecology, history, technology, lifeforms, etc. Doing this requires quite a bit of preliminary thought before you can even begin to write your novel, but that planning is absolutely necessary if your characters are to be believable. For example, as Card points out, the type of space travel available to your characters will determine their attitudes about a lot of things. If a group of colonists arrived at their new planet in a multi-generational ship that took centuries to get there, they will be out of contact with the homeworld, and their culture will probably evolve independently. On the other hand, if they can travel back and forth in a matter if days, they will be in close contact with (under the control of?) the homeworld, and your story will be quite different. So, you have to make clear decisions about technology before you start writing.

The same is true for the rules of magic, time travel, social customs, evolution of alien species, etc. You, as the author, can decide what these rules will be, and there is a great deal of leeway in a lot of directions. But once you make your rules, you must be consistent within the system you created. Orson Scott Card takes you through this process step-by-step, using actual examples from his own and other SF novels. This valuable lesson can be applied to any type of fiction. What makes a good novel is the creation of a believable world that your readers can enter into with their imaginations -- and that requires pre-planned consistency.

In fact, I found Card's book to be helpful in my own work with re-telling Hasidic stories for non-Hasidic readers. (cf. "Jewish Tales of Reincarnation," available here on Amazon.) These stories take place in a traditional Jewish culture that is as "alien" to most American readers as the fictional worlds in the SF genre. Breaking into the general market meant explaining things in the Hasidic stories that I would normally take for granted. Card's book got me thinking in a new way about the rules -- written and unwritten -- that form the framework of the Hasidic worldview. Card taught me how to weave the necessary "alien" cultural info into my narratives so that my readers can understand that world and the people in it -- without falling into the deadly trap of preachy, boring prose. That insight alone was well worth the price of the book -- and it contains much, much more. Ten stars!

A wonderful book! In it, Card adresses some of the key issues addressing writers in the speculative fiction field. In the first few pages of this book, Card explains he does not intend this to be a book about writing, in general. Rather, it is a book about writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, in particular. Things like viewpoint, theme, etc. that writers of every genre need to cover are not addressed. So if the book seems lacking in that area, that's the reason. That said, there are some wonderful tips for SF writers, both technical and practical, both for writing and being a writer. For instance, should a SF writer get an agent first, or send books to a publisher first? Card gives his answer, and it's different than other genres. Also, he explains how to use a Wise Reader to handle problems with exposition. Full of interesting anecdotes, useful tips, and valuable guidelines, this has remained one of the textbooks of the field.

I, like many aspiring filmmakers, read Aristotle's Poetics in college as part of a dramatic writing class. There is nothing in there that one cannot reason out for oneself; still, it is useful to have it written out and classified. This is both because not all of us have time to think about dramatic theory/contemplate our navels, and also because Aristotle was a pretty clever guy and it's good to see what he thought about the things he was an expert on.

Of course, Orson Scott Card is not Aristotle; he is not even my favorite science fiction writer. Still, he is a fairly good science fiction writer, and he has also taught college classes about writing science fiction, so he has a lot of insight in the theory of speculative fiction. It may seem obvious and intuitive, but if it wasn't, then it wouldn't be true.

I found his classifications fairly useful. For example, the difference between fantasy and science fiction, and what that means for business; the difference between various forms of space travel; and the difference between what he states as the three main forms of science fiction: hard science fiction, "gosh-wow" gadget stories, and pulpy space opera/adventure. He gives good examples of each, some his own, some historical, and some obscure.

There are faults, as is to be expected. His examples from his own work grow tiresome sometimes; by the end of his section about Hart's Hope, I began to think he was a terrible writer. He also has an irrational hatred of all things Star Trek, which grates. Yes, Star Trek is pulpy pop culture, and I'm not the biggest fan myself, but there is some brilliant stuff in there -- several authors that Card lionizes in here have written episodes.

This is not a book that will teach you how to write a bestseller; it will not turn you into a Hugo winner if you are not one. Anyone expecting that from a book is naive. This slim guide is a good starting point, though, giving some good pointers, vocabulary, and suggestions for inspiration.

Pros: Some good tips on story construction and on writing for these genres.

Cons: Large sections of the book are spent telling us stuff we already know or telling us stuff that isn't relevant to writing good SF/F, a heavy focus on science fiction as opposed to fantasy, the chapter on the business of writing contains information that is flat out wrong, the author comes close to bashing other genres and seems to have a high opinion of himself.

Let me start out by saying that there are a few sections of this book that contain some very useful information. The third chapter on story construction and the fourth chapter on writing have been helpful to me. I have found the four types of stories that Card outlined interesting and it helped me to identify where my own story falls on the scale and thus the direction in which my own story should go. The section on writing talks about issues that are specific to SF/F writers which is something you don't come across a lot in other books on writing. He talks about how SF/F authors should deal with exposition, made-up languages, and metaphor all of which differs slightly from writers in other genres. There are even a few helpful tips in the second chapter on world building for science fiction writers (though not for fantasy writers).

But you have to wade through a lot of crap to get to these golden nuggets. To begin with, Card seems to assume that his audience is made up of idiots. He spends a fifth of this book defining science fiction and fantasy for us. Newsflash: if we are trying to write a science fiction or fantasy novel, then we probably already know what the terms mean. He also seems to feel the need to constantly reference authors without explaining how they pertain to what he is talking about. This makes what he does feel like name dropping.

Also, regardless of what it may say on the cover, this book is aimed far more at science fiction writers than at fantasy writers. Card seems to be laboring under the delusion that fantasy is a pleasant little side hobby that science fiction writers like himself sometimes indulge in. He says that "a few" write primarily fantasy, but not many. As a result, his book is tailored for science fiction writers who may occasionally dabble in fantasy. For example, in his world building chapter he talks about the many different ways that authors can portray space travel and the strengths and weaknesses of each. But he does not give magic a similar treatment -- he simply shows how a single magic system can have different consequences and most of what he says comes down to "use your imagination". No kidding, Sherlock.

It is pretty subtle, but Card also denigrates other genres. He doesn't want people to throw out the stereotype of science fiction readers as "machine obsessed adolescent males", but he has no problem depicting romance readers/writers as undiscerning nitwits who close their eyes and grab a book off the shelf at random or literary readers/writers as unbelievable snobs who write boring books. He seems to think he has to convince us that science fiction/fantasy is so smart and cool, but again, he seems to miss that if we are reading his book, we probably already think this.

Card continually goes off on tangents like this that are unrelated to his subject matter. I bought the book because I wanted to learn more about writing science fiction and fantasy, not because I wanted read a spiel on why more soft SF writers should write hard SF (no thanks), get a detailed summary of an Octavia Butler book, or read a diatribe on what the author sees as the many failings of Star Trek.

His last chapter on the "business" of writing seems not very informed at all. He seems to have done no research on the subject and is relying entirely on his own experience; but Card's experience is not everyone's experience. He actually advises writing a two sentence query letter with no mention of word count. He says that writers should NEVER look for an agent before getting a publishing deal, but lots of authors have been successful this way. Also, he presents college creative writing professors as English literature majors who have no experience writing or reading the fiction of students. This simply isn't true. Most creative writing professors have PhDs in Creative Writing, not English Literature. They almost always have a novel or poetry published. This doesn't mean that they are bestsellers (usually they aren't), but they do have some experience.

So would I recommend this book? For science fiction writers, possibly. If you are willing to wade through a lot of junk, there is some good advice here. For fantasy writers, though, I'd say that the amount of good advice isn't enough to be worth it. 3- stars.

Do you write? Do you write *anything*, even if it's not Science Fiction? This is the best book I've ever read on writing fiction.

It thoroughly and masterfully discusses the mechanics such as plot, pacing and characterization. It dispenses insightful advice.

But most importantly, it tells you how to polish. How to edit your own work. How to train an 'educated reader' to help you edit your own work.

If you are trying to break into the fiction market today, your manuscript has to be good already. Publishers don't have time or resources to help you polish. Card gives intelligent, creative advice on how you and your 'educated reader' can work together to produce the best story you are capable of writing.

This book also contains excellent insight on the peculiarities of writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. But no matter what kind of fiction you write, read this book.

Terry L. Neil

Obviously, this is a book for beginners. It doesn't pretend to be a book for the advanced writer. If you've been writing SF/Fantasy for the last five years, it should be fairly obvious from the title that this book probably isn't going to teach you much you don't already know.

If you're just starting out, however, this book is a wonderful guide into the world of writing SF/Fantasy. For the majority, the art of writing isn't something that is just magically absorbed as if through osmosis, no matter what some writers would have you think. It's hard work, and you have to read everything you can get your hands on. This book is a great place to start. It offers advice on everything from what defines SF and Fantasy to world creation and much more. Card's writing style is easy to follow, but not so simple that you feel as if you're reading a Little Golden Book.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is a complete beginner in this genre. Read it and internalize it. I mean, look at Card's book sales; the man obviously has some idea what he's talking about.