Customer Reviews

The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy (Writers Digest Guides)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A uniquely organized book chock full of interesting information about world building and historical peoples. The fantasy section is very interesting just for the information about ancient peoples, their lives and even the diagram of a castle. All in all a pleasure to read for both the science fiction writer and fantasy writer. The books cover nearly everything from the ground up and will be on my shelf for years as a valuable resource and interesting read for ideas.

I was seduced into buying this book. With Terry Brooks on the cover to promote the book. It turned out to be simply new packaging, hard vvv expensive edition of vv old stuff that was written years and years ago! I did have the original Books by the contributing authors. Therefore was greatly disappointed. Didn't the authors have anything NEW to say after twenty years since the publication of their original books? ...shame shame shame on the publishers and authors. The only new material was a 2 page introduction by Brooks and few websites added here and there.. A money making device ...

Personally I found the book to be a five star piece of work, endlessly useful for the science fiction and fantasy writer.

If you are looking for a book that will help get you started down a Science Fiction writing career then this book is it. The book covers everything from world building to genre identification (what type of sci-fi you want to write). I highly recommend that you purchase a copy and keep it close to wherever you like to write.

This book is just a new look with no real NEW information. I was so disappointed after finding out I bought a book I already own that I simply put this in the trash. If you do not own the old paper back of this book then please do buy it. But it is nothing new to bring to the plate.

While attempting to read the first part of the section written by Orson Scott Card on how to write SF and Fantasy I was shocked there was no mention of J.K Rowling Harry Potter books. I kept looking in the index to find mention of her name thinking her name had to be there. To explain this bizarre omission I went on line and saw there is a feud with Card over a suit Ms. Rowling has with another author. His empathy for the other author is one thing but the real problem is Card's belief Ms. Rowling borrowed heavily from Card' earlier work without acknowledging her trespasses. I can understand his frustration and bitterness but dog gone it - not to mention the brilliance of the Harry Potter series makes his book on writing SF and fantasy seem lacking. I will get through the book because I enjoyed his first writing book and love his web site but none the less it just seems wrong not to mention Rowling's work right up there with Tolkien and other brilliant authors.