Customer Reviews

On Writing Science Fiction: The Editors Strike Back

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After chatting informally with George Scithers a few times in the rec.arts.sf.written newsgroup, I decided to get the book and read the answers to all the questions that I didn't dare blurt out in the newsgroup, primarily "how do you get published! "

This book did a wonderful job of showing me the other side of the desk, of what editors are looking for when they look at manuscripts and how to ensure the story you tell is the one that they absolutely must have. (It's not a formula book; it's showing how to shape your story so it fits the -story's- needs, rather than a preconceived notion of what the editor wants.)

Highly recommended.

The 1981 editors of Asimov's magazine use stories from their own periodical to illustrate some excellent points about how to write good science fiction. Do not worry if your stories do not involve robots and aliens, any fiction writer would find plenty to help here.

Despite the outdatedness, as the editors lecture on how to set your typewriter in order to produce clear manuscripts, using the short stories is a great idea. Even the stories' authors admit their work is flawed. Throw in a great bibliography and reading list, and some very funny observations from the editors about submissions (they are rejecting papers you typed on, not you personally) and this is a quick read and very informative. I highly recommend it if you can find it!

This book is not only suited for people preparing their break-through as a science-fiction author. It
is as well suited for all who care about books and do not just simply want to consume them.
Instead of reading tons of boring theoretical papers on literature, those people should rather
consider reading this book. Besides a theoretical introduction, it contains commented short-stories.
A very good mixture.

When I saw this at the library, I was super excited. Like, I was thinking, "I write science fiction. I love science fiction! OMG, a clever debate about how to do it well!" Unfortunately, this dated (1981) book throws out some mediocre writing advice (nothing bad, but nothing you didn't learn in literature 101) and then reads like "pimp my stories". Like, literally, you'll get a page stating something along the lines of "plot is important", which then skips over to some random science fiction story. It was depressing. Like, I could see this format working if the editor stepped in from time to time and said, "You can see how the plot builds in this section" or whatever. But as it is, I'm just left with some generic device and a not so great story following it.