gothiccauntie's review against another edition
5.0
This was an amazing book, and definitely one of the best how-to guides for writing that I've encountered. Many genre books are generic "how to write" guides that re-market themselves for target niches without actually contributing to the reader's knowledge of the history, common techniques, flair, or important contributors of the genre at hand.
This book gives interested writers all that and more, including tips for world building and how to use research as motivation (because while we've all heard "do your research!" we've never had someone tell us where we should start). I especially loved that the book used specific examples and built upon those examples to show readers--and future writers--how their ideas must build upon one another.
The most excellent example of this is the chapter in which they contemplate different life forms you may encounter in your fiction, and how they ought to relate to other details in your world. Why is this so great? Many how-to books will instruct readers to think about culture, etc, but they often fail to point out what contributes to the culture and how it evolves, etc. By providing examples, these authors further educated their readers because they did not treat them as foolish but also did not assume what knowledge they already possessed.
It felt like one of my courses in college, condensed into a single book. The tone, the content, the execution made for an excellent, amusing, and thought-provoking read that any writer should look into--even if they aren't directly interested in the science fiction field. Although the content is tailored to that audience, much of the content can branch into other fields of writing.
This book gives interested writers all that and more, including tips for world building and how to use research as motivation (because while we've all heard "do your research!" we've never had someone tell us where we should start). I especially loved that the book used specific examples and built upon those examples to show readers--and future writers--how their ideas must build upon one another.
The most excellent example of this is the chapter in which they contemplate different life forms you may encounter in your fiction, and how they ought to relate to other details in your world. Why is this so great? Many how-to books will instruct readers to think about culture, etc, but they often fail to point out what contributes to the culture and how it evolves, etc. By providing examples, these authors further educated their readers because they did not treat them as foolish but also did not assume what knowledge they already possessed.
It felt like one of my courses in college, condensed into a single book. The tone, the content, the execution made for an excellent, amusing, and thought-provoking read that any writer should look into--even if they aren't directly interested in the science fiction field. Although the content is tailored to that audience, much of the content can branch into other fields of writing.
pumpkinspies's review against another edition
5.0
This was an amazing book, and definitely one of the best how-to guides for writing that I've encountered. Many genre books are generic "how to write" guides that re-market themselves for target niches without actually contributing to the reader's knowledge of the history, common techniques, flair, or important contributors of the genre at hand.
This book gives interested writers all that and more, including tips for world building and how to use research as motivation (because while we've all heard "do your research!" we've never had someone tell us where we should start). I especially loved that the book used specific examples and built upon those examples to show readers--and future writers--how their ideas must build upon one another.
The most excellent example of this is the chapter in which they contemplate different life forms you may encounter in your fiction, and how they ought to relate to other details in your world. Why is this so great? Many how-to books will instruct readers to think about culture, etc, but they often fail to point out what contributes to the culture and how it evolves, etc. By providing examples, these authors further educated their readers because they did not treat them as foolish but also did not assume what knowledge they already possessed.
It felt like one of my courses in college, condensed into a single book. The tone, the content, the execution made for an excellent, amusing, and thought-provoking read that any writer should look into--even if they aren't directly interested in the science fiction field. Although the content is tailored to that audience, much of the content can branch into other fields of writing.
This book gives interested writers all that and more, including tips for world building and how to use research as motivation (because while we've all heard "do your research!" we've never had someone tell us where we should start). I especially loved that the book used specific examples and built upon those examples to show readers--and future writers--how their ideas must build upon one another.
The most excellent example of this is the chapter in which they contemplate different life forms you may encounter in your fiction, and how they ought to relate to other details in your world. Why is this so great? Many how-to books will instruct readers to think about culture, etc, but they often fail to point out what contributes to the culture and how it evolves, etc. By providing examples, these authors further educated their readers because they did not treat them as foolish but also did not assume what knowledge they already possessed.
It felt like one of my courses in college, condensed into a single book. The tone, the content, the execution made for an excellent, amusing, and thought-provoking read that any writer should look into--even if they aren't directly interested in the science fiction field. Although the content is tailored to that audience, much of the content can branch into other fields of writing.
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