How to write science fiction & fantasy / Orson Scott Card.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Card, Orson Scott.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science fiction--Authorship.

Science fiction.

Fantasy fiction--Authorship.

Fantasy fiction.

Creative writing.

Physical Description:

140 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First paperback edition.

Other Title:

How to write science fiction and fantasy

Place of Publication:

Cincinnati, Ohio : Writer's Digest, 2001.

Summary:

You've always dreamed of writing science fiction and fantasy -- tales that pull readers into extraordinary new worlds and fantastic conflicts. Best-selling author Orson Scott Card shows you how it's done, distilling years of writing experience and publishing success into concise, no-nonsense advice. You'll learn how to: wield story elements that "define" the science fiction and fantasy genres; build, populate and dramatize a credible, inviting world your readers will want to explore; develop the "rules" of time, space and magic that affect your world and its inhabitants; construct a compelling story by developing ideas, characters and events that keep readers turning pages; find the markets for speculative fiction, reach them and get published; submit queries, write cover letters, find an agent and live the life of a writer. The boundaries of your imagination are infinite. Explore them with Orson Scott Card and create fiction that casts a spell over agents, publishers and readers from every world.

Contents:

1 The Infinite Boundary 3

What is, and isn't, science fiction and fantasy, and by whose standards: publishers', writers', readers'

What basic concepts and approaches qualify a story as true speculative fiction, and how SF and fantasy differ from one another

2 World Creation 26

How to build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world that readers will want to share with you

Dragging ideas through "the idea net" of why, how, and with what result

Developing the rules of your world ... and then abiding by them and making them matter: the rules of Time, Space, and Magic

Working out the history, language, geography, and customs of your invented world

3 Story Construction 63

Finding a character for an idea, or developing ideas for a character to enact

Qualifications for the main character: who hurts the most? Who has power and freedom to act?

Should the viewpoint character be the main character? How do you decide?

Determining where the story should begin and end

The MICE quotient: milieu, idea, character, event

knowing which is most important in your story will help you decide its proper shape

4 Writing Well 88

Keeping exposition in its place

Leading your reader into the strangeness, step by step

Piquing the reader's interest

Keeping the "level of diction" appropriate to the story's imagined world

Using invented jargon sparsely and effectively

5 The Life and Business of Writing 104

The markets for short and long speculative fiction

magazines, anthologies, fanzines

and how to reach them

Classes, workshops, conferences and conventions

Collaboration, adaptation, and shared worlds

Professional writers' organizations

Awards in speculative fiction.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

158297103X

OCLC:

47637191