Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Crawford Kilian
Self-Counsel Press
Nonfiction, Writing
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Description
So, you want to write a fantasy or science-fiction story. You may even have a few ideas in your head. But how do you make those ideas into a novel other people will want to read? Crawford Killian, a published author in both genres, offers ideas and guidelines to help turn your stories into the "gold" editors are looking for.
Review
I seem to be spending more time reading books on writing than actually writing these days... Anyway, this is a pretty good addition to my growing how-to-write library. Kilian takes a different angle than other how-to-write authors whose books I've read, focused more on the end result (a salable story.) He seems jaded about many sci-fi/fantasy subgenres, excepting his own works, of course. Intellectually I know it's all a business in the end, but why bother being a writer if you don't enjoy what you're writing? If you're going to do a job just to make the money, you'd be better off in an office somewhere, but that's just my opinion. As for his advice, I feel I disagree with him on some points (like consciously working in symbolism into every aspect of a tale - it's a nice idea, but if I fretted over every name, place, and thing I wrote, I'd be writing even less than I am now), but on the whole his advice seems sound. If you can get past Killian's cynical attitude, there's some decent information to be found here.