How to write publishable Science Fiction and Fantasy:
As a beginning Science Fiction and Fantasy writer, I found this book severely dissappointing. It's not that it isn't a useful book, or that it's badly written; what I disliked, was that half the examples were telling you what you could and could not get away with rather than how to write high quality fiction and best captivate your readers. I went through the book constantly thinking "Gosh! I could write better than this guy, what does he think he's going on about?"
Despite that, there is still a lot that... more info
Sometimes difficult to read:
Teach Yourself Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction is more focused on the philosophies of writing instead of the actual act of writing. It depends on what a person is looking for.
Mr. Stableford's own artistic science fiction/fantasy writing style seems to saturate the book, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just makes the book as a non-fiction a little bit difficult to follow sometimes.
I enjoyed his occasional touching on the subject of themes (or uses of certain themes) that have been over... more info
good for writing, so-so for sci fi:
This is a good book if you're not very familiar with writing techniques in general, but if you've taken even one college course in writing, forget it. I was hoping for more specific science fiction writing techiques, and was a little disappointed not to find them. If that's what you want, try another book.
Dry, academic and strangely useful:
This is a good book for the price. However, don't expect too much, especially if you're used to seeing practical examples in your how-to books. The advice contained in the book is solid, well-written and to the point, but I found that there was little content devoted to SF/F-specific subjects. Overall, the tone is very academic -- which may actually appeal to some readers -- but I find that a more hands-on or inspirational style that I've seen in other books is more helpful to me. If you are serious about... more info
Privacy policy: we don't collect information
about visitors except for the standard technical server logs. We don't send unsolicited emails. We don't
sell the information that we don't collect about you to anyone. When you follow
links to other sites, their privacy policies apply. Thanks for visiting!
