HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1990. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. First Edition. 8vo. 140 pp. Glossy boards. The Writer's Digest Genre Writing Series. Lightly rubbed on the corners; no interior markings. The Chapters are: THE INFINITE BOUNDARY: What is and isn't science fiction and fantasy and by whose standards: publishers, writers, readers; What basic concepts and approaches gualify a story as true speculative fiction and how SF and fantasy differ from one another. WORLD CREATION: 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. STORY CONSTRUCTION: 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. WRITING WELL: 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. THE LIFE AND BUSINESS OF WRITING: 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; and Awards in speculative fiction; followed by an index..