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Teach Yourself Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction is a practical guide to the art and craft of writing novels in this exciting genre. The book gives invaluable advice on how to approach the subject of Fantasy and Science Fiction including:
• stretching the reader's imagination
• the invention of possible futures and imaginary worlds
• the characterization of fabulous creatures and alien beings
• the uses of magic and speculative science in constructing plots
As well as providing a comprehensive account on writing and the creative process, the book also includes a guide preparation of manuscripts and the publishing field.
Teach Yourself Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction is essential reading
for the would-be author wanting a straightforward introduction the art
of writing and the business of getting published.
Cover design by Don MacPherson
Published by Teach Yourself Books in December 1997
ISBN: 0-340-70172-2
Published by NTC Contemporary Publishing in 1998
ISBN: 0-8442-0020-4
Although the problems of writing fantasy and science fiction include all those pertaining to the writing of any kind of fiction, particular problems arise in stories in which unprecedented things can and do happen, as well as stories that often involve unhuman characters of various sorts, and that might require the elaborate design of entire imaginary worlds. This book provides an elementary introduction to problems of those kinds, and the ways in which they modify the general problems of writing fiction. It also suggests strategies that might enable the problems to be handled constructively and productively. The author has published more than seventy novels in the field, more than twenty short story collections, and more than twenty related works of non-fiction; he has, as the saying goes, been there, done that, and chewed his t-shirt in relevant frustration. Robert Reginald says: "An absolutely first-rate guide to writing fantastic literature. Stableford has much to say that potential writers of ALL fiction might find valuable, interesting, and highly illuminating. His reasonable discussion and dissection of the basic issues facing authors of creative fiction--and the solutions to be found to each problem--are dollops of solid gold advice, in this editor's humble opinion. Every would-be author should read this book--and more than once!"
This edition has been slightly updated.
Cover by Algol
Published as trade paperback by Borgo Press in November 2011, ISBN: 978-1-4344-3599-6
