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A review by daaan
Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: How to Create Out-Of-This-World Novels and Short Stories by Jay Lake, Philip Athans, Orson Scott Card
2.0
Disappointing. There were a number of useful reference tables in here, much of which was stuff I was quite comfortable with, but this is very light on practical advice, which isn't really acceptable for a book that claims to tell you how to write great SF&F. It's worth addressing it section by section.
1) Orson Scott Card - This section was written in the 90s and it shows. There were a few interesting insights, but this was a direct reprint of another book.
2) Phillip Athans - This industry update was insightful, but I don't know why it was included at this point in the book. I get the impression sequencing was done in order of prestige.
3) Jay Lake - Steampunk is now quite clichéd, not something exciting and new so I feel this section is a little out of date.
4) Michael Varhola - This is where things really started going downhill. Not enough information to be interesting or informative, too much detail to be a summary. This would be better with a brief description followed by recommended reading for independent research.
5) Alla Maurer and Renee Wright - Dire, I don't know what this wanted to achieve, don't really care. I think it wanted to survey real world magical beliefs, but again, it struggled to hold interest or give anything specific of help.
I skimmed from here on out. I may use the tables in future, but the rest was fairly dire.
1) Orson Scott Card - This section was written in the 90s and it shows. There were a few interesting insights, but this was a direct reprint of another book.
2) Phillip Athans - This industry update was insightful, but I don't know why it was included at this point in the book. I get the impression sequencing was done in order of prestige.
3) Jay Lake - Steampunk is now quite clichéd, not something exciting and new so I feel this section is a little out of date.
4) Michael Varhola - This is where things really started going downhill. Not enough information to be interesting or informative, too much detail to be a summary. This would be better with a brief description followed by recommended reading for independent research.
5) Alla Maurer and Renee Wright - Dire, I don't know what this wanted to achieve, don't really care. I think it wanted to survey real world magical beliefs, but again, it struggled to hold interest or give anything specific of help.
I skimmed from here on out. I may use the tables in future, but the rest was fairly dire.