You can create believable science fiction and fantasy worlds.
Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre enveloping the ever-expanding genres of science fiction and fantasy, and best-selling science fiction and fantasy authors Crawford Kilian and Silvia Moreno-Garcia come together in this book to show writers how to craft believable worlds and plausible characters, and ultimately, how to craft good stories.
Their hands-on, practical, put-the-book-down-and-start-writing advice speaks to new and emerging authors of science fiction and fantasy. They offer more than pep talks and success stories; they explain genres and how to bend and blend them, and give concrete suggestions on how to overcome the inevitable problems writers face, such as self editing, writing plausible characters, and building a plot without writing formula fiction.
With a combined nearly 50 years of experience, Kilian and Moreno-Garcia save writers time, energy, and grief by showing them how to master the craft of storytelling and how to market their stories as successfully as possible. Their invaluable advice persuades readers to go beyond their, and others’, expectations of market and genre, pushing them to be better writers, and to add their own unique storytelling voices into the growing speculative fiction arena.
Synopsis: "A Writer's Guide to Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Crawford Kilian and Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a instructive 'how to' manual that is comprised of hands-on, practical, put-the-book-down-and-start-writing advice that speaks to new and emerging authors of science fiction and fantasy. Crawford and Silvia are bestselling SciFi writers who have compiled this instructional guide offer far more than pep talks and success stories; they explain genres and how to bend and blend them, giving concrete suggestions for overcoming inevitable writing problems across genres: self-editing, creating plausible characters, and building a plot without writing formula fiction. With a combined fifty years of experience, Kilian and Moreno-Garcia will save aspiring writers time, energy, and grief by showing them how to master the craft of storytelling and how to market their stories as successfully as possible. Their invaluable advice persuades readers to go beyond expectations of market and genre, pushing them to be better writers, and to add their own unique voices into the growing speculative fiction arena. For aspiring writers of the SciFi & Fantasy genre, this book will light the way to creating your own books. Critique: Impressively informative, expertly organized, accessibly presented, and especially recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Writing/Publishing collections, "A Writer's Guide to Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction and Fantasy" will prove to be invaluable and practical addition to the personal reading lists of anyone with an interest in writing (and having published!) their books and stories in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Editorial Note: Crawford Kilian has been teaching and writing online since the 1980s. He has published more than twenty books, including Writing for the Web, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Sell Your Nonfiction Book. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of Signal to Noise, Certain Dark Things, The Beautiful Ones, and the science fiction novella Prime Meridian.
- James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review