I have always been a big fan of Orson Scott Card. When I saw this book in the store, I knew that it would be useful. Mr. Card is a wonderful writer and definitely has enough experience to write a book telling others how to write. This book gives many useful tips on how to create worlds and define characters. In addition to this, it gives many unique pieces of advice that specifically involve the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres. While some of the information on how to be published may be out of date by now (and Orson mentions in that chapter that it will become out of date) the bulk of this book is still very useful. So, if you are interested in learning how to write Science Fiction and Fantasy, this is an excellent reference for you to use. You will certainly learn many useful things from this book and your writing will improve.

Orson Scott Card (well known to sf circles as the author of Ender's Game) presents his advice on writing science fiction and fantasy. The book has a specific and limited scope: rather than trying to teach everything one needs to know to write fiction, Card addresses only those areas where speculative fiction differs from other types. Consequently, this is not a stand-alone writing book. If you are unacquainted with the craft of plotting, character development, dialog, etc., you will need to fill those gaps in some other way.

Within the scope the book sets for itself, however, it is top notch. Card really knows his stuff, and has a knack for articulating what he knows in a helpful and memorable way. Particularly valuable is the section on exposition. While most books on fiction writing preach minimizing exposition, Card understands that speculative fiction requires it. The imaginative worlds of speculative fiction are not familiar to readers; they need explaining, and readers expect satisfying explanations. Card explains the conventions of the genre that are used to present exposition without stalling the story. He uses Wild Seed by Octavia Butler to illustrate the ideas, so the reader can see tangible examples of the principles he describes.

I also enjoyed his breakdown of stories into four categories (MICE, for milieu, idea, character, and event). He deftly summarizes how each type of story needs to work, and the problems that can result if you don't know what type of story you are writing. This was illuminating and refreshing, since most books on writing do not even acknowledge that fiction can be driven by anything other than character development. In speculative fiction, however, milieu and idea driven stories are part of the landscape, and the aspiring writer needs to understand how they work.

Card also offers excellent advice about the business of writing, covering subjects beyond manuscript preparation and agents, such as writer's workshops and classes, sf conventions, and so on. Once again, his familiarity with the world of sf writing comes through strong and clear; he's not merely repeating standard bits of advice, but is writing from experience.

A few words of caution: The book was published in 1990, and so is a bit dated in places (there is a bigger market for fantasy short stories than when Card was writing, for example), and the book emphasizes sf more than fantasy. (One notable disappointment in this regard: In one section, there is a discussion of the mechanics of interstellar travel, time travel, and magic. The first two topics receive well-thought-out lists of the different approaches used in sf, and their story implications. Magic, instead of receiving a similar treatment, gets a digression riffing off the idea that magicians sacrifice body parts to cast spells. It's an interesting train of thought, but something less narrow and idiosyncratic would have been appreciated.)

On balance, this is the very best book I have found on the special issues that arise when writing science fiction and fantasy. Paired with something like The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, it will answer most questions an aspiring writer in these genres is likely to face.

I received this book and was very excited to learn things that my writing has been missing. After reading this book I realized that this is not where I will find the answers. The basics of the information is OK, but I agree with what a previous reviewer said having never had any formal writing training outside of highschool english class myself that what we have here is basically just the common sence basics. It's OK for a refresher course for those who haven't done any writing since school, but if you're expecting to unlock some secret formula and suddenly be a published author by the end of reading the book, you're going to be disappointed. I've learned that there's no book out there that can tell you how to use your imagination, although some can give you tips and ideas of how to tap into it and your experiences to come up with story ideas.

One thing I noticed here is that the author (who I must admit after reading some of his other works recently is nothing to write home about) couldn't seem to get over his prejudice of Star Trek. He claims that Star Trek has total contempt for science. The things he says about Star Trek totally contradict everything else he says in the book.

So basically if you want a book that'll look cool on your shelf alongside a few sci-fi classics you may consider picking this one up. But if you want useful information on how to get the best out of your writing I recommend passing this one up and looking elsewhere.

Well written, with lots of great insights and real confidence builder. Card also give a lot of resources for further study. At one point (from memory) he says that you must simultaneously believe that the story you are working on today is the greatest story ever written ... so that you have the confidence to move forward. And that the current story you are working on is drivel (my word), so you can take the criticisms and rejection and move on.

The advice he gives on how to query magazines and publishers is worth it's weight in gold, and the section on being careful not to get "pegged" in a specific genre is pretty good too.

The only reason this book doesn't currently rate 5 stars is because some of the information is outdated. I simply have to wonder if, other than certain magazines being out of print, if anything else in the Sci Fi & Fantasy realms have changed since the book was written?

Maybe it's time to spend a day or two updating the content, and releasing a new edition.

When you come down to the nuts and bolts all how to write books present the same or similer information as each other. The only difference is the presentation style of the writer and possibly the empasis of some particular aspects over others.

I found this book to be the right book at the right time for me. Some areas like the treatment of reader expectations was new (at least to me). Other points where presented well.

A lot of the examples are based on personal expirence, and why shouldn't they be? He is a published author. At the end of the day if he uses his own writing as an example he can known how he developed the ideas, if he uses someone else's he can only speculate.

About the only thing to be said against this book is that a lot of the advice on the publishing industry is dated and by now inaccurate, but hay this book was written quite some time ago and the real world is a moving target.