Speculative Fiction Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers
February 1, 2014
Previous editions of the Now Write! series have focused on nonfiction, general fiction, screenplays, and mysteries. It was inevitable it would get around to sf and fantasy, and why not? As the book's contributors point out, there are a lot of unique challenges to writing in these genres. The dozens of essays heresome by notables including Harlan Ellison, Joe R. Lansdale, and Simon Clarktackle such subjects as freelancing for sf TV series; writing interspecies romance; building an internally consistent system of magic; creating a compelling but believable villain; creating a television series; tapping into the most common human fears; and much more. The book's only drawback may be that, in trying to pack so much into a relatively small space, the editor has selected a lot of very short essays: most of them are only a page or two long, and, in many cases, we're just settling in, and suddenly we're already done. A useful but also a tad superficial book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)