Step One Errata & Additional Material The Guide To Writing Fantasy And Science Fiction

STEP ONE ERRATA & ADDITIONAL MATERIAL: The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction Is there such a thing as a perfect e-book? If there's, I haven’t learn one, let alone written one. One of the things I’d hoped to perform with this blog was not just to promote the guide however to complement it with extra materials. This wouldn’t be a lot of a weblog concerning the writing and publishing course of if I just let the printed e-book speak for itself, so right here we go, an element or “step” at a time, digging in to right errors, wrestle over inconsistencies, patch in lacking information, and resurrect edited text. The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction STEP ONE: Storytelling The paragraph on page 15 was written after the editor and/or editorial board selected this 6-Step approach. I’ve already admitted that I actually cringed at that idea. I didn’t need anyone to think that I assume inventive writing is in any means a step-by-step course of. If you didn’t get that from that paragraph, I’ll say it again here: Creative writing is not a step-b y-step course of. Unfortunately, neither is guide marketing, and in some circumstances you simply have to smile and bear it in terms of how a writer chooses to position your work. I won’t rehash the Phil vs. copy editor wrestle of world building vs. worldbuilding and bestselling vs. finest-selling except to say that I was proper and the guide as sold is incorrect. But it doesn’t alter the message so I promise to recover from it if you'll. And another heartfelt because of Paul S. Kemp for the quote on web page sixteen, and thanks Ernest Hemingway, wherever you might be. Here’s the introductory textual content the way it appeared within the first draft. Consider it a type of historic doc, if you'll: The best a part of writing a novel is the part you’re best at, and the toughest half is the part that you’re worst at. That’s true of something, from taking part in sports to gourmand cooking. But in terms of writing style fiction, very much including fantasy, storytelling is t he heart of it. If you’re a good pure storyteller, like my friend R.A Salvatore, the worldbuilding, the analysis, sentence constructionâ€"the craftsmanship of writingâ€"is one thing you'll be able to learn by listening to recommendation such as you’ll find in this e-book and others, from helpful editors and English lecturers, and so forth. If you’re not an excellent pure storyteller, you’ve received a protracted, troublesome highway ahead of you. Teaching writing is comparatively easy, however teaching storytelling is close to impossible. I’ll try anyway, but prepare for lots of generalities, choices, and fuzzy considering. Though this whole e-book is really about storytellingâ€"tips on how to create a plausible fantasy world and populate it with intriguing charactersâ€"this part will cover the superstructure upon which all those particulars are supported. Idea, theme, plot . . . with out them you'll be able to tell us all concerning the political construction of your fant asy world, create a whole new language and alphabet, a rich mythology or fantastical faith, however nobody will ever know. You received’t have a e-book, you’ll have a pocket book. Chapter four: Start With An Idea Well, that looks as if fairly good advice. Chapter 4 originally started with these two sentences, reduce within the interest of brevity: Hey, what’s the large concept? It’s the whole level of even writing a guide, that’s what it's. When I say “thought,” I imply the reply to this question: “What is your guide about?” I first ran throughout that Harlan Ellison anecdote in a science fiction class in high school, and it all the time struck me as a humorous and completely applicable response to an inconceivable to answer query. I dug up the text on the internet, excerpted from the biographical film Dreams With Sharp Teeth. I despatched Harlan a letter asking his permission to make use of the quote. He refuses to make use of email. A few days later he called me on my cellular phone and yelled at me for a couple of minutes, criticizing the wording of 1 sentence in the letter then made sternly worded calls for that resulted in the legal line in the front matter of the guide. I am a huge, large fan of Harlan Ellison, and I say so on this e-book, and pretty much anyplace I can. He’s the greatest writer of quick stories who ever lived. After a quarter century in and across the publishing enterprise I’ve stopped being star struck by authors, but I actually have to say, being yelled at on the cellphone by Harlan Ellisonâ€"and he’s yelled at me on the telephone a number of instances nowâ€"have been a few of the most enjoyable moments of my life. Another “battle” with the editor was all these subtitles. They were not within the first draft, however the feeling on the publisher was that folks can’t digest giant blocks of sort and have to stop and start each few paragraphs. I succumbed to the strain, but still don’t suppose this is true . Maybe I just don’t want it to be trueâ€"especially since every chapter on this e-book was pretty short as is. Anyway, reading it again, some, although admittedly not all, of those sub-heads still feel like interlopers. The one at the top of web page 19 does for positive. Here’s the sidebar that was minimize from this chapter, my sorry try at offering a working example, and a reduce I was joyful was made. Example World: One Idea, Limitless Potential So what is the idea for our example novel? I kinda like certainly one of my what ifs from the above part. It actually did simply come to me as I was typing, however I suppose I can work with it: What if the most effective swordsman in the kingdom lost each his arms? Here’s a guy who begins the guide with a history. We know already that he’s the kingdom’s best swordsman, however isn’t anymoreâ€"he can’t be, with no armsâ€"or can he? I’m already asking myself questions like, How did he lose his arms? Was it an accident? Wa s he bested by a superior swordsman? Does he seek revenge towards the man (or woman, or monster, or whatever) that took his arms? Was it his own fault? Does his disability put the dominion in peril? Or was this guy a hazard to the kingdom? Is he the hero or the villain? Was he a hero who becomes a villain after shedding his arms, or is it the other way round? Yeah, I think I actually have some room to play with that one. Chapter 5: Have Something to Say This quick paragraph was minimize from the start, I think as a result of it made me sound too glum, as though I was telling you that this is really all too onerous and you need to simply surrender. Setting apart how true that is, it did appear a bit discouraging on reflection: A heady question, that first one: What does your book train us? It could be a little intimidating till you stop and give it some thought. Then it’s no less than a little less intimidating. The idea of starting a novel must be a little intimidating. It’s a p rotracted, troublesome highway that very few folks can journey and fewer can navigate nicely. I actually cited two sources for that Robert E. Howard letter. Here’s the primary one, and here’s the second one. The paragraph immediately following the letter was thought to be too snarky. Judge for your self: Hey, wait a minute. The Conan stories have been about one thing? They had a viewpoint? You wager your broadsword they did, and that the writer was keenly aware of the same. So, sure, fantasy stories not solely can have a message, however like all fiction, inherently should have a message. The subtlety with which that message is conveyed is another matter totally. There’s one other a type of compelled sub-heads at the top of web page 22, however the remainder of the headings starting with THE TRUE MEANING . . . were not in my first draft, but had been a welcome addition. See? It’s not all Phil vs. Editor! And this chapter’s excised sidebar: Example World: And the Moral of t he Story Is . . . So we all know we’re going to write down a science fiction impressed high fantasy tale during which the best swordsman within the kingdom loses each his arms (or has lost each his arms). Let’s brainstorm all 5 classes: The True Meaning of . . . greatness. He was a terrific swordsman, however what actually makes one great? The capability to kill somebody actually quick? His service to the kingdom as a soldier? His ability to show his martial art to the next generation of swordsmen? The Corrupting Influence of . . . fame. Everyone knew he was the best swordsman within the kingdom, and everybody wanted a chunk of himâ€"and eventually they obtained two items: his arms. Once he was proclaimed “the best,” did he become (not to put too fantastic some extent on it) a dick? Did he need to be permanently “disarmed”? The Vital Importance of . . . dignity. Having misplaced his arms, he can’t flash his swords round, but does that imply he crawls right into a bottl e and feels sorry for himself, or does he stand tall, understanding that he’s more than simply his ability to wield a sword, and proves that the true warrior doesn’t want to chop his opponent to win the day. The Undeniable Power of . . . ingenuity. Okay, so he misplaced his arms, but does that mean he can never wield a sword again? Not if he’s notably artistic and finds a way to reclaim his energy by “pondering exterior the box,” and finding a method to be a fair better swordsman via his personal creativity. The Eternal Struggle Between . . . mind and body. Are you your arms or your mind? If you lose your arms, even if you make a living as a swordsman, is it throughout for you? Maybe our hero realizes that now that he can’t use his physique to beat his opponents down physically he’ll need to assume tougher, outsmart them, or perhaps he’ll come to realize that he shouldn’t have been combating them within the first place. This goes to the everlasting battle between s avagery and civilization that Robert E. Howard explored. Especially since we’re on the lookout for some science fiction parts, I like the thought of the vital importance of ingenuity. Maybe our hero can build himself some steampunky mechanical arms and re-learn how to wield a sword. That may be slightly an excessive amount of like the film Army of Darkness, however we’ll discover a inventive take on it, I promise. Chapter 6: Develop a Plot Ah, the diagram. How much struggling over the diagram? I’ve drawn this on white boards and in notes to authors extra instances than I can depend, however there was no price range for a graphic designer for this e-book, so I was informed that if I wished the diagram I needed to do it myself. I’m not a graphic designer. I’ve labored with a few of the greatest in the enterprise, which is how I know I’m not one, but I did my best. This was actually assembled using Microsoft Wordâ€"that’s how not a graphic designer I am. A graphic designe r would have lined up the circles and arrows with any precision in any respect, as an example. Me, not being a graphic designer, didn't. I had to make a grey model of it, nevertheless it began out blue: I am not a graphic designer. I wish I’d saved a number of the earlier versions. Some of them have been hilarious, especially the hand-drawn versions. In retrospect they may have given the guide a retro charm, like an old Judges Guild supplement, however alas. . . . Anyway, I still assume the diagram will get the purpose across. Following the diagram is another instance of the constructive utility of sub-heads. I think they make decoding the diagram heaps extra clear than my unique big block of textual content. And the sidebar: Example World: Plotting Out a Plot We already know who our hero is, the best swordsman in the realm, however he’s lost his arms. First, let’s determine the place we hope our story will end up. This is a excessive fantasy tale with some SF elementsâ€"that leaves us all types of room. But I suppose we’d better stick with one thing rather less controversial, and though I’m a big fan of “darkish,” I recognize that I’m kind of in the minority on that one, but come on, we can get somewhat darkish, can’t we? Let’s say that we would like our hero and villain to finish up somewhere on the dark aspect of the heroic victory zone, kind of level C. Our hero’s A is he’s the best swordsman in all the realms, supremely self-assured and at the high of the world. He’s fiercely loyal to the getting older emperor, a person he respects and loves like a father. He intends to marry the emperor’s daughter and one day turn out to be king, as a result of the emperor has no son. That kinda sounds just like the movie Gladiator, but similar to the Army of Darkness bit, we’ll discover a lot of ways to make it our personal. The villain begins as a rival swordsman who was disgraced years in the past and pushed into exile. He plans to return to the empire, assassinate the emperor, drive the princess to marry him, and seize control of the empire that had turned its back on him. When these two males first face off, on the conflict level, the treacherous villain uses a brand new, excessive-tech energy sword the hero isn’t acquainted with. This new weapon ideas the balance enough so that our hero’s arms are severed. The villain, sure of his success having eliminated the emperor’s champion, succeeds in murdering the emperor and seizing the throne, however the princess escapes. The hero has been knocked off his trajectory, and bumped closer to the villain’s plans. But the princess finds him and inspires him to a new goalâ€"now A-C instead of A-Bâ€"to defeat the person who defeated him, and save the empire. Chapter 7: Know When to Stop Here’s some good stuff that was minimize from the start of this chapter because the guide was running lengthy: Years ago I was on a panel at a conference with three different SF/fanta sy authors, together with the late Chris Bunch. The topic was why fantasy books all the time seem to come in threes. We started taking place the desk making an attempt to answer that, and the most effective I could provide you with was that The Lord of the Rings was printed as a trilogy, and that’s turn out to be the prototype for all fantasy novels that got here after it. The Lord of the Rings was a trilogy, subsequently fantasy-equals-trilogy. I’m not saying I was proper, but I still can’t think of a better answer. Later, the man who organized the panel admitted he was type of stretching for a topic. The dialogue very quickly left the question of fantasy in threes and ended up pertaining to all kinds of topics, led by Chris Bunch’s big, funny, irreverent personality. The reason I’m beginning this section with that story is so I can start up entrance with my feeling that there’s no actually good reason that fantasies should come in trilogies, even having written one mys elf. This bit might be somewhat bit mild on absolutes, and more alongside the lines of: you inform me. But with a standard warning: think twice, be good, and know when to commit your self, and when to let your readers decide how long you keep in a single world. I truthfully can’t remember Chris Bunch’s answer to that query, I suppose he just dismissed it off hand, but I ran it past a number of different specialists. The convention was Northwest Book Fest, and I don’t keep in mind the 12 months, nevertheless it was after we moved to Seattle and before my son was born so between 1997 and 2000. Example World: Taking my very own Advice My armless swordsman character has “beloved star of a multi-e-book franchise” written all over him, but I must hearken to my own advice, and maintain thinking when it comes to this one novel. I’ll take Paul’s recommendation as well, though, and be sure that there are many hooks I can come back to and grasp no less than components of comply w ith-up novels on. I’m even going to think about this when it comes to a title. Sometimes you'll be able to build a sequence title proper into the title of the first book. Movies do that all the time, since it’s extremely uncommon that a film studio will guess what now can be lots of of hundreds of thousands of dollars on a film collection before they know if anybody is going to go to the first one. Star Wars is the traditional instance. Before the primary movie grew to become the large success it was, there was no Episode IV, it was simply Star Wars, then Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and so forth. Is this too early to come up with a title for my armless swordsman novel? Maybe, however not too early for a placeholder. Lets begin pondering of this book as: Armless Swordsman. Then if there’s a sequel it could possibly be: Blood Red Steel: Armless Swordsman Book II, then The Dark Darkness: Armless Swordsman Book III, and so forth until thirty years from now considered one o f my kids (perhaps in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson) writes: The Final Dead Horse is Beaten: Armless Swordsman Book XXIX. I can roll with thatâ€"for now. The first draft contained this footnote, an aside to my editor, Peter Archer: “Peterâ€"inform me if this is too snarky a jab at Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert. I want Kevin to write D&D stuff. Will this make him hate me?” Yeah, hello, Kevin, please don’t hate meâ€"you know I love you, man. Chapter eight: Learn How to Write Wow, a giant topic for one quick chapter, however y’know, this can’t be the one book on writing you have to read when you really need to write for a living. The sub-heads added all through this chapter were a big help, too. This one was just about completely intact from the first draft, and there was no instance world sidebar for this chapter, so I think that wraps it up for Step One! â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans