Wonderbook (Revised and Expanded): The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Bought this as a gift for my bf and we both love it! The art is well done and I was also impressed with the quality of the print!

What an imaginative and fun read that was also super helpful. I keep going back to this book and finding something new and applicable.

Beautiful book with a lot of elements that help to build your writing skills

Not just a few pages. This thing has been revised and re-thought.Now - let me give a review worthy of both - and if you find an old copy but don't have the new one - worth getting it.This is a book for writers and creative people. Lots of "How to write..." out there but...Well...Let's take a step back.Way, Waaaayyyy back there was this wonderful essay by Poul Anderson - "On Thud and Blunder" complaining about a lot of hack work being irresponsibly published during a brief but legendary "Sword and Sorcery" boom. Now, the article is side-splittingly funny and oh, so true. I loved it, though I obviously read it much later than originally published - quick google search you'll find it online.But - I should hate it. Coz I was interested in writing stories since day one. And I did look up educational material on it. Now, you want to do electronics you can find books on how to solder, use meters, how to read resistor codes, etc. Writing - well it was like EVERY single book on it was just Mr. Anderson's essay ballooned to a book to take your $ with maybe stuff added how to suck up to the Editor, etc.Mr. Anderson did have a good point - even in a fantastic otherworld things need to 'work' - that's the essence. Certainly mediocre writing will doom even faster to obscurity uncreative bland hack-work.BUT - writing is about "The Story".In the hands of a good writer ol Gnorts the Barbarian can fight off 500 of the King's pike-men with a 50lb Wet NOODLE and there will be comics, movies, video games made of him in later decades. It's good to keep the magic, cities, names, technology, events consistant - yes - but they are paints, pencils...What ARE you drawing? What are you painting? What do you say with your painting? How does it strike or lure the reader? Are there layers of meaning...?For instance - art - you can paint a pretty picture, but what does it say. Anyone can spatter paint, but there's a big difference between Van Gogh and paint spattered on the canvas. And then look at stuff like "Isle of the Dead"... A lot more than just the image painted implied.Well - this is the book for people who want to write stories, but know the basics but want to transcend them. It's hard to put this book into a small essay here - but its about the only book I've found that wasn't the "Mind your Elves and Orcs" stuff. I don't necessarily think it'll get you published - not in the current market of tons of mediocre, PC junk and everyone wanting to be the next King, Rowling, Tolkien, Martin - and hacking out stuff imitative of them... But if you want to write YOUR stories - and it'd be nice if you made money doing it - but you are putting out your stories and want to tell them in all sorts of good ways, to discover angles you didn't think of - but after all the work and experimentation improve yourself - well I don't think there's a better book out there. Nothing is certain in life but if any book helps you unleash the talent in you so your stories are remembered after all the "i wanna be the..." are forgotten and the Martins and Rowlings fade to "Penny Dreadful" status, G-d willing.I've now bought this book THRICE.Once - got stolen...won't go into it.Again - loved it - my precious - risked getting in trouble at work to read it.And - this new one - "Shut up and take my money!" - pre-ordered it - am glad I did!

For me - this book was better for inspiration than for craft. I loved the author interviews and frankly, any book that recommends examining the story structure in Serenity and Firefly is a good one. The visuals are fun and it was a true delight to turn the page and see what was next.

I am more than satisfied with my purchase. I own both versions, kindle, and paperback. This is by far the best creative writing textbook I have read and learned from. The chapter on characterization is worth the price. You can't rely on plot all the time. It will only get you so far. I am dyslexic, which is why I appreciate that they released a Kindle version of the book. It has quotes in many cases from prominent authors. Don't wait too long to get this or you will regret passing up on a good book. It's not philosophical. I have heard these comments to describe the book (give the book a chance, yes I am around 30 years old which makes it a somewhat dense read). To understand the book focus on the important details you want to improve on. In my case it was characterization. I even liked the challenge exercise which forces in one case to write from both characters point of view, which is in a sense a type of conflict. But conflict comes from characterization. I recommend reading it slowly or using a speech engine for when you get tired of reading. I haven't finished it yet, but just because I gained insights. Just before character arcs, there are a set of questions that help you flesh out your character or plot. A plot can be developed with some strategies, some examples include the symbolic life of objects, kinds of characterization. Even though he doesn't advocate it outright, biographical tidbits of your characters life. Action versus thought, consistency versus inconsistency, transfer of energy. I have a 400 downloaded collection of Kindle books. Do yourself a favor. Since this is the best book I have personally read, give it a chance before giving your money away to many preying booksellers and authors, who don't know enough to explain the craft.

This book has lots of tangible suggestions on how to structure a story, how to think about various aspects of storytelling, and interviews. It's a nice one for when you're looking for inspiration or just wanting to work on your skills.

the minute i saw this book online, i thought: yoink!!! i couldn't wait to have this creative resources in my home.& i'm glad i bought it. it's a soft cover book of a nice size with great colourful illustrations & many activities to keep an aspiring creative like myself busy for months? years? to come!

Weird fiction explained to the potential future weird fiction author. I see this book for what it is, a coffee table book to read in your leisure time. It is not a book about writing, but about the genre, the world creation, the enhancement of the weirdness. I recommend it, it is not a must have, but really a good addition to your idea providing repertoire.

This book is absolutely beautiful! The illustrations are not only amazing to look at but also serve a purpose and are incredibly useful next to the text. This book has helped me lots with most aspects of my writing.

Incredibly detailed, rich with pictures, graphs, tips and more.Truly an incredible work

I couldn't wait to get this book! It is Full of Content and it's so visually appealing! I had a sample on Kindle but unless you have a Large Screen it really works better in hard copy. I can't stop looking through it, and it has a great website with supplementary material! I was looking for a Book on Creative Writing and I found this right away! And it's not all gimmicky like I was worried. It has solid material that is Full of information from all kinds of people on writing. I'm working towards doing a Novel for NaNoWriMo in November and I don't have much time to prepare and this is the book I am using this year! Wish me Luck! I challenge all Canadians who are writers and isolated and needing inspiration to try it this year!