How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy

Very interesting book and a very great help in my writing of fantasy.It is certainly been a boost to getting me started again in my writing

I was wondering whether or not to buy this, as I already have a few books on novel writing. But this book has a lot of advice that I did not find in other books, such as the MICE quotient. I think it would be worth a read even for those not writing sci-fi or fantasy.

This is without a doubt a must buy for any would be sci fi or fantasy author. Orson Scott Card gives some excellent advice about writing books for the genre and does so without making you feel ignorant or stupid for not having thought of the advice he gives.His writing is witty and down to earth and he illustrates his advice with examples from notable sci-fi and fantasy authors which lets you see the real world application of his advice. Although I agree with some reviewers that the book leans slightly more towards sci-fi than fantasy as Orson Scott Card states in the book Sci-fi and Fantasy are really members of the same 'family' of books and as such all the advice he gives in the book can be applied to would be writers of either genre and even from time to time for writers of any genre.For those of you wondering about whether this book will actually have any effect on how you write the answer is most definitely yes, I can honestly say that reading the book has enabled me to see some glaringly obvious problems with my own work which I am now correcting. Without having reading this book I would never have seen those errors and my work would have suffered for it.I've given the book four stars as opposed to five however because all that it is an excellent little book it does feel a little too short and leaves you wanting more at the end; it's definitely not the be all and end all of 'how to write fantasy/sci-fi' guides but it IS a must buy and probably the best place to start from before moving on to more substantial guides.

Really, very, very informative. A few mentions of his own works that might be accused of product placement, but levelled out by mentions of other books by other authors, to make examples of points.Really, Really advise that if your unsure what to do or what your doing, buy this.

Brilliant!

Accurate description, quick delivery

Although I don't have many issues with it the presentation of the book is quite boring. I personally engage more with instruction book when they have sections and I know what each chapter is about. In addition, I thought that it would have different parts for fantasy and sci-fi but it tends to mix them up. Kind of dissapointing honestly.

This is an excellent reference to writing sci-fi and fantasy, with a huge amount of information and advice packed into a surprisingly concise and readable book.It does have one problem, however. Now, I have a fairly objective approach to Star Trek; I enjoy watching it if it's on, but I usually can't be bothered. But Card seems to absolutely hate it - on the few occasions that Star Trek is even mentioned, he slathers on so much vitriol that it becomes quite distasteful to read. Even as someone with a little more than passing enjoyment of the series, I found myself putting the book down with a grimace after the raving on warp drive (which Card dismisses as "the silliest option for FTL travel").I have yet to pick it up again.