Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: How to Create Out-of-This-World Novels and Short Stories

This all-in-one comprehensive guide will show you how to write the next great fantasy or science fiction story.

In Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction, master authors offer advice on world building, character creation, and storytelling techniques in speculative fiction.

Combining two Writer's Digest classics, Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy and The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference, along with two new selections from award-winning science fiction and fantasy authors Philip Athans and Jay Lake, this book provides the best of all worlds. You'll discover:

• How to build, populate, and dramatize fantastic new worlds.
• How to develop dynamic and meaningful themes that will expand the cannon of sci-fi and fantasy storytelling.
• Exciting subgenres such as steampunk, as well as new developments in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.
• How to imbue your tales with historically accurate information about world cultures, legends, folklore, and religions.
• Detailed descriptions of magic rituals, fantastic weapons of war, clothing and armor, and otherworldly beasts such as orcs, giants, elves, and more.
• How societies, villages, and castles were constructed and operated on a day-to-day basis.
• Astounding methods of interstellar travel, the rules of starflight, and the realities and myths of scientific exploration.
• How to generate new ideas and graft them to the most popular themes and plot devices in sci-fi and fantasy writing.

To create credible and thrilling fiction, you must ground your stories in rules, facts, and accurate ideas. Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction will guide you through the complex and compelling universe of fantasy and science fiction writing and help you create stories for the next generation of readers and fans.