John Wiley & Sons Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies Cover Take your shot at becoming the next Tolkien, Asimov, or King with this simple roadmap to transformin.. Product #: 978-1-119-83909-5 Regular price: $21.40 $21.40 In Stock

Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies

Dakan, Rick / Van Cleave, Ryan G.

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1. Edition May 2022
432 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-119-83909-5
John Wiley & Sons

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Take your shot at becoming the next Tolkien, Asimov, or King with this simple roadmap to transforming your fiction into works of art

Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is your skeleton key to creating the kind of fiction that grips readers and compels them to keep turning pages (even if it's well past their bedtime!)

You'll start with the basics of creative writing--including character, plot, and scene--and strategies for creating engaging stories in different forms, such as novels, short stories, scripts, and video games. After that, get beginner-friendly and straightforward advice on worldbuilding, before diving headfirst into genre-specific guidance for science fiction, horror, and fantasy writing.

This book also offers:
* Strategies for editing and revising your next work to get it into tip-top shape for your audience
* Ways to seek out second opinions from editors, experts, and even sensitivity readers
* Techniques for marketing and publication, working with agents, and advice for writers going the self-publishing route

The perfect beginner's guide for aspiring writers with an interest in horror, fantasy, or science fiction, Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is the first and last resource you need before you start building your next story about faraway lands, aliens, and fantastic adventures.

Foreword xvii

Introduction 1

Part 1: Getting Started: The Basics of Story 5

Chapter 1: Taking Journeys into the Imagination 7

Chapter 2: Creating Characters 19

Chapter 3: Laying the Foundation -- The Power of Plot 41

Chapter 4: Crafting Many Worlds, Many Media 65

Part 2: Worldbuilding: Journeys to Other Worlds 79

Chapter 5: Building a World Like No Other 81

Chapter 6: Letting Your Research and Imagination Run Wild 93

Chapter 7: Showing the Explosion: Exposition That Thrills! 105

Chapter 8: This Planet Will Eat You: Worlds Are Characters, Too 117

Part 3: Science Fiction: Journeys into the Future 129

Chapter 9: Answering "What If?" 131

Chapter 10: A Spaceship for Every Occasion, an Occasion for Every Spaceship 139

Chapter 11: Encountering Aliens That Audiences Want to Know, Love, and Fear 157

Chapter 12: It's Alive! Or Is It? -- Imagining Robots and Artificial Intelligence 171

Chapter 13: Constructing Planetary Plots and Earth-Changing Stories 185

Part 4: Fantasy: Journeys into the Imagination 197

Chapter 14: Bringing Wonder to Your Story 199

Chapter 15: Worldbuilding on the Shoulders of Giants, Faeries, Dragons, and Hobbits 213

Chapter 16: Conjuring Story Magic 229

Chapter 17: Forming Really Fantastic (and Fantastically Real) Monsters 241

Part 5: Horror: Journeys into Fear 253

Chapter 18: Creating Dread, Fear, and Terror 255

Chapter 19: Fashioning Fearful Plots and Sinister Scenes 271

Chapter 20: Shaping Your Scares -- Menacing Monsters and Human Horrors 287

Chapter 21: Lurking in Every Shadow: Where Horror Resides 305

Part 6: The Journey from Writing to Publication 315

Chapter 22: Revising and Editing Like a Pro 317

Chapter 23: Getting Second Opinions: Editors, Experts, and Sensitivity Readers 331

Chapter 24: The Three Ps: Publication, Pitching, and Promotion 343

Part 7: The Part of Tens 357

Chapter 25: Ten Ways to Jump-Start a Stalled Story 359

Chapter 26: Ten Common Pitfalls in Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror 367

Chapter 27: Ten Popular Story Modes 375

Index 385
Rick Dakan and Ryan G. Van Cleave, PhD are professors at the prestigious Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where they teach such courses as Writing Science Fiction, Writing for Video Games, and Writing for Shared Worlds. Both of them have ended a D&D campaign with a single well-placed fireball.