Card – How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy

The first two chapters of this slim volume were most helpful to me. “What is science-fiction?” is not an easy question, especially in distinguishing it from fantasy and the broader category of speculative fiction. Basically, Card says sci-fi concerns experience … Continue reading

Long – The Writer’s Portable Mentor

Advice for the Experienced Writer Long, Priscilla (2010). The Writer’s Portable Mentor: A Guide to Art, Craft, and the Writing Life. Seattle, WA: Wallingford Press, 349 pp. My shelves are heavy with how-to-write books, some helpful, some inspirational, most inert. … Continue reading

Wood – How Fiction Works

Philosophy of Fiction Wood, James (2008). How Fiction Works.  New York: Picador/Farrar, Straus, Giroux. This beautifully manufactured little paperback surveys the main points of novel writing craftsmanship, such as characterization, point of view, metaphor, dialog, and so on, but does … Continue reading