Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I was expecting much more of a nuts and bolts book on writing fantasy, but a lot of the material in the book seemed targeted toward having a better appreciation of fantasy or what's required to write it, rather than the actual mechanics of writing. I enjoyed reading the book anyway, but it was not entirely what I had expected. The first part of the book introduced the concept of fantasy literature. I found Chapter 1, which analyzed the popularity of the Harry Potter series, to be very interesting. Chapter 2 introduced the general concept of fantasy literature and Chapter 3 categorized fantasy literature into five types with an accompanying essay or interview for each type. Although interesting, Chapter 3 was probably the weakest section of the book. The interviews, often about a single book the author wrote, were not the most effective means for conveying information. The second part of the book addressed the story itself. Chapter 4 discussed character development and was fairly informative, although like most of the book about a third to a half of the material are passage quotations from fantasy books. The two contributed portions of this chapter were not as informative as the material written by the author. Chapter 5 was similar in content and quality, but addressed places rather than characters. Chapter 6 discussed common themes often found in fantasy-such as magic, riddles, and prophecies-and also included two author interviews. Chapter 7 addressed plot and common story lines in fantasy literature and also included an interview and contributed article. The third part of the book addressed many of the mechanics of the writing process. Chapter 8 discussed generated ideas; Chapter 9 discussed the mechanics of the layout and order of which chapters to write first; Chapter 10 discussed how to set goals and remain motivated in the writing process; Chapter 11 discussed revising material; and Chapter 12 discussed submitting your work for publication. This last chapter was the only one in this part that included contributed material. I particularly enjoyed the interview with Terry Pratchett and the article by Ray Bradbury. The fourth part of the book included some reference material: publisher addresses and web/print references. Overall, as a 'How To' book for writers I give this book four stars. While all of the material was interesting, the usefulness of it was uneven. Betters books are "Worlds of Wonder" by David Gerrold or "How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card. However, if you love fantasy and just want a better appreciation of what goes into writing it, then this book is definitely five stars.
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