¿Les gustan los libros de escritura? ¿Les interesaría asistir a cursos de estos géneros?

This is a guide on the ins and outs of creating, writing, and publishing speculative fiction-mostly science fiction and fantasy-during the early 1990s. For me this was an absolute treasure for multiple reasons. First, much of the advice is still seminal and is a great guide to help fuel one’s creative journey on the craft of writing speculative fiction, secondly, this is a time shot of the writing publishing world in the early 1990s, which the history aficando in me absolutely adored-never mind that I was alive as an adolescent and then teenager during the 90s. There is a lot of charm to be found in the late 80s and early 90s and I think those that live history will enjoy hearing about how this industry worked from someone at the very top of the game. Now, once more-and I want to stress this-this does not mean that all of the advice will not apply now a days. Some of it won’t, exactly, but you’ll still learn something about business, publishing, and writing even from the more 90s exclusive sections. The majority of the content here will still have great valuable for one trying to create and write better, and it is told in a fun, engaging style that was a pleasure to read. From brain storming on stories, to basic story structure, to work shopping, to querying this work touches upon every aspect of the creative process in a wonderful, witty way. While clearly this book is meant for writers of all skill level I once more think literary historians would probably enjoy it to. If you are a writing liking to better your journey, then I say take this book with you to find your stars, and nay your path be bright.

P.s. I may not agree 100% with all advice given within this guide, but I think the reader will still learn a lot even when not in complete agreement, and a lot of literary philosophy can be spring boarded from the content of this book.

Orson habla de la diferencia entre escribir género y no hacerlo, y el supuesto cambio de chip que tiene que tener el escritor al hacerlo. Entretenido.

Super informative, though more geared towards SF than fantasy. Still, I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about either subject!

An older reference now, but a good one. In a relatively short book, Card gracefully fits together quite a bit of concrete guidance on technique (much of which applies to writing fiction of any kind), on why as well as how to do things in certain ways, and some useful context in terms of history of both genres. His style is clear and conversational. This is one of the better books on writing I've run across yet.

The title of this book is somewhat misleading. If you are looking for a book which will tell you how to write, or how to write SF, this book is not the one for you. There are a few great gems of knowledge but this book reads more like a memoir of an SF writer than a manual of how to do it. In general it has a conversational tone, uses mostly anecdotes to demonstrate points, and is full of personal biases and opinions. that being said I think anyone serious about pursuing SF should read the book, if only for its anthropological merit. if you are brand new to the craft of writing however, you should probably read a few proper "how to write" books first.

A pesar de que el autor se hace bastante autobombo (que tampoco me parece mal), tiene varias ideas interesantes para autores noveles que pueden servir para organizar el trabajo.

Más que de fantasía, diría que Scott Card habla sobre CF largo y tendido, aunque como él bien dice, son géneros gemelos, por lo que se puede aplicar reglas en ambos. He encontrado a veces falta de objetividad en algunos de sus temas, como por ejemplo, el que está relacionado con las reglas de la magia.

En resumidas cuentas, si no tienes ni idea de escribir y quieres empezar, está bien como pincelada general. Si tienes curiosidad por cómo funciona el sistema de Scott Card para sus libros, también está bien, pero no busques profundidad, porque no la hay. A fin de cuentas, ¿acaso crees que si tiene la clave te la va a contar? Y tampoco revela nada que no sepamos: para escribir bien, hay que leer mucho y escribir mucho.

Orson Scott Card is an award-winning author of dozens of science fiction and fantasy books, including the Hugo and Nebula award winning Ender’s Game. So who else would you turn to for instruction on how to write a science fiction and fantasy novel? I’m working on a novel — isn’t everyone these days? — and picked up How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy for some instruction. I’m used to writing for an academic audience, so bridging the chasm between peer-reviewed journals and publicly read books is a big step for me. I have to say, though, that I’m not sure this book is really worth all the kudos it has in the writing community, and I think that’s mostly because it hasn’t been updated. The original publication date is 1990. Whole genres of fantasy have come out since 1990, not to mention the advent of the Internet and its revolutionary changes to t... Read More:
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Orson Scott Card has written some amazing fiction in his time. Many of these have gone on to become movies, and in fact still do. Given the chance to pick this book up, I had picked it up years ago. The original review for that purchase has been lost to the sands of time, yet I was given the chance to revisit this short piece of writing advice thanks to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: How to Create Out-Of-This-World Novels and Short Stories. Thus, I decided to review this book again.

Much to be said, when I first read this book, I didn't like a lot of it. Rereading the most important chapters again didn't help this feeling. Card is a good writer, but the way he goes about presenting that information to the reader felt a little off and egotistical for my tastes. Now, there are other reviews that express how I feel about this book really well, so please check out the other reviews here on Goodreads after you are done reading this one.

Some of the advice in this book has stuck with me over the years. Card's talk about sacrifice and magic has been one of them, and anytime I write a fantasy story it comes up in my mind. It's good advice, and one I have repeated to others when I talk to them about writing fantasy. Other advice in this book has also been helpful, such as cause-effect between the actions of two people, and how if you dig deeper, there are some good stories there. These parts of the book are extremely helpful and the main reason I would recommend this book to aspiring writers.

But I do have some issues with this book. Beyond the two that I will mention in a moment, I will state that if you are a fantasy writer, picking up this book will only help you a small amount. Card is primarily a science fiction writer, and it shows. A lot. He spends pages talking about faster than light travel. Sure, it's interesting, but it also does horror or fantasy writers any good. He also talks about time travel, again, not that helpful. So be warned, if you pick this up to learn how to write fantasy, there are some parts you will have to slog through.

Now, my two main issues with this book:

Card states: "You'll probably have to wait months or years before writing good versions of story ideas you come up with now." He goes on to talk about how you shouldn't worry because you probably have story ideas that have been brewing for years in your head from before you decided to become a writer. Now, while this is true of some people, it is not the rule, something Card seems very keen on making it appear to be. There are a lot of writers who write fiction on the fly. (NaNoWriMo has made a worldwide event of it. Sure, not all the stories are golden, and in fact most of them aren't, but there are some really good stories that come out of it and see publication.) Card's statement is also poor form for a book on writing I feel.

The second is his stance on Star Trek.
I'm not a Trekkie by any stretch of the word. Sure, I enjoy the odd story or aspect of the world, but that's as far as it goes. And in some cases, Card's points are valid. (such as the one about how Captain Kirk would never do what he does with away teams if he was true to explorer ship fashion) However, it is also the only science fiction genre that Card seems to carry any poison for, and that bitterness comes out anytime the subject comes out. Possibly the worst moment of it is when Card discusses Warp Speed, talking about how this is the most unrealistic treatment of faster than light travel. He says it is unrealistic because in the stories, crossing the light barrier is treated with the same ease as crossing the light barrier. Well, it wasn't that long ago that scientists believed it was impossible to cross the sound barrier.
In the end, I found this anti-Trek sentiment to be annoying since it's the only time Card bashes another genre rather than singing praises as he does for the rest of the book.

All that said, Card does put together a fairly solid book on writing speculative fiction, with a few real good nuggets of information. His comparison of British vs American treatment of speculative writers opened my eyes so that I became aware of the fact that yes, there is a difference. His pointers on characters is also full of points that are worth paying attention to, more so in his points about what makes certain characters more enjoyable than others.

Card has put together an alright book on writing. I wouldn't recommend purchasing this on its own, but rather, get it as part of a collection like the one mentioned above. Not only does it maximize your dollar value, but it also gives you other writers to offset Card's unique viewpoints and unbalanced treatment of science fiction vs fantasy.

So far, I've read and gone back over critical points in this book once, and there's still a lot more info I need to review.

If you aspire to write sci-fi or fantasy at pro-level, this book is a MUST READ.

So read it! You have to! No excuses! And I 'm not fuckin' around!!!

Brian

Stay healthy

An old book, but actually really good. If you write (or want to write) Sci Fi or Fantasy, it's definitely worth a read.

There are so few books that specialize in writing science fiction & fantasy that I try to read the few that exist. I admire OSC's storytelling even if I disagree with his politics, so I tried to set aside his homophobia as I read this. The book was published in 1990, which means much of the submissions and business information is outdated -- the book especially dates itself by giving postal addresses rather than URLs for every resource listed. Afterwards, I did a quick check on which publications were still in operation, and found that most of them had folded.

However, the craft information, while leaning a bit heavily on the sci-fi side, is still helpful. I especially liked the section where OSC talks about different narrative structures, depending on the type of story you are trying to write -- a character story, a "milieu" story, an "idea" story, etc. I was surprised to realize that my 2014 NaNoWriMo effort is a "milieu" story -- a structure that I had never found all that interesting in the abstract sense. The examination on how to choose your viewpoint character was valuable, too. And I was strangely delighted by the "non-writing" advice in the last couple pages, reminding writers to get enough sleep, get physical exercise, and not to neglect their families. All important advice, especially since there's a tendency, after reading a writing advice book, to think you must devote EVERY spare moment to your craft if you ever hope to succeed.

It was a worthwhile read, although short, and would have been even shorter had I skipped the chapters that were no longer relevant. Will probably jot down my favorite pieces of advice and pass this on to another writer.