The best books on Writing Fantasy

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Learn to write science fiction and fantasy from a master You've always dreamed of writing science fiction and fantasy tales that pull readers into extraordinary new worlds and fantastic conflicts. Best-selling author Orson Scott Card shows you how it's done, distilling years of writing experience and publishing success into concise, no-nonsense advice. You'll learn how to: • utilize story elements that define the science fiction and fantasy genres • build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world your readers will want to explore • develop the "rules" of time, space and magic that affect your world and its inhabitants • construct a compelling story by developing ideas, characters, and events that keep readers turning pages • find the markets for speculative fiction, reach them, and get published • submit queries, write cover letters, find an agent, and live the life of a writer The boundaries of your imagination are infinite. Explore them with Orson Scott Card and create fiction that casts a spell over agents, publishers, and readers from every world.

In 1977, the "New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller list--back then the exclusive province of self-help guides, cartoon collections, and any number of cat books--played host to its very first work of fiction: "The Sword of Shannara, an epic quest through a mythical land, by first-time author Terry Brooks. Nineteen "New York Times bestselling novels later, it would be easy enough to just say: ." . . and the rest is history." But when it comes to quests, everyone knows that getting there is half the fun. Now, Terry Brooks tells the story of how he got there--from beginner to bestselling author--and shares his secrets for creating unusual, memorable fiction. Writing is writing, whether one's setting is a magical universe or a suburban backyard. Spanning topics from the importance of daydreaming to the necessity of writing an outline, from the fine art of "showing instead of merely "telling to creating believable characters who make readers care what happens to them, Brooks draws upon his own experiences, hard lessons learned, and delightful discoveries made in creating the beloved Shannara and Magic Kingdom of Landover series, The Word and The Void trilogy, and the bestselling "Star Wars novel "The Phantom Menace. In addition to being a writing guide, "Sometimes the Magic Works is Terry Brooks's self-portrait of the artist. Here are sketches of his midwestern boyhood, when comic books, radio serials, and a vivid imagination launched a life long passion for weaving tales of wonder; recollections of the fateful collaboration with legendary editor Lester del Rey that changed not only the author's life but the course of publishing history; and an eye-opening look at the ups anddowns of dealing with Hollywood, as a writer of official novels based on major movies by both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. "If you don't think there is magic in writing, you probably won't write anything magical," says Terry Brooks. This book offers a rare and wonderful opportunity to peer into the mind of (and learn a trick or two from) one of fantasy fiction's preeminent magicians.

Contains alphabetically arranged entries that describe the imaginary creatures found in legends, religions, folklore, oral history, and theologies around the world.