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00Sci-Fi 12/4/05 11:44 pm Page i WRITING HANDBOOKS Writing FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION SECOND EDITION 00Sci-Fi 12/4/05 11:44 pm Page ii Books in the ‘Writing Handbooks’ series Developing Characters for Script Writing • Rib Davis Freelance Copywriting • Diana Wimbs Freelance Writing for Newspapers • Jill Dick Ghostwriting • Andrew Crofts Marketing Your Book: An Author’s Guide • Alison Baverstock Writing Biography & Autobiography • Brian D. Osborne Writing Comedy • John Byrne Writing Crime Fiction • H.R.F. Keating Writing Dialogue for Scripts • Rib Davis Writing Erotic Fiction • Derek Parker Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction • Lisa Tuttle Writing Horror Fiction • Guy N. Smith Writing for a Living • Michael Legat Writing for Magazines • Jill Dick Writing a Play • Steve Gooch Writing Poetry • John Whitworth Writing Popular Fiction • Rona Randall Writing Romantic Fiction • Daphne Clair & Robyn Donald Writing Sitcoms • John Byrne & Marcus Powell Writing for Soaps • Chris Curry Writing Successful Textbooks • Anthony Haynes Writing for Television • Gerald Kelsey Writing a Thriller • André Jute Other books for writers Creative Web Writing • Jane Dorner The Internet: A Writer’s Guide • Jane Dorner Novel Writing • Evan Marshall The Reader’s Encyclopedia • William Rose Benét Research for Writers • Ann Hoffmann Rewriting: A Creative Approach to Writing Fiction • David Michael Kaplan Word Power: A Guide to Creative Writing • Julian Birkett Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 00Sci-Fi 12/4/05 11:44 pm Page iii WRITING HANDBOOKS Writing FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION SECOND EDITION LISA TUTTLE A & C Black • London 00Sci-Fi 12/4/05 11:44 pm Page iv To George RR everywhere in these pages Second edition 2005 First published 2001 A & C Black Publishers Limited 37 Soho Square, London W1D 3QZ www.acblack.com © 2005, 2001 Lisa Tuttle ISBN 0–7136–7244–7 eISBN-13: 978-1-4081-0312-8 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior permission in writing of A & C Black Publishers Limited. A & C Black uses paper produced with elemental chlorine-free pulp, harvested from managed sustainable forests. Typeset in 10.5/13.5 pt Sabon Printed and bound in Great Britain by Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale 00Sci-Fi 12/4/05 11:44 pm Page v Contents 1 Staking Out the Territory 1 2 Ideas and Archetypes 19 3 World-Building 35 4 Structuring and Developing Your Story 58 5 Language: Viewpoint and Style 77 6 Rewriting 97 7 The Short Story 111 8 Writing for Children 131 9 Helping Yourself 140 10 Advice from Editors 155 11 The Story of a Story 164 Useful Addresses 178 Acknowledgements 180 Bibliography 181 Index 183 00Sci-Fi 12/4/05 11:44 pm Page vi a01Sci-Fi 12/4/05 11:40 pm Page 1 1 Staking Out the Territory Most of the skills you need for writing fantasy or science fiction are the same as for any other sort of fiction. A good story, believable characters and a fluent, readable style are absolutely vital to all saleable popular fiction – whether thriller, romance, fantasy or science fiction. Whatever your other strengths and interests as a writer, yo