THE ICE PICK

Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Crawford Kilian. Bellingham, Wash. & North Vancouver, B.C., Self-Counsel Press, c1998. 165 p. (Self-Counsel Writing Series) $14.95. Includes: bibliography, recommended web sites, samples, checklists, and character worksheet. ISBN: 1-55180-189-2.

Mainly for the beginner who wants to write and isn’t sure how to start or who has written a lot of stories but needs help to go further, this book also has plenty of advice for any writer who would like some help.

Kilian begins with the basics of knowing your genre and your theme and moves on to the challenge of world-building, for it is not enough to simply imagine a strange place and use it as a backdrop for your story. In science fiction and fantasy the setting is part of the story. As he says, "The writer of science fiction or fantasy must keep answering one simple question: Why?" Your answers may involve the symbolism of the place or the natural and scientific details, or both.

In Part Two, Kilian discusses work habits, including using time effectively and keeping a journal, log, or project "bible" to help you. He talks about research and how to get your science or your magic right, so that your story makes sense and is believable.

"Elements of a Successful Story" covers introducing your main characters, establishing your setting and the scene of the conflict, showing what’s at stake and your characters under stress, developing your plot, creating suspense, setting the tone of the story, avoiding melodrama, etc.

He points out that, "The conflict should be understandable to us, but consistent with the different society you portray. A merchant in the 1780s wouldn’t understand the details of a hostile takeover in the 1980s . . . of a company specializing in satellite communications or biotechnology. But the merchant would understand that money and power were at stake on a grand scale."

There are separate chapters on characters, constructing scenes, plotting, viewpoint, dialogue, and symbolism.

I found the "character resume" worksheet awkward to use for fantasy characters, but thought-provoking nonetheless. ("Address and Phone Number"? Well, how would someone contact your hero?) And I especially liked his "storyboarding" idea for organizing a plot and his "style checklist" for revising the story.

Part Three is "Getting Published." This section includes a basic grammar, which answered a couple of questions I’ve had for a long time and couldn’t find in regular grammar books. Kilian discusses manuscript formatting, query letters, and synopses, and provides samples of each. In the chapters on publishers and agents and on publishing contracts, he includes information for Canadian authors as well as U.S. ones in marginal notes.

And he concludes with a short inspirational chapter for those writers who have become thoroughly demoralized by the time they get that far.

The book unfortunately lacks an index, but the Table of Contents is fairly good, and there are wide margins for jotting down notes.

"To conceive, write, revise, and publish any story are real achievements. When you achieve any of them, you have achieved something special." And this book may help you do that. I recommend it.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, May 2004.}