THE ICE PICK

The Science of Science-Fiction Writing, by James Gunn. Lanham, Md., Scarecrow Press, 2003. 232 p. $16.95. Includes: index, Notes from the 1998 SF Writers Workshop, and Syllabus for a Workshop. ISBN: 1-57886-011-3.

Most professors of English seem to hate science fiction or consider it to be beneath contemptible notice. James Gunn is different. A prolific science fiction author himself, Gunn loves science fiction, and it shows. In addition to having taught fiction writing and science fiction, he has conducted a very popular and long-running Writers Workshop in Science Fiction.

In this book, which is a distillation of his thoughts and advice, he begins with the basics of "Writing Fiction" and leads us through scene construction, characterization, dialogue, setting and description, and the creation of suspense. He even has a chapter on "How to be a Good Critiquer and Still Remain Friends."

"The value of the critique," he says, "is only partially to provide feedback for the author; perhaps the most important part is to develop critical skills that can be applied to your own work."

Among common weaknesses found in stories, he says, is that the writer must "understand that a story is not simply a series of interesting events, or even of problems solved . . . [nor] simply an account of personal stress," but that it involves challenges to be overcome and a change within the character which allows the overcoming to occur in a believable way.

The second part of the book deals specifically with writing science fiction. "We must," he says, "understand why science fiction has needs different from other fiction." This is a fascinating discussion about what science fiction is, and is not, about where it came from and where it may be headed; about where ideas come from and what to do with them after you think you’ve got a good one; and about the kinds of heroes, heroines, and villains that populate science fiction stories.

He gives a concise list of eleven recommendations (p. 98-9) for the beginning writer that pack more good advice in a short space than I can remember seeing any where else. For example, number seven: "Write in scenes; visualize them completely; bring in other sensory detail when possible."

The third part, which takes up nearly half the book, is composed of biographical essays about the classic science fiction authors: H.G. Wells, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. This part is fun for those of us who enjoy reading about the masters, and it helps us with our own struggles when we read about their problems and how they overcame them. We also see what has been done in science fiction and how the field has changed and grown.

His appendices include notes from a SF Writers Workshop given by him in 1998. Reading these reflections is the next best thing to actually being able to go to one. And if you are in a critique group or running a workshop yourself, his Syllabus for a Workshop may be invaluable. In fact, you could use the syllabus and create your own personal workshop.

"Here you have it," says Gunn, "forty years of reflections about the fiction-writing process and how to teach it, and the ideas I have shared with my students about how to do it effectively and how to get it published afterward."

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Jan. 2005.}