Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies

by Dakan, Rick; Van Cleave, Ryan G.

• ISBN13: 9781119839095
• ISBN10: 1119839092
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2022-03-09
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Take your shot at becoming the next Tolkien, Asimov, or King with this simple roadmap to transforming your fiction into works of art

Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is your skeleton key to creating the kind of fiction that grips readers and compels them to keep turning pages (even if it's well past their bedtime!)

You'll start with the basics of creative writing—including character, plot, and scene—and strategies for creating engaging stories in different forms, such as novels, short stories, scripts, and video games. After that, get beginner-friendly and straightforward advice on worldbuilding, before diving headfirst into genre-specific guidance for science fiction, horror, and fantasy writing.

This book also offers:

• Strategies for editing and revising your next work to get it into tip-top shape for your audience
• Ways to seek out second opinions from editors, experts, and even sensitivity readers
• Techniques for marketing and publication, working with agents, and advice for writers going the self-publishing route

The perfect beginner's guide for aspiring writers with an interest in horror, fantasy, or science fiction, Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is the first and last resource you need before you start building your next story about faraway lands, aliens, and fantastic adventures.

Author Biography

Rick Dakan and Ryan G. Van Cleave, PhD are professors at the prestigious Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where they teach such courses as Writing Science Fiction, Writing for Video Games, and Writing for Shared Worlds. Both of them have ended a D&D campaign with a single well-placed fireball.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started: The Basics of Story 5

Chapter 1: Taking Journeys into the Imagination 7

Looking Closer at the Big Three Genres 8

Imagining possible worlds — Sci-fi 8

Imagining wondrous worlds — Fantasy 9

Imagining fearful worlds — Horror 10

Creating Characters 11

Pursuing Writerly Success 12

Revising your words 12

Turning to pros for help 12

Focusing on the three Ps 13

Setting the right goals for you 14

Making the Most of This Book 15

Chapter 2: Creating Characters 19

Focusing on Your Characters’ Wants 20

Looking outside — External goals 21

Reflecting inward — Internal needs 21

Looking a bit deeper — Hidden desires 22

Introducing the Cast of Characters 22

Leading the way — Protagonists 23

Standing in the way — Antagonists 25

Introducing supporting characters 26

Managing your supporting cast — Tips and tricks 29

From Whose Eyes? Choosing Point of View 29

First person 30

Third-person limited 31

Third-person omniscient 31

Third-person objective 32

Telling “Telling Details” 33

Zeroing in on appearance 34

Digging into a character’s psychology 34

Trusting an inner circle 35

You Don’t Say? Using Dialogue 36

Recognizing the types of dialogue 36

Keeping track of dialogue tags 38

Writing script dialogue 39

Chapter 3: Laying the Foundation — The Power of Plot 41

Engineering Great Drama 42

Examining values 44

Creating compelling conflict 44

Starting with Freytag 46

Finding the tension 48

Considering character arcs 51

Keeping up the pace 52

Building Story Structure 54

Understanding scenes 54

Using scene sequels — Action/reaction 56

Adding variety to your scenes 57

Thinking bigger — Sequences 59

Examining Key Elements of Plot 60

Beginning with a bang 60

Maintaining audience interest — Magical middles 62

Fulfilling story promises — Knockout climaxes 63

Finishing strong — Satisfying endings 64

Chapter 4: Crafting Many Worlds, Many Media 65

Writing Prose — An Oldie But a Goodie 65

Novels 66

Novellas 67

Short stories 68

Writing for Screens Both Big and Small — Scripts 69

Film 69

TV 71

Podcasts 72

Plays 73

Comics 74

Inviting Audiences to Co-create — Interactive Stories 74

Video games 75

Tabletop games 75

Immersive experiences 76

Part 2: Worldbuilding: Journeys to Other Worlds 79

Chapter 5: Building a World Like No Other 81

Creating Worlds Worth Exploring 82

Making your place interesting 82

Knowing how your world works 83

This place is awesome! — Your pitch 84

Building Worlds for Conflict 87

Finding a problem around every corner 87

Creating characters from conflict 89

Focusing on What’s Important — The Iceberg Rule 89

Show the characters and conflicts 89

Don’t show everything 90

Chapter 6: Letting Your Research and Imagination Run Wild 93

Start with Earth: Inspiration and Adaptation 94

Tapping into the power of piggybacking 94

Controlling cognitive dissonance 97

Using Research to Balance Science and Fiction 98

Striving for accuracy 99

Casting a wide net when researching 100

Heading straight to the sources 102

Chapter 7: Showing the Explosion: Exposition That Thrills! 105

Showing Your World at Work 106

Making memorable first impressions 106

Letting actions bring the world to life 107

Relying on Narrative Exposition: Stories That Explain and Entrance 108

Telling a tale within a tale 108

Writing exposition that causes conflict 109

Getting to the point with point of view 110

Trusting and Provoking Your Reader 112

Solving a puzzle: 1+1 112

Giving characters revelatory actions 112

Sending systemic signals 113

Storytelling at Every Level of Engagement 113

Level 1: Bold strokes 114

Level 2: Fine nuances 114

Level 3: Hidden depths 114

Level 4: Beyond the text 115

Putting the levels all together 115

Chapter 8: This Planet Will Eat You: Worlds Are Characters, Too 117

Recognizing That Worlds Want Something 118

Reacting to your characters 118

Maintaining ecosystems and equilibrium 118

Upholding the societal status quo 119

Wanting equilibrium 121

Building Spaces and Places for Drama 122

Making maps memorable 122

Navigating story spaces 123

Part 3: Science Fiction: Journeys into the Future 129

Chapter 9: Answering “What If?” 131

Asking Big Questions 131

Looking closer at your questions 132

Provoking curiosity and imagination 133

Answering questions with characters 134

Inventing the Big New Thing 135

Understanding what the Big New Thing is 135

Distinguishing between hard and soft sci-fi 137

Asking Key Questions about Your Sci-Fi Story 138

Chapter 10: A Spaceship for Every Occasion, an Occasion for Every Spaceship 139

Voyaging Far from Home: Vessels for Isolation and Adventure 140

Launching the ship 140

Meeting the crew 142

Completing the mission 143

The Physics and Drama of Space Travel 144

Obeying the speed of light 144

Traveling through space faster than light 147

Considering other speculative technologies 148

1, 2, 3, 4 — I Declare a Space War! 151

War as storytelling by other means 151

Activating weapons of war 152

Deploying systems of defense 154

Chapter 11: Encountering Aliens That Audiences Want to Know, Love, and Fear 157

Making Sense of Alien Metaphors 158

Discovering differences 158

Alienating audiences 160

Relating aliens to your audience 161

Playing Their Part: Alien Dramatics 162

Alien enemies 163

Alien protagonists 163

Alien allies and rivals 164

Alien mysteries 164

Alien obstacles 165

Creating Alien Emotions 166

Rousing wonder — Sublime aliens 166

Provoking revulsion — Grotesque aliens 166

Creating unease — Uncanny aliens 167

Inspiring hope — Power fantasy aliens 167

Producing smiles — Adorable aliens 167

Introducing audiences to your aliens 168

Chapter 12: It’s Alive! Or Is It? — Imagining Robots and Artificial Intelligence 171

Creating Artificial Life 172

Asking questions of meaning 172

Contemplating questions of responsibility 176

Treating Artificial Life as Characters 178

Automated roles 178

Computers are (sometimes) people too 181

Building Your Own Beings 182

Determining its purpose 182

Figuring out what it thinks about that purpose 182

Finding similarities and differences between creators and their creations 183

Establishing its range of emotion 183

Identifying the limits it operates under 184

Recognizing society’s strong feelings about it 184

Chapter 13: Constructing Planetary Plots and Earth-Changing Stories 185

Exploring Other Earths 185

Remembering a different past 186

Thinking about the near now 187

Worrying about the looming future 188

Voyaging to a whole new world 189

Imagining a different future 190

Traveling through time 191

Making Everything Worse (or Better) 192

Envisioning your story — Dystopian fears and utopian hopes 192

Punks, punks, punks! Writing sci-fi with attitude 194

Using steam, sun, and cells 196

Part 4: Fantasy: Journeys into the Imagination 197

Chapter 14: Bringing Wonder to Your Story 199

Creating Wonder 200

Understanding the meaning of wonder 200

Most wonderful yet believable 201

Matching magic to the mundane 203

Using the MMMaM Index of Wonder 203

Going High to Low with Fantasy 205

Distinguishing between high and low 205

Employing fantastic elements 206

Choosing a Fantastical Point of View 208

Portal — Moving from the real world to a magical world 208

Immersive — Inhabiting the magical world 209

Intrusive — Moving the magical world into the real world 211

Chapter 15: Worldbuilding on the Shoulders of Giants, Faeries, Dragons, and Hobbits 213

Adapting Myth and Legend 214

Making myths and faerie tales your own 214

Start with Middle Earth? Not Exactly 218

Genre-defining characters and creatures — Wizards, hobbits, and elves, oh my! 219

Getting indulgent with worldbuilding 221

Generating deep history and wondrous geography 221

The now-classic quest narrative 222

Understanding Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons 224

Losing hit points and gaining character levels in games 224

Starting with the Forgotten Realms 225

Making Deep History in Record Time 226

Basing your story in reality 226

Making your own myths 227

Identifying different people and places 227

Enhancing conflict 228

Chapter 16: Conjuring Story Magic 229

Grasping the Role of Magic in Storytelling 229

Taking the Reader on a Magical Journey 230

Making Magic Dramatic (in Every Sense of the Word!) 231

Heightening dramatic stakes with magic 232

Being aware of magic’s dramatic limitations 232

Setting the Rules and Costs of Magic 233

Playing by the rules 234

Sticking to the rules of magic in video and role-playing games 234

Assigning costs to your story’s magic — Precious Things 235

Forging Enchanting Artifacts and Objects — Items

Designed for Magic 236

Magic items as objects of desire 237

Magic items as character traits 238

Magic items as obstacles 238

Magic items as characters 239

Magic items as worldbuilding elements 240

Chapter 17: Forming Really Fantastic (and Fantastically Real) Monsters 241

Understanding What Monsters Are 241

What makes a monster a monster 242

Monsters serve the story 242

Making Monsters 244

Making your monster realistic or fantastic 246

Defining your monster’s characteristics 246

Part 5: Horror: Journeys into Fear 253

Chapter 18: Creating Dread, Fear, and Terror 255

Imagining the Worst about Everything 256

Equipping your toolchest — The horror writer’s tools 256

A formula for fear 258

Providing climax and catharsis 260

Feeling Fearful Feels 261

Fear and worry 261

Pity and sorrow 262

Disgust and revulsion 262

Disoriented and discombobulated 263

Fascination and wonder 263

Triumph and relief 264

Schadenfreude 265

Identifying Sources of Horror 266

Gothic 266

Spiritual 266

Monstrous 267

Cosmic 267

Homicidal 267

Societal 268

Environmental 268

The unexplained 268

Chapter 19: Fashioning Fearful Plots and Sinister Scenes 271

Who Goes There? Characters Who Journey into Darkness 271

Controlling knowledge through point of view 272

Creating creepy and creeped-out characters 273

Plotting Your Host of Horrors 276

The discovery plot — Unearthing dread secrets 277

The overreach plot — One step too far 277

The trespass plot — You shouldn’t be here 278

The pursuit plot — The hunt is on 278

The contest plot — Facing your fears 279

The breakdown plot — It’s all gone to hell 279

The weird plot — What the heck is that? 280

Creating Fear with Narrative Flow 280

Mixing and matching flows 281

Shifting the narrative — Thrilling and chilling revelations 283

Chapter 20: Shaping Your Scares — Menacing Monsters and Human Horrors 287

Mixing Up Your Monsters 288

Threatening 288

Disgusting 289

Humanish 289

Animalistic 290

Heightened 291

Unnatural 291

Corrupting 291

Captivating 292

Making Metaphors Monstrous 292

Societal flaws personified 293

Voice for the voiceless 293

Personal flaws made manifest 294

Deep difficulties turned terrifying 294

Universal experiences mutated 294

Positive characteristics taken too far 295

Interpreting the Classics 295

Aliens and cosmic entities 295

Cryptids and creatures 296

Demonic and supernatural threats 296

Experiments and evil scientists 297

Ghosts and evil spirits 297

Golems and constructs 298

Lycanthropes and shapeshifters 298

Vampires and the undead 299

Hunting Down Homicidal Humans 299

Confronting all too natural-born killers 300

Solving dramatic and mysterious murders 300

Exposing deadly cults 301

Winning the duel of wits 302

Chapter 21: Lurking in Every Shadow: Where Horror Resides 305

Constructing Environments That Raise Dread 306

Isolated or inaccessible 306

Intimidating and foreboding 307

Uncanny and unsettling 308

Assembling Haunted Houses and Other Lairs of Fear 309

Recognizing the types of haunted houses — What lies within 309

Welcome, foolish mortal 311

Tapping into what came before 311

Sizing up the scene 312

A ghost will follow you home 313

Part 6: The Journey from Writing to Publication 315

Chapter 22: Revising and Editing Like a Pro 317

Creating a Revision Plan 318

Putting on your reader’s cap 318

Remaking the outline 319

Going high tech 320

Going low tech 320

Answering first-draft questions 321

Using second opinions 322

Revising First, Editing Later 322

Figuring out who this story really is about 322

Discovering what this story really is about 323

Focusing on Theme — It Isn’t Just for Eighth-Grade Book Reports 324

Understanding what theme is 324

Finding an elusive theme 325

Revising for theme 326

Buffing, Polishing, and Shining — The Final Edit 328

Trusting your ears 328

Editing your way to a better story 328

Chapter 23: Getting Second Opinions: Editors, Experts, and Sensitivity Readers 331

Receiving Good Story Feedback 332

Making the most of a critique group 332

Cultivate a golden reader 335

Hiring freelance editors 335

Supporting Your Story with Expert Help 337

Talking to subject matter experts 338

Tapping into the universe of universities 339

Using sensitivity readers 339

Using cultural consultants 341

Looking beyond your own experiences 341

Chapter 24: The Three Ps: Publication, Pitching, and Promotion 343

Teaming Up: Agents, Editors, and Producers 343

Recognizing what an agent does 344

Figuring out whether you need an agent 344

Landing an agent: The how and where 345

Pitching Like a Pro 347

Crafting the query 347

Breaking down the three-floor elevator pitch 348

Identifying the challenge before you 349

Going It Alone: A Self-Publishing Success Plan 350

Answering whether you can really do it all 351

Succeeding in self-publishing 351

Putting the crowd to work for you 352

Promoting You and Your Work — Making the Most of Marketing 353

Standing high on a platform 354

Making the most of conferences 356

Part 7: The Part of Tens 357

Chapter 25: Ten Ways to Jump-Start a Stalled Story 359

Extra, Extra — Reading Story Headlines 360

Taking a Ride on the PPE Story Machine 360

Writing to Free Up Your Blocks 361

Noodling in Notebooks 361

Taking a Field Trip 362

Figuring Out What the Story Is 363

Answering the Great “What If?” 363

Blending, Stirring, and Mixing 364

Beginning with an Idea 364

Using Someone Else’s Words 365

Chapter 26: Ten Common Pitfalls in Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror 367

Putting Surface before Substance 368

Overrelying on Coincidence 368

Worldbuilding with Endless Details 368

Not Reading Enough 369

Reusing Aliens/Werewolves/Elves 370

Embracing a Richer Worldview 370

Following Trends Too Closely 371

Overusing Fantastic Language 371

Forgetting the Promise of the Genre 372

Utilizing Clichés 372

Chapter 27: Ten Popular Story Modes 375

Danger at Every Step — The Adventure Story 376

“It’s the End!” — The Apocalyptic Story 376

Gags, Sketches, and Snark — The Comedy Story 377

Capers, Cons, and Heists — The Crime Story 378

Doom and Gloom — The Dark Story 379

The Grandest of Scales — The Epic Story 380

The Power of the Past — The Historical Story 381

Fighting on the Frontlines — The Military Story 382

Sleuthing Out the Truth — The Mystery Story 383

The Heart of the Matter — The Romance Story 384

Index 385