Sci-Fi/Fantasy Genre Writers

Ah Fantasy and SciFi, the genres that I can only DREAM of writing.

I'm posting for the sake of posting. Haha. A lot of people here know that I kind of dream of writing a fantasy novel only because I'm more into realistic ones...wait, realistic AND fluffy ones, as in chick lit. Sometimes I space out when people talk about fantasy and scifi novels, but I'm trying to read more on these genres. I think I'm particularly attracted to urban fantasy types, especially after I picked up The Mortal Instruments series.

I think the reason why I don't really write in this genre is because of the world building that you mentioned. I'm not a world-builder, at least, not now. I tried that a few years ago and my world looked like a smorgasbord of all other worlds that I've read/watched. I also still feel like I need to work on my descriptions, and world building needs descriptions..soooo....

Yeah I just kinda rambled up there. :P

One of these days...I'll write something in this genre. Haha.

Tina, ML for the Philippines
Refine Me | PinoyWrimos | @pinoywrimos

I saw that at Power Books. :-) The Mortal Instruments series. Have to pick that up some day. You are right though. I've had to write so much material in my world-building before I could even get to the first page of writing ! Maybe if and when I publish, I can sell it as a supplement book.

Gary Alan
writerdude@ymail.com
http://www.garyhidalgo.com

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Gary Alan

Find out more about my WIP "The Hollow World" (book one" in a series) @ http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/513319/edit/novel_info.

Me! Fantasy is actually the genre I want to write if ever I try actually writing professionally.:) It's also the genre that I love to read, maybe it's because I grew up reading and listening to fairy tales, and I'm still a fan of magic, fairies, elves, and penultimate battles between good and evil. Writing-wise, it's just so much to create your own mythos and get your characters (and you yourself) to live in that world.

My favorite fantasy writer remains to be David Eddings (R.I.P.) I love how he blends humor with fantasy perfectly. Because of that, it makes me appreciate Terry Pratchett's quirky sense of humor too.

I'm also following "Wheel of Time" (R.I.P. Robert Jordan), that's why I'm anticipating the latest book with excitement but anxiety at the same time, since I haven't really read any book by Brandon Sanderson, and I don't know how he'll be treating the characters I've come to know in the past years.

I'm also a big fantasy fan--for the same reasons as yours--but since Terry Brooks and Eddings' "Mallorean" series I haven't read any epic fantasies lately, and certainly not the "Wheel of Time," except for Book Two back in high school. I have read Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" trilogy however, and can assure you that he knows what he's doing. I feel like he set a higher bar with the books; that's how good it is. I really recommend you read them.

My other favorite authors are: Patricia McKillip, Sherwood Smith and Tamora Pierce, but when it comes to humor, nothing beats Terry Pratchett. I also recommend John Moore's books. He writes really funny fairy tale parodies, especially "Bad Prince Charlie" and "A Fate Worse than Dragons."

And although I'm not as much into sci fi, one of the greatest authors I respect is Orson Scott Card of "Ender's Game." He really challenges himself with every book he writes, and I always watch out for his name in the reviews because I trust his judgment.

HI!

I read and write fantasy too. Sci-Fi, not so much.

Some of my friends who read fantasy tell me I'm not hardcore enough because I don't particularly like Robert Jordan, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the other fantasy bigwigs. My favorite authors would be Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, Michelle Sagara (more popularly known as Michelle West), and Neil Gaiman. I also read some of the "dark fantasy" or "paranormal fantasy" types like Kelley Armstrong or Laurell K. Hamilton (even if she's gotten pretty X-rated of late). And I've also started to enjoy the World of Warcraft books and graphic novels.

Yes, for some reason I tend to read women's work more than men's. I don't have anything against male writers, just that I tend to identify more with the female. My hubby's the opposite. Must be a gender thing.

This year, I'm writing a sequel to my as-yet-unfinished 2008 novel, which was fantasy too.

Also a Fantasy fan here, especially on Dragonlance and Harry Potter, but after some pretty Fantasy books ended (like Bartimaeous, or Artemis Fowl), I've grown out of it. Sort of. Might rectify that, lol. The new Artemis Fowl is asking me to go back to being a kid, and Jonathan Stroud said he'll be reviving Barty soon.

Love for vampire novels also disappeared after the neo-vampirism outbreak due to Twilight, but my heart still have special places for the Vampire Chronicles and Anita Blake. I've read Twilight, hated it; then the House of Night series, didn't like it; and then the Vampire Kisses, which just made me cringe and regret wasting Php350 on a book like that. Those three just killed whatever chances of me liking neo-vampirism. :/

Surprisingly, I never touched a Stephen King novel. I don't know. I just.. don't. :/ And oh, does anyone have any recommendations for a Noir meets paranormal? Like, Sherlock Holmes meets Boogeyman.

Project Rebirth Moon is &copy of Umi-chii.
"Nope, still not sane. Now, how about a round of telegram throwing?

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions! Good to hear about Brandon Sanderson, I was a little iffy having the books passed on to someone that I didn't know.

OH MY GOD I'm a failure as a fan. Why didn't I know David Eddings had passed away? Waaaaaaah. He was one of my most favorite fantasy writers... I have most of his books.

I love to write in this genre, but yes, the world-building is a daunting task!

I don't know if I will tackle the epic fantasy this time around... but I will still incorporate a fantasy twist in my story. =)

Probably the earliest fantasy books I remember reading were the ones by Enid Blyton, as well as classic ones like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz. Later on I began reading David Eddings, Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan (though I didn't really like his works much). I'm now more into reading young adult fantasy, but would rather not label them as such. I love Diana Wynne Jones, Neil Gaiman and Jostein Gaarder. Planning to work my 2009 Nano entry as fantasy. *keeps fingers crossed*

Fantasy isn't one of my first loves, but it's certainly one of the more inspiring ones. Last year's Nano was fantasy, and though this year's Nano will be a sort of hodge-podge of AU and crossover fandom stuff, I still plan on writing a sequel to last year's novel when I have the time. ♥ My favorite fantasy series at the moment is A Song of Ice and Fire, but I have a huge soft spot in my heart for the Shannara and The Word and the Void series.

Sci fi... I have a much less consistent relationship with it, since I studied (study?) physics and some things some authors do make me want to tear my hair out. I prefer soft sci fi to hard sci fi for that very reason. That, and in sci fi I'm not as interested in amazing feats of technology as I am in the changes and development in human (or alien!) interactions and social structures. My favorite sci fi authors are Ursula le Guin and Connie Willis.

Ahaha, and I noticed, a lot of people dislike the worldbuilding part of writing SFF. It's my favorite part, actually! Sometimes I'll build worlds and think up cultures and histories -- then forget to do the actual writing.

For you I'll burn the length and breadth of sky.

Yeah, he passed away.:( Leigh Eddings died a year or so before him, so no more Eddingses.:( I felt guilty, because I read his Elder Gods series a few months before he passed away, and I criticized it (only on my blog, but still).

One of the world-building tasks I can't do... is maps. I'm seriously spatially unintelligent, so I can't really diagram which place is where. My last year's NaNoWriMo entry was confined to "They went to this/that", making the journey very linear.:P Sad.

Much as I would love to do high fantasy, with elves, dwarves, etc. I haven't tried it yet, because I don't know how to execute it. My fantasy writing's pretty much people with superpowers, archers, pikemen, and baddies. I tried making my own creatures, but I don't know if I was successful in it. lol Might try again this year, a few ideas for my novel popped in my head over the weekend.

Fantasy @_@ Indeed, almost all of what I read, as well as almost all of what I've ever written. The genre truly captured me with the Lord of the Rings movies, and from there I found myself liking games, novels, artworks and the rare anime that go with the genre. I never did get around to reading the LotR books. The writers whose works I like most (and their works which I've read/am reading) are Joe Abercrombie (The First Law trilogy, Best Served Cold), Jonathan Stroud (Bartimaeus trilogy), Terry Pratchett (a few of the Discworld books, Good Omens) and R.A. Salvatore (Legend of Drizz't series). I've also read the Wheel of Time up to some part of book 7, but all in all I feel it's too long-winded. Final Fantasy's also a big inspiration. My personal favorites are the ones set in Ivalice.

Well if you don't want to spend a lot of time on world building, you could always do an urban fantasy.

Yeah, I suck at maps too. I tried to make a map for this year's nanowrimo, and I didn't even know where to start. And I don't know how useful it'll be, because the maps in most fantasy books read like alien sigils to me, but it helped me figure out what to call places, because the names I made up are connected to geographical features or whatever.

I have this book "How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card. He says to determine the rules, such as what the price is for magic in your world, and invent the past for species or characters and ask them why they do what they do or why they are what they are. As for languages, he said don't use unpronounceable names, and just change sentence structure to make it seem like they're talking in a foreign language.

I've seen some really elaborate guides out there though. What seems to be really hard is for sci fi, literally world building and playing around with planets and things like gravity and other "hard sciences."

I have fun with the naming parts. During my first NaNoWriMo last year, I incorporated my and my sister's goofy idea of warping Filipino words to use in the story (my big bad was called Dhlimm or something), patterning after Robert Jordan's obvious sources of the names he used.:P In terms of names of people and places, I try to use significant terms, but there are times I just use the first name that pops in my head.

Only one person mentioned a Song of Ice and Fire? Sad. Read it. It's one of the best pieces of Fantasy I've ever read.

That said, I like a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Dune, Pratchett, Robert Jordan, Eddings, Harlan Ellison, Wild Cards, H2G2, Le Guin, Clarke's short stories, The Dark is Rising, The Golden Compass, Orwell, Atwood, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 411, Kurt Vonnegut, Louis Lowry, etc. etc. I also like Alan Moore's and Warren Ellis' Graphic Novel Works and Comics in general. If you're familiar with their works (you'll probably know Alan Moore at least), yes, I'm a sick sick person. Locally Trese is good and Emil Flores' Ganigan NBI, which can be very deceptive. I'm also into Anime but not as badly as when I was a teenager. I look back at those days and cringe a little.

I don't have an opinion on this new vampirism thing because I've only tried to read Twilight and decided not to bother with it as a whole. I do have opinions about Twilight, which I'd better not mention. Suffice to say I couldn't get past the first chapter because Stephen Mayer abuses adjectives in horrible horrible ways. I also think that Harry Potter was overrated. Not that it was bad but it could have been executed better. Harry wasn't that sympathetic at all as a character. AND ALL THE SLYTHERINS ARE JERKS LOLOLOLOL!!!!! Luna Lovegood was awesome though. >_>;; I like some of Scott Card's works but I find him largely to be hit and miss. I also have issues with Speculative Fiction as a term because of how vague and utterly unnecessary it seems to me. I'm done. I hope I don't start a flame war, lol. :D

SF/F writers unite! And amen Ravenmarked! A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the greatest fantasy series I have ever read. I am hooked. Everything about it seems like the next great classic. George R. R. Martin is my hero because being a history graduate, it's nice to see some realistic Medieval European treatment for the Fantasy genre that has so often been inspired by it. I also love Tolkein (a must!), Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, TH White, Robert Jordan, Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, Philip Pullman, JK Rowling and many others.

Other than that, I am also a disciple of Frank Herbert, the greatest man in Science Fiction. Dune changed my writing life. It is really the champion for one of the most under-appreciated genres in publication. Dune was actually what got me into the genre. At first, I was very judgemental of it, like many people are. But as soon as I read Dune, it opened my eyes to the many literary possibilities buried in Science Fiction. I'm less exposed to this genre as opposed to Fantasy but among those I've encountered is Isaac Assimov, Ursula K. Le Guin and HG Wells.

As for Neo-vampirism. I could talk about this all day. I am against it XD I just think that this movement in what used to be the horror genre is sad. Meyer has destroyed a creature that was centuries in the making. She spit on Bram Stoker, Vlad the Impaler and Elizabeth Bathory's face. What's more, she spit on it with bad modifiers, redundancy, insufficient plotting, bad editing and a poor knowledge of when to use a thesaurus. Bah humbug :) Sadly, I can say this with confidence because I forced myself to read all four books just to make an informed opinion >.< Don't even get me started on the Host.

I love you guys for your Twilight opinions!:D I hate neo-vampirism (especially Twilight!) with a passion, to the point of arguing with my sisters and threatening to disown them since they love the books so much (mind, they're both older than me :P). Give me non-sparkly vampires any day.

I've never heard of "A Song of Ice and Fire"!:o What kind of fantasy is it? I might look for it when I go to the bookstore, since I'm running out of fantasy novels to read. Haha! I'm currently re-reading Wheel of Time again, and I find that I like it more now than I did before. Weird.

Hi, Sci-Fiers!

Dune totally changed my life too. I read Tolkien before Dune but Dune showed me how truly complex a universe a writer can create. Yup,Middle Earth is very complex but it was set on Middle Earth. Dune was a whole universe.

I never opened up Twilight because it was just way too mainstream for me plus all the backlash. I'm glad I was never tempted! I admire Harry Potter for creating its own mythology based on previous mythology and encouraging millions of kids to read big books. However, I never picked a book up. I preferred Clive Barker's (Hellraiser - yes, that Clive Barker) Abarat series for young adults. It had the best illustrations apart from beautiful prose.

Currently, I am reading the "A Song of Fire & Ice" series too. George R. R. Martin hooked me previously with the Wild Cards series and he is an instructor at the Clarion Program in University of San Diego where I am applying next year. That will be fun and productive if I get accepted. However, I also used the book "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card at Writers Online Workshop for 6 weeks. I just picked up "Runes of the Earth" by Stephen Donaldson, who inspired me in the mid-1980s with his Thomas Covenant series. It was so different from LOTR. My current work is similar to his with its ugly truths. Here's hoping I find similar success, right?

Happy Reading & Writing!

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Gary Alan

Find out more about my WIP "The Hollow World" (book one" in a series) @ http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/513319/edit/novel_info.

Personally, I think Dune was the perfect marriage of past and future. It had so many primitive elements to it (fanaticism, the almost tribal set up of the desert people, feudalism) but then you have these incredibly new ideas like their politics (especially Leto II's view on tyranny and how it propels man to progress, etc.) and the advancements in science (the bene gesserit control over the human physiology and the technology of the tleilaxu). Frank Herbert just raised the bar and so far, I don't think anyone has come close to it.

@jarletofclay: A Song of Ice and Fire is a medieval fantasy but it reads more like historical fiction the way it is presented. The magic plays a background role to everything else and the books themselves focus more on the politics and intrigue of the major houses rather than on a singular quest. If you liked Jordan, you will love this :)

@garyhidalgo: You're applying to Clarion too! I'd been thinking about it for a long time (since my current portfolio is not really that impressive) but I just recently decided this year to finally give it a try. The GRRM involvement was the winning hook for me. I think A Song Of Ice and Fire is definitely Martin's masterpiece (even though I may be the only person in the world who counts Feast of Crows as one of my favorites in the series because I love my my Lannisters). As for the book of instruction, I use Stephen King's "On Writing" for my guide. As well as the ever classic Elements of Style by Strunk & White.

Well I like the idea of toying with a different genre. My previous works were more on the "it could happen" aspect. I wanted to try a different approach and go with a fandom I grew up to love until now: Power Rangers. And since Zeo is one of my favorite seasons just behind MMPR, I chose that season and tweaked it a bit with my own characters. =P

Someone said you're feeling green tonight so step up.
Do you really want to cross the line right now?
Go ahead and try to take what's mine.
Let it roll, let it roll, I'm unstoppable

Heehee...Wildcards. Fortunato still amuses me. x3 And I still have a lot of misgivings for Harry Potter. Its magic system was basically "here have some deus ex machina." :D And it sort of started going down during the last few books. I found the deathly hallows incredibly anti-climactic and although the three mystical artifacts thing was probably planned...it still felt like it appeared out of the blue...especially with oh look Harry has an uber special invisibility cloak that's not like anyone else's which totally compliments the lightning scar and fame and the fact that he's always right no matter how prejudiced he is. >.> Bloody male Mary Sue.

On another note. I found a copy of the Princess Bride's book version. I'm currently in geekgasm. x3

All the above recommendations are superb! Just adding my two bits:

Right now, I'm delving into classical fantasy, the likes of HP Lovecraft and Robert Howard, better known as the creators of the Cthulhu Mythos and Conan the Barbarian. I never did like heavy prose before, but reading them now either makes your blood boil (if you're reading Howard) or freeze (or if you're reading Lovecraft).

Consider this qoute from Conan:

"I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."

Very heady stuff.

Events Conspire!

http://gohamstergo.blogspot.com

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die. :P

Well, since we're sharing quotes...

Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.

The Oath of the Night's Watch, A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin

For you I'll burn the length and breadth of sky.

what about silmarillion and the lost tales? lord of the rings has a large and complex history (with an appendix full of anecdotes). it's all very detailed, down to the genealogies and the languages with its own functioning syntax and grammar.

im not too familiar with dune since i only read parts of it (that was back in elementary) but from what i have read and heard, it does use a universe as its setting, but the setting is not as much fleshed out compared to middle earth (and the undying lands). it's a bit like star wars - going from one planet to another and visiting only one country or one locale before moving on to the next.

The complexity of Middle Earth was the world itself however it is purely classic high fantasy. You have the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other and the quest to stop them. Black and white and clear cut. You don't get a lot of political and moral complexities there. Sure you had Feanor and his quest in the Silmarillion--but it was obvious that the Noldor was in the wrong there and they were going to suffer for it.

But Dune...ahh Dune... I think the comparison to Star Wars is wholly unfair. It's definitely not space opera (not that Star Wars isn't amusing in its own right). Every other planet in the first three books in Dune isn't important (except maybe for Salusa Secundus, which they don't even visit). There is only Arrakis otherwise called Dune. A planet which holds not only incredibly military might hidden away inside it but also the only source of spice, a drug that prolongs life and allows for space travel among those with prescience. Now add the political power struggle between the emperor and the noble houses, House Atreides' and House Harkonnen's private vendetta, a Bene Gesserit plot to create the Kwisatz Hederach (the end result generations of selective breeding to create certain traits), a sham prophecy planted on primitive people to protect Gene Beserrit agents and the sole heir to house Atreides a young man with prescient abilities who tries to regain the power of his house, get revenge for his father's death and avoid becoming a messiah and unleashing a holy war upon the universe (he doesn't).

You're not only dealing plain and simple black and white here. You also have economics, politics, religion and Frank Herbert's thesis on heroes and messiahs. Sure House Atreides are the good guys here but Paul with his prescience locks the universe with his visions and leads it to a scenario where humanity would stagnate and become easy to destroy. To fix this, his own son enters a symbiotic relationship with the creatures that make up the sandworm, ultimately severing himself from humanity so he ensure that the human race would never become slave to prescience again. How does he do this? By oppressing the human race for ages so that when they finally rebel and kill him, the resulting explosion of freedom would scatter the human race outside the known planets so they can enter entirely different avenues of evolution.

Sure Middle Earth was rich in detail but if we speak of complexity Dune is way different Middle Earth.

^i wasn't really referring to the general plot. i merely pointed out that the middle earth setting seems to be richer and more complete in detail. im aware of how dune's author used sci-fi as a way to tackle contemporary issues and thus must have resonated more in the complex plot department, but the setting felt like it was just a stage to set all the social stuff. there's little history that gives life to each locale.

my brother has read both series and agrees - not that im using it as my basis. im going to read dune seriously some day. swear. even if i've been saying it for years.

In the mid-1980s when I was in elementary in LA, my mom bought me the Dune Encyclopedia, which is out of print now, but is likely stored in a box here when we moved back to PI. I could not believe the scope of the work. I mean every detail about characters, ecology, religion, etc. I think LOTR just has more supplemental material published than Dune.

I can't wait to run into it again. :-) Hope its in good shape along with my other books.

However, the modern sequels of Dune cannot capture the original wonder. They seemed paper thin in comparison. :-(

I'm glad Stephen Donaldson was still alive to write his sequel to Thomas Covenant. Read that when I was 14. The adult themes of rape, leprosy, and suicide were above my head at the time but I can reread the series now and appreciate how human his fantasy setting was.

Anywho, anyone working on a Sci Fi/Fantsy novel for NanoWrimo 2009? What are your central themes?

My novel's theme is about God and adversity. We can often blame God or Fate, if you want to call him that, for our tragedies and troubles, sometimes they come one right after the other. My main character will question and explore the reason a supposedly loving God would let this happen. Is he testing us? For what? Apathy? Does one soul out of billions even get His attention? As he finds himself in an alien world, weak and hunted, my main character will find his answer to this lifelong human mystery.

Great Sci-Fi/Fantasy stories all have the human condition as their central theme no matter how fantastic. Good versus evil. Leaving behind carefree childhood or safety for adventure & finding your true role. (LOTR) Man versus nature. Prophecy versus free will. (Dune and even Harry Potter for the latter).

By no means am I writing a Christian Fantasy but I love the theme I am exoploring. I'm goofd for 6 books LOL. Storm after storm, we can all relate lately.

>>
I wasn't really referring to the general plot. i merely pointed out that the middle earth setting seems to be richer and more complete in detail. im aware of how dune's author used sci-fi as a way to tackle contemporary issues and thus must have resonated more in the complex plot department, but the setting felt like it was just a stage to set all the social stuff. there's little history that gives life to each locale.

my brother has read both series and agrees - not that im using it as my basis. im going to read dune seriously some day. swear. even if i've been saying it for years.

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Gary Alan

Find out more about my WIP "The Hollow World" (book one" in a series) @ http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/513319/edit/novel_info.

ahh...the problem of evil.

I don't know what I'll be doing. Go me. >_> I have this vague notion of introducing Magic in a Sci Fi setting where people almost worship and rely solely on science and see what happens and somehow figure out how I'm going to make a thesis out of this but hey...I'll figure something out... <_<;;

When you think about it, would super heroes be seen as magic users if the era was different? Good concept of magic in Sci Fi :-)

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Gary Alan

Find out more about my WIP "The Hollow World" (book one" in a series) @ http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/513319/edit/novel_info.