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Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook: The Professional Writer's Guide to Writing Professionally
Book by Rusch, Kristine Kathryn, Smith, Dean Wesley
- GenresWritingNonfiction
248 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1991
30 people want to read
About the author
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
1,368 books723 followersKristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists –even in London– and have been published in 14 countries and 13 different languages.
Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.
In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".
She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances
Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.
In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".
She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 14, 2015
This book has a lot of information that doesn't really apply today although there are some good nuggets of wisdom hidden here and there. I rated it 3 stars only because if felt like over half of the book was no longer relevant. I also felt that the writer's guide material that I was looking for was much less than I found.
The book appears to be a collection of essays by different authors on different topics organized into subsections. Some are good and worthwhile, others I skimmed or skipped.
The two editions of this book were published in 1990 and 1991 so it is full of these ancient chestnuts about writing on typewriters and sending your agent your only copy of your manuscript. There was a story I found comical about an agent who returned a manuscript and the rubber bands cut into the authors only copy of his manuscript. It took him two weeks to retype it. Talk about a time warp. It was kind of cool to see what authors had to complain about 25 years ago, but clearly none of this matters today.
I bought the book because the subtitle promised it to be a writer's guide, so then I was expecting good material on the process of writing. There is some but perhaps only about 10% of the book is dedicated to that. The rest covers such things as negotiating contracts, dealing with agents, how much of a commission is appropriate, etc.
I did thoroughly enjoy and find worthwhile Orson Scott Card's essay on shifting from writing short stories to novels, Larry Niven's essay on collaborations with other authors, John Morressy's essay on writing book series, and Damon Knight's essay on dealing with copy editors and how punctuation can be altered outside of standard for dramatic effect (which I wholeheartedly cheer).
I got this book for almost nothing so for me it was a worthwhile, nostalgic look into the past with a handful of useful chestnuts that do still matter. I wish it had less information about contract negotiation and dealing with agents and more about actual writing though.
The book appears to be a collection of essays by different authors on different topics organized into subsections. Some are good and worthwhile, others I skimmed or skipped.
The two editions of this book were published in 1990 and 1991 so it is full of these ancient chestnuts about writing on typewriters and sending your agent your only copy of your manuscript. There was a story I found comical about an agent who returned a manuscript and the rubber bands cut into the authors only copy of his manuscript. It took him two weeks to retype it. Talk about a time warp. It was kind of cool to see what authors had to complain about 25 years ago, but clearly none of this matters today.
I bought the book because the subtitle promised it to be a writer's guide, so then I was expecting good material on the process of writing. There is some but perhaps only about 10% of the book is dedicated to that. The rest covers such things as negotiating contracts, dealing with agents, how much of a commission is appropriate, etc.
I did thoroughly enjoy and find worthwhile Orson Scott Card's essay on shifting from writing short stories to novels, Larry Niven's essay on collaborations with other authors, John Morressy's essay on writing book series, and Damon Knight's essay on dealing with copy editors and how punctuation can be altered outside of standard for dramatic effect (which I wholeheartedly cheer).
I got this book for almost nothing so for me it was a worthwhile, nostalgic look into the past with a handful of useful chestnuts that do still matter. I wish it had less information about contract negotiation and dealing with agents and more about actual writing though.
Displaying 1 of 1 review