TL;DR
6/10. A reasonable, accessible beginner’s overview of the speculative genres, valuable for surveying their core challenges, especially world-building and genre convention, and orienting a new writer in what the genres demand. A competent foundational primer, held to the middle by being general and beginner-oriented and sitting among many similar guides without standing out.
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy by Crawford Kilian is a general craft guide to the speculative genres, aimed at writers new to science fiction and fantasy or looking for a foundational overview of how to write them. It covers the core challenges of the genres. Developing believable fantasy and science-fiction worlds. Handling the conventions and expectations of speculative fiction. And the fundamentals of building stories within them, in an accessible, practical introduction.
As a beginner-friendly overview it does a reasonable job with the basics and gets a fair rating. It’s a general primer, and that’s my problem with it: nothing in it stands out from the stack of similar guides, so it leaves me shrugging more than cheering.
It works best understood for what it is: a solid entry point into writing speculative fiction, broad instead of deep, for someone starting out.
A foundational overview
The book’s value is as an accessible introduction to the craft of speculative fiction. Kilian covers the fundamentals a new genre writer needs. How to build believable fantasy worlds and plausible science-fiction settings. How to handle the particular conventions and reader expectations of the genres, and the basics of constructing stories within them, in a clear, practical way suited to someone starting out.
For a writer new to science fiction and fantasy who wants a single foundational overview of what writing in these genres involves, it provides that grounding. It maps the territory competently and goes no further. Safe is the word for it, and safe is a letdown in genres built on invention.
Keep reading
Writing science fiction: the genre’s core challenges: Kilian’s foundational overview, in the wider craft of writing speculative fiction.
Watch: How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy: Top 5 Tips, Weber State—Continuing Education
World-building and genre conventions
The book gives suitable attention to the elements most central to the speculative genres, especially world-building and genre convention. A believable fantasy or science-fiction world is the distinctive demand these genres place on a writer, and Kilian addresses it as a core skill, along with the conventions and expectations that genre readers bring, which a writer must understand to satisfy or subvert them effectively.
This focus on the genre-specific challenges, the things that make writing SF and fantasy different from other fiction, is the right emphasis for a genre guide. Kilian gets the priorities right here, and treating world-building as a core skill is the smartest call in the book.
Keep reading
World-building and the conventions of speculative genres: the genre fundamentals Kilian surveys, in the wider craft of writing fantasy.
What are the weaknesses of Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy?
The caveats are about depth and distinctiveness. As a general, beginner-oriented overview, it covers the basics broadly instead of deeply, so a writer beyond the beginner stage, or wanting thorough treatment of any particular aspect, will find it a starting point instead of a destination and need more specialized resources. It also sits among many similar genre-writing guides, and doesn’t stand out from them in approach or insight, it’s competent and useful instead of distinctive.
And like all craft guides, its overview must be paired with practice and with deeper study to produce strong genre fiction. These are the normal limits of a general beginner’s primer instead of flaws, and for its intended audience it provides reasonable foundational value.
Is Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy worth reading?
It’s a reasonable, accessible beginner’s overview of writing science fiction and fantasy, valuable for surveying the genres’ core challenges, especially world-building and genre convention, and orienting a new writer in what speculative fiction demands. It gets a fair rating as a competent foundational primer. It’s held to that level by being general and beginner-oriented, covering the basics broadly instead of deeply, by sitting among many similar genre guides without standing out in approach or insight, and by the need to pair its overview with deeper study and practice.
For a writer new to the speculative genres who wants a single grounding introduction, it does the basic job; for depth, distinctiveness, or advanced craft, more specialized treatments serve better. It’s fine, and on a genre shelf this crowded, fine leaves me a little disappointed.
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