Book Review: The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy

Reviewed By: Cheryl - RAM

The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Darin Park , Tom Dullemond
Class/Genre:   Non-Fiction   Fantasy   Writer's Resources

This guide, as the title indicates, attempts to cover everything about writing fantasy. It does, in fact, succeed in covering a very wide range of topics, with thorough and well-organized chapters on everything from world building to humour. The advice to new writers is illustrated with references to well-known fantasy authors as well as examples created for the purpose by the contributors to the book. Additional resources include URLs and other contact information for different forms of publishing. In some cases, sources of additional material related to each chapter are listed, much of it conveniently online. The book also includes short biographies of the contributors, and and index. Perhaps because I was reading an advance review copy, the page numbers in the index did not always match up to the text, at least not in the chapter on religion. There were a few other minor glitches - the tables on page 98 were explained after they appeared, which was confusing, and the horse diagrams on the following page are on top of the text.

This book is a good basic resource for a beginner; however, some readers will find much of the advice and recommended reading elementary. People with a good basic education and who also read avidly may already be quite familiar with much of the material on religion, mythology, and research. On the other hand, the breadth of material covered means that most readers should learn something new, and will also find suggestions for further reading and research.

Cheryl - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Cheryl - RAM