Science Fiction Writer's Workshop-I: An Introduction to Fiction Mechanics

by Barry B. Longyear

About a year after (my stories began being published), magazine editor George Scithers, suggested to me that since I was so new at being published, I must be very close to what I had to learn to move from fooling around with writing to actually producing professional stories. There are a lot of aspiring writers out there who would like to know just that. Write that book. SFWW-I is that book. It's the book I was looking for when I first started writing fiction. -- Barry B. Longyear

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Science

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Barry Brookes Longyear was an American science fiction author who resided in New Sharon, Maine.

Reviews

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another book I picked up years ago during my first round at writing. Longyear signed it and I'd highlighted parts of it so obviously read it before and didn't remember doing so.
The power of this book is that it's written from a student's perspective. Longyear (I'm thrilled to see he's still active. I lost track of him for several years) puts in the effort to remember his mistakes and the mistakes of others, and show the reader how to correct them. Another strength is the book's examples - mostly from Longyear himself - with detailed explanations of what's wrong with them and how to fix them.
Each chapter comes complete with an extensive Q&A/Study guide at the end, every answer to which can be found in that chapter or by combining knowledge gained from previous chapters with the current chapter. Anybody remember "Open book exams"? This is one and it's a wonderful training program.
I've written more on my blog, for those with an interest.

[Ben Goodridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still working my way through the long-neglected how-to books on writing. I have to admit that in a genre noted for its inflexibility, this one expresses itself with particularly uncompromising rigidity.

I don't know if he ever produced an updated version - this one was published in 1980 - but if he did, you should find that one instead. Or at least a version that doesn't go into detail on the importance of a well-tempered typewriter and a decent supply of fresh ribbon.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

good advice on writing but short on quantity

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent how-to-write book. Widely recommended. I've read quite a few similar books, and this one didn't have anything to say I hadn't read before. Some of the material, such as the discussion of POV, seems oddly presented, and uses idiosyncratic terms. The section on manuscript preparation comes from the age of the typewriter, and should not be relied on.

Longyear uses his own fiction for all the examples. Despite his being a Hugo and Nebula winner, I hadn't read any of his stuff before. His prose style struck me as old-fashioned for the time it was written: although Longyear started publishing in the late 1970s, his prose feels like stuff from Galaxy, If, or Analog two or three decades earlier. It's odd to think that Longyear's Circus World and Gibson's Neuromancer were being written at the same time.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This very useful book is perhaps the best of all books for those whose ambition is to write science fiction. A must have.

[Gevera Piedmont · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would work better if each chapter's examples were from a different writer.