How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Orson Scott Card.
Writer's Digest Books, isbn 0-89879-416-1
One of the best things about this book is that for examples of what OSC talks about he uses excerpts from other writers. He goes through a line by line analysis of the opening of Octavia Butler's Wild Seed, which I found fascinating. When writing a story, every single sentence is important, and what you write sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph has to tell the story in a logical way. I do a lot of this now when I study writing. I look at each sentence, try to figure out what's going on, try to figure out how it all relates to the over all story.
This book also describes OSC's MICE quotient, where stories are broken down according to Milieu, Idea, Character and Event. Something I usually do when outlining a story, and it's a big help.
I'm not sure if this book is still in print, WD books may bring things back into print from time to time. You might find a copy at Half.com or Abe books.
See all the "Confessions of a How-To Book Junkie" here.
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