On my shelf this week:
Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie
Let’s Get Invisible, by R.L. Stine
Heads You Lose, by R.L. Stine
The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani
How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Orson Scott Card
This week I’m reading a phenomenal audio book because it’s read by Jim Dale, the same guy who read all the Harry Potter books. It’s very entertaining. My boys are super obsessed with R.L. Stine, so I’m reading a couple of Goosebump stories with the 8- and 6-year-old. A fantasy adventure (because the best way to learn to write is to read) and a handbook on writing science fiction and fantasy by a master of the genre top the list. Good stuff this week!
Best quotes so far:
“…You believe that the kind of story you want to tell might be best received by the science fiction and fantasy audience. I hope you’re right, because in many ways this is the best audience in the world to write for. They’re open-minded and intelligent. They want to think as well as feel, understand as well as dream. Above all, they want to be led into places that no one has ever visited before. It’s a privilege to tell stories to these readers, and an honour when they applaud the tale you tell.”
Orson Scott Card
“Science fiction is about what could be but isn’t; fantasy is about what couldn’t be.”
Orson Scott Card
…and my personal favorite:
“The novelty and freshness you’ll bring to the field won’t come from the new ideas you think up. Truly new ideas are rare, and usually turn out to be variations on old themes anyway. No, your freshness will come from the way you think, from the person you are; it will inevitably show up in your writing, provided you don’t mask it with heavy-handed formulas or clichés.”
Orson Scott Card
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
