Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Jeff VanderMeer

Harry N. Adams

July 3, 2018

$27.50

Available On Our Shelves

Description

An expanded edition of the highly successful and beautifully illustrated writing companion.

From New York Times bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer, Wonderbook is the definitive guide to writing science fiction and fantasy, offering an accessible, example-rich, illustrated approach for writers and would-be writers that emphasizes the importance of playfulness as well as pragmatism.

 

“If worldbuilding gives you an S-class migraine, never fear. There’s one book that every speculative fiction writer should read to learn about proper worldbuilding: Wonderbook.” ―Bustle

 

“Aspiring writers of ‘imaginative fiction’—whether science fiction, fantasy or other kinds—are in for a treat.” ―Space.com

 

Jeff VanderMeer’s modern masterpiece of instruction exploits the visual nature of genre culture and employs bold, full-color drawings, maps, renderings, and visualizations to stimulate creative thinking.

A true objet d’art, this overstuffed, full-color illustrated book features glorious Lovecraftian artwork of all sorts of outrageous monsters, as well as a host of advice winding their ways around the edges of the pages like marginalia in an illuminated monk’s script. Yes, it’s practical advice, useful to writers, but it also deserves a place on your coffee table for visitors to flip through and for you to look at again and again.

 

This revised and expanded edition features an additional 50 pages of diagrams, illustrations, and writing exercises creating the ultimate volume of inspiring advice that is also a stunning and inspiring object.

On top of all that, the book features sidebars and essays from some of the biggest names working in the field today, including:

  • George R. R. Martin
  • Lev Grossman
  • Neil Gaiman
  • Michael Moorcock
  • Kim Stanley Robinson
  • Charles Yu
  • Karen Joy Fowler
  • And more!

Wonderbook has become the definitive guide to writing science fiction and fantasy by offering an accessible, example-rich approach that emphasizes the importance of playfulness as well as pragmatism. It also exploits the visual nature of genre culture and employs bold, full-color drawings, maps, renderings, and visualizations to stimulate creative thinking. On top of all that, the book features sidebars and essays from some of the biggest names working in the field today, including George R. R. Martin, Lev Grossman, Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, and Karen Joy Fowler. For the fifth anniversary of the original publication, Jeff VanderMeer has added an additional 32 pages of diagrams, illustrations, and writing exercises creating the ultimate volume of inspiring advice that is also a stunning and inspiring object.

Additional information

Weight 2.55 lbs
Dimensions 9.9 × 6.9 in