David Gerrold - Worlds Of Wonder - How To Write Science Fi_1

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Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. Copyright ®

2001 by David Gerrold. Manufactured in the United States of America. All

rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by

any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and re-

trieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by

a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer's

Digest Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc., 1507 Dana Avenue,

Cincinnati, Ohio 45207. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

Visit our Web site at www.writersdigest.com for information on more re-

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05 04 03 02 01

54321

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gerrold, David

Worlds of wonder: how to write science fiction and fantasy / by Gerrold,

David.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-58297-007-6 (pbk.)

1. Science fiction—Authorship. I. Title.

PN3377.5.S3 647

808.3/8762—dc21

2001

00-051299

CIP

Edited by David Borcherding and Michelle Howry

Interior designed by Angela Wilcox

Cover designed by Wendy Dunning

Production coordinated by Mark Griffin

For my students.

Thank you for all you have taught me.

About the Author

David Gerrold was raised in the San Fernando Valley by

Ward and June Cleaver. Nobody in his family was alco-

holic, abusive, addicted, or otherwise dysfunctional. This

lack of serious childhood trauma nearly destroyed Ger-

rold's budding ability as a writer. He had no source ma-

terial. Nevertheless, through constant and deliberate self-

exposure to comic books, science fiction pulp magazines,

and trashy B-movies, the young Gerrold was able to sink

to the necessary level of moral dissolution to become a

successful author.

In 1967, Gerrold became the youngest ever member of

the Writers Guild of America when he sold his first televi-

sion script, "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode of Star

Trek. The episode was nominated for the prestigious Hugo

Award. Paramount Pictures identifies "The Trouble With

Tribbles" as the single most popular episode of all Star

Trek episodes.

From 1972 to 1973, David Gerrold published nine

books: two nonfiction books about Star Trek, an anthol-

ogy, a short story collection, and five novels. The novels

were Yesterday's Children (the first Star Wolf novel), When

Harlie Was One (1972 Hugo and Nebula award nominee),

The Man Who Folded Himself (1973 Hugo and Nebula

award nominee), Space Skimmer (one of his most reprinted

novels), and the novelization of Battle For The Planet Of

The Apes. (Gerrold can be seen as a dead ape in one of the

movie's climactic scenes.)

For a while, during the seventies, Gerrold lived in Ireland

and then New York. When he returned to Los Angeles, he

resumed working in television. He created Land of the Lost

for Sid and Marty Krofft, and served as story-editor/pro-

ducer for the first season, writing five episodes. He also

wrote episodes for Star Trek Animated, Logan's Run, Tales

From The Darkside, Twilight Zone, The Real Ghost Bust-

ers, Superboy, and Babylon 5. He served as a story-editor/

producer for the first season of Star Trek: The Next

Generation.

At the beginning of the eighties, Gerrold began teaching

screenwriting at Pepperdine University in Malibu. Al-

though his students call him "The Teacher From The Black

Lagoon," they also rank him as one of the most effective

instructors on campus. Gerrold also conducts an infre-

quent seminar on authorship called "Writing On Purpose."

In 1984, Gerrold published A Matter For Men, the first

novel in his epic series of alien invasion, The War Against

The Chtorr. In 1985, the second novel appeared, A Day

For Damnation. The series has developed an enthusiastic

cult following. A Rage For Revenge and A Season For

Slaughter were published in 1989 and 1993. A fifth book,

A Method For Madness, is due Real Soon Now.

Gerrold's other books include Moonstar Odyssey, En-

emy Mine (a novelization), Chess With A Dragon, The

Voyage of the Star Wolf, The Middle of Nowhere, Under

The Eye of God, A Covenant of Justice, and Fatal Distrac-

tions. The latter effort is a history of shareware computer

games, with an accompanying CD-ROM of software.

Gerrold's novellette, The Martian Child, was published

in the September, 1994, issue of The Magazine of Fantasy

& Science Fiction. In 1995, it won the Nebula for best

novelette of the year. Two months later, the story won the

Locus Readership Poll, and two months after that the Hugo

award, completing a rare sweep of science fiction's "triple

crown."

David and and his son Scan live in California with three

neurotic dogs and an assortment of spoiled cats.

Table of Contents

Start

Here......................................................................

The Literature of Imagination.......................................... 7

Inventing

Wonder

..........................................................

If—The Most Powerful Word .........................................13

Science.......................................................................... 15

Science

Fiction..............................................................

...and

Fantasy...............................................................22

What

Is a

Story?............................................................30

Story

Is...

..................................................................33

Crises

and

Challenges

....................................................36

The

Hero

......................................................................39

Who Is

This

Person?

......................................................45

Setting

the

Stage

............................................................

To Build a World...........................................................52

Detailing

the

World........................................................

Building

Aliens..............................................................

Believability...................................................................71

Fantasy

Worlds..............................................................76

Complications............................................................... 88

Structure,

Structure!.....................:.................94

Transformation............................................................101

Theme..........................................................................104

Style.............................................................................107

First

Lines

....................................................................no

Last

Lines.....................................................................lie

Punch

Lines..................................................................121

Write

From

Inside.........................................................128

Sex Scenes....................................................................138

Love

Scenes..................................................................148

Sentences......................................................................162

Simile...........................................................................164

Metaphor.....................................................................166

Adjectives and Adverbs................................................. 168

Finding the Right Words................................................170

Paragraphs...................................................................173

Evoking.......................................................................

178

Metric

Prose.................................................................181

Memes.........................................................................186

To Be or Naught to Be ..................................................195

Find

Another

Way.........................................................200

Style

Redux..................................................................202

Who's

First?............................................................205

Tense

...........................................................................210

Pronouns......................................................................214

800 Words....................................................................218

Dialogue,

Part

............................................................220

Dialogue,

Part

II...........................................................222

Discipline.....................................................................225

The

First

Million

Words................................................229

Be Specific....................................................................230

Why Write?..................................................................235

Ten Pieces of Good Advice............................................237

Recommendations........................................................238

Index...........................................................................239

Start Here

Every great writer was once a beginner.

Remember that. Don't beat yourself up for not

knowing something. Go out and learn it.

The

very

best

writing

instructor

ever

had was an

incompetent.

A terminal alcoholic who could barely find the classroom

each day, he was a bleary-eyed, red-nosed, overstuffed,

walking elbow-wrinkle of a human being. Whatever writ-

ing ability he'd ever had, he'd long-since drowned it, and

the corpse was a layer of dried sediment at the bottom of

a bottle.

He didn't like me either.

His lectures were a waste of time. His assignments were

pointless. The class was as challenging as the hole in a

doughnut. Custard had more substance.

But one day he said to me the most important words in

my entire career. Had he not said these words, my life

would have been far different—I probably would not have

become a writer. He looked me straight in the eye and said,

"Stop wasting my time. You're no good. You'll never be

any good. You have no talent. You'll never be a writer?'

His words angered me so much that I made a promise

to myself. It was very simple. I'll show you, you stupid old

bastard!

That was in 1963.

Within four years I'd sold a script to television—"The

Trouble With Tribbles" episode of Star Trek. Within ten

years I'd published eight novels, two anthologies, two

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