Post by Battlechantress on Aug 9, 2010 23:10:14 GMT 1
Not sure which category to put this in exactly, but hopefully, this will do. If you've seen the blog pages on BW, then you've basically seen this. It's just a better organized version.
World Building Sites and Related Book List:
SpecFicWorld Building Resources (Has LOTS of stuff, like 3D star maps, a listing of known exoplanets, etc.. Probably more info than you really need if all you want to do is write fanfics, but it's still cool to check out.)
StarGen (You can put in stuff like atmosphere model numbers, how many moons you want your planet to have, etc.. Again, it's probably a bit more info than you really need, but it can be fun to play around with.)
If you want to read a good short story about humans from an alien's point of view, then you might want to check out the August issue of "Asimov's Science Fiction" and read "The Lovely Ugly" by Carol Emshwiller. Note that the sex scene (hell, everything past the first few paragraphs, come to think of it) goes into "disturbing" territory, but the opening paragraphs are entertaining, particularly how the aliens view human skin and visible veins (not to mention the fact that the aliens deliberately show them crappy foods to eat and make up a language just for them). Here's a free excerpt of the story (on asimovs.com): www.asimovs.com/201008/exc_story1.shtml
Sci Fi Novelists Library Page has a list of resources for 'hard sci fi' stories. I can tell you as an owner of some of the books on their list that you will probably have to get most of them on Amazon.com or similar places, as they might be out of print. There's also a great essay by C.J. Cherryh on avoiding "writerisms" further down the page.
Here's a few books on their list that I can heartily recommend:
World Building by Stephen L. Gillett (Edited by Ben Bova)
Terraforming by Martyn J. Fogg
The Starflight Handbook, A Pioneer's Guide to Interstellar Travel by Eugene Mallove and Gregory Matlof
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. The book was written before electronic publishing came into being, but everything else in here still applies to those writing in the genre. Whereas the other books on this list may well be out- of- print, this one is still relatively easy to obtain.
If you want to make up your own alien species, this book isn't on the list, and it is definitely out of print (but I got it for cheap on Amazon.com):
The Science of Aliens by Clifford Pickover. Some of his jokes might make you groan, but he's got some interesting stuff in here regardless.
If you're looking for plausible information on temporal displacement and similar theories, then check out this site: www.chronos.ws/phasing.html (I actually do have a reason for looking this up, but I'm keeping the plot to myself )
Writer Development Links and Book List:
10 Errors That 'Spell Check' Won't Catch
The 5 Laws of Making a Story Complicated Without Creating an Ungodly Mess
Pen Points Guidelines to Average Manuscript Lengths
Seventh Sanctum (random generators)
What Makes a Great Setting
How to Make Your Setting A Character
Writing Gay Characters
Writing Sexual Assault or Rape
Alien Languages
If you need to edit stuff yourself, I recently found this old book at a used bookstore (but it appears that you can find it online):
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
Strunk and White's Elements of Style. You don't need the fancy illustrated version, and can likely buy it used for under 5 bucks here in the States.
Character Development Tools:
Character Development Guide
How Mary Sues are Created
Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
Tillian's Fanfic Resource List (different links and resources than what I have listed here, well worth checking out)
Hope this helps.
World Building Sites and Related Book List:
SpecFicWorld Building Resources (Has LOTS of stuff, like 3D star maps, a listing of known exoplanets, etc.. Probably more info than you really need if all you want to do is write fanfics, but it's still cool to check out.)
StarGen (You can put in stuff like atmosphere model numbers, how many moons you want your planet to have, etc.. Again, it's probably a bit more info than you really need, but it can be fun to play around with.)
If you want to read a good short story about humans from an alien's point of view, then you might want to check out the August issue of "Asimov's Science Fiction" and read "The Lovely Ugly" by Carol Emshwiller. Note that the sex scene (hell, everything past the first few paragraphs, come to think of it) goes into "disturbing" territory, but the opening paragraphs are entertaining, particularly how the aliens view human skin and visible veins (not to mention the fact that the aliens deliberately show them crappy foods to eat and make up a language just for them). Here's a free excerpt of the story (on asimovs.com): www.asimovs.com/201008/exc_story1.shtml
Sci Fi Novelists Library Page has a list of resources for 'hard sci fi' stories. I can tell you as an owner of some of the books on their list that you will probably have to get most of them on Amazon.com or similar places, as they might be out of print. There's also a great essay by C.J. Cherryh on avoiding "writerisms" further down the page.
Here's a few books on their list that I can heartily recommend:
World Building by Stephen L. Gillett (Edited by Ben Bova)
Terraforming by Martyn J. Fogg
The Starflight Handbook, A Pioneer's Guide to Interstellar Travel by Eugene Mallove and Gregory Matlof
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. The book was written before electronic publishing came into being, but everything else in here still applies to those writing in the genre. Whereas the other books on this list may well be out- of- print, this one is still relatively easy to obtain.
If you want to make up your own alien species, this book isn't on the list, and it is definitely out of print (but I got it for cheap on Amazon.com):
The Science of Aliens by Clifford Pickover. Some of his jokes might make you groan, but he's got some interesting stuff in here regardless.
If you're looking for plausible information on temporal displacement and similar theories, then check out this site: www.chronos.ws/phasing.html (I actually do have a reason for looking this up, but I'm keeping the plot to myself )
Writer Development Links and Book List:
10 Errors That 'Spell Check' Won't Catch
The 5 Laws of Making a Story Complicated Without Creating an Ungodly Mess
Pen Points Guidelines to Average Manuscript Lengths
Seventh Sanctum (random generators)
What Makes a Great Setting
How to Make Your Setting A Character
Writing Gay Characters
Writing Sexual Assault or Rape
Alien Languages
If you need to edit stuff yourself, I recently found this old book at a used bookstore (but it appears that you can find it online):
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
Strunk and White's Elements of Style. You don't need the fancy illustrated version, and can likely buy it used for under 5 bucks here in the States.
Character Development Tools:
Character Development Guide
How Mary Sues are Created
Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
Tillian's Fanfic Resource List (different links and resources than what I have listed here, well worth checking out)
Hope this helps.