October has arrived and Halloween is only a few short weeks away, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk a little bit about monsters. Well, writing monsters to be exact. As mentioned in last week's writing update post, I told everyone that I would be talking about some writing resources I bought off Writer's Digest.
I bought a two e-book bundle and a webinar on world building. The two books were, "Writing Monsters: How to Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures to Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction," and, "Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: How to Create Out of this World Novels and Short Stories."
Both books were authored or co-authored by Philip Athans, author of Baldur's Gate and former editor at Wizards of the Coast. When looking at his vast experience in the science fiction and fantasy world, from a novel and game perspective, I thought he would have some great advice on how to create stronger works in those genres. I was correct.
Each book tells you exactly what to expect from it right in their title, no detours. I haven't finished either book because its only been a week, but from the little I have read of each I learned quite a bit. From, "Writing Monsters," I learned how to see monsters as metaphors. Ironically, that is what drew me to getting this bundle in the first place. It helped me think differently how I approach creating monsters that fill a world, regardless of genre.
Creatures often occupy the horror, fantasy, and science fiction worlds, but they can occupy every other genre if we let them. From a child's pet to a towering giant, creatures (and by extension, monsters) should be in stories to create depth. Using metaphors is a unique way of doing that.
The other book, "Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction," was a great resource on how to develop a world and story construction, allowing to go back to basics on how to craft a living breathing world and the story inside it. It was also a spectacular reference for key elements in fantasy and science fiction stories that often go overlooked like: Economy, Religion, Government, etc.
Even as I worked on short stories, I often found myself having questions about these elements and it slowed down my writing process. The book helped me, especially for science fiction and fantasy stories, think about the story takes place in first in order to better craft a complete story.
It doesn't need to be done by everyone because each person has their own process, but for me it was a great help.
In regards to the webinar about world building, I decided to hold off on viewing it until I finishing reading both books as I feel the webinar may be a greatly complimentary piece to the reading.
Overall, my early impressions of these books are extremely positive and I will be sure to continue to use them in the future as I try to create more engaging stories. The books also gave me a great idea for a short story (that and the beautiful fall weather). My goal this month is to have this short story completed before Halloween and released for everyone to view.
I will keep people posted on the progress and where it can be read on the next few blog posts this month.
Until next week, keep writing everyone! -J.J.