Writing Monsters: How To Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures To Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy, And Science Fiction Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Monsters are more than things that go bump in the night...Monsters are lurking in the woods, beneath the waves, and within our favorite books, films, and games--and there are good reasons why they appear so often. Monsters are manifestations of our fears and symbols of our society--not to mention they're a lot of fun--but each should serve a purpose and enhance the themes and tension in your fiction.In Writing Monsters, best-selling author Philip Athans uses classic examples from books, films, and the world around us to explore what makes monsters memorable--and terrifying. You'll learn what monsters can (and should) represent in your story and how to create monsters from the ground up.Writing Monsters includes:In-depth discussions of where monsters come from, what they symbolize, and how to best portray them in fictionInformative overviews of famous monsters, archetypes, and legendary creaturesA Monster Creation Form to help you create your monster from scratchAn annotated version of H.P. Lovecraft's chilling story "The Unnamable" Whether you write fantasy, science fiction, or horror, your vampires, ghouls, aliens, and trolls need to be both compelling and meaningful. With Writing Monsters, you can craft creatures that will wreak havoc in your stories and haunt your readers' imaginations--and nightmares.
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; Annotated edition (September 18, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599638088
ISBN-13: 978-1599638089
Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.5 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #157,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #9 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Science Fiction & Fantasy #918 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Writing Skills #1186 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Fiction
Writing Monsters provided some insights into writing the things that go bump in the night or that crawl into your spaceship and start taking down your crew one by one, but in some ways it was a victim of its own wide-spectrum approach. In attempting to cover all scenarios that might involve monsters it wound up being more of a standardized book on how to write speculative fiction than the specialized work I was looking for. It's not a bad book at all, but it didn't delve into the topic deep enough for me to give it more stars.
Enjoyed this immensely. Great insights into the subject of monsters in fiction, their roles, suggestions on monster design, how to handle strengths vs. weaknesses, etc. I dislike zombies as monster du jure but I benefitted from the observations offered by the author who visualizes zombies as a force-of-nature, like Godzilla, with the real conflict of a zombie story between the people involved. Monsters, of course, figure into horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Notwithstanding frequent references to science fiction monsters, I believe science fiction requires some more in-depth examination of creature creation than this book can provide, however useful it may be, especially when aliens are involved. That's just a whole separate topic.. But an excellent book, I can't recommend it enough.
I enjoy this different approach to crafting a character. A hero is only as good as its villain, and monsters make for very fun villains! A good break of fresh air in an ocean of writing advice books.
This book is perfect. Wether it's sci fi horror or just a story with a monster in it this book has a wealth of knowledge thatis pperfect for any writer. It gives examplesof how to do it right, and this is rightly done.
not great. I was not impressed. If you are a writer who is just starting to learn how to write about monster and the creepy things that go bump in the night, and you have very little idea about how to make someone who is reading a scary story truly afraid... then this wouldn't be a bad first stop. If I did not know who HP Lovecraft was, this would have been invaluable to me. It even has one of his short stories printed in its entirety. The collection of Lovecraftisms was nice too. I simply use all of these things too frequently for it to be of much use. I was looking for some pointers on how to make my monsters better, not pointers on how to make my monster exist at all. That is what this book does; it asks you, like a mildly interested friend would ask, what is your monster all about? if you already know the answer, then simply describe it as best you can. otherwise this book will not be much help.
Has a good amount of information from masters of the horror genre. More importantly, it takes that information and breaks down WHY things are horrific. Includes a template to help you keep in mind the specifics of your terrifying creature
For a first time writer this is very informative. I will definitely be rereading it.
Book came more than expected. No scratches, no tears, bends. It is perfect.Review of the actual book will be at a later time once it has been read fully.
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