The first fantasy-writing textbook to combine a historical genre overview with an anthology and comprehensive craft guide, this book explores the blue prints of one of the most popular forms of genre fiction. The first section will acquaint readers with the vast canon of existing fantasy fiction and outline the many sub-genres encompassed within it before examining the important relationship between fantasy and creative writing, the academy and publishing. A craft guide follows which equips students with the key concepts of storytelling as they are impacted by writing through a fantastical lens. These include:
- Character and dialogue
- Point of view
- Plot and structure
- Worldbuilding settings, ideologies and cultures
- Style and revision
The third section guides students through the spectrum of styles as they are classified in fantasy fiction from Epic and high fantasy, through Lovecraftian and Weird fiction, to magical realism and hybrid fantasy. An accompanying anthology will provide students with a greater awareness of the range of possibilities open to them as fantasy writers and will feature such writers as Ursula Le Guin, China Miéville, Theodora Goss, Emrys Donaldson, Ken Liu, C.S.E. Cooney, Vandana Singh, Sofia Samatar, Rebecca Roanhorse, Jessie Ulmer, Yxta Maya Murray, and Rachael K. Jones. With writing exercises, prompts, additional online resources and cues for further reading throughout, this is an essential resource for anyone wanting to write fantastical fiction.
Fantasy Fiction
Jennifer Pullen
An all-in-one guide to fantasy fiction writing looking at the genre's history, its key concepts of storytelling and featuring an anthology covering the vast canon of sub-genres within fantasy fiction.Rights Sold
All rights availableBook Details
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication Date: 11-01-2024
Format: Paperback | 234 x 156mm | 344 pagesAbout the Author
Jennifer Pullen is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Ohio Northern University, USA. During her decade of teaching, she has also taught at Eastern Washington University and Ohio University. She has worked on the editorial team of journals including The New Ohio Review (NOR), and Willow Springs, where she was the Assistant Fiction Editor. Her research interests include fantasy fiction, fairy tales and mythology, gender studies, science fiction, 19th century literature, environmental writing, and creative writing pedagogy. She is a founding member of the Creative Writing Studies organization. Her chapbook of fabulist fiction A Bead of Amber on Her Tongue, feminist retellings of Greek myths, won the Omnidawn fabulist fiction award, selected by Lily Hoang. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in journals and anthologies including, but not limited to: Off the Coast, Cleaver, Phantom Drift Limited, Clockhouse, Behind the Mask, Lunch Ticket, and F(r)iction. She has won multiple awards for her teaching.
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