"Making Myths and Magic," authored by Shelly Campbell and edited by Allison Alexander, is a literary treasure trove for aspiring speculative fiction writers. This comprehensive resource unveils the intricacies of crafting fantastical worlds, offering invaluable insights garnered from the authors' extensive experience in the publishing industry. Whether you're a novice or seasoned writer, this book promises to be your guiding star through the cosmos of speculative fiction.

One of the book's standout features is its approachability. Campbell and Alexander take the reader by the hand and embark on a mesmerizing journey through the realms of science fiction and fantasy. They delve deep into novels, movies, and TV shows, extracting nuggets of wisdom and inspiration that will fuel your creativity. It's not just a how-to manual; it's a conversation between fellow enthusiasts, making you feel like you're part of a passionate community.

The book's structure is meticulous and reader-friendly. It covers a wide array of topics, from the fundamental building blocks like structure and dialogue to the more intricate aspects such as mythologies, prophecies, and even the creation of languages. Each chapter is a treasure chest filled with practical advice, examples, and thought-provoking exercises that will encourage you to roll up your sleeves and start crafting your own worlds.

"Making Myths and Magic" is more than just a technical guide; it's a masterclass in creativity. The authors emphasize the importance of originality and innovation while respecting the conventions and tropes of the genre. They offer guidance on how to breathe life into your characters and landscapes, making them resonate with readers, even when they are dragons or androids.

The book's exploration of diversity is particularly commendable. Campbell and Alexander underscore the importance of representing a wide spectrum of voices and experiences within speculative fiction. They offer advice on crafting authentic, relatable characters from various backgrounds, ensuring that your fictional worlds mirror the rich tapestry of our own.

One of the book's most exciting sections is its examination of fantastic creatures and magic systems. Drawing from a wealth of examples, the authors dissect the anatomy of mythical creatures and the mechanics of magic. They guide you in creating your own, ensuring that they are not only fantastical but also believable within the context of your world. Their insights into the intricacies of magic systems will inspire you to craft rules and limitations that add depth and tension to your narrative.

The authors' treatment of world-building is a highlight. They stress the significance of consistency and detail in creating immersive worlds that captivate readers. Their discussions on technology, weaponry, and languages are invaluable tools for grounding your speculative fiction in a sense of realism, no matter how fantastical the setting.

Throughout "Making Myths and Magic," Campbell and Alexander engage the reader with cleverly crafted exercises and thought-provoking prompts. These hands-on activities encourage you to apply the knowledge gained from each chapter directly to your own work, transforming theory into practice.

In conclusion, "Making Myths and Magic" is an indispensable resource for anyone venturing into the captivating realm of speculative fiction. Shelly Campbell and Allison Alexander have poured their collective wisdom into these pages, creating a guide that is both instructive and inspirational. Whether you're an aspiring writer looking to embark on your first fantastical journey or a seasoned author seeking to refine your craft, this book is a magical elixir that will ignite your imagination and guide you on your quest to create worlds of wonder and enchantment.

I often find myself picking up writing guides when inspiration for my own creative pursuits is dwindling, which is what happened when I requested this title. I liked how many areas - such as acts, world-building, and character construction - were slotted into this book and thought it a very sound and compressive guide for the beginner. The areas focusing specifically on the fantasy and sci-fi genres were only touched upon, however, and this instead read more like a beginner manual that could be suited for those writing in any genre. Much of this wasn't new to me but did the job of providing the inspiration I was looking for, regardless of that.

It's nice to see a writing book specifically geared towards fantasy and science fiction writers. This is by far one of the best books on writing that I've read with the thorough yet open advice given. From tips to kickstart creativity to breakdowns on genres (and subgenres), Making Myths and Magic covers a wide range of topics. You'll see the various tropes, tips, and advice that include ways to feature culture through dialogue, types of conflict, and steps to myth-building. This is definitely recommended for writers new and established, for students learning the craft, and for teachers looking to inspire.

This is great for newbie writers. I definitely found it useful. It has an easy to follow structure, has lots of examples and doesn't bore you to death like other guides that feel like text books.

Really liked this handbook. It is well laid-out and designed and has all kinds of helpful information about what you need to know to write your own science-fiction/fantasy novel. I recommend this if you're interested in writing.

A well laid-out and designed book about everything you need to know to write your own science-fiction/fantasy novel. It's easy to understand and follow along, and didn't feel too dense whilst still being helpful.

This was a sweet and funny little guidebook that will definitely help you get into your creative zone! I’ve been struggling on a particular story idea and this helped me to get back into it.

Excellent guide to writing sci-fi and fantasy. This is a must have for anyone who is interested in writing.

A good, fairly comprehensive guide to writing SFF. I enjoyed the balance of ideas to examples, especially since the authors drew from many types of storytelling media including video games – there’s a lot of cross pollination and more authors could do with realising that’s happening! Not really anything new for a seasoned writer but the way information was organised was helpful and might make you think about how you create worlds differently.

I asked for the ebook ARC from Netgalley.
This was the first book I read on writing speculative fiction, having previously only watched videos on the subject and never actually having put to paper any of my "grand" novel ideas. This felt very accessible, with simple advice, straight to the point, and often paired with proper examples to illustrated where the ideas come from or where to find them well executed. Of note, the authors do look for sources and examples in multiple formats and media, from the classic fantasy novel to sci-fi videogames. Making Myths and Magic is a quick read and does feel like it could become a first resource - a field guide - when when planning a story.
Here's hoping it will one day be acknowledged on a book of my own.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review and I honestly think it's great.

This book is a great guide for building your idea for a sci-fi or fantasy story into a novel. It takes you from building a good skeleton for the story to fleshing it out with action, great characters and a detailed world. It covers a lot of territory such as outlining, world-building, character arcs, story structure and so much more. It's a comprehensive yet concise guide to writing a sci-fi or fantasy novel. I think this book would appeal not only to people who want to write a novel, but also to fans who want to understand what it takes to write a novel.

This book has given me a new appreciation for all the work that goes into writing a great sci-fi or fantasy novel. I give this book 5 stars.

I’d like to thank Mythos & Ink and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an eARC of Making Myth and Magic: A Field Guide to Writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels.

Over the years I’ve read many many many books on writing, so why do I keep reading new ones? The answer is quite easy, I believe in the saying ‘repetition is the mother of skill’. Sometimes when you hear the same information told in a different way it will suddenly click and give you a new understanding. So even though I’ve heard most of the writing advice out there I gladly take any opportunity I can to check out new books on writing.

What makes Making Myth and Magic different from many of the other books on writing out there is that instead just being a general writing guide this book is specifically focused on writing Sci-fi and Fantasy novels.

Campbell & Alexander do a great job disseminating a great deal of information (from outlining, character creation, world building, how to hook your readers, dialogue, common tropes, and much much more) in a concise and easy to understand way using not only well known novels as examples to illustrate their points but also movies, TV shows, and even video games.

If you’re interested in writing Sci-fi or Fantasy, reading Making Myth and Magic would be a great place to start.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R8P9HNXPV8CSW/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Huge thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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This was a wonderfully informative guide to writing speculative fiction!

One might expect the usual generic advice and writing tips but Alexander and Campbell have gone ahead and created a practical compendium of top-notch advice generously supported by examples from a huge variety of media.

Rather than just giving examples from written fantasy works, Magic Myths and Magic contains a plethora of media including games, movies and TV shows. The games examples were just as informative as the rest and everything is explained in a practical manner.

I would highly recommend this guide for all prospective and current speculative fiction authors or even anyone interested in world building for all media.

Overall rating: 5 stars

Making Myths and Magic is a practical and well written guide to writing genre speculative fiction presented by Shelly Campbell & Allison Alexander. Due out 18th Feb 2022 from Mythos and Ink, it's 404 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of nonfiction ebooks with interactive formats lately. It makes finding information again so much easier without having to flip around in the book looking.

This reminds me in all the best ways of a good writing workshop with concrete, logically prepared, and well presented useful advice for the craft of writing, aimed at writers (or would-be writers) who wish to concentrate on speculative fiction. The authors tie-in numerous different media (film, printed fiction, popular culture, etc). There are relevant writing examples throughout the book which will hopefully help would-be SF/F writers to hone their craft. The authors have included chapter notes and attributions with external links and references which I found very helpful.

Four and a half stars. This was really information dense, fun to read, and very useful. It reminds me a lot of a well run writing workshop with a particularly effective teacher (or in this case, two). I would recommend it to beginning writers (there are good takeaways here for all genres, not just speculative fiction). It would also be useful for more structured group workshops or classroom use, writer's groups, and similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

4.5/5

It's an excellent book for everyone (both readers and writers) who wants to understand storytelling better. It's well-written, precise, and offers good examples.

Well worth a read.

I'm always fascinated by the art of writing, and I love reading about it, but I find a lot of books are very dry and hard to get through. Not so this one, which is chatty and fun all the way through, drawing on pop culture for illustrations. About the only part of fantasy writing not covered here was designing maps; everything else I could possibly think of is covered in one of the chapters or another.

I loved that they kept emphasising that their advice is only advice and that everyone should feel happy writing in the way that suits them. It was also really great fun looking out for fandoms I recognised! It makes the advice seem more relatable when I recognise the characters and situations (nothing from David Eddings, though?) My favourite was using the characters of Firefly to demonstrate how characters can move from one archetype to another depending on the situation and who's around them.

I really enjoyed this. I think I'll be coming back to it often for advice, for reassurance or just for fun! It's a great read no matter your level of experience with writing.

This book was not bad I just think that it was a little bit too basic for what I was looking for. This book used tons of examples for pop culture to talk about the different aspects of fantasy and science fiction stories. I think that this works better for someone who wants to write science fiction or fantasy but doesn't know what aspects to put in it. Because I read a ton of science fiction and fantasy I was familiar with all of these different aspects. If the authors would have dived deeper into some of the topics and really gotten into discussions on why things work in certain books as opposed to just telling me what elements a certain story had. It might have worked better for me. As it is I think for new writers, it is a great starting place, just too basic for me.

Shelly Campbell and Allison Alexander’s Making Myths and Magic is a serviceable introduction to writing speculative fiction that will be best for beginners.
The book is divided up into four sections: Building a Novel Skeleton, Hooking Readers, Character Creation, and Worldbuilding. Each section has relevant chapters covering story structure, story expectations and tropes, archetypes, and major elements for imagining another world. The last section (worldbuilding) is the longest—approximately half the book.
The advice and instruction in the book, unfortunately, is nothing new—the book reads like another churned out manual with the same information you would find in any other similar guide. Someone new to writing, and particularly with an interest in speculative fiction, would probably find the book helpful, but it’s a pass for anyone with more than a fledgling interest in the subject.
One final note: it was unclear to me what the authors’ credentials were for writing this; both authors have less than a handful of books to their name, and they seem to be published by the same company that put out this book (there’s my answer right there, I suppose).
Recommended for novice writers primarily interested in writing speculative fiction.

This reference guide was intended for authors wanting to write speculative fiction.

The authors did an excellent job of explaining every element of writing in the fantasy/sci-fi genres. They balanced the information given with real-life examples, like novels, movies, TV Series and more. The book also contained alot of external resources for further research if needed. All important aspects of writing Sci-Fi/Fantasy is very appropriately covered.

Some of the topics included were;
1: Brainstorming and outlining
2: How to hook readers with the first chapter
3: Conflict
4:Dialogue
5:Character creation
6:World-building... and a lot more. There's even great step by step advice about writing songs for your novel. Very cool!

The authors Shelly and Allison are qualified individuals, who did a great job of logically organizing this reference, with clear and effective points.

Shelly writes speculative fiction, and Allison is an editor and author, who writes extensively on the topics of world-building, diversity, disability and faith. They'd hoped, and I quote, "that this book would function as both an encouragement and a helpful resource, for bringing your imagination to the page".
So do I believe this book will successfully carry out their mission? Oh yes! I think they hit the nail on the head.

As a fantasy writer who's currently in the drafting stages of my first novel, I know for a fact that I am going to constantly be referencing this book throughout my writing process.

Writing fantasy and sci-fi is extremely difficult. This book is the staple needed to make the writing journey a little easier. Wether it's for new fantasy/sci-fi authors, or anyone who's interested in just learning about what goes into crafting such best-sellers. Therefore, I highly recommend.

A big thank you to the authors, publishers at Mythos and Ink, and NetGalley, for offering me an arc of this book, in exchange for an honest review. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Happy Reading!❤

Making Myths and Magic :A Field Guide to Writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels by Shelly Campbell and Allison Alexander has practical tips and is a great reference.

I appreciated the exercises and way they broke down ideas.