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Books on Writing
- The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction The book at the heart of all this!
- Writing Monsters Advice for SF, fantasy, and horror authors
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Buy My Books
- Six Guns & Spaceships Featuring my space opera western story “Rendezes”
- Devils of the Endless Deep My trip into the Fathomless Abyss
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- Australians, Buy Here! Order from Boomerang Books in Australia.
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- Tales from the Fathomless Abyss The anthology that started it all!
- The Haunting of Dragon's Cliff with Mel Odom, a new sword & sorcery barbarian is born!
- Completely Broken A novel of contemporary horror
- Annihilation My entry in the Forgotten Realms series R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen
- A Reader's Guide to R.A. Salvatore's the Legend of Drizzt An essential companion to the greatest hero of the Forgotten Realms world
- I Made a Friend An alternate history/dieselpunk story for your Kindle!
- Morbid Dread of the Dawn Read my story in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias!
- The Dogs Are In the Alley Again: A new horror story in Jitter #7
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Interviews & Guest Posts
- CLARKESWORLD INTERVIEW 1: I took part in a roundtable interview with other speculative fiction editors.
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- Celebrity Game Table: A detailed look at my Tegel Manor Campaign from 2003.
- Monsters in D&D, Books, Movies… Dicegeeks Podcast interview with Phil!
- Longwinded One Podcast: Episode 158: Philip Athans: The Years of Phil
- Classic Monsters, Modern Love: How a New Generation of Fans is Keeping the Universal Monsters Alive
- Publisher's Weekly “Is the Universe Expanding or Contracting?”
- Hunting for MANHUNT: The behind the scenes tale of my lost MegaTraveller adventure!
- Inside Storytelling: Writing Monsters, Creatures & Villains
- Porter Anderson vs. Movie Examples: With some nice things to say about my Living Dialogue seminar at the Writer’s Digest conference.
- 10 Questions with…ME! I get grilled by Ryan Schneider.
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
- Ask the (Book) Editors: Panel video from 2013 Emerald City Comicon!
- Writer's Digest Guest Blog: How to Make a Vampire Not Suck
- Horror Authors: How to Scare the Heck Out of Your Readers A guest post at The Write Life with practical tips for scaring the crap out of your readers.
- Writer's Digest Interview: On Writing F&SF.
- How To Write Monsters With Philip Athans The Creative Penn Podcasts me!
- Roleplaying Tips: Interviews me!
- The Fanitarium Podcast: Interviews Philip Athans
- How to Create a Magic System: M.S. Farzan and Storyteller’s Handbook features The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
- How to Write Horror: Reading, Breathing and the Long Sentence (at Writer’s Digest)
- Worldcasting: I join the guys from Worldbuilding Magazine for a chat about… everything!
Past Posts
Tag Archives: teen books
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY AS WISH FULFILLMENT
Ryu Spaeth opened his discussion of the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, “An Education Through Earthsea,” with: The most beguiling promise of fantasy fiction is that of self-knowledge. At some point the protagonist discovers, with the force of a … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, characters, comic books, fantasy movies, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, Game of Thrones, help for writers, helping writers become authors, horror movies, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, SF and Fantasy Authors, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, children's book, comic books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Trek, teen books, Writing, writing advice
4 Comments
LAST THINGS FIRST, FIRST THINGS MIDDLE
There is no law that says you have to start writing with the first line of Chapter One (or the Prologue, which we know is perfectly fine to have in your book). I’ve know that other authors write books in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, Dungeons & Dragons, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, teen books, Writing, writing advice, writing process
1 Comment
DON’T BE HATIN’ ON PROLOGUES
In the current run of the online Worldbuilding course I teach for Writer’s Digest University, a couple of the student/authors mentioned a bias against prologues. But this wasn’t cast as a sort of “I think most people don’t like them,” … Continue reading
Posted in Books, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, NaNoWriMo, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, Author Interview, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, teen books, Writing, writing advice, writing process
12 Comments
DE-BULLET POINT YOUR DIALOG
Dialog is a challenge for a lot of authors and sometimes the common, easy advice like “read it aloud” isn’t enough. It could be that there are writers who read their dialog aloud and think, That’s good—that sounds right for … Continue reading
Posted in Books, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, monsters, POD, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, dialog, dialogue, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, teen books, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing dialog, writing dialogue, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
“EXACTLY” HOW LONG A CHAPTER SHOULD BE, PART 2
Last week I determined, using rigorous scientific methods, the precise number of words for a chapter, no more, and no less. This was based on medical evidence and a joke that was meant to say there is no perfect length … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, NaNoWriMo, POD, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, teen books, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
THANK YOU CHUCKANUTS!
I spent last weekend up in Bellingham, Washington as part of the faculty of the 5th Annual Chuckanut Writers Conference. I’ve written here about the importance and value of conferences to any writer’s continuing education in his or her craft, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, conventions, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, read more, Science Fiction, teen books, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
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PULP FICTION WORKSHOP
I’ve written more than once here at Fantasy Author’s Handbook of my love for the pulp fiction tradition, especially in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Though there have been some recent events in SF/fantasy fandom that may have temporarily … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Romance Novels, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, science fiction technology, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best advice for writing fantasy, best advice for writing horror, best advice for writing pulp fiction, best advice for writing science fiction, Books, comic books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, fantasy-romance, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, pulp fiction, Science Fiction, teen books, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process, writing pulp fiction
2 Comments
LEARN THIS STUFF RIGHT NOW OR STOP WRITING
I don’t know, maybe it’s stress, but I think this week I’m going to channel my inner Chuck Wendig and yell at everybody about some simple components to the craft of writing that I used to see very rarely, then … Continue reading
Posted in Books, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, read more, Science Fiction, teen books, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
9 Comments
DON’T LET THIS BE THE LAST NATIONAL BUY A BOOK DAY!
It started on August 19, 2010 with a post at John Ottinger’s Grasping for the Wind. I made the case that we needed a National Buy a Book Day—and in the handful of years that followed I tried to walk … Continue reading
Posted in Books, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, NaNoWriMo, National Buy a Book Day, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, children's book, comic books, e-books, e-readers, editor, Fantasy, fantasy-romance, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, read more, Science Fiction, teen books, watch less TV, Writing
4 Comments
WRITING MONSTERS
At last it can be revealed in all its glory: my upcoming book from Writer’s Digest: Writing Monsters. Picking up where The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction left off, at least in the case of monsters, this book … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Arron of the Black Forest, Books, comic books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy movies, horror movies, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Video Games, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, children's book, comic books, Conan, creating monsters, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, monster, monster movies, monsters, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Star Wars novels, teen books, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writers Digest, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing monsters, writing process
6 Comments
Fantasy Author's Handbook 