Rating: 
Summary: Applies to All Writers
Review: When my sci-fi fanatic brother handed me this book and raved about Gerrold's exemplary writing style as well as his abiity to coach on the craft itself, I was skeptical. What can a sci-fi/fantasy writer offer a writer of mainly creative nonfiction? The answer is EVERYTHING.
I haven't read any of Gerrold's works, but now I want to. His style, voice, and realism stand out even in a book about writing. I've highlighted nearly every page for either tips I want to remember far into the future - especially when revising and perfecting my own work - or for quotes on the craft or life in general that match my own philosophies. This isn't just a book covering the practical how-to of writing something others will be glued to but also a book on viewing life in general and how writing and life go hand-in-hand, if they aren't one and the same.
Gerrold's clear advice broken into palatable chunks applies to all writers and is guaranteed to introduce new elements to consider for your own work and draw you out of your comfort zone. New ways of looking at the basics, as well as more in-depth knowledge/techniques, such as memes and writing in E-prime, are covered.
Sure, Gerrold uses his own work in example, but that doesn't bother me. Why would you buy a book BY a successful writer if you weren't looking for his own take on writing and how he's developed his own ideas? I've read technique books by lesser authors who, frankly, don't even have enough successful works to quote from. Gerrold doesn't have to mention his own published titles to plug; his name on the cover of the book already does that.
The fact is that he knows what he's writing about and his own work provides perfect examples of all the thought he proves he puts into his creations to make them as near perfect as possible. That's why the book is an excellent resource for writers.
P.S. Gerrold also sites examples from several other authors. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Silly Assumption Lead Me to the Wonderful World of Gerrold
Review: Worlds of Wonder is a nice surprise. It'll suck you in and keep you (most of you) turning pages. Its author, David Gerrold, is a neat guy with a neat voice. He's been in the industry for a long time and is probably best known for writing the most famous of Star Trek episodes, "The Trouble With Tribbles." "Oh," you say, "that guy." Yeah. Him. But that's not all he's done. He's written for Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Next Gen, and more, in addition to lots more, TV and novels: The Martian Child, Yesterday's Children, When Harlie Was One. . . . He's well equipped to write this guide (the full title being Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy). The first time through, reading WW is a 5-star experience. Gerrold will not only give you continually good advice from page 1 all the way to page 238, he'll keep you laughing. Or nodding, if you're not easily tickled. The guy made me want to know more about him. He's not only a capable fiction writer, he's got non-fiction stories to tell, that much is obvious, and you'll be interested to read more by him. His experiences in the industry scream to be told, and in a perfect world, he would have been able to go off on long tangents. But, no, he (pretty much) keeps us grounded on the subject matter. He takes you through the writing process, from structuring your story, to composing love scenes, to using metaphors and pronouns--from beginnings to middles to ends, he touches them all. He talks about the differences between science and fantasy. He talks about world-building, alien-building, plot-building. His chapters are bite-size treats, inviting, non-threatening, and as soon as the chapter is over you wish it had been longer. Chapter after chapter fly by until, suddenly, you've finished the book--craving more words from this intelligent author. For me, that was part of the problem, though, and that's why the book only gets, in the end, 4 stars. Upon completion of the last page, my satisfaction went from a light, happy sigh, as I closed the book, to a heavy, brow-furrowing harrumph. After reading Worlds of Wonder, though the advice was indeed helpful, I didn't feel empowered to write a science fiction tale of my own. I did feel damn ready to drop everything and get to work on a "normal" story--the advice crisscrosses all fictional boundaries. But specifically sci-fi? Fantasy? Nuh-uh. As it turns out, Gerrold's book wasn't enough. I examined my feelings on this matter until I realized what went wrong. My mistake had lain in assumption. I assumed I would be reading a nitty gritty book for building science fiction; I assumed I was going to find equal and opposite help painting fantasy backdrops. I was EXPECTING this book to give me a lot of technical help, which I need, because scientific fact is my weakness. I was expecting, on the fantasy end of the genre, ideas for adding a fantastic flavor to my stories. These chapters were completely missing. (I'm beginning to suspect that they were never included in the first place, that there's been some sit-comical mistake, and I'm still waiting by my mailbox hoping Gerrold will realize his error and send the missing pages out to his fans, post haste. I'm growing weary of holding my breath, though.) To those of you who are hoping Worlds of Wonder will solve your technical "sci-fan" writing questions, I say, "Keep shopping." It won't. Rather, it's an overview of the genre. A darn well written overview, though. It WILL entertain and educate you, despite it's lack of specifics. In and of itself, World's of Wonder is a good read. As a how-to book, it only gets 3.5-ish stars. As you can see, when faced with extreme doubt, I sided with 4 stars. Some of you might have toppled leftward to 3. But you people are Negative Nellies. The book is too good to be called "okay." ----------------- Highlights in no particular order:
* David Gerrold's writing teachers, the worst of them being the "best" of them.
* A few spontaneous exercises
* A difficult task: writing in E-Prime (or: eliminating "to be"). Good stuff.
* More good stuff: metric prose for high impact moments. I just wish Gerrold had expounded this technical style. The chapter ended too quickly, David!
* Language, distinction, mastery, and other memes.
* Love scenes versus sex scenes.
* Beginnings, middles, and "punch lines."
* Distinguishing science and fantasy
* "What is a story?"
* The power of the word "if."
* A yoooosssssful guide for deciding what should go in a paragraph. Plus: how to spread out description over several paragraphs.
* And pretty much anything else he has to say. Even though he is "some Star Trek" author (so called by "A Reader From USA"). If "A Reader From USA" had actually read this book, he'd have known that David Gerrold is much more than a Trek writer. I discovered that myself while reading about him. I'll give one thing to this mindless, slapdash reviewer from USA, however. He's right in that there's a lot in this book that many of us already know. But try finding an advice book on writing that doesn't repeat the sound advice of others. Then email me and tell me what planet it's on. Writing books are not about complete newness, they're about new slants on old ideas. Worlds of Wonder's greatness is about how Gerrold puts things--in his own, distinct voice.
Rating:
Summary: Silly Assumption Lead Me to the Wonderful World of Gerrold
Review: Worlds of Wonder is a nice surprise. It'll suck you in and keep you (most of you) turning pages. Its author, David Gerrold, is a neat guy with a neat voice. He's been in the industry for a long time and is probably best known for writing the most famous of Star Trek episodes, "The Trouble With Tribbles." "Oh," you say, "that guy." Yeah. Him. But that's not all he's done. He's written for Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Next Gen, and more, in addition to lots more, TV and novels: The Martian Child, Yesterday's Children, When Harlie Was One. . . . He's well equipped to write this guide (the full title being Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy). The first time through, reading WW is a 5-star experience. Gerrold will not only give you continually good advice from page 1 all the way to page 238, he'll keep you laughing. Or nodding, if you're not easily tickled. The guy made me want to know more about him. He's not only a capable fiction writer, he's got non-fiction stories to tell, that much is obvious, and you'll be interested to read more by him. His experiences in the industry scream to be told, and in a perfect world, he would have been able to go off on long tangents. But, no, he (pretty much) keeps us grounded on the subject matter. He takes you through the writing process, from structuring your story, to composing love scenes, to using metaphors and pronouns--from beginnings to middles to ends, he touches them all. He talks about the differences between science and fantasy. He talks about world-building, alien-building, plot-building. His chapters are bite-size treats, inviting, non-threatening, and as soon as the chapter is over you wish it had been longer. Chapter after chapter fly by until, suddenly, you've finished the book--craving more words from this intelligent author. For me, that was part of the problem, though, and that's why the book only gets, in the end, 4 stars. Upon completion of the last page, my satisfaction went from a light, happy sigh, as I closed the book, to a heavy, brow-furrowing harrumph. After reading Worlds of Wonder, though the advice was indeed helpful, I didn't feel empowered to write a science fiction tale of my own. I did feel damn ready to drop everything and get to work on a "normal" story--the advice crisscrosses all fictional boundaries. But specifically sci-fi? Fantasy? Nuh-uh. As it turns out, Gerrold's book wasn't enough. I examined my feelings on this matter until I realized what went wrong. My mistake had lain in assumption. I assumed I would be reading a nitty gritty book for building science fiction; I assumed I was going to find equal and opposite help painting fantasy backdrops. I was EXPECTING this book to give me a lot of technical help, which I need, because scientific fact is my weakness. I was expecting, on the fantasy end of the genre, ideas for adding a fantastic flavor to my stories. These chapters were completely missing. (I'm beginning to suspect that they were never included in the first place, that there's been some sit-comical mistake, and I'm still waiting by my mailbox hoping Gerrold will realize his error and send the missing pages out to his fans, post haste. I'm growing weary of holding my breath, though.) To those of you who are hoping Worlds of Wonder will solve your technical "sci-fan" writing questions, I say, "Keep shopping." It won't. Rather, it's an overview of the genre. A darn well written overview, though. It WILL entertain and educate you, despite it's lack of specifics. In and of itself, World's of Wonder is a good read. As a how-to book, it only gets 3.5-ish stars. As you can see, when faced with extreme doubt, I sided with 4 stars. Some of you might have toppled leftward to 3. But you people are Negative Nellies. The book is too good to be called "okay." ----------------- Highlights in no particular order:
* David Gerrold's writing teachers, the worst of them being the "best" of them.
* A few spontaneous exercises
* A difficult task: writing in E-Prime (or: eliminating "to be"). Good stuff.
* More good stuff: metric prose for high impact moments. I just wish Gerrold had expounded this technical style. The chapter ended too quickly, David!
* Language, distinction, mastery, and other memes.
* Love scenes versus sex scenes.
* Beginnings, middles, and "punch lines."
* Distinguishing science and fantasy
* "What is a story?"
* The power of the word "if."
* A yoooosssssful guide for deciding what should go in a paragraph. Plus: how to spread out description over several paragraphs.
* And pretty much anything else he has to say. Even though he is "some Star Trek" author (so called by "A Reader From USA"). If "A Reader From USA" had actually read this book, he'd have known that David Gerrold is much more than a Trek writer. I discovered that myself while reading about him. I'll give one thing to this mindless, slapdash reviewer from USA, however. He's right in that there's a lot in this book that many of us already know. But try finding an advice book on writing that doesn't repeat the sound advice of others. Then email me and tell me what planet it's on. Writing books are not about complete newness, they're about new slants on old ideas. Worlds of Wonder's greatness is about how Gerrold puts things--in his own, distinct voice.
Rating:
Summary: Revives classic science fiction writing. Very useful!
Review: Worlds of Wonder starts out like a lot of other books of this type, but after the first few chapters you'll find some really useful and specific advice. My favorite sections are those on writing in E-prime (shunning the passive verb "to be"), writing in the discomfort zone, making critical distinctions and creating powerful paragraphs. Gerrod has two long chapters on fantasy and alien world building which I found useful even though I'm not a fan of fantasy worlds. I like Gerrold's style. It's easy to follow and entertaining. Yes, it seems self indulgent when he uses his own examples in every chapter but he's also a big fan of classic science fiction and uses Robert Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon and others for balance. This is a really superb book. Writers outside of science fiction could benefit from the advice, but I'm glad to see it focusing on science fiction. Gerrold offers writers a great deal of insight and enthusiam. My favorite line comes near the end, "If you haven't written a million words, it's all practice."
Rating:
Summary: Snippets of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Review: You should buy "Worlds of Wonder" not because of Gerrold's writing credits (which are extensive), but because of his ability to both analyze the act of writing, and communicate his discoveries with wit and style. The book consists of many short, connected essays. Because of their length, Gerrold doesn't get into much depth. However, he does touch on many interesting subjects: Wonder, "what if?", what makes science fiction science fiction and fantasy fantasy, crises and challenges, world-building, alien-building, believability, transformation, theme, style, sex scenes and love scenes, simile and metaphor, evocation, metric prose, memes, point of view and perspective, tense, pronouns, dialogue, specificity, and more.
Gerrold possesses a lively, engaging style; wit, humor, and personality abound. The book feels more like a conversation than a set of lessons. Gerrold has had the opportunity to speak with many of the SF giants of our day, and he passes on tales of how and why various authors have done things in certain ways. You come away from the book with a good understanding of the vast possibilities available to you when you write, and the many different things you can play with to take control of your work.
Gerrold does explain some things as inherent to the genre that I don't think are always the case; in some places I think his advice applies more narrowly (to certain parts of the genre) than he indicates. I think some sections should have gone into more depth; others should have been left out if they were going to be covered so lightly. But this book succeeds in some very specific and delightful ways, offering things that I haven't seen anywhere else--Gerrold has some very interesting points to make about the power of language and how writers use it (and fail to use it).
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