On Writing and Worldbuilding - Volume I

Such a great wealth of knowledge and reference whenever you get stuck in your writing process.

I found this author through his YouTube 'how to' videos on writing. Here he brings all that content and advice together in one place.What I loved about the book were the concrete examples of how to do certain things well, and how not to do them. Rather than say 'show, don't tell', he gave useful examples. Same for other areas.The book is primarily for fantasy/sci-fi, (the cover should have tipped you off on that), but covers many aspects of writing that apply to any writer. It tackles structure and some basic building blocks of writing very well without becoming academic. It covers how things are done well, or badly. It goes in depth on things like exposition, motivation and foreshadowing.Its very well organized. I like how each chapter references the TV shows, books and authors it will draw on at the start of each chapter so you don't have to dig through if you want to find them later. The summaries at the end of each chapter are equally useful.The author has really thought things through when it comes to world building. Politics, economies, environment and much more are considered. The book does a very good job of lining up things for you to ask yourself when considering as how your society/empire/world, came into being. Why is it this way and not another? How do they feed themselves? How does a hidden city stay hidden? Is it plausible? What are the weaknesses that make it likely that someone will find their way in, or out? I loved the point that if all outsiders who discover a hidden city are killed to keep it secret, it's less likely to remain hidden. The reason being that eventually an intruder will be discovered by someone not willing to kill. This line of approach leads to a world with much more depth, which makes more sense to the reader, so you cut down on, 'but what about this?' questions.He repeatedly reminds you to try and be original in your writing. Sounds obvious,but we can all do with a reminder there. How can you approach this in a different way from what people expect or are used to? What is unusual about your society or the creatures in it that sets it apart?All in all, I really liked this book. In my opinion it's not going too far to say it deserves to join the 'must-read' classics for aspiring fantasy writers. He deeply loves his craft and it shows in the work he has produced here.

Contents are as you would expect it if you watched his YouTube videos. I bought the book mostly as a reference since opening a book is quicker than going through his videos again. The only issue I have with the book is the weird book cover texture. It has some matte coating that makes it absorb water for some reason. I also cringe slightly when I touch the weird texture. Why couldn't it have just been a regular glossy, printed cover?

This book offers great and thoughtful advice without being patronizing. It is especially pertinent for those interested in writing fantasy.

I've always enjoyed Tim's "On Writing" & "On Worldbuilding" Series over on YouTube. I go back to them often and find his advice and recommendations to be exceptionally useful when putting together a story. The main plus of this book is simply having all that information spread over dozens hours contained into one source. Instead of searching through old videos and watching hours of content, I can flip through a few pages to find what I am looking for. Tim does a great job of organizing the material in a way where each point that follows builds in a natural way off of the previous. Seeing it laid out in print, really has led me to appreciate just how well-thought his scripts are for his video series, and I've been having a lot of fun highlighting and taking notes of my own on his pages.If you are unfamiliar with his videos, worry not! This small tome is an excellent resource for any writer or creator. Tim steps through a variety of subjects to help any would-be world-builder in better realizing their vision of a place or a story. Some subjects are largely universal to storytelling such as his chapters on Foreshadowing & Villain Motivation, where other subjects such as Magic Systems & Hidden Magical Worlds will be of particular use to Fantasy and Science Fiction writers. Regardless of which topic you find most beneficial, Tim explores each subject thoroughly whilst remaining concise and digestible. Each point brought up, Tim will share an example from another piece of storytelling demonstrating his point. And with all of Tim's recommendations, you'll find his approach doesn't attempt to limit the author, but instead help better realize the story they are hoping to tell; "I prefer to think of the On Writing Series not as instructions on how you 'should' write, but as discussions about why certain stories are satisfying to the average reader and why others are not" (1).The only "fault" I find with the text is the lack of new material. As a viewer of his series, I've consumed a majority of this text elsewhere with the only new addition being the chapter on "How to Plan a Novel". However, it is wonderful to know this information is out there regardless of if you purchase this text.In summary, I can't really recommend this book enough. I have a number of texts similar to this one, but few are as organized as this or make there points as well as Tim does here. I have found Tim's advice to be invaluable in creating my own stories, and I highly recommend you add this as a reference to your own collection.

This is a fantastic worldbuilding tool, every writer and GM should have a copy.

An amazing tool, even better than the videos

I've done a few writing courses. Many have been useful in the basic parts of storytelling such as finding themes, character arcs, the importance of conflict, etc., but Hickson isn't about that. He acknowledges that they are all important, but he gives specific advice on the tools to achieve those goals. He doesn't focus on what to do, but rather HOW to do it. He breaks these concepts down into cogs in a machine and explores the different ways these cogs can be manipulated satisfactorily. He has a slight bias to speculative fiction, which makes it especially more digestible to me, but I have no doubt his advice can be applied to any story. I don't think this book is exclusive to writers either. Anyone who wants to simply understand why certain stories work well and put words to the things they've felt when reading or watching a story can enjoy this book!

Está bien pero siento que le falta profesionalismo.

J'avais déjà acheté le volume II, c'était tellement bon que j'ai acheté le volume I aussi. J'ai lu plein de blogs expliquant comment écrire, comment se construire un monde, et normalement je me sentais... pareille qu'avant. Soit, rien d'appris, parfois rien compris. Dans ce(s) livre(s) les thèmes sont très bien organisés, il y a plein d'exemples parmi une culture récente (films, séries, livres, dessins animés, jeux de console) qui me parle. Je le conseille.I'd already bought volume II, it was so good that I bought volume I too. I've read so many blogs explaining how to write, how to build a whole world, and usually I just feel... the same as before. That is, having learned nothing, sometimes having understood nothing.In this(these) book(s), the themes are very well organised, with a lot of examples from recent culture (films, tv shows, books, animated media, console games) that mean something to me. I recommend it.