Rick Dakan and Ryan G. Van Cleave, PhD are professors at the prestigious Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where they teach such courses as Writing Science Fiction, Writing for Video Games, and Writing for Shared Worlds. Both of them have ended a D&D campaign with a single well-placed fireball.

Foreword xvii
Introduction 1
Part 1: Getting Started: The Basics of Story 5
Chapter 1: Taking Journeys into the Imagination 7
Chapter 2: Creating Characters 19
Chapter 3: Laying the Foundation -- The Power of Plot 41
Chapter 4: Crafting Many Worlds, Many Media 65
Part 2: Worldbuilding: Journeys to Other Worlds 79
Chapter 5: Building a World Like No Other 81
Chapter 6: Letting Your Research and Imagination Run Wild 93
Chapter 7: Showing the Explosion: Exposition That Thrills! 105
Chapter 8: This Planet Will Eat You: Worlds Are Characters, Too 117
Part 3: Science Fiction: Journeys into the Future 129
Chapter 9: Answering "What If?" 131
Chapter 10: A Spaceship for Every Occasion, an Occasion for Every Spaceship 139
Chapter 11: Encountering Aliens That Audiences Want to Know, Love, and Fear 157
Chapter 12: It's Alive! Or Is It? -- Imagining Robots and Artificial Intelligence 171
Chapter 13: Constructing Planetary Plots and Earth-Changing Stories 185
Part 4: Fantasy: Journeys into the Imagination 197
Chapter 14: Bringing Wonder to Your Story 199
Chapter 15: Worldbuilding on the Shoulders of Giants, Faeries, Dragons, and Hobbits 213
Chapter 16: Conjuring Story Magic 229
Chapter 17: Forming Really Fantastic (and Fantastically Real) Monsters 241
Part 5: Horror: Journeys into Fear 253
Chapter 18: Creating Dread, Fear, and Terror 255
Chapter 19: Fashioning Fearful Plots and Sinister Scenes 271
Chapter 20: Shaping Your Scares -- Menacing Monsters and Human Horrors 287
Chapter 21: Lurking in Every Shadow: Where Horror Resides 305
Part 6: The Journey from Writing to Publication 315
Chapter 22: Revising and Editing Like a Pro 317
Chapter 23: Getting Second Opinions: Editors, Experts, and Sensitivity Readers 331
Chapter 24: The Three Ps: Publication, Pitching, and Promotion 343
Part 7: The Part of Tens 357
Chapter 25: Ten Ways to Jump-Start a Stalled Story 359
Chapter 26: Ten Common Pitfalls in Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror 367
Chapter 27: Ten Popular Story Modes 375
Index 385

Take your shot at becoming the next Tolkien, Asimov, or King with this simple roadmap to transforming your fiction into works of art
Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is your skeleton key to creating the kind of fiction that grips readers and compels them to keep turning pages (even if it's well past their bedtime!)
You'll start with the basics of creative writing--including character, plot, and scene--and strategies for creating engaging stories in different forms, such as novels, short stories, scripts, and video games. After that, get beginner-friendly and straightforward advice on worldbuilding, before diving headfirst into genre-specific guidance for science fiction, horror, and fantasy writing.
This book also offers:
* Strategies for editing and revising your next work to get it into tip-top shape for your audience
* Ways to seek out second opinions from editors, experts, and even sensitivity readers
* Techniques for marketing and publication, working with agents, and advice for writers going the self-publishing route
The perfect beginner's guide for aspiring writers with an interest in horror, fantasy, or science fiction, Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is the first and last resource you need before you start building your next story about faraway lands, aliens, and fantastic adventures.