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Books › Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Cover of Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

420 pages

A spectacularly beautiful, visually driven masterclass that energizes the creative spirit while grounding it in practical craft.

What it feels like

Reading this guide feels like stepping into a vibrant, visually stimulating workshop designed to unlock the deepest corners of your imagination. The pace is steady and deliberate, allowing the reader to absorb a wealth of original drawings, maps, and practical exercises without feeling overwhelmed. Its tone strikes a perfect balance between wildly inspiring and deeply practical, offering accessible, nuts-and-bolts advice alongside essays from fantasy heavyweights. The mood is consistently energizing, transforming the solitary act of writing into a collaborative, wonder-filled exploration of aesthetics and originality. It is an ideal companion for aspiring and intermediate writers who crave a tactile, beautifully rendered object that motivates them to push the boundaries of their own imaginative fiction.

Mood
  • visually stimulating
  • creative
  • energizing
  • wonder-filled
Tone
  • accessible
  • encouraging
  • practical
  • inspiring
  • imaginative
Pace
steady
Themes
the creative process · visual imagination · crafting fantasy · artistic originality · literary aesthetics
The writing
Accessible and example-rich, balancing practical instruction with imaginative flair.
The arc
Moves from a spark of visual inspiration to a grounded, motivated readiness to create.
Who it's for
Aspiring and intermediate writers looking for a visually driven, highly creative approach to crafting imaginative fiction.

About the book

"This all-new definitive guide to writing imaginative fiction takes a completely novel approach and fully exploits the visual nature of fantasy through original drawings, maps, renderings, and exercises to create a spectacularly beautiful and inspiring object. Employing an accessible, example-rich approach, Wonderbook energizes and motivates while also providing practical, nuts-and-bolts information needed to improve as a writer. Aimed at aspiring and intermediate-level writers, Wonderbook includes helpful sidebars and essays from some of the biggest names in fantasy today, such as George R. R. Martin, Lev Grossman, Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, Catherynne M. Valente, and Karen Joy Fowler, to name a few"--

Description from Open Library.

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