For Fantasy/Sci-Fiction Lovers: What Makes You Reada Book?

[Aoi Magi]

First of all, I hate when people mix fantasy and scifi, they are not the same genre dammit!

Next, I often pick up books based on suggestions or summaries, primarily on goodreads. Basically, what shows is what sells.

You also need to understand your target audience, like most americans seem to prefer a politics-centric thriller, whereas people in the eastern part of the world seem to appreciate romantic things more.

But the most important thing is content, especially if you are writing scifi, things have to seem plausible and possible, You need to describe things so that people can visualize them without making it seem like a science lecture.The hardest part is to see things from your reader's perspective and only explain things that demand an explanation, while still allowing the reader to use their own imagination to fill in the gaps.

Lastly, I cannot recommend my favorite author enough, Cixin Liu. Take a look at the "three body problem" and the last book in the series, remembrance of earth's past. It even contains a beautiful fairytale within a scifi, and the ideas are amazing.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Looking at the shelf in my library, I see Asimov, Bear, Benford, Brin, Budrys...Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle, Pratchett, E.E.Smith, Vance and Zelazny, for starters. There are many more, but these stand out. Try the Amber series from Zelazny for an example of some seriously good writing.

Ditto the shitto that! The Amber Chronicles starts off with a guy throwing furniture and dogs eating cars and then goes into some crazy crap. 

Also Gordon Dickson and David Drake.

[Rhondazvous]

Looking at the shelf in my library, I see Asimov, Bear, Benford, Brin, Budrys...Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle, Pratchett, E.E.Smith, Vance and Zelazny, for starters. There are many more, but these stand out. Try the Amber series from Zelazny for an example of some seriously good writing.

Ditto the shitto that! The Amber Chronicles starts off with a guy throwing furniture and dogs eating cars and then goes into some crazy crap. 

Also Gordon Dickson and David Drake.

I've read the Amber series. Good stuff. I will now check out Dickson and Drake. I'm not trying to write like anyone else. I have my own style. But I love to read.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Start with The Well World Series by David Drake.

[ApeNotKillApe]

First of all, I hate when people mix fantasy and scifi, they are not the same genre dammit!

Star Wars.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

First of all, I hate when people mix fantasy and scifi, they are not the same genre dammit!

Star Wars.

If you consider "the force" to be a manifestation of PSI then it would be scifi. 

That's how I justified seeing Episode V. 

[Rhondazvous]

Star Wars.

If you consider "the force" to be a manifestation of PSI then it would be scifi. 

That's how I justified seeing Episode V. 

What's important is reader experience, not genre purity. The questions I ask when I write are What if? and Why not?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If you consider "the force" to be a manifestation of PSI then it would be scifi. 

That's how I justified seeing Episode V. 

What's important is reader experience, not genre purity.  The questions I ask when I write are What if? and Why not?

Yep, it's fun to fudge with reality, but only if it engages the reader, not as an exercise is writing alone.

[Neo-Scholastic]

I'm always looking for hard science fiction - not space opera or cyberpunk (been there, done that). Like others have said, the blurb is usually a good indicator.

I also read the first two or three paragraphs. A good writer will hook you right away and you'll know if he or she can "show" versus "tell".

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Lastly, I cannot recommend my favorite author enough, Cixin Liu. Take a look at the "three body problem" and the last book in the series, remembrance of earth's past. It even contains a beautiful fairytale within a scifi, and the ideas are amazing.

I recently discovered him. Awesome stuff.

[Rhondazvous]

I'm trying to put together a blurb. Exactly what do you want the blurb to do? What information do you look for? And what's best left out?