The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

First of all, the book is gorgeous. The pages are of good quality and the illustrations are amazing. And it is a additional stimulus for understanding the concepts that you're currently reading. The book enriched my feeble knowledge on the creative process of storytelling.
On the back of the book it says something about "Essential for any aspiring or intermediate writer,....". I disagree. I think it's pretty accessible for any person that are curious about the subject. My knowledge is pretty basic, I only have read some Joseph Campbell books and other introductory books on screenwriting and I had no hard time reading Wonderbook.

The only cons is that it's only available in paperback, it would be nice to have a hardcover version so it would last longer and won't damage too quickly.

This book was purchased on a whim, after reading a Facebook post by an author I admire, who is featured in it. The book is a large format 10"x7" softcover, nice quality binding and heavy stock pages that do justice to the beautiful illustrations. Since it only arrived yesterday, I haven't had the time to fully digest it, but I have read the Introduction and scanned through the sections. If you investigate the sample by clicking on the "Look Inside" cover image on the the store page, you'll find a generous preview. What I can tell you right now is, I am VERY HAPPY with my purchase! The layout, glorious illustrations and sheer volume of information crammed onto every page, tells me that I will spend a significant amount of time exploring every nook and cranny of this book. It's incredible how the artwork provides visual stimulation, that combines with the text, to inspire and enhance what you are reading and learning. At the very beginning of the book there is a two page spread titled "The History of Science Fiction". It's an illustrated flowchart composed of tentacles that sprawl across the pages, with titles of famous books, magazines and films throughout history. In the margins are further quotes and anecdotes. I must have spent about 15 minutes, just initially perusing it and cheerfully following along, looking for my favorites and discovering works I wasn't familiar with along the way. I consider myself a short story writer and have no doubt the information contained here will help me improve and have FUN along the way. If you write in the fantasy or science fiction genres and especially if you are writing novels, you will LOVE this book. There is a 10 page interview with author George R.R. Martin on "The Craft of Writing", an essay from Neil Gaiman on "The Beginning of American Gods" and various other essays and advice from other writers of note. Also, there is a fantastic website (wonderbooknow.com) to accompany the book and it has even more info and exercises. The book not only serves its purpose as a guide for writers, but is also an entertaining and informative read for anyone interested in the craft of storytelling.

Just got this from the store. Pre-ordered due to Chuck Wendig's recommendation in his TerribleMinds blog.

Wowie-kazowie. This looks amazing. Thumbing through, looking at the photos and cartoons, and it's already a 5-star read from me.

Will be reading, too, but it will take a while to finish, as I want to relish the journey.

Congratulations on a fabulous book, Jeff.

I simply loved this wonderful Wonderbook.

This is gorgeous paperback with full colour page illustrations and seriously weird diagrams. Wonderbook is 326 pages long, with deep and often complex analysis of almost every aspect of writing imaginative fiction. Spread liberally amongst this analysis are interviews from authors (GRR Martin, Kim Stanley Robinson etc), sidebars providing additional details or even counter-arguments to the positions presented in the main text, excellent and deep examples, as well as the occasional writing challenges. There is also a website that contains additional content.

Firstly this is focused on fiction, specifically the fantasy, scifi or ‘weird/absurdist’ genres. That is not to say it isn’t of value to realistic fiction writers, but there is a clear flavour presented in the book that is reinforced by the fantastical images and surreal pictures.

Secondly this is not a simple or straightforward book. It is very detailed, occasionally dense, perhaps even academic. I would not be surprised to see it in some School or even University’s creative writing reading list. It demands a careful and attentive read. I recommend setting up in a quiet space to really absorb it.

This will be a constant reference book by my writing table. I anticipate my writing will slow to a crawl as I stop to read and re-read the sections on dialogue, on beginnings middles and ends, on the not-so-simple act of being creative.

There is a slightly longer review of this book (along with some other writing advice books) here: https://uncertaintales.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/a-bundle-of-brief-book-reviews-writing-advice-part-two/

By far the most imaginative and entertaining book on the craft of writing that I've ever read. I agree with other reviewers that much of the advice in Wonderbook isn't new. (Once you've read a lot of advice on characterization, plot and structure, etc., it starts to sound the same.) But the presentation of that information is what makes Wonderbook a true delight. The graphics, charts, and illustrations are vibrant, thought-provoking, and (in many cases) hilarious. Seriously. I lost track of the times Wonderbook made me laugh, and that's not a bad thing. That sense of humor, along with the intelligence and sheer creativity of its delivery, is what makes this a must-have for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and other speculative genres.

This book was delightful once I oriented myself to all the artwork. I would dive into the pictures and lose my place in the text! Easy to resolve however. I loved the approach this book took. Vandermeer is much more invested in teaching you to connect to your writing than in teaching you "how to write," and as such I would not recommend this book for new writers in any genre, but definitely to people who have plateau'd and want to get to the next level. There is huge emphasis on imagination and creativity and play (as you would expect) and on learning for yourself. You won't find paint-by-numbers lessons here. My biggest complaint was the length of some sections--I dearly wanted more in several places! The chapters on worldbuilding and narrative designs were most useful for me as I felt they went the farthest in terms of content. The additional essays from other authors were insightful as well and I found my imagination kicking into high gear every time I came to the book. It demands rereading, slowly, to find and connect to more in it. The artwork was inspiring and I'm glad there was so much of it. This book really pushes you to reach higher and go deeper with your work and to really step outside what you "know" in terms of writing--while it's not as explicit, there is definitely the idea that you should keep publishing and writing separate; do your writing the way you need to, tell the stories you want to tell, then you can think about publishing. This is a very freeing concept (so many writers espouse it) when it comes to loosening your expectations of yourself and story. I would also say this book will probably resonate with writers who tend toward the literary side of the spectrum in the way they approach writing (regardless of genre) although anyone should be able to take much away from it. This will definitely be a writing book I come back to again and again for that jumpstart.

I picked this up because of its Hugo nomination (and because of my own interest in writing). I will say, first off, that this book is expertly designed. It is a striking and beautiful book from its cover to pretty much every page throughout. Additionally, it offers some great suggestions and tips on writing. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to parse. While the various (and very busy) illustrations and charts do have some utility, I found them distracting and their placement often leaving the overall guide feeling a bit disjointed. Still giving this three stars, though, as I think it has some great content and there are people who might not find its disjointed style quite as jarring as I did.

I bought this book after flipping through it and coming across a great map of the creative process. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the best part of the book. Jeff VanderMeer does a reasonable job of laying out the writing process from a technical standpoint, and includes a lot of artwork to help illustrate the process, but ultimately, it was nothing I hadn't already read before. I should note that this book was not totally underwhelming. VanderMeer's advice and writing was good enough for me to want to seek out his second Ambergris novel, a noir thriller called "Finch," which I would highly recommend.

As an aspiring author, I have read dozens (and dozens) of books on the craft. So many, in fact, that I stopped finding them inspiring or helpful - after a while you find that the authors are all saying pretty much the same thing. Jeff VanderMeer manages to speak on the same topics in ways that are brand new and eye-opening. This is a man who sees things differently.

There is something magical in this book. I find that as I'm reading, I am thinking about my own work and will suddenly figure out where I'm going next, or how my characters need to evolve. I can barely get through a chapter without putting it down to go write.

Tthe author's verbiage can be a little complicated, and I can honestly say I don't pay much attention to the illustrations and diagrams - I feel like they are just colorful placeholders - but the content of this book is exquisite and I read it cover to cover. If I had to recommend any book on writing, this would be at the top of the list. And it's not just for sci-fi or fantasy writers.

VanderMeer mix personal feelings, techniques, pitfalls to avoid in this wonderful book.
It's a clever patchwork that covers a lot of ground from many different perspective : Beside VanderMeer, the main voice, many authors shares their vision about their work. It's honest, sensible, clever and, as I said, sometimes quite personal.

And the design is a good reflection of the creativity the book want to instill in the reader. The book is a beautiful object, which makes it even easier to come back to and to grok the concepts presented.

I purchased this book because I found the illustrations so fascinating that once I'd picked it up I could not put it down. It is a great source of inspiration for creative ideas from an art perspective. I did not intend to buy a guide to writing but the book has actually inspired me to try a bit of fiction writing which I had not aspired to previously.

I also really like the interviews with other authors about their process. The Neil Gaiman one is a particular gem!

Writing for me I consider has always been a visual approach. It has never been just about the words, but the images we create that then we turn into word. While searching for some visual juice on structure, I happened upon this gem and it's exactly as said... "Visual structure." A wonderful picturesque approach and guide in the visual art of the word. I recommend it!

The Wonderbook is a great guide to help creative writers (especially those in the fantasy or sci-fi realms). The book is very dense–I will need to read through sections a few more times. But it's worth buying a copy and keeping around the house if you are a writer. I especially loved all the illustrations and visuals throughout the book.

flipping through this book was like flipping through my own weird, right-brained, synesthetic mind. I am as excited to sit down and pour through it as I am a new great novel and it gives me hope for my own writing future.

This book has tons of text and illustrations, it looks like a marvelous book thus the high ratings I assume. In fact; this is an extremely, EXTREMELY long drawn out version of the basics. Tons of examples that are unneeded and full on stories to describe the most basic - its like when you meet someone that talks loud, uses long syllable words, tries to baby talk to you over what you already understand - The book seems like it's trying to trick you into thinking its a full of smarts and great advice when really it's repeating the basics over and over until you have 40 pages to cover how to use your imagination.
Don't be tricked, this is another product people try to pat each other on the back for when there isn't a lot of substance here. Really pretty pictures to look at though, well, flip though, not pretty enough to care other than "oo that's cool/weird".

I found the graphics inserts to be distracting from the reading process. It takes time to find it, but there is some good information within the book. Overall, I found this book to be a disappointment.

I am a self-proclaimed HATER of writing book. They are boring and trite and always try to teach writers that certain recipes yield good books, which is not really true. This book is one of the first that I've ever read that not only refuted that claim up front, but also offered a viable alternative way of thinking. This book itself is truly a journey, just like writing a novel should be. Thank you, Jeff VanderMeer, for a great creative writing education in just about 300 pages. I truly enjoyed it.

I've read about 15 books on fiction writing - all the most popular ones, and I don't understand how this book got such a good score.

I'm on page 158 right now and I haven't learned ONE really useful thing so far. It's strange.

Maybe it's more directed to beginners? But even then there are a terrible amount of words in there but little real advise.

It also threw me off that Jess Wandermeer very often used HIS OWN writing an example of what writing should be like and the examples were really, really bad. Like really. He made a rly big deal of his own books, which I have no desire reading after reading this book.

This is one of those cases where the grades tricks ya.

It felt difficult reading his book. And he contradicted himself on a few main points that defined the theme of his guide. He says that stories should be looked at organically yet he agrees what other authors who've written guides like this that each item, each component in a world should serve a purpose. And I feel like some of the things Vandermeer wrote feels similar to L.M. Weiland structure novel book in hooking the readers, starting with a character that'll emphasize with readers, etc... and James Scotts Bell "write your novel from the middle" in three acts. Take this review with a grain of salt because I didn't finish this guide because of the amount of headaches I got trying to write down everything he wrote and because of the amount of difficult words he jettisoned inside his guide. Though I will have to admit some of his illustrations and the articles written by other authors inside his book were pretty helpful in summarizing the ideas I've managed to read and to understand.

I really can't say enough wonderful things about this book. I've been writing (non-professionally) for several years, and I've read many books on writing. This one is a very close second to Stephen King's "On Writing."

I read Mr. Vandermeer's book "Annihilation" and was captivated by the New Weird style. I had always enjoyed this genre, as well as Magical Realism. And, now there is a book on writing with that viewpoint in mind.

The book is full of not only Mr. Vandermeer's insights and tips, but also those of other established and talented writers in the fantastical fiction realm. All throughout, there are quirky and strange illustrations to engage your imagination.

Whether you are just starting out or a seasoned writer, this book has something for everyone. Highly recommended.