Deborah Chester. The Fantasy Fiction Formula. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016. xiii, 322 p. ISBN: 9780719097065. UK £15.99 (paperback).
Deborah Chester teaches Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma. She also writes fiction and has over 40 published books to her credit, several popular fantasy series and stand-alone novels among them. Her aims in the book under review are to guide aspiring fantasy writers through the steps of composing fantasy novels and the publishing process. Chester admirably achieves these goals by hewing to practical advice on how to formulate story lines, develop characters, and design satisfying plots that create suspense for readers as they near a book’s climax. She also offers writers sensible guidance on how to approach publishing their work once a novel is complete. In this area, Chester is particularly helpful in laying out choices writers might consider between traditional print and born-digital publishing, as well as when and how to procure an agent, how to negotiate a book contract, and how to retain one’s rights as an author.
Chester demystifies the fantasy fiction writing process by emphasizing the formulaic foundations of the genre. She does not apologize for traditional fantasy storytelling conventions. Instead, Chester shows how fantasy literature tropes such as the flawed hero and the climactic sacrifice are grounded in ancient narrative archetypes that continue to satisfy readers by supporting expectations that lead to resolutions affirming timeless human aspirations. In this respect, Chester’s book provides insights on the history of reading and the commercialization of literature. Though Chester does not state the idea as a thesis, she does suggest throughout her book that fiction marketing relies on traditions of reader expectations that pre-date publishing.
Most chapters of The Fantasy Fiction Formula conclude with drills designed to help writers implement Chester’s recommendations. The drills underscore the notion that writers are readers first and often apply Chester’s advice to well-known fantasy texts such as The Dresden Files and the Harry Potter series. Readers who have enrolled in professional or creative writing classes may find some of these exercises familiar, as most of them invite readers to identify aspects of fantasy formulas in published work or to craft scenes and characters according to them. Chester’s exercises are also effective when applied to non-fantasy fiction. Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim, for example, conforms in compelling ways to many of the formulas Chester lays out.
Chester’s chapter on revision may have the widest reach in a book filled with excellent writing advice. Here, she sums up the recurring theme of this guide, which is that successful writing requires hard work. Inspiration serves a vital function in the composition process, and talent is a necessary ingredient, but Chester is unrelenting in her argument that a superior work ethic is the most essential quality a writer must possess if she expects to be a published author.
The Fantasy Fiction Formula is a practical and credible guide for aspiring writers of fantasy fiction. It also offers scholars of reading, genre fiction, publishing, and book marketing compelling insights from the standpoint of a professional writer. Chester’s break down of writing formulas and the exercises she has developed to help writers master them also illuminate critical approaches to non-fantasy literature, making this book almost infinitely interesting to a wide readership.
Greg Matthews
Washington State University Libraries