Eh, in my experience, people generally don’t care whether or not you explain how magic works. The only thing that really matters is that it’s consistent. Your magic does need to have rules, if only to prevent the writer from using it as a way to solve every conflict with ease. A magic system doesn’t need to be…

While “First in a new series!” is typically viewed as a selling point by the publishing industry, I’ve been distressed many times to hear people saying things like, “I won’t start reading a series until it’s complete.” (Not suggesting you are saying this.) Just a friendly reminder from a former SF/F editor that if you…

My other pet peeve with series books is when it starts to feel like events are being dragged along simply to pad out more books at the cost of pacing and character development.

Can I get a review copy of this book? Please email me at charliejane@io9.com :)

Re: #7. Women can’t write hard SF? I wish someone had told us that before we did this:

The overriding mania for series has alienated me from fantasy, especially, but also from much science fiction. And the over-reliance on cliffhangers everywhere all the time just gets annoying.

I give a hearty Here Here for #4! There is nothing wrong with telling a story that fits within the covers of a single book. Honestly, I respect a well crafted short story more than a shelf load of volumes that purports to tell a single story.

Trouble with footnotes is, people will think you're trying to copy David Foster Wallace nowadays.

Jack Vance broke a lot of these. I would also like to add "no footnotes" to the list. I just LOVE footnotes Especially if they are "extracts" from in universe books etc.

"In Martin's books, the magic is coming back with a vengeance, and more significantly, a magical world might be one in which humans find it difficult or impossible to live. In a lot of ways, the tone is closer to apocalyptic horror than traditional fantasy."

They need to read more fantasy from before Tolkien.

Actually, what Martin is doing is an inversion of most epic fantasy of the 20th Century, in which the supernatural element is present but gradually fading away — the elves are leaving Middle Earth, lore has been forgotten, the magical creatures are dead or vanished, industrialization is replacing magic, wizards have…

Agreed! I love both series and stand alone, but I read one or the other when I'm in a certain mood or mindset, so the "surprise I'm just book 1" ending is really annoying.

Agreed. That always bugs the hell out of me.

4) Fantasy novels have to be series instead of standalones

"7) Women can't write "hard" science fiction."