At the back of the book, in the spot usually reserved for glossaries and overlong acknowledgements, VanderMeer has squirreled away some of his most interesting material. The book is also constantly interrupted by additional and wonderful content, including essays from a slightly astounding list of contributors, a recurring series of adorable little cartoon characters, and large, glossy illustrations. In real writing, of course, all of these things occur simultaneously and with lots of unpredictable chemical off-gassing, but it's refreshing to see it all arrayed in a neat periodic table. The book is structured loosely in the order a story is written, with chapters on inspiration, beginnings and endings, narrative design, characterization, worldbuilding, and revision. It's both the practical and technical volume that a new writer needs, and a loving introduction to the wild strangeness of speculative fiction. It's accessible and encouraging, and never once paraphrases Hemingway's advice to would-be writers ("First, there must be talent, much talent"). But Jeff VanderMeer's Wonderbook is something different. These works have a certain tone, which usually leaves me with a faint sense that the author privately believes that writing is an inborn talent descended from the heavens, which you either have or you don't, and if you're reading a how-to-write book then chances are you're in the latter category. Great writers writing how-to-write books is its own genre.
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