I actually Wrote this Book with the Assistance of a "Ghost Writer"
590787
While, employing certain literary licenses, it is a reasonable recap of my early life experiences. And, it morphs into a discussion of the beginning of my career as a card carrying member of the digerati ...
2843216
Dear Sean, I thought I was a writer until I read your book. I thought I was creative until I read your book. Your playfulness with our language is a treat. I got a freebie version through BookBub, and I will buy this book. I want one that I can hold in my hand and reread passages. I want to underline sentences.

Some reviewer complained about formatting. Formatting can be fixed. Copy editing would be helpful. BUT formatting and editing have nothing to do with real talent. When I finished the first story, i paced around the house with the hairs on my arms standing up, tingling! I've never had that kind of reaction to a book before (and it wasn't the flu). I'm very impressed.

I hope you will write many more books. And I hope lots of readers find you. I will recommend your book to my book club. Word of mouth helps too.

Sincerely, Lynn Arbor
author of "Intentional, a novel"
4683140
I see he is doing a book whereby there is an additional author.  I would presume that he does the outline and lets the other person fill it out.  I don't see a problem with this as long as credit is given to the other person.
3829630
As a newbie writer, this book was a great help to me. Lots of advice and tips. I may not go all the way and do the NaNoWriMo thing, but the general message of this book still seems very valuable.

It's a funny, well-written book. A sample quote, about choosing what to write in your 30-day novel: "Your novel is not a self-improvement campaign. Your novel is a spastic, jubilant hoe-down set to your favorite music, a thirty-day visit to a candy store where everything is free and nothing is fattening."

Once upon a time I read a book called&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Story-Engineering/dp/1582979987/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Story Engineering</a>. It was the best book on writing that I had found, after reading many. I decided to make it my Bible as a beginning writer. But I ran into a problem. The book assumed I already had a plot and characters in mind. I didn't. I struggled to find some. I came up with some general ideas, but specifics were hard.

Then I found this book No Plot? No Problem! It was my answer. Just start writing and discover your plot and characters along way. So that's my plan now. After writing my first novel draft, I will then apply the Story Engineering principles to structure my novel into publishable shape.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

I like the idea of just writing and expecting the first drafts to be crap. It frees your creativity. It seems to me there are two modes to writing a novel, Creating Mode and Editing Mode. I expect this book will help me develop my creative side, to come up with my plots and characters. And to tell my inner editor-perfectionist that revision and narrative excellence can wait until my inner artist takes his turn first. (These two writing modes are intriguinginly similar to the Being and Doing modes in an unrelated book I read recently,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Mindfulness-An-Eight-Week-Plan-for-Finding-Peace-in-a-Frantic-World/dp/1609611985/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World</a>.)
2547801
This is not really complicated, although it may seem to be.
Although doubtless I had better get some help with this difficulty, being what I was finally forced to think.
Although doubtless I am showing off again, just for a minute I felt like I needed it this time, however.
Where I am is at the point where somebody next actually started to dictate this review for me.
I would find it very agreeable to be able to feel that this has solved anything I have just been talking about.
In fact I would even happily settle to have not completely lost track of where I was.
I am not quite certain how the second part of that sentence is connected to the beginning part, actually.
And certainly any number of things can be lost track of.
Even though I would still have to remember to keep out of my head while I was writing any of that also, of course.
Except that what I also realized in making such a decision was that it would certainly leave me with very little else to write about.
Well which is to say that people who write novels only write them when they have very little else to write.
Poor DeLillo.
Poor Nabokov.
Poor Vollmann.
Poor Wallace.
Poor McCarthy.
Poor Joyce.
Poor Gaddis.
Poor Gass.
Poor Pynchon.
Ah, me.
4372189
I guess I should have expected this jumbled poorly written book, authored by the amnesiac, herself. The story would be interesting if there were more details than, I copied what everyone else did... for 200+ pages. I'm surprised a publisher bought it. Even with a ghost writer there is no more information, or story, than would fit in 1 chapter. If it was a self-published book I wouldn't be surprised. Instead, I expected something more, and didn't get it. I am sorry if this hurts Su's feelings. Her persistence is remarkable. Probably her journey through 20 years took guts, and she's remarkable. But the information, and story-as written- was not worth the time to the money.
979280
It was not as well written as the first or second,almost like a ghost writer took over.
587270
Wow I can't believe it's free.  Mr. Coker lays it all out there for an aspiring writer, well, here for a writer with a book who wants to know how to make it work in e publishing.  I followed his advice and his site Smashwords and it was such a rush to see my first sale! (Shin, a Japanese Vampire)  Who knows where this will lead but without his help it would have been far more painful. Thank you Mark and good luck to you all!
1832670
This book is absolutely amazing. I went through the book and did all the exercises in 2 days, I know the book suggests doing it in 1 session. Since then I have been writing consistently and without feeling stagnant, the words have been flowing much easier.  I would highly recommend the book to anyone who feels like they have writers block.
292351
We've all seen celebrity books written by ghost writers, so why wasn't there a ghost painter for this one!
2845601
I've always had this feeling that I wanted to be a writer.  I've even  tried to do it a few times, but I always felt that I was forcing it.  Some  ten days ago, however, I dug out an old empty book that I had hidden away,  tared out the three pages I had written on from a time I had tried to write  three years ago, and started. This wasn't totally arbitrary.  I was about  to go on a vacation that would involve a lot of driving, driving I wasn't  doing, so this would give me something to do.  I'd been writing a lot more  in the past year, actually - crazy long e-mails to a couple people that I  don't think I could live without any more - but I never seriously thought  about writing as anything more than that form of personal communication.  But I'm living through a sudden outpouring of words - that  hundred-and-sixty-page blank book I cracked open ten days ago?  Almost  full.  And I have Nat Goldberg to thank for that. I spotted this book in -  of all places - the gift shop of the Ansel Adams Gift Shop at Yosemite  National Park.  Who would have expected to find it there?  I started  reading it that night.  I'm still not done, even though I've been with it  on and off for five or six days, because I keep stopping at Nat's "try  this" exercises - carefully composed to get the creative juices  flowing - and after reading for ten minutes, I'll spend an hour writing.  Your mileage may vary.  If you've been writing for longer than I have, you  might not get quite the same inspiration.  If Zen annoys you, you won't  find the book quite as interesting.  But among the best fifteen-dollar  purchases I've ever made.
195821
Andersen Prunty is a friend of mine. I guess more of a "colleague" if you want to get pretentious considering we are both involved in the bizarro fiction scene and only see each other once a year (although we speak on the phone once or twice a month, maybe.) Andy, as he is known by people who speak on the phone with him once or twice a month, sent me this book for free, likely because he is familiar with my status as a dirt poor graduate student. So I was talking on the phone with him tonight and asked him if he wanted me to write a review, considering receiving free books makes me feel obligated to reciprocate with a review. And he said, "Ok."

I would like to add here that I strongly dislike writing reviews. I find them difficult to do well and they usually take me longer to write than ANYTHING else, so I recently vowed to never write a review again. But I asked Andy if he was ok with a review that I put absolutely no effort into, and he was, so here is a review that I am putting no effort into. Perhaps what I write below this will be helpful to the potential reader. Perhaps it will not.

Anyway, I see a lot of reviews of bizarro books by bizarro authors, and I think a potential buyer may think they lack some degree of validity, and this may be the case. But they would be less necessary if more readers were writing more reviews (the small press needs your help!).

So as a preface, I think I'm more critical of bizarro books than most of the authors who are involved in the scene (although I usually keep my mouth shut in public forums). This makes me feel like a jerk sometimes.

So let's get to My Fake War, but not just yet. First I want to mention Andy's other books: I love love love love his novella, Zerostrata. His others are decent, but do not excite me like Zerostrata.

I have also published a few of his stories in my literary journal, and one of them excited me, but not nearly on the same level as Zerostrata.

Ok, so it's time to talk about My Fake War. I usually do not like "war books." There is something about them that turns me off. I do not know what this is. But the first half of My Fake War excited me. Probably because it is a fake war book rather than a war book. The first half excited me as much as my Zerostrata reading experience.  Silently in my head, I was screaming, "Andy Prunty is back! He is back!" And considering the protagonist is alone with no one to talk to throughout much of this section, this is quite an achievement.  It is difficult to engage the reader with a protagonist  who is mostly spending his time alone.

But then the second half comes along, and my excitement dwindled. It was too action-y for me. Like zombies, I think action is better translated in the medium of film. It usually gets boring for me, although there are the occasional exceptions, often dealing with zaniness and unreality. There was a little of this, but not enough.

So if you like action in your lit, this is a freakin' awesome book. Buy it if you're looking for a good introduction to Andy. If you're more like me, get Zerostrata, which is a surreal/absurd romance that will, pardon my clich, blow your mind.
3829977
Author/coach/editor/ghost writer Dan Janal has taught at Berkeley and Stanford, as well as spoken at conferences through the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China and Hungary helping thought leaders brand their businesses with books and publicity. A Founding Father of Internet Marketing and Publicity, Dan wrote one of the first books about marketing on the Internet back in 1993 and in 2001, he founded PR LEADS, one of the most cost-effective publicity leads services, which has been copied by many other companies. He provides publicity and marketing coaching and consulting services for Independent Professionals and Small Businesses. He also writes press releases designed to rank high to rank high on search engines. He lives in both California and Minnesota.

This book is the answer to every writers dream  a quick, easy, positive and constructive way to break that glass wall between you and your dream book and actually succeed in writing and getting it published. Dan has a warmth in his manner that is evident as he opens his book  Do you have a book inside you that is dying to get out? Do you know what you want to write but cant get your ideas out of your head and onto paper? Are you tearing your hair out, trying to write your book? Or are you one of the many thousands of people who have started writing a book but cant get past chapter 1? You are not alone, my friend. Millions of people don't finish writing a book. But it isn't your fault. Marketing guru Seth Godin described this affliction in his book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). People start grand plans with noble intentions. Then they hit a dip, and they don't finish. Does this sound like you? You decide you want to play the guitar. You tell everyone you know. You take a few lessons. You progress. Eventually, you hit a plateau, where you see little to no improvement. You practice for hours and spend money on lessons, but you still cant play anything for your friends without dying of embarrassment. You give up. People hit this wall in almost everything they dofrom trying to lose weight, to creating impossibly long to-do lists, to saving money for retirement. The people who succeed find a way to persevere when things get tough (or when you hit a dip/plateau). The same is true with writers. They tell everyone they are going to write a book. Everyone congratulates them. The writers write a few chapters until they hit a wall. Then one of several things happens: They give up because, frankly, writing a book takes time, energy, and discipline. Or they break through the dip and cross over to the other side.

Dan eases us into the goal he sets for us by addressing such aspects as  Overcoming the Blank Canvas Syndrome - Planning Your Masterpiece, What Kind of Book Do You Need to Write?, The Big Picture, Framing Your Message, Give Your Book a Colorful Title!, Your Write Frame of Mind. Then - Painting by Numbers with Words - The Secret to Writing Your Book Fast, Outlining the Ten Chapters, Outlining Chapter One, Make Your Points: Outlining the Middle Chapters Two through Nine, Outlining the Final Chapter, Creating the Front Matter, Creating the Back Matter, Drawing on Research: Filling in the Blanks, Adding Color with Stories. Then - Make Your Book Shine - The Art of Writing, Editing, and Revising, Feedback, Design Secrets That Will Make Your Book a Page-Turner, Your Writers Tool Palette. And finally - Finishing Touches for Your Book - You Dont Have to Do It All Yourself, Final StrokesPutting It All Together.

It is all here, made simple - very solid instruction from the Pro! Highly recommended.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
3625644
I'd never read Stephen King before, thinking of him as something of a pot boiler thriller writer. Of course I'd heard he was a real writer, but still. Well he is indeed a real writer and this is a good writing book. I would have been happy with bio and more writing advice. I also like&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Becoming-a-Writer/dp/0874771641/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Becoming a Writer</a>.
131401
This book makes it very clear that good writing is no accident.  Now I  understand the difference between writing that is clear and readable and  writing that is not.  Too much work?  I think not.  I like to read writing  I don't have to decipher to try to figure out what the writer meant, and I  would rather not have my own writing misinterpreted.  Jon Franklin makes it  very clear how a writer can make that difference with a little bit...okay,  a lot...of effort.  Effort that can only pay off in true communication  between the author and his/her reader...and isn't that what it's all about?
4641091
I used to have my friends write EMAILS for me and almost failed a pharmacy school rotation because of my writing ability and after learning about the Writing Myths, Writing Methods, and importance of writing for a purpose I just sent my first book to an editor on Monday!! I literally LOLed as I read this book because he honestly breaks down what it is like to write a book for people who hate writing. Every 20 something who hates writing or has said they could never write a book needs to read this now! Chandler has a way of building your confidence in more than just your ability to write... plus you can use what he teaches you when you are writing cover letters or papers!
186040
This book is not a step by step how to write book.  If you want that, try a writing for dummies book.  It is a way to show you how to find those gems in your writing that will make it unique and good.  It will help you realize that managible pieces are fine.  It will make you laugh and realize you are not the only oddball in the world who wants to write.  I recommend this book without misgiving.  Enjoy!