Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different Hardcover – January 7, 2020

Palahniuk begins with the valid complaint that most, nearly all, creative writing seminars, courses, and programs consist of listening to some veteran writer or personality who has inflated his credentials, telling war stories. That observation is spot-on. It happens for several reasons: The department heads and administrators responsible for hiring creative writing instructors (or worse, the self-promoters of seminars) almost always choose published writers. Unfortunately, most published writers are not teachers, don't know how to teach, or don't care about teaching.The result is that very little in hard knowledge gets transmitted. Advice like: Engage the reader; Make your characters interesting; Start with a bang, is offered. Instructors present big general ideas with no practical advice as to how to implement them. Handholding, enthusiasm, or the promise that the instructor has contacts that will get the student published take the place of substantive knowledge and advice.Palahniuk says he can do better, and he does. For the first two chapters, he offers ideas and practical advice regarding their implementation in writing novels and short stories. In the third section, he begins to fall into the trap he described: the war story rambling and discussing general topics without concrete examples or implementation strategies, but some good information is present.I give the book five stars because if it consisted of only the first chapter, it would be better than 95% of the "how to write" books that are published. An excellent handbook, well done Mr. Palahniuk.

Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club, provides a no holds barred account of how to write fiction as well as an account of his writing life.Never having written a work of fiction, I can’t comment on the efficacy of Palahniuk’s writing exercises or his various tips on writing. To my amateur eye, they seem like good advice and, despite the obvious difference in tone, many seem similar to Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.What I can provide is a summary of what to expect if you read this guide as well as who should read it.A former blue-collar worker, Palahniuk intersperses the guide with personal anecdotes that in total encompass a philosophy, or at least, an outlook on life. Rough around the edges, this perspective does not shy away from life’s darker sides: violence, death, perversion, insanity, etc. But it also contains a genuine desire to connect to his readers and to benefit them by his writing.He largely addresses beginning writers. He doesn’t hide the difficulty of making a living writing fiction at a time when the novel is no longer the center of popular culture. Nor does he hide the fact that good writing is difficult and requires much practice. But he suggests that those who are passionate about the stories they have to tell should choose to write, whether or not they can make a living out of it.And how to tell stories is primarily what Palahniuk teaches. He illustrates his points by citing some of the best American fiction of the last one hundred years. Proust and Wolff, for example, are not mentioned since literary fiction with experimental styles is not at all the type of writing Palahniuk is interested in.But if you have stories that you think readers will want or need to hear, Palahniuk’s guide is as good as any to getting started. While it may appeal to the mixed martial arts viewing crowd the most, anyone really can benefit from his wisdom. The fact that the book embodies his philosophy all the while dispensing writing tips only provides more reason to read it. Highly recommended for would be writers of fiction.

I've read everything this man has put on paper, so you could say I'm biased from the start, but this book released at exactly the right time in my life.The stories and advice within reveal much about the author and what made him who he is. I hope to eventually publish work of my own, and this little book makes me feel a little more comfortable with the idea being more than just a far-off dream. Not all books are capable of such things.I always wanted a "how-to" book from Palahniuk - now I can check that off my list! Real fans will not be disappointed.

If you're a Chuck fan this is a must buy. Even if you've been disappointed in recent Chuck books this one is a great return to form. Tons of specific nuts and bolts techniques that Chuck uses to write his stories. You can tell he's giving his best effort to help you out and not holding anything back. Really practical advice that directly applies to writing stories. He gives lot of examples of where the techniques appear in his books, classic books, and favorite movies. I like this better than the Stephen King book, "On Writing". After reading this it went to the top of my list of books about writing. One of the best books i've bought in years.

Consider this: I have binged every Palahniuk book on its release day for the past two decades. This one, however, I savored. It took nearly three weeks and two paper cuts.I could easily go on endlessly about how Palahniuk’s managed to weave a rich tapestry of practical writing advice, memorable fan encounters (oh, the mice!), and witty anecdotes, blah blah blah. But honestly, all of that would be sucking up time you could be using to read this wonderful book. Buy it. Savor it. You won’t be disappointed.My favorite bit: the anecdote from Ira Levin. A few years ago, when I’d met Palahniuk at The Strand in NY during his Fight Club 2 tour, he told it to me in response to my question about criticism of his work. Time had all but erased the details, but here it was, waiting to remind me in this book. I’m happy to say I’ll never forget it again.

I’ll start by saying I’ve not read any of Palahniuk’s fiction. I’ve not even seen the Fight Club movie. So I wasn’t coming to this book as an established fan of his work.What I did know beforehand is that he’s a successful, established writer. And in a subcategory (broadly: writing advice) brimming with books from people not actually in the writing trenches, I’m most interested in hearing from those actually making a living from their fiction.So what type of book is this? I’d compare this to something like Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s life story and writing advice combined, rather than the usual ‘by the numbers, 3 act, 5 act, 8 sequence, structure structure structure!’ books that seem to dominate this corner of the market.(Side note: I eat up those instructional books too, but they’re all basically saying the same thing and I tend to think that, on the whole, they’re better for revision/editing or when you’re stuck rather than for planning the whole thing out ahead of time. Others will disagree, but even the outliners I know tend to find their story veers off course once the characters get involved. They’re a good starting point for beginners needing some direction, however.)I found this book far more useful for the aspiring writer than King’s book. This one has a lot more on the writing side of things. Palahniuk’s book feels like a low-key masterclass on levelling up your storytelling and prose. For the very basics of fiction writing, you might want to start with something broader (one of those more structure focused books so you understand the overall shape of story), but for elevating your writing and characterisation, this is definitely one of the books to get.Some things I took from Consider This include:- Recycling objects to mark character evolution- Using a character’s body of knowledge and avoiding abstracts- The authority speech- Social models and lists- Types of communication, mixing POV- The dead parent- Storytelling contextAll of the above are greatly expanded on and explained within the book, and there are many more than I’ve included above, interspersed with personal anecdotes.If you’re a writer—whether professional or purely for personal enjoyment—and you’re looking for something beyond the usual ‘show, don’t tell’ advice to take things up a notch, I definitely recommend this book.Also perfect for fans of Palahniuk’s work in general, if you’re interested in knowing more about the man behind the story.

If you’ve read any of Palahniuk’s writing essays on Litreactor website then some of this writing lore will he familiar, but the author gives new context and example in this book. From ‘submerging the I’ to ‘Description from within the pov,’ this book will inspire any would-be or experienced writer. Like Stephen King’s ‘On Writing,’ Consider this is part writing advice and part biography. Whether you’re into his brand of weird-dark fiction or not, there’s riches here to be mined for one and all. Highly recommended.

I’m the opposite of Chuck Palahniuk’s intended demographic in so, so many ways, yet I find this book exhilarating.Lockdown has had a nicely de-fogging effect on many of us. (Medals, please, for the Bristol dozen.) Palahniuk’s book is like a blast of mountain air on the overwrought subject of writing stories. My energy level - it felt like a sort of happiness - went rocketing up in the first few pages - as soon as I knew the book’s brilliance was for real.Ignorance alert - I only know Chuck Palahniuk is American (actually, I don’t even know that), is famous and is supposedly a guys’ guy. He does indeed appear a guys’ guy, but such a high form of it that anyone - like me - can appreciate him.Provisos? Some of the asides discomforted me, such as the recollection about the cremated remains. But - were many of us not discomforted by COMPLETELY the wrong things before lockdown? And, I recycled the book’s cover because it gave me the creeps (the colours more than the actual “riff” on fingers / pencils). But, under the cover I found a well crafted hardback (Britain’s Clays Ltd), which I prefer handling as a tactile object - so all good.I’m thanking people for anything good (and withdrawing from the rest). Thank you, Chuck Palahniuk.

Chuck's gotta be Chuck.I understand why this book came to life, the reason why it was published, I know why I bought it, and still, after all it said and done, I regret only not having it read any earlier.As a matter of fact, I'll go to the extent of blaming the author for not having written such a book before.Anecdotal, informative and actually useful for those who wish to know more about the writing world, Chuck's writing world, or mostly both.No worries, no real secret spilled out.Amusing and enlightening read.

As a construction worker, I appreciate Mr. Palahniuk's technical approach to writing. It inspires me to keep on pursuing my dream. Cheers.