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How to Start Writing a Book: The Wit and Wisdom of Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV Kindle Edition
Well, now you can learn how not to do so!
Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV, that's IVy to his friends and 'Moons' to his long-suffering
mother, steps forth to share his wit and wisdom with the world.
This is the ‘how to write’ book that satirises all ‘how to write’ books. Read it and cry with laughter.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 23, 2018
- File size1.9 MB
Product details
- ASIN : B07KBFW8HZ
- Publisher : (November 23, 2018)
- Publication date : November 23, 2018
- Language : English
- File size : 1.9 MB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 128 pages
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
In the words that Robert Heinlein put so evocatively into the mouth of Lazarus Long: 'Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.' Having tried a number of different careers, before settling in the North-East of England with family, three dogs, cats and a small flock of rescued chickens, I now spend a lot of time in private and have very clean hands.
If you enjoy my books, please let me know by leaving a review, it encourages me to keep writing!
I hope you will keep in touch to find out more about future titles in both Fortune's Fools and The Dai and Julia Mysteries through Facebook. Do take the time to enjoy a daily coffee break read with me and my co-author, Jane Jago, at workingtitleblogspot.com. You can also find me on twitter @emswifthook
BOOKS
The Dai and Julia Mysteries (all co-written with Jane Jago) currently available:
Dying to be Roman
Dying to be Friends
Dying for a Poppy
Dying as a Druid
The First Dai and Julia Omnibus
Dying for a Vacation
Dying to be Fathers
Dying on the Mosaics
The Second Dai and Julia Omnibus
Dying on the Streets
Dying to be Innocent
Dying to Find Proof
The Third Dai and Julia Omnibus
Dying for a Present
Dying as a Spy
Dai and Julia short stories:
'Dying to Alter History' in Tales from Alternate Earths III from Inkling's Press
'Dying to be Cured' in 'Gods of Clay' from The SciFi Roundtable
Fortune's Fools books currently available:
Transgressor Trilogy: The Fated Sky, Times of Change, Dues of Blood
Haruspex Trilogy: Trust A Few, Edge of Doom, A Walking Shadow
Iconoclast Trilogy: Mistrust and Treason, Not To Be, A Necessary End
There are also a number of short stories set in the Fortune's Fools universe:
Midwinter Miracle with typographic art by Zora Marie (also available as an audiobook)
'Changeling Child' in 'Tales of Wonder' from Inklings Press
'Tongueless Caverns' in 'Tales from the Underground' from Inklings Press
'Wondrous Strange' in 'The Quantum Soul' from The SciFi Roundtable
'The Invisible Event' in 'Challenge Accepted' a charity anthology.
The term genre-hopper could have been coined to describe me and my books, modern-day thrillers sitting side by side with sword and sorcery, wicked dragons, and short stories and verse.
In addition, I’m proud to be the co-author of the Dai and Julia Mysteries with my good friend E.M. Swift-Hook.
Dai and Julia: What If the Romans never left?
Dying to be Roman
Dying to be Friends
Dying for a Poppy
Dying as a Druid
Dying for a Vacation
Dying to be Fathers
Dying on the Mosaics
Dying on the Streets
Dying to be Innocent
Dying to Find Proof
Dying for a Present
The First Dai and Julia Omnibus
The Second Dai and Julia Omnibus
The Third Dai and Julia Omnibus
For more fun and frolics with me and my co-author visit our blog at tinyurl.com/t9pkll3
You can also follow me on Facebook, and please don’t forget to let me know what you enjoy about my books
Customer reviews
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2019This is not a novel, so you shall not read it like a novel, in one long shot. Take your time, a glass of cognac and a good dictionary. The prose is actually a string of poison-like pieces of humor, good for your health (read mind) in small daily doses, and well, poisonous (read hard to swallow) in large batches. If you really like it in large doses, the cognac will help you enter inside the pompous mind of Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV and stay there for a while. You may find Moonbeam’s choice of words and the cognac complementing each other while reading his recommendations for the would-be writers.
There is a also a second (small) voice in the book that I can compare with a caustic version of Pinocchio’s Talking Cricket, aka his conscience. In this case, the Cricket is played by Moonbeam’s mother.
In the end, the book is well written, humorous and entertaining, if you find the daily dose that fits for you.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2019The basic premise of 'How to Start Writing a Book: The Wit and Wisdom of Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV' is a novel one: A self-obsessed author's thoughts on writing so bad and unbecoming that his mother must step in and correct them.
However, the basic idea--an author's asinine, pretentious ramblings being undercut by his mother--quickly falls into tedium, as the basic cycle repeats over and over. The 'author' introduces some crackpot advice, and the editor / mother undercuts it by providing the reader with a nugget of true wisdom. It's meant to be satirical, but it feels somehow unsatisfying.
'How to Start Writing a Book' is well-written, and many times it had me diving for my dictionary, but it works only in short bursts over time. The fact that I read it in a couple of sittings does not sit well. I am convinced if I'd saved it for bathroom reading, I'd have maybe had a different experience.
It could also be that the book just isn't for me. I can accept that as a possibility, as well. Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV feels like a character in a Douglas Adams novel. I think that speaks to how well the author does with the actual characterization. Maybe we'll see Moonbeam in a future book.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2018I am a fan of E.M. Swift-Hook. I have read several of her “Fortune’s Fools” series and recommend them highly as sci fi books with strong character development, smoothly professional writing, and excellent world-building.
This book is not sci fi. It’s a book about writing: the good; the bad; and the pretentious, sophomoric, self-indulgent clueless bloviatings of people who don’t write as well as they think they do. The book has two voices: Moonbeam’s pontificating and his mother’s caustic responses. Moonbeam’s sections are hilarious prose poison to which his mother’s sections provide the antidote.
I found the book entertaining—for a while. Then the Moonbeam parts got kind of tiresome. The mother’s advice is consistently sound. Writers who want to read about writing itself will find positive guidance in the book as well as warnings about what not to do.