Terra Kaffe - Shop now
$0.99

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

How to Start Writing a Book: The Wit and Wisdom of Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV Kindle Edition

3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

Have you ever wanted to write a book?
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.

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:
    3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2019
    This 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, 2019
    The 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, 2018
    I 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.

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?