Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different

by Chuck Palahniuk Narrated by Chuck Palahniuk, Edoardo Ballerini

Overview

Renowned, bestselling novelist Chuck Palahniuk takes us behind the scenes of the writing life, with postcards from decades on the road and incredible examination of the power of fiction and the art of storytelling.

In this spellbinding blend of memoir and insight, bestselling author Chuck Palahniuk shares stories and generous advice on what makes writing powerful and what makes for powerful writing.

With advice grounded in years of careful study and a keenly observed life, Palahniuk combines practical advice and concrete examples from beloved classics, his own books, and a "kitchen-table MFA" culled from an evolving circle of beloved authors and artists, with anecdotes, postcards from the road, and much more.

Clear-eyed, sensitive, illuminating, and knowledgeable, Consider This is Palahniuk's love letter to stories and storytellers, booksellers and books themselves. Consider it a classic in the making.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for CONSIDER THIS


"Reminiscent of Stephen King's On Writing in never failing to entertain while imparting wisdom, this is an indispensable resource for writers."
—Publishers Weekly

"[Palahniuk] reveals surprising humility [with] fresh and accessible ideas. Fans will appreciate the insight into his own work, especially Fight Club (1996), his tributes to friends and forebears, and how he delivers gracious and encouraging wisdom in his characteristically conversational style."—Booklist

"For that author who wants to expand his or her horizons and try something new, Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk is the book to pick up. Laugh-out-loud funny[...]there is a world of information in this small book."—New York Journal of Books

"A book for those who want to learn to write dangerously, or perhaps just learn about the man who pioneered 'dangerous writing.' [It'll] inspire you try take a stab at telling your story."—Booktrib

"Tried-and-true practical advice for aspiring writers."—USA Today

"A savvy teacher. [Palahniuk's] advice is highly detailed and practical."—Kirkus

"Grade-A prime Chuck Palahniuk."—Publishers Weekly

This book from Palahniuk is insightful."—Dallas Morning News

PRAISE FOR CHUCK PALAHNIUK:

"Chuck Palahniuk's stories don't unfold. They hurtle headlong, changing lanes in threes and banging off the guard rails of modern fiction... With his love of contemporary fairytales that are gritty and dirty rather than pretty, Palahniuk is the likeliest inheritor of Vonnegut's place in American writing."—San Francisco Chronicle

"One of the most feverish imaginations in American letters."
—The Washington Post

"Like Edgar Allen Poe, Palahniuk is a bracingly toxic purveyor of dread and mounting horror. He makes nihilism fun."—Vanity Fair

"Dark riffing on modernity is the reason people read Palahniuk. His books are not so much novels as jagged fables, cautionary tales about the creeping peril represented by almost everything."—Time

San Francisco Chronicle

Chuck Palahniuk's stories don't unfold. They hurtle headlong, changing lanes in threes and banging off the guard rails of modern fiction... With his love of contemporary fairytales that are gritty and dirty rather than pretty, Palahniuk is the likeliest inheritor of Vonnegut's place in American writing.

Vanity Fair

Like Edgar Allen Poe, Palahniuk is a bracingly toxic purveyor of dread and mounting horror. He makes nihilism fun.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Dallas Morning

This book from Palahniuk is insightful.

The Washington Post

One of the most feverish imaginations in American letters.

Time

Dark riffing on modernity is the reason people read Palahniuk. His books are not so much novels as jagged fables, cautionary tales about the creeping peril represented by almost everything.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Booktrib

A book for those who want to learn to write dangerously, or perhaps just learn about the man who pioneered 'dangerous writing.' [It'll] inspire you try take a stab at telling your story.

Booklist

Palahniuk’s snappy advice isn’t always convincing, but he does offer fresh and accessible ideas. Fans will appreciate the insight into his own work…and how he delivers gracious and encouraging wisdom in his characteristically conversational style.”

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}USA Today

Tried-and-true practical advice for aspiring writers.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}New York Journ

For that author who wants to expand his or her horizons and try something new, Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk is the book to pick up. Laugh-out-loud funny[...]there is a world of information in this small book.

Kirkus Reviews

2019-10-23
Palahniuk (Adjustment Day, 2018, etc.) offers a comradely handbook on writing.

After enduring a travesty of a writing workshop, the author resolved to produce a tough-love manual on fiction writing. Palahniuk's own work had benefited immeasurably from a different workshop conducted by Tom Spanbauer, whom he credits lavishly. A journalist by training, Palahniuk is known for a minimalist, conversational writing style and transgressive fiction featuring marginalized characters, but the strategies collected here can benefit any student of writing. Ranging from the nuts-and-bolts mechanics to the community of readers, his advice is highly detailed and practical, if occasionally tinged with romantic notions that belie his literary reputation for nihilism. And it's more than merely the tricks of the trade. Not surprising for a writer whose novel Fight Club was adapted for a successful film, Palahniuk illustrates many of his points using movie references and metaphors, sometimes to excess. He reveals possibilities that are not merely off the beaten track in publishing, but which possess a portion of originality. Many writers have pioneered the use of fictional techniques in writing nonfiction, but the author often reverses the process, to powerful effect. This is also a scrapbook of his writing life, brimming with personal anecdotes instructive, amusing, or bizarre. As in his stories, Palahniuk writes for the outsider in all of us, and he wants our wellsprings of story ideas to come from as deep a pool as his own. He closes with brief recommended fiction and nonfiction reading lists and a useful guide to troubleshooting. Palahniuk is a savvy teacher, though one's acceptance of the complete body of his guidelines may hinge on the appeal of his own fiction, his minimalist bent, or his insistence that writing also might be a form of exorcism: resolving intractable personal issues through fiction. The author confides one key dictum: Do not write to be liked but to be remembered.

Constructive and accessible.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940174022614
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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