This book was filled with padding, which is ironic; for an author trying to inject humor into a book on writing, he has forgotten that brevity is the soul of wit.

While reading the book, I couldn't help but feel as if I were reading something one of my students wrote; the attempt at "edginess" was sophomoric and trite. The writing style was simply not for me, which is an issue for a book about writing.

Stick with Strunk & White.

All writers can use a boost of inspiration at times and that's what this book does. It's a list of 111 rules that may create some "uh-huh" reactions to what Robert Masello has to say. He has spent a lifetime writing and it shows with all kinds of useful tips and approaches that works for him -- and maybe you too.

Some of the rules are simple: get a pen pal or someone you can trust to review what you've written. Throw out the thesaurus and use words you speak with. Write whatever kind of book that interests you the most and keeps readers on the edge.

Yet, there are some remarks that can only be found in this book like zip and lip -- meaning keep your thoughts on your book to yourself. Skip Starbucks. And it's okay to start a sentence with "and" or "but." Plus, he admits that sex sells. "These days readers don't want to be cheated out of some erotic thrills."

Reading this book is like being at a gathering with this author listening to his personal stories and explanations. The author has a flair for writing and understands the business. These are rules that can become someone's best comfort and resource. This book is not just for writers. It can be a great benefit for book reviewers and anyone curious as well.

My thanks to Robert Masello, Allworth Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this copy with an expected release date of September 21, 2021.

I was not previously familiar with this author but he's published several books of suspense. This is the second edition of his writing tips book. The advice is structured in short, bite-sized chapters, like a writer's daily devotionals, 111 in all (The first edition had 101.) It was a fast read and I enjoyed his prose.

Masello's first tip is to start writing something with a purpose and an audience in mind, even if the audience is just one person. Don't wait for your muse, but If an idea hits you, make a point of writing it down. Try to find your topics in your daily thoughts and use your own words. Trying to inflict pompous thesaurus vocabulary and too much deep symbolism on your poor text is probably not good. You don't have to tell everything, feel free to leave out the boring bits your readers don't need to know. Perfectionist voices inside your own head are a distraction. The first draft can and should be edited later.

Masello writes better in his peaceful office than a crowded coffee shop with many distractions, and would prefer not to talk about his works in progress. When you're in the middle of a writing project it might also be good not to distract yourself with reading someone else's works so your voice doesn't change to reflect them. But otherwise you should read something that gives you satisfaction, because you're better off writing something in a genre that you know well and enjoy reading. If you love it you will be more motivated to put in the hard work, solve your writer's blocks and bear the rejections. It is rather hard to make a living as an author.

Don't research yourself to death but if you're writing implausible details about something that is familiar to your readers they will notice. If you've created a fictional world you're the god that makes the rules there but try to avoid inconsistencies. What is the setting and conflict of your tale? Who are the characters? Ordinary places and people can be as fascinating as dashing beauties in fantasy worlds if the story is told right. (And dashing beauties can be boring if not.) What are their flaws, their struggles? How do they perceive the world and develop? Create an outline for your story and disregard it if necessary. But if you know where you're going you can foreshadow to avoid out-of-the-blue random coincidence resolutions that feel like deus ex machina to your readers. Is there an emotional subtext in your scenes? Did you foreshadow something that you never delivered? Will your text be long or short, how much detail do you have room for? Read it aloud to hear how it sounds. What's your personal writing style and can you adjust it to fit your narrative?

When you call it a day and stop writing, help yourself get started the next time by jotting down some notes about what you should continue the story with. He recommends a regular schedule of writing but sometimes it's good to take a break and focus on something else for a while. But not too long, or it becomes more difficult to tackle. If you're stuck, you could try visualizing your story as a movie. What's the next scene? Where is the action? Is there a ticking Click that they're racing against? Do you need a change of pace? If your narrative lags and meanders you could try cutting straight into the scene like the movies.

One of his rules I had to disagree with is to avoid collaborations. It doesn't always work but if it works for you and your writing partner, who cares what Masello thinks. Some of my favorite books have been co-authored. Also, he prefers to read longer novels that feel like a big fat wallow so one of his rules is to take the long way. Granted, a great writer can keep the reader riveted for a thousand pages, but life is short and given the choice between reading a huge brick of a book and three or four shorter works I am far more likely to pick up the short ones. Again, just a personal preference.

To conclude on a serious note, many writers are depressed and if that's you, you should seek help.

So, did the book deliver what it was selling? (That's one of his rules.) I was promised something unconventional, something controversial and counterintuitive, something provocative, enough to make the author hope that argumentative readers don't know where he lives. I'd say not really. Apart from a few things that are a matter of personal taste, a lot of it is pretty standard writing advice and I couldn't identify the shocking parts. If you're a veteran of writing manuals there's probably not very much that is new here. But this book is written in a very engaging, vivid style, and I do recommend it.

Robert's Rules of Writing was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the author's tongue-in-cheek prose and witticisms; however, when it came to the tips themselves, I disagreed with some, and those I did think were useful I had already come across in the past and/or discovered for myself through trial and error over several years of writing. A newbie author might indeed find something useful among these pages, but anyone who has been writing and publishing for a while will likely, like me, have heard it all before. Still, if you collect books on writing, this is not a bad one to add to your collection due to its humorous approach and easy-going prose. For me, it's a three-star read, as it entertained me even if I didn't particularly draw any new knowledge or insights from it.

If there is something in this world that comes with endless advice or do's and don'ts then it's got to be writing. Right now, a Google search can come up with millions of results and if you are like me you only stick to the first three search results and after that you're either too depressed or mentally exhausted to try and keep up. Now, Robert's Rules of Writing shares lessons from his life experiences and that of others in the writing field, and he admits that they are not news- it's just his way of telling you about it that's fresh, real and encouraging.
Like Rule 39: Perfect the Villain that reminded me of Dan Brown's Masterclass where he says that you've got to create a worthy opponent because your protagonist is only as good as your villain. In other words the greater and tougher the challenge he has to overcome, well, the better. Then there's Rule 13: Play god- that reminds you of going all out in the world you create because you can. Above all Rule 111 is a must read and a good advice to bear in mind and practice once in a while.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

Straightforward and no nonsense advice. Short descriptions for each piece of advice keeps the book flowing at a good pace.

A very wise book on writing, with lots of tips that appear in the book, that I never thought of before. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me an advance copy of the book.

Every time I finish reading a book ‘on writing’, I scamper back to my well worn-out copy of “Why I Write” by George Orwell. The man is as sparse with his reasons as he is fastidious about the economy that one needs to follow while indulging in the art of writing. His “six rules of writing” have stood the test of time and in all probability, will continue besting sterner tests. Any writer, from and of whom is demanded an almost improbable task of adhering to 111 ‘unconventional’ lessons, would in all probability end up a fatigued professional. Her condition would be akin to that of an aspiring ‘black cab’ driver in London who before obtaining her driving license is expected to memorise every conceivable nook, cranny and labyrinth of the city. But in an era of technology where GPS is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, such an arduous - and Byzantine even - exercise in rote learning assumes an unfortunate redundancy.

This is by no means belittling Robert Masello’ s book. A reading of it makes it very obvious to even the most insensitive of readers that the author’s motive is undoubtedly noble. Hacks, methods, processes and techniques jump at the reader from every page with unbridled enthusiasm. However it is this very enthusiasm that also doubles up as an unintended kill-joy. An overdose of optimistic guidance is undoubtedly a recipe for confusion. Many of the lessons could either have been shortened or complemented with one another. For instance, the importance of churning out a first draft, however messy it may be, finds avoidable repetition in more rules than one. While there is no doubting the importance of this rule – Anne Lamott opines that ‘shitty’ first drafts are not just inevitable but indispensable – same could have been set out in just one place.

There are a few rules that appeal to me personally. For example, Rule No.102 instructs you to “Keep Your Prose Clean.” There seems to be a dangerous and repulsive misperception that more libidinous the prose, wider its acceptance. We unfortunately do no inhibit an era where “Portnoy’s Complaint” not just liberated Philip Roth from his self-imposed shackles of modesty in writing, but catapulted him to fame as well. The days of sexual liberation are way behind us since we are more or less a totally and wholesomely liberated lot where carnal urges are concerned.

Rule No.49 is titled “Fly Solo”. This is also a concept that is appealing and introspective. While it causes no harm to inculcate and practice a collaborative bent of mind while writing, care needs to be ensured that one’s own style, tone and cadence is not sacrificed at the altar of group think. This notion is explained by a very telling example in Masello’ s book, ‘,I had written a sentence that read, in its entirety, “he stopped.” My collaborator had neatly, added in the margin, “like a deer caught in the headlights.” That’s when I knew for certain that this collaboration was not going to work.’

Rule 90 “Add a Dash of Metaphor” is also an exposition on how a particular tool may turn out to be a double edged sword. While the use of metaphors can make a story or an article alluring, littering one’s work with metaphors that have been used and abused to such an extent that they have more or less transformed them into cliches, would dilute the very essence of the writing and would detract from the import and purpose that the work intends. To paraphrase Orwell, “Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.”

On Rule in appreciation of which I will raise my glass, is the one on adopting and abhorring humour. Rule 85 is the “Make ‘Em Laugh!” Rule. While Masello elevated the role of humour to its rightful pedestal, he also warns of the danger that would accrue as a result of an impudent and imbecile use of humour. In other words unless and until you or your character possesses a genuinely funny bone, never attempt to evoke indiscreet and indiscriminate bouts of laughter. You will not end up having the last laugh!

There are Rules that seek to instill confidence in the reader, while at the same time warning her about the innumerable perils and pitfalls that she would need to necessarily navigate. The joys of publication are negated by the devastation of rejection slips. A self-conviction and unshakeable belief that a work is a magnum opus when it is a never ending sleep inducing tome of avoidably lengthy proportions, are some of the conflicting and contrasting emotions which every reader would have experienced. But the secret is to be practical and yet not lose the faith.

In my personal view, “10 Unconventional Lessons That Every Writer Needs to Know”, might have accorded more benefits and wisdom to an aspiring writer. Thus when Masello is planning on bringing out the Third Edition of this work, he may perhaps mull on some cull. The following Rules alone would be my ideal candidates for preservation:

1. Rule 62: Keep Your Day Job;
2. Rule 3: Throw Out Your Thesaurus (my favourite Rule in the entire book. I am deliberately refraining from not commenting on the same since I do not want to reveal much to the reader. Better she gleans this element of wisdom from Masello himself);
3. Rule 9: Lose The Muse;
4. Rule 85: Make ‘Em Laugh!
5. Rule 102: Keep Your Prose Clean;
6. Rule 49: Fly Solo;
7. Rule 42: Go Subliminal;
8. Rule 93: Punctuate That Thought;
9. Rule 86: Befriend Your Editor; and
10. Rule 111: Break All Rules

Masello’ s ‘111 Unconventional Lessons That Every Writer Needs to Know’ is a well explicated work that may be referred to by a budding writer. While the book has the potential to handhold, it may also end up disseminating a fair degree of ambivalence due to the sheer number of lessons that it purports to impart. A more concise and condensed version would have amplified the benevolence intended by the author in a more targeted and focused manner.

(‘111 Unconventional Lessons That Every Writer Needs to Know’ is published by Skyhorse Publishing/Allworth Press and would be released on the 21st of September 2021. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC)