Palahniuk mines our free-floating anxiety, horror of the ever-accelerating Real, and returns with literary artifacts ... this volume stands apart from similar writing-life books via Palahniuk’s integral fidelity: no hand-holding allowed. Psychology tells us that shock—among other emotions—imprints on memory, for good or ill. But Palahniuk, maintaining forensic-strength attention, is no mere outrage-monger ... Palahniuk readers--and writers at any career level--likely will devour this vivid and instructive behind-the-scenes tour.

...[Palahniuk] has packaged the most important lessons he learned over the years and has communicated them in a way that others can digest easily ... He shares wisdom on the writing process, and advice on how to add texture, hold authority, build tension – the list goes on ... The book's purpose, he says, is to serve those who would like to learn but don't have the access or the means to afford that kind of education.

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 ... His presentation is very casual, and at times laugh-out-loud funny as he relates episodes in his life that have taught him how to write, or what not to do with his writing! ... Chuck Palahniuk writes short . . . that is to say, his message is concise, given to us in few, well-chosen words that get the point across without a lot of fuss. And yet his message is detailed ... For the author who is looking for a new way to express herself, Consider This is a good place to start that journey. You may not agree with everything he says, but listen carefully. There is a world of information in this small book.

In Consider This, he pays generous homage to authors, coaches and editors who kept him on his unorthodox path when conventional publishing houses wouldn't touch him ... And something you won't get anywhere else: the author's personal must-read lists of both fiction and nonfiction titles, writings and teachings that have molded authors through the decades. Whether you're inspired to improve your own writing or simply like to revel in the art behind your favorite authors' work, this tamed-down, reined-in Palahniuk is insightful.

Best known to readers as the author of Fight Club, the cult novel which has become something of a bible to a generation of Angry Young Men, Palahniuk here swaps shock value for an odd sentimentalism ... It’s a sentimentalism which tinges reflections both on his own career...and those on the state of literature in general ... One question niggled at this reader throughout: who is this book for? Presumably, it’s for the aforementioned Angry Young Men, now setting out to write their own generation-defining opuses. (A peculiar attribute of the book is its illustrations. Certain pull quotes are accompanied by classic tattoo designs daggers, snakes, skulls all the better for ripping out and pinning to your dorm wall, or maybe even for having inked on your bicep.) Palahniuk appears keenly attuned to the expectations of his readership ... There’s something performative less than authentic in his authorial stance, even as he purports to delve deep into his own writerly psyche. While the introduction tells us that Consider This aspires to the status of a dialogue with the reader, it has the air of a sermon to those already-converted ... Why should you model your writing after Palahniuk’s, when even reading his suggestions feels like a slog? More successful are the moments when he reflects on his apprenticeship as a writer, on trying and failing to make his stories sing, then trying again. With these rare instances of vulnerability, I was reminded of the value of another writing maxim: show, don’t tell. It’s a maxim which Palahniuk would have done well to follow more closely.

What kind of book is this? It's a memoir with writing tips thrown in the mix, or vice versa ... The gist of Consider This is this: Palahniuk lived through some interesting experiences while he was working on his stories. In his fiction, he takes real life and stretches and twists it with his imaginings. Reading his memoir is as much disturbing fun as reading his stories. From a writer like this, who cares how much is real and how much imagined? Come for the writing tips and stay for the stories.

...this collection of [Palahnuik's] writings about writing include a number of freakishly interesting anecdotes — like the time Stephen King’s hand started bleeding during a marathon signing, where are chapters that address craft, from ideas to execution. 'Troubleshooting Your Fiction,' for example, offers advice for such problems as 'Your Narrative Voice is Boring' and 'Your Stories Meander and Ramble.' This book is a master class. It will make you a better writer. It will make you a better reader.

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 ... 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 ... Constructive and accessible.

Palahniuk...delivers a fine book on writing, full of advice and anecdotes garnered from his career as a novelist, that will help both those aspiring to write bestsellers and those hoping to write from the heart ... The book finally rises to a moving emotional crescendo, in a final chapter that shares moments of serendipity from Palahniuk’s time on the road. Reminiscent of Stephen King’s On Writing in never failing to entertain while imparting wisdom, this is an indispensable resource for writers.