“This is one of four newish books I recently read mostly so I could finally get them off my queue list, all of which were actually pretty good but are mere wisps of manuscripts, none of them over 150 pages or so in length. This one is the nonfiction This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley, an author I don't necessarily like that much personally but certainly respect a whole lot, among other things for being one of the only black authors in history to break through the lily-white publishing barrier of the science-fiction industry. That said, this extremely thin how-to book feels more like a weekend toss-off on Mosley's part than a finished and polished manuscript; a book that purports to show you how to finally get off your ass and in twelve months actually write that novel you've been telling yourself for years that you're going to someday write, but in fact is an odd mishmash of different kinds of literary advice, some more practical and some more craft-oriented, organized a bit sloppily and with not much concrete "real" advice in there at all. It's worth checking out if you get a chance to do so for free, but I'm not sure I'd recommend shelling out $20 to read this not exactly helpful fluff article turned full-length book.
Out of 10: 7.0”