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Write a book in 48 hours?

Discussion in 'Tea Room (Book Chat)' started by Miranda, 27 Apr 2017.

  1. Miranda

    Miranda Member

    Anyone here familiar with a guy called Brian Tracy? Well, he has this course (that he's selling...) that claims to teach people how to write a book within 48 hours. Is this even possible?
     
  2. Quiet Sun

    Quiet Sun New Member

    Tell you what, if he can convince me that this is a good idea in 48 hours, I'll write a book in 48 hours. Sound fair?

    Please tell me this guy isn't popular.
     
  3. Terry

    Terry Member

    Not familiar with but seen something similar before so many times.

    Do you know how easy it is to write a book? Easy. Anyone can do it, they just have to be literate.

    A good book? Now that's a completely different story ;)
     
  4. Meryl

    Meryl Member

    I totally agree with you, Terry. Now that anyone can write and easily publish a book on their own, we've seen a surge in unreadable content on the internet. Everyone wants to believe that they can write a book and guys like this make tons of money off of those misguided beliefs.
     
  5. HattieMoon

    HattieMoon Member

    Out of interest I Googled 'how to write a book within 48 hours' and was surprised to see dozens of different people claiming they can teach you to do just that. Most of them seem to be saying the same kind of thing - write a short non-fiction 'book' on a topic you are already an expert in.
     
  6. Kindler

    Kindler Active Member

    It's the oldest and most believeble thing. - write a book on something you know a lot of.

    You're more likely to come across as someone who knows about the topic and if you can speak at length on it, you can probably put down several thousand words on the subject without thinking. Grammar and structure are optional, of course,
     
  7. Terry

    Terry Member

    I do feel sorry for a lot of people who do this hoping for it to work and make loads of money. There are so many people out there who have made their way doing this and trumpeted the fact that you wonder if they can do it, why can't I?

    I have to ask, how many of those first time novelists actually are and how many have been writing for ages and this is the first time a novel has been accepted? We can just ignore those other 100 or so attempts on the slush pile.
     
  8. Meryl

    Meryl Member

    I hear you, Terry. The fact of the matter is that it is technically possible to write a book in 48 hours but I don't think it would be of the best quality that you could have produced.
     
  9. Tregaron

    Tregaron Member

    The last time I saw a book that told me how to do that, the second page included instructions for hiring several ghostwriters. I was not impressed.

    It is not impossible to do. There is a classic example of a well-known author who wrote several books taking three days each. He knew there was a difference between what he wanted to write and what sold, so he wrote and scarcely edited a series of books to pay the bills so that he could go back to writing what he wanted. However Michael Moorcock was already an excellent writer and knew his genre backwards.
     
  10. Triss

    Triss New Member

    I think that for anyone who has written a lot of books before, this might be possible, but I don't think that someone who knows nothing about the process can do it in 48 hours unless they have some serious help from an experienced individual.
     
  11. Joanna

    Joanna New Member

    This is a pretty controversial topic. I know everyone has their own opinion based on their experiences, but I think that it all depends on who is doing the teaching and how well the student implements what they are taught.
     
    HattieMoon likes this.
  12. HattieMoon

    HattieMoon Member

    I am still sceptical but if people can do it (successfully) then all kudos to them. I have to admit, being able to produce a short series of books in a week to pay the bills definitely makes it sound attractive.
     
  13. Triss

    Triss New Member

    I think this strategy would work best if they were writing simple books such as children's books rather than big novels for adults with complicated storylines.
     
  14. I'm not buying that, I'm afraid. I can't even bring myself to enter NaNo.
     
  15. Jordan

    Jordan Active Member

    Terry's response is spot on. Just because you can write it quickly, doesn't mean it will be good.

    I've seen one guy who says you can do it in thirty days and recommends "speaking" your book (because it's faster) and then paying someone to type it out for you. Sheesh.

    This will be my seventh time participating in NaNoWriMo. It's madness since I only won once, and it seems to get harder every year.
     
  16. Julia

    Julia Member

    I agree with Triss. A children's book may be written in 48 hours but I don't think that an adult book would be any good if written in 48 hours. It's not totally impossible, but not very realistic.
     
  17. Ellie Jane

    Ellie Jane Member

    Most of the time those quickie books end up being nothing more than a written out stream of conscious. There will be little no plot and no character development.
     

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