Rating: 
Summary: For younger audiences
Review: I found the exercises and patronizing tone in most of the contributors' articles to be sophomoric and borderline juvenile. Only one or two of the exercises were helpful or interesting. I was hoping for some authorial expertise, and instead got a compendium of shopworn notes and examples from CW class teachers and students. My guess is the novice students who had their examples printed are the happiest purchasers of this flimsy book. It would be better to buy Jerome Stern's "Shapes of Fiction" or even Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones" if you are a grown-up writer looking for some help.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Ideas / Great Asides
Review: I got this book to for story ideas and to help in my writing.What I got was more! I enjoyed the "asides" the author made about certain other authors' writings and characters. Tasty bits of gossip. It was as if I were listening at a door to "wicked yet tasteful" descriptions of supposed published authors--who should be not published. In addition, the author gave great examples of story starts, and by reading them, I could dream up other story starts on my own. This is a great book if you are stuck in your writing, plus it is a good read on its own.
Rating: 
Summary: Please don't let it go out of print!
Review: I have been teaching writing and using this book for over five years. It has been beyond invaluable for me and my students, and I don't know how I am going to live without it. The earlier, brown version is not the greatest, but the "Revised and Expanded" 1995 edition (blue cover) is fabulous. We were supposed to get a new 2000 edition in January, but now I heard that Prentice-Hall has decided not to do the new edition. So "What If?" is now out of print. NO!
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book!
Review: I have scores of books on writing, and this is among the very best. It not only teaches, but prompts story ideas at every turn. Truly worth your time and money
Rating:
Summary: Useful and worth buying.
Review: I like the fact this book gives you a mini-workshop you can take at home. Whereas it is not a substite for really tuition, it is a mine for new ideas and plots. I lent it to my creative writing teacher a couple of months ago and he hasn't yet given it back to me! My only problem with this book is I didn't really understand the point of a couple of exercises, but then again it might be because I am not a native English speaker. However, it's still a good purchase if you don't have the time or the inclination to go to a workshop.
Rating:
Summary: Useful tool in the classroom
Review: I like What If quite a lot. Although you can't design a class around the book, the exercises contained therein are useful supplements in the creative writing workshop. Something for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: If you write, you have to buy this book!
Review: I loved this book. The ideas, the examples, the assignments... they all were incredibly helpful in getting that writers block to budge. I've worn through my first copy, I used it so much.
Rating:
Summary: Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!
Review: I teach creative writing in the UCLA Writer's Program (online) and always recommend this book to my students as one of the two best books (along with Janet Burroway's "Writing Fiction") on the craft of writing ever penned. I have used the information in this book time and again in writing my own novels and stories ("The Death of Tarpons" (novel), "Monday's Meal" (story collection), "Over Easy" (thriller forthcoming from Random House, 1999). A more intelligent book than this has yet to be written. If you aspire to create memorable, quality prose, you must buy this book! It will aid you throughout your writing career in thousands of ways. Five stars is not enough to award this book, which I'm sure is destined to become a classic if it is not already considered so.
Rating:
Summary: Useful tool in the classroom
Review: I teach short fiction writing at a college in Michigan. I've used the first edition of this book for four semesters, and I just had a chance to peruse the second edition. Great stuff! The exercises in this book teach the elements of story writing, but they do it in an interesting and interactive way. Students will learn about Starting in the Middle, Strong Dialogue, Conflict, Endings, Titles, Naming Characters, the Internal Life of Characters, and much more. I use the text in an introductory course, so I don't get to all of the exercises. Some cover more advanced issues than others, but this book is helpful to almost any level of fiction writer. I am a writer too, and every time I use the book with my students, my own stories get a little stronger. If you're a fiction teacher, try this book. If you're a writer looking to advance your skills, this book could also be a big help. You'll find stuff that goes beyond the routine fiction-writing advice.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for a college class
Review: I teach short fiction writing at a college in Michigan. I've used the first edition of this book for four semesters, and I just had a chance to peruse the second edition. Great stuff! The exercises in this book teach the elements of story writing, but they do it in an interesting and interactive way. Students will learn about Starting in the Middle, Strong Dialogue, Conflict, Endings, Titles, Naming Characters, the Internal Life of Characters, and much more. I use the text in an introductory course, so I don't get to all of the exercises. Some cover more advanced issues than others, but this book is helpful to almost any level of fiction writer. I am a writer too, and every time I use the book with my students, my own stories get a little stronger. If you're a fiction teacher, try this book. If you're a writer looking to advance your skills, this book could also be a big help. You'll find stuff that goes beyond the routine fiction-writing advice.
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