Rating: 
Summary: The best in my library
Review: This book is exactly what you need when you get out of college/university and want to start writing fiction. It is practical in its advice, it is "core business" about writing, and it is simple to learn from.
I have read a lot of those pretentious literary and cultivated books on writing. They don't help you write because they're intimidating. This book will help you realize that writing is hard work, can be kept simple and is no mystery. I wish I had read this book many years ago.
Rating: 
Summary: Outdated with bad tips
Review: This book is horribly outdated and uses terrible examples to prove points. People who follow these guidelines are the ones responsible for clogging up the publishing industry with #$%^& novels.
Rating:
Summary: Instructional, Informative, Entertaining
Review: This book was like a writing course. It is a well-written book describing, chapter by chapter, the necessary elements for novel writing. Topics include: Character, conflict, climax; the importance of premise, writing effective dialog, constructing a stepsheet, growing characters, effective prose, and much more. I liked how Mr. Frey used extensive examples, and cited well-known novels for inspiration. For anyone even thinking of writing a novel of any genre, this is a must read!
Rating:
Summary: Like having a tough editor sitting on your shelf shouting
Review: This is a tough, abrasive-toned book that absolutely wants you to do a damn good job writing a book. This book will not tolerate any namby pamby whining about not having time to write or having writer's block. What this book will do is tell you how to have real, thick, believable characters. It will tell you how to ratchet up every single scene, every bit of dialogue. It will tell you that writing is a terrible occupation for those wishy-washy types who fly by the seat of their muse's pants. It's a career. Clock in, work, clock out. Except you never really clock out. Your mind leaves the room and you find yourself nodding to your husband that it's ok if he buys a new guitar because you're worrying about how to make your protagonist's girlfriend attempt to kill her boss.
In short, you won't need any other book on how to write if you've got this one. It kicks you in the butt, tells you you can do it if you really really try and don't wimp out or run crying every time you get a rejection letter. Instead, this book tells you, keep sending queries, and get going on the next book, and the one after that, too. You could do some thirty odd books even if you wrote slowly but tried hard. So quit whining!
I love this book. It's motivation without stroking. It's advice without flowers and chocolates. Get it if you're serious about that book sitting just to the left of your appendix (everyone says they've got a book in them, right?).
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