I went into this read thinking that it was going to be (general) creative writing focused, however it was very focused to screenwriting and game script writing. While not a bad thing, it isn't what I expected from the cover and the blurb. There were some pieces of advice which would be applicable to general creative writing skills, but I found most of it was not useful for what I was looking for. That being said, if you are interested in game writing and screenwriting, then you should give this book a go.

This was a NetGalley review.

Thanks to the author and Netgalley for the free book in return for an honest review.

There were a lot of assumptions in this book, which were labelled as something that the author is assuming and just as well, because while the estimates within may apply to them as a writer, they should be in no way taken as gospel to anything else. I do admire their enthusiasm and energy, but it's written from their point of view and in many cases, bears no resemblance to the publishing world as it is.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This book is supposed to focus on how to improve your creative writing efforts, however, I did not find this to be true. The first issue of the book is that it focuses mainly on scriptwriting for film and video games. The main focus for this is on how to sell/market your work, not how to improve the actual content. The next issue is that the author continually tells the reader not to try x, y, or z unless they have 5-10 years of experience writing. There were other lists of "do not try this" because you will not have the experience. Mainly, it felt like the author was using the book to complain about how they have not been able to succeed in the writing markets that they wanted to. The end of the book is a list of mystic prayers/wishes to tell the world in the hope that their work will improve.
I would not suggest this book to others who want to improve their writing.

I think this book should be renamed to be honest, it has some good information but very much aimed at scriptwriting which I'm not interested in so it didn't really hit the mark for me. If you wanted to script write though I'm sure it has some great ideas and advice for you!

Thank you for providing me the opportunity to review “The Writer”s Quick-Start Guide”. I am appreciative and leave my sincerity review voluntarily.

This will boost your confidence if you haven't read anything about the writing process. Unfortunately, I didn't get anything from this guide that I had not already read before, leaving me disappointed. The design of this book would be ideal as a gift for a young budding author, but if you are serious about your writing, there is undoubtingly much better out there.

I failed to find this as helpful as I expected, and I will find it hard to recommend it to those within my creative writing circle.

*I received this e-book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I was expecting more a guide methodology for beginning writers with perhaps even writing prompts. But, there were a few chapters that had some useful content. For instance, "creative affirmations" section was interesting and would be a great to try to manifest some positive results, the "writing tips" chapter was somewhat useful and really only reinforced basic tips, and even the "mini-dictionary" is useful for non-English majors to learn key terms.

If you're a writer with some experience, you may only find the "creative affirmations" section useful to help keep you going. I think this book may be best for those who have not truly started any writing.

I read a lot of books on writing and this was not at all what I was expecting. Felt unorganized and unhelpful.

Brendan Lloyd’s The Writer’s Quick-Start Guide: Modern Know-How To Supercharge Your Creative Writing is a short book that can easily be read in a single sitting. The question is should you bother? In this case I’m afraid the answer is no. I hate to give any book a negative rating but in this case I feel I have no choice. When I read books on writing I have certain expectations, not the least of which is for the author to at least sound like an expert on the subject. And I can’t say that happened with this book. Mr. Lloyd’s advice seems odd and completely random, spending a odd amount of talking talking such random subjects as Japan and how hard it is to get a job writing scripts for video games. And even then his doesn’t even sound like he is certain about the advice he’s giving, using such phrases as “I’ve heard” or “I assume” or worse remarking that he’s “read on Wikipedia”. Sorry, but if you’re looking to ‘supercharge your reactive writing’ I’d suggest looking elsewhere for your wiring advice. This one just didn't work for me. Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC of The Writer’s Quick Start Guide.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-writers-quick-start-guide-brendan-lloyd/1141785434?ean=9781922788306&bvnotificationId=1e9b34ff-703c-11ed-8e8c-12abb8b914d9&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/230337575

I really wanted to enjoy learning from this book. I have read quite a few books on this subject recently. This was,by far, the most negative book. It told the reader what not to do and what not to expect. That is very realistic but was a complete turn off. Do not recommend.

I really appreciated how encouraging the author of this book was. I thought it was interesting in the amount of variety it tried to cover in a few 90-ish pages. I have read a a small handful of books designed to help writers so I didn't get as much out of this as others might. I don't want to give away any of the insights but I will say it has many self-affirming messages within it.

This is indeed a quick-start guide and ideal for anyone interested in script writing. I love the creative affirmations and advice to writers on writing towards the end of this book.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.