More of a ‘how to’ guide than a story

This is an odd combination of fiction- two writers who had a successful book and romance, but have very different opinions about writing (Scott is the straight-to-the-point story guy with a screenwriting background; Emily crafts beautiful prose and backstories). Scott mansplains to Emily- and the audience- tips on how to write a novel (there are whole scenes which are just them discussing how to write the book). Basically he comes across as a pompous jerk.

Emily is fine although she’s really just there as an excuse for Scott to explain writing techniques. I didn’t buy into their relationship at all- it felt very contrived.

After all the scenes which are writing lessons, I was waiting for some story. Enter one of Emily’s creative writing class students Piper (narrator Edwina Wren does a superb job of distinguishing between Piper and Emily); I thought this had good potential to turn into an All About Eve type story but no, the plot just dissipates and the ending is terrible.

The narrators are both good and there’s some interesting writing tips (though none of them are original) but the writer would have been better off deciding whether he was going to write a novel or a writing manual. His own writing shows he isn’t listening to his own tips!

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Too short?

I adore the Rosie Project and it's sequels. I've bought it (and it's sequels) for friends and family because it's wonderful - funny, heartwarming, thought-provoking, clever and moving.

I was so excited to see a Simsion book in the plus catalogue and perhaps, having not paid for it, I haven't valued it as highly as I should. I feel like this book is a little too short. I enjoyed it but found it difficult in places to see where it might be going. I suspect there's something clever in the plotting (the book is, afterall, about plotting and writing a book) that went over my head. The characters are all perfectly likeable, there's nothing "wrong" there... I just found it difficult to sum up to my wife when she asked me what I was reading.

"It's a book about a couple who wrote a bestseller... and the wife wants to write a book on her own now... ermm.."

About half way through, when our male protagonist starts meeting up with another woamn I simultaneously thought "Oh no!" and "Ah good, now I know what this book is going to be about, here's the tension". But the tension was dissolved just a few short chapters later.

There are also some fairly large jumps in the plot - the sort of jumps that make you wonder if you've accidentally hit "skip" on your MP3 player or Alexa has randomly decided to miss out a chapter. I was left with the impression that something was missing from the book or, more likely, that I was missing something. The fact that much of the character conversation is about writing books kept me on the lookout for the narrative devices these characters were discussing. I was probably over-thinking it... or under-thinking it (see earlier comment about missing things!)

The book is either too clever for me or wasn't even trying to be clever and I got distracted, searching for meta-narrative that just isn't there.

Positive things:
I feel like I genuinely learned one or two things about writing and, more importantly, the differences between screen-writing and novel-writing. I feel quite inspired by some of the advice the husband gave his wife in the book!
There are some nice moments of humour. That warm, friendly, character humour that makes you feel like you're with old friends.
The dynamic between the couple is well observed and nicely written.

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1 person found this helpful

At least it's free...

This is wonderfully narrated, but it's a misfire narratively. The romance is depicted as through the eyes of a pair of secretive, stunted teenagers who can't quite organise their thoughts properly - quite galling considering they're successful writers; the writing itself is mostly concerned with trivialities that bloat the plot rather than resolve it; and the ending is tied up so quickly and carelessly you'd swear it was accidentally kept from a first draft. For free, it's worth a listen; but if I'd spent a credit on it, I'd be outraged.

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Superficial

I didn't end up being invested in the story at all but at least in the beginning hearing about writing and different approaches to it was somewhat useful for me.

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Not a good listen

Didn't get this book at all . I can't find anything to suggest I would recommend this book - sorry Graham.

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It's was not what I expected from the author.

It started slow, continued better, finished really well.
I really enjoyed the narration.
It's sparce, but thought provoking.

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4 people found this helpful

Dull dull dull

A disappointing non-story. I kept waiting for the plot to unravel then it came to an end. Little substance and characters who I couldn't quite bring myself to like. The main plus point for me is that this listen was free, being from the audible plus selection.

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1 person found this helpful

Intelligent, Witty and Fun

I always enjoy Graeme Simsion's work but Creative Differences has a little something extra. As someone who co-writes with their partner, I've never come across fiction that tackles the fun, frustrations and intricacies of the process. I laughed out loud multiple times and nodded emphatically a whole lot more. This is an excellent listen for anyone who wants to wile away a couple of hours in some one else's shoes.

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5 people found this helpful

Boring

As my little boy said to me when I asked him why he was bored with the story I was reading him, "It's a lesson pretending to be a story".

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