Creating K-PAX -or- Are You Sure You Want To Be A Writer? [Paperback]

Gene Brewer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 18, 2006

In November, 2001, I was sued, along with almost everyone else connected with the film version of my novel K-PAX, for plagiarizing an Argentinean movie called Man Facing Southeast (the suit was later dismissed). At about the same time, dozens of letters

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gene Brewer was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana. He obtained a B.A. (chemistry) from DePauw University and a Ph.D. (biochemistry) from the University of Wisconsin, and studied DNA replication and cell division at UW, St. Jude Children's Research Hospi

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris (July 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599264749
• ISBN-13: 978-1599264745
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,516,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone who's ever wondered how a "regular person" becomes a writer..., March 6, 2006

By 

Jalel M. Sager (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating K-PAX -or- Are You Sure You Want To Be A Writer? (Paperback)

Gene Brewer's autobiography traces the process in great detail. More clearly than any book I've ever read, in fact.

Mr. Brewer's transformation from a working scientist, to a struggling writer, to a published novelist, to a Hollywood associate producer working on his own vision, will captivate anyone interested in any of these roles. The decades-long struggle to achieve a dream, the story of a personal belief in oneself finally triumphant, is certain to inspire.

The story begins with a bizarre cast of characters who surrounded the author in his small-town Indiana childhood. Mr. Brewer evokes these people with a sometimes tender, yet more often mercilessly funny, eye. No one is spared. Especially his parents.

We follow him through a "typical" 1950s adolescence, then college, his training as a biologist studying DNA replication and an amateur pilot, then a great love and political awakening.

But it is the jettisoning of a prestigious professional career for the uncertainty of a novelist's life that makes the most interesting reading. Unlike many authors who "dabble" in fiction, writing a book while holding down jobs as lawyers, doctors, etc., Mr. Brewer, without having ever published a story, turned his back on his profession, then sat down to write his first novel.

Which went unpublished. As did the next, the next, the next, and so on. Lengthy excerpts from these unpublished works are included here. They show Mr. Brewer's development clearly. And show why the old adage is true: writers are people who just never quit writing.

The thirteen-year struggle from first novel to publication is a fine tale in itself, managing to be both cautionary and "carpe diem" at the same time. In the end, one comes away with an admiration for Mr. Brewer in particular, and weary novelists in general.

Regarding those who manufacture the worlds into which they love to escape, faithful readers will find answers to some of their most persistent questions. How do writers, especially novelists, "become"? Why? Who are they?

Simple. They're people who must navigate endless, lonely dead ends before finding a path that leads to the wider world, and its readers. As Mr. Brewer did.

Knowing his compelling story will make would-be writers both wiser and better equipped as they set off on similar roads. For those with only an observational interest in the creation of books, this memoir will prove both enlightening and memorable. Ultimately, it's a bellow from the heart. The sound of one man's struggle to be heard.

And a great read, to boot.