BEING WRITTEN, a novel

Daniel Fischer has a secret. He knows he's a character in a book that's being written. He's the only one who knows, the only one who's aware of the author's presence—but what good does it do Daniel? He's just a minor character. The author seems much more interested in other people's lives. Now Daniel is determined to win a bigger part, and he'll do whatever it takes to get the author's attention and make this story his own.

Suspenseful, subversive, and hilarious, Being Written is an audaciously inventive literary turn that gleefully calls into question who we trust, what we believe, and how the stories of our lives are created.

Praise for Being Written

"[A] promising foray into metafiction...Conescu's light, swift and nicely structured dark comedy puts to the test a character's ability to outwrite his own author. In the end, the author wins."
-- Publishers Weekly

"Being Written is a first novel of great charm, imagination, and wit. Conescu is a dextrous storyteller with a gift for wicked twists and a dazzlingly urbane sense of both drama and humor."
-- Zachary Lazar, author of Sway

"Conescu's novel is an adroit riff on literary conventions, turning various genres on their heads....How do characters save their own lives, after all? By keeping authors interested. And how do they ensure immortality? By keeping readers interested. And Conescu's open-ended novel leaves everything up to the reader, in that time-honored act of a writer's faith in the story."
-- The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune

"You simply can't put this book down once you've picked it up. Being Written is a fast and furious leap into the desperate world of a young man who lies his way into the kind of life he had only imagined and does much worse to stay there. A Talented Mr. Ripley for the new century."
-- Akhil Sharma, Pen Hemingway Award-winning author of An Obedient Father

“[O]ne of the most impressive and memorable debuts this year....At once experimentally playful and existentially poignant, and both ultra literary and ultra readable.”
-- Metro Magazine

"The hero of Being Written hears the author's pencil scratching away and starts performing drastic acts to win more page-time from the book's other characters....Ionesco, eat your heart out. I suppose you could argue the hero is simply nuts, but I'd rather argue that William Conescu is simply a genius!"
-- Wilton Barnhardt, author of Emma Who Saved My Life

"Are you a puppet on a string or can you control your destiny?...This book is a mind warp, and will have you thinking even after the story is finished. Writers themselves might feel a bit uncomfortable and wonder just what their characters are doing when they're not around."
-- The Parkersburg News

"[A]n entertaining invention, and Conescu follows its logic with thoughtful enthusiasm and wit. He even notes with winking deprecation that the story being written by the mysterious pencil-wielding author '[is] becoming the kind of book people can't put down, the kind they sell at the airport.' If you happen upon Being Written before your flight, you could do worse than pick up a copy."
-- The Independent Weekly

"Being Written is a smarter book than the Will Ferrell movie Stranger Than Fiction....Daniel’s parts of the story are told in second-person, giving you insight to his thoughts and motivations, while the rest of the novel is told in excerpts in third person. Bouncing between the two perspectives keeps the actual novel flowing and keeps the reader considering the options
of being a character and having to please (or outwit) your own author."
-- Sacramento Book Review

"At times playful, at times frightening, Conescu’s book is always readable. There’s all sorts of strange turns and twists…and when you finish it, you wish there had been more. Then there’s that scratching sound."
-- The (Baton Rouge) Advocate

"Absolutely brilliant!  I couldn't put the book down and read it in (almost) one sitting....Daniel was one of the most original, unique characters that I've ever 'met' through a novel....It has been days since I've finished Being Written, and I still can't stop thinking about it—to me, that's a sign of a really good book."
-- Booking Mama blog

"This book messed with my mind a bit and I had a sick glee about it doing so! It makes you wonder what the characters in your book do when you're not around and what they think about the story being written around them....[T]his is going on my literary novel shortlist."
-- Capes and Coffins blog