Book Review: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

I've been thinking for a while about reviewing the books on writing craft that I've read in the past on this blog. I've been reviewing sci-fi/fantasy novels on my book blog for over year, so I figured reviewing books relevant to this blog might make sense. The following review is not just a testimonial meant to convince you to buy the book, but is my way of outlining what the book actually contains in very condensed form.

Writing the Breakout Novel
by Donald Maass

Genre: Nonfiction/Fiction Writing Reference

Publication Date: August 15, 2002

Source: paperback purchase

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Take your fiction to the next level Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo. Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel—one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists.

Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share—regardless of genre—then shows you writing techniques that can make your own books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace.

You'll learn to: establish a powerful and sweeping sense of time and placeweave subplots into the main action for a complex, engrossing storycreate larger-than-life characters that step right off the pageexplore universal themes that will interest a broad audience of readerssustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finishdevelop an inspired premise that sets your novel apart from the competition Then, using examples from the recent works of several best-selling authors—including novelist Anne Perry—Maass illustrates methods for upping the ante in every aspect of your novel writing. You'll capture the eye of an agent, generate publisher interest and lay the foundation for a promising career. 

 

My Review

When I finally got around to reading this book after buying it, I was at a point in my writing self-education where I wanted to become a better storyteller, not just a better writer. I had already smoothed out my technical writing skills well enough and found my fiction still lacking quite a bit. What did I need to do to write a compelling narrative? There was something still missing because when I wrote fiction, it continued to fall flat on the page. It was my story that was failing, or so I had discovered when I cracked open this gem of a book.

The first thing Maass teaches is the foundation of a story—the premise. Don't pursue just any old premise right out of the gate. It needs to be developed into a premise that is strong enough to withhold the structure build on top of it that is your actual written story. For that, it should have one of four elements: plausibility, inherent conflict, originality and gut emotional appeal. Once my premises could pass this litmus test, I found I could fix any flaws in my manuscripts without having to rewrite them.

Second, raise the stakes of the story, meaning make the characters lose things that are valuable to them, or threaten to. In order to do that, Maass has you ask, “How could things get worse?” Make the danger immediate and put your characters on the chopping block. Otherwise, your reader won't care enough. He also talks about time and place, which could be considered less important in writing breakout fiction. But, if you can capture the psychology of time and place by describing how setting makes characters feel, it can have deeper impact and won't be used solely for visual imagery.

The chapter on 'Characters' could be the most illuminating. Engrossing characters are larger-than-life and they say what we can't say and change in ways we can't. They have inner conflicts of conscience and are celebrated by readers because of their strengths. Your main character should be the one who changes the most by the events of the story. After all, a story is about events that cause a character to transform, at least internally.

Maass delves into plot and different contemporary uses for plot, how to handle multiple viewpoints, subplots, pace, voice and endings. He also devotes a chapter to advanced plot structures showing how authors of various genres, like science fiction and category romance, can enhance their plotting to catch the eye of the gatekeepers in the biz.

Lastly, is the chapter on theme. Maass believes all novels are moral and shows you how to build a theme for a novel step by step. Thankfully, he shows how to avoid becoming preachy and how to let the characters do all the talking, or acting for that matter. Their job is to convey theme through their words and deeds, a powerful combination that drives the story's message home to your readers much more effectively than an author on a soapbox.

As much as I'm interested in writing a breakout novel, I didn't read this book strictly for that reason. I read it because I wanted help taking my fiction to “the next level.” I don't want anymore false starts on my manuscripts that have to be shelved because the premise is too weak, or I don't have a well-developed enough character goal. I'm not saying this book is the final word on story craft. But, it could open your eyes to concepts you simply never knew before and lay the groundwork for more advanced story-writing education.

My score: 5/5 stars.