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
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.
