Donald Maass

Engage Your Readers with Emotion While writers might disagree over showing versus telling or plotting versus pantsing, none would argue this: If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel. The reader's experience must be an emotional journey of its own, one as involving as your characters' struggles, discoveries, and triumphs are for you. That's where The Emotional Craft of Fiction comes in. Veteran literary agent and expert fiction instructor Donald Maass shows you how to use story to provoke a visceral and emotional experience in readers. Topics covered include:emotional modes of writingbeyond showing versus tellingyour story's emotional worldmoral stakesconnecting the inner and outer journeysplot as emotional opportunitiesinvoking higher emotions, symbols, and emotional languagecascading changestory as emotional mirrorpositive spirit and magnanimous writingthe hidden current that makes stories moveReaders can simply read a novel...or they can experience it. The Emotional Craft of Fiction shows you how to make that happen.

The must-have reference for novel writers! If you're serious about transforming your writing into vibrant, engaging, and marketable fiction, you've found the right book. The Breakout Novelist gives you the craft and business know-how you need to make your stories stand out. Veteran literary agent Donald Maass brings together the best innovative and practical information from his previous books and workshops to help you set your novel apart from the competition. Maass shares examples from successful and contemporary writers across all genres to equip you with strategies for crafting compelling fiction--from core elements like character, setting, description, and plot, to more advanced techniques including theme, tension, and suspense. Plus, you'll find over 70 practical exercises to help you evaluate your writing to the breakout level. You'll also learn from Maass's experiences from more than three decades in the publishing industry. Get straight talk from an insider about agents, contracts, industry changes, and how to be the kind of author who builds a successful career book after book. If your goal is to craft powerful stories that capture your audience's attention from the first page to the last, then The Breakout Novelist is an indispensable reference.

Capture the minds, hearts, and imaginations of 21st century readers! Whether you're a commercial storyteller or a literary novelist, whether your goal is to write a best-selling novel or captivate readers with a satisfying, beautifully written story, the key to success is the same: high-impact fiction. Writing 21st Century Fiction will help you write a novel for today's readers and market, filled with rich characters, compelling plots, and resonant themes. Author and literary agent Donald Maass shows you how to:Create fiction that transcends genre, conjures characters who look and feel more "real" than real people, and shows readers the work around them in new ways.Infuse every page with an electric current of emotional appeal and micro-tension.Harness the power of parallels, symbols, metaphors, and more to illuminate your novel in a lasting way.Develop a personalized method of writing that works for you. With an arsenal of thought-provoking prompts and questions, plus plenty of examples from best-selling titles, Writing 21st Century Fiction will strip away your preconceived notions about writing in today's world and give you the essential tools you need to create fiction that will leave both readers and critics in awe.

Discover the Difference Between a So-So Manuscript and a Novel Readers Can't Forget We've all read them: novels by our favorite authors that disappoint. Uninspired and lifeless, we wonder what happened. Was the author in a hurry? Did she have a bad year? Has he lost interest altogether? Something similar is true of a great many unpublished manuscripts. They are okay stories that never take flight. They don't grip the imagination, let alone the heart. They merit only a shrug and a polite dismissal by agents and editors. It doesn't have to be that way. In The Fire in Fiction, successful literary agent and author Donald Maass shows you not only how to infuse your story with deep conviction and fiery passion, but how to do it over and over again. The book features:Techniques for capturing a special time and place, creating characters whose lives matter, nailing multiple-impact plot turns, making the supernatural real, infusing issues into fiction, and more.Story-enriching exercises at the end of every chapter to show you how to apply the practical tools just covered to your own work.Rich examples drawn from contemporary novels as diverse as The Lake House, Water for Elephants, and Jennifer Government to illustrate how various techniques work in actual stories. Plus, Maass introduces an original technique that any novelist can use any time, in any scene, in any novel, even on the most uninspired day...to take the most powerful experiences from your personal life and turn those experiences directly into powerful fiction. Tap into The Fire in Fiction, and supercharge your story with originality and spark!

A practical guide to mastering the art of the novel from the founder of the Donald Maass Literary Agency shows readers how to build plot layers, strengthen point of view, create inner conflict, and develop a "psychology of place," among other important novelistic techniques. Original.

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.