The Fire In Fiction by Donald Maass

He's got a new one out? Sweet. I haven't read it yet but <...quick trip to amazon...> my copy will be in Tuesday. Writing the Breakout Novel was excellent. I'll check back here in a week or so.

We have an excerpt of Mass' new book The Fire in Fiction on the Absolute Write Web site, right here.

I just came across the book yesterday--looking for some help with my novel, which seems to be getting bogged down.

Have just read a little, but so far seems helpful.

Especially like what seems to be one of the key idea he is pushing: the importance of maintaining tension in every scene. He suggests this is what allows successful authors to get away with what are considered no-no's (backstory, description of locale, setting the stage, etc.) Interesting.

I'll report back when I read more.

I've read it twice, actually.

The first few chapters are something of a review of The Breakout Novel but from a different angle which can provide a few new additional insights. For one of my friends, it actually made the lightbulb go on for her on a few things she'd been puzzling over from the BN book.

After that, he starts dealing with topics that weren't covered in the BN book, things like microtension (ie: tension on every page, in every sentence).

Unlike the BN book, this is not a book you can get a lot out of by just reading the chapters where you think you have problems. Fire builds on concepts introduced early on in order to grasp what's being discussed later.

While I'm not always enthralled with the examples he chooses for the various discussion points, I got a great deal of thinking material out of what he has to day. Personally, I found it to be a good investment.

Anyone want to start some discussions on what he talks about?

I'd like to discuss once I read more of it!

I enjoyed it. Unlike some books that are full of "do not" lists, he suggests things that work, why they work, and then suggests how to break the rules with equal effectiveness.

I also wasn't thrilled by some of the examples he used, but the concepts do make sense despite that.

I like most of the exercizes at the end of each chapter. There were just a few that seemed like aimless writing prompts (how is writing the book from the perspective of a pirate going to help? I understand exploring perspectives but it was just going too far with outlandish suggestions)

It explores tension in depth and he mentions that one of the primary reasons he dismisses manuscripts is low tension so it's useful to really get in the thick of it here.

I read Breakout Novel Workbook after and I LOVE IT. It will never leave my side. Sometimes I wish each chapter was its entire book like Fire in Fiction because I want to sink into it, absorb it all. On the other hand, the Workbook is succinct and practical.... given how full my days are I really appreciate that.

It had the same problem in that I didn't always agree with the examples, ESPECIALLY the first line/last line. I swear I thought the 'which ones are most exciting?' was a trick question... I found them average at best and I thought that I'd turn the page to find suggestions on how to take the ideas and pump up the excitement.

Same with pitching... he recommends being specific and then his example is about "dangerous cargo" which, to me, is very vague. I want to know what the cargo is so I can be scared by the threat. 'dangerous' doesn't scare me or pique my interest.

On the subject of writing books - any suggestions?

Zellie said:

I like most of the exercizes at the end of each chapter. There were just a few that seemed like aimless writing prompts (how is writing the book from the perspective of a pirate going to help? I understand exploring perspectives but it was just going too far with outlandish suggestions)

Click to expand...

Whereas I totally liked that kind of suggestion simply because it's so outlandish. The point of going so far to an extreme is to get you totally out of any writerly rut you might be in and not be aware of yet. Sometimes those bits of whimsy can breathe new life into a scene you're struggling with. If you can do it on the exercise, then you'll have the tools needed to do it other places.

I read it and enjoyed it. I might like Breakout Novel better, but this was a good one. I think his on writing books have helped me the most. His, and Stein's.