Donald Maass - The Breakout Novelist: Craft and Strategies for Career Fiction Writers

Unpublished novelists often imagine that published writers have it made. They're in, right? They've learned the secrets, unlocked the code. Once published, why would a novelist need a desk reference? They've already mastered the magic.

Professional novelists, the smart ones anyway, know better. Getting published is not the end of the road, but the beginning. Because you did so once doesn't mean that you can automatically write terrific novels on a regular basis. Each new novel presents new challenges. It is common to hit a hole in your outline or simply find one day that a story that seemed clear up to now has grown murky. Worst of all is the feeling that your current manuscript just isn't that great and there's no clue to exactly why.

I've been working with professional novelists for thirty years. I've thought a lot about what separates the successful ones from those who aren't. The good ones don't go it alone. They have sounding boards: critique partners, agents, editors, and key readers. They are students of the craft. They read, review, teach, mentor, volunteer, and stay open.

Yet even highly supported novelists get stuck and when they do, it would be nice if they had a story doctor on call. That is the purpose of this book. I have assembled here the best of my previous books on fiction technique: Writing the Breakout Novel, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, and The Fire in Fiction. Also included is a section on career patterns and other professional advice, excerpted and adapted from my book on successful fiction careers, The Career Novelist.

I have heard from many novelists how useful those books have been. One top thriller writer keeps Writing the Breakout Novel next to his keyboard. A best-selling romance novelist I know runs each new novel through the Workbook exercises. But not everyone is so consistent. Some have read those books, absorbed a few techniques, and have stopped there. Tick. Done. Those writers are working without a full toolbox to open when a story breaks down by the roadside.

This notebook is that toolbox. It's a kick start, a coach, a resource, and a friend to turn to at any stage of the process. Novels are ornery. They don't always sit, roll over, and bark when they're supposed to, though they're adept at playing dead. If you need to bring yours back to life, open this volume and browse. It will stimulate you and give you ideas. It understands what you're trying to do and may hand you the exact wrench you need for any given task that you face.

So where does this volume fit into your process?

You don't work exactly the same way as anyone else, nor should you. The methods of building novels are as various as novelists themselves. Each one has his own routine. I have talked with hundreds about their methods and have learned this truth: Novelists do not completely understand their art. They may think they do. Many teach the craft. Take their classes, though, and you'll find that their methodology often boils down to a few guiding principles. At a certain point intuition takes over. I don't know how it happens, it just does.

There is nothing wrong with writing intuitively. Indeed, it's necessary. For words to flow and story to unfold in ways that feel natural, there needs to be room for discovery. Some of the very best moments on the page come in a flash. Over-planning kills spontaneity at the keyboard.

But intuition isn't a constant friend. It doesn't know everything. Every new project is bound to have traps, blind alleys, intimidating heights, and unforeseen points that provoke resistance. Have you ever started working on a long-nurtured pet idea only to find that it feels flimsy once rolled onto the computer screen? Did you feel at a loss about how to strengthen it? Then you know what I'm talking about.

This book is not a refresher course on the basics. It presumes that you have control of your prose, understand that story is conflict, and know that a novel is built of scenes. If you have at one or more manuscripts under your belt, then you will be able to put the advice herein to good use.

Use this book at any stage of the process, from initial development to final draft. You will always find new ways in which to deepen and grow your current project. Indeed, the most frequent comment I get about my books and workshops is, I thought I was done! Reach for this volume any time your writing is not running hot. Whatever stage you're at, it is meant to give your work in progress a Formula 500 tune-up.

As a literary agent, I of course am looking for great fiction. More than that, though, I'm looking for writers who can write one great book after another. Commercial novelists frequently feel pressure to manage that feat of strength once a year like clockwork. That's a tall order. Some methodology is needed. Even if you are not producing at that kind of pace, you must if you want a career as a novelist, be able to go from notes to finished novel and do that ten, twenty, thirty, or more times in a row.

Some novelists revel in the mystery of the process. That is especially true of intuitive writers, those who feel that outlines are like shackles. If there is a line dividing outline writers from