Take Five Interview: Donald Maass and The Breakout Novelist
By Therese Walsh | March 12, 2011 |
WU contributor and agent Donald Maass is known for his keen understanding of story and the craft of writing. His previous books, including Writing the Breakout Novel and The Fire in Fiction, are favorites on savvy writer’s shelves, and for good reason: They’re full of gems that can help you conceive of a better story, heighten its many opportunities for tension, and ultimately write a better book. Writer’s Digest Books will be releasing Don’s latest effort, The Breakout Novelist, in just two days–on March 14th. I recently did a Take Five interview with Don to learn more. Enjoy!
Q: Tell us a little about your new book, The Breakout Novelist.
DM: It’s an all-in-one desk reference for working novelists. It has the best of my previous craft books put together in a cool ring binder format. It also includes all the character and story development tools from Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook and The Fire in Fiction. I’ve also rewritten and updated The Career Novelist, my 1996 book on what makes fiction careers successful.
Q: Why this book, why now?
DM: There’s a lot of how-to advice aimed at those learning the craft of fiction. But published novelists and advanced fiction writers need help too. What if you’re stuck somewhere in the middle of your manuscript? What if your fiction’s taking an ambitious new turn and you feel nervous? Suppose you’ve hit a sales plateau and don’t know how to rev up your stories? Or maybe you’re a reclusive type—must you really tour and tweet? It would be nice if there was a volume that could answer all your questions and give you every tool you need for development and repair. That’s what The Breakout Novelist is intended to be.
Q: Can you share an excerpt with us?
There’s a brand new chapter in The Breakout Novelist called “Passages”, about the predictable crises in novelists’ careers. It starts out like this:
As in adult life, the life of a novelist involves passages from one phase to another. Each passage may be initiated by a crisis, some outward event. These events are tests or challenges that shake a writer’s identity and that may derail their careers. In reality, though, the passage derives from an inward prompting: a restlessness or dissatisfaction that signifies a need to grow, to redefine oneself as a writer.
In my work as a literary agent, time after time I see novelists hit seven specific crisis points. This chapter describes them and has advice on how to cope.
Q: Your craft books for writers are some of the best in the business. What sort of feedback do you hear from writers and authors who’ve benefited from the books? What helps them the most?
DM: What I hear boils down to this: Your books make me dig deeper, push harder and do more with my stories. I like that. So many manuscripts—and published novels—achieve less than they could. There’s always more story ore to mine, more depth of character to explore.
Q: What’s next for you? Do you have plans for anything new after The Breakout Novelist?
DM: I’m discussing a new book with my publisher, Writers Digest Books. It’s about writing 21st Century fiction, the death of genre and the holy grail of book publishing: the literary/commercial novel. That’s beautifully written fiction that also sells big. Such stuff is rare because literary novelists and commercial storytellers largely live in separate worlds, yet each has something the other group lacks. This new book will reframe and make possible for each group those aspects of the art that they find hard to do. That’s the idea, anyway.
Thanks for chatting with me, Therese.
Thank you, Don. Readers, you can order The Breakout Novelist from Writer’s Digest or through other online sites, or visit your favorite brick-and-mortar retailer.
And did you know Don is now on Twitter? Write on.
Therese Walsh (she/her) co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006 and is the site’s editorial director. She was the editor of WU’s only book, Author in Progress, and runs the Writer Unboxed UnConference.
Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, received starred reviews and was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal and Book Riot.
Learn more about Therese on her website, and sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to hear about any new projects.
Thank you for this interview, Don and Therese. I would agree with readers’ feedback – when I first read Writing a Breakout Novel, I had overwhelming sensation of – OH MY GOD! I never even thought about all that stuff. Then of course came the feeling of impossibility. Then after a while, re-read of the book, getting the workbook and Fire in Fiction, and get started in digging deeper. As I edit my novel, I am keeping Maass books nearby.
Looking forward to finding new gems (and no doubt more work) from this new book.
I am so excited about this new book! Great interview. :D
Oh yeah, this sounds like it’s going to be fantastic! Thanks Therese, Thanks Don.
I don’t think his books are among the best, I think they ARE the best. I can’t remember which book, but it was some of best advice ever…”Push your characters to places they will hate to go.” Those words are taped to my computer screen.
That and all the other concrete advice he provides in his books, made me go back to my WIP and wreak emotional havoc on my protagonist. I may never get published, but I do know my manuscript is far better than it was thanks to Mr. Maass.
Donald Maass is the Yoda of fiction, full of legendary wisdom and I am grateful he’s sharing the Force with us mere mortals.
Great interview – I will be looking for “The Breakout Novelist” this week!
Looking forward to this new book. As a fairly recently agented writer just starting out in this business (after a 20 year apprenticeship), I’d love to have a resource like this to hand. I’ve seen so much change in the business since I first picked up a pen to write, and started paying attention to the publishing world, in 1991. Thank you for all you do for writers, Don.
Thanks Don and Therese.
I am so excited for this comprehensive resource book.
I attended one of Don’s Breakout Novel Intensives several years ago and can definitely say that the skills I learned there (and through his books) helped pave my way to (finally!) getting published.
Thanks, Don. Cheers!
This sounds like something I need to pick up. Just finished my seventh novel and need some inspiration. My life and the publishing business have changed so much since I wrote the first one, and I’m definitely at a turning point.
Literary/commercial? Love it!
Mr. Maass, I will add your latest book to the ones I have next to my writing pad, and I appreciate all the wonderful help you give to writers.
I’d like to echo that feedback you’ve received from your readership over the years. There are lots of great craft books, and you’d think it would be fairly common, but Writing the Breakout Novel is still one of the few craft books I recall that literally PUSHES the writer for more.
It’s like literally having someone standing behind you and pushing you forward. Not only pushing you forward, but inspiring you to do it–to reach higher, to dig deep.
To me, that is STILL the distinguishing mark of Writing The Breakout Novel, even in the years that have passed since it’s initial publication. I have a lot of great craft books on my shelves, but this is the one I’d keep over all the others.
Needless to say, I’ll be looking forward to this new release.
Well, I am new here and don’t know about FIRE IN FICTION.
Will get a copy at the earliest. Thanks for the interview. It was cool and sort of inspiring. Well, there is something inside, telling me that I can out perform Donald Maass (of course even Shakespeare) someday. Ha Ha
with warm regards
Sounds like another fabulous resource. I’m appreciating the writing prompts on Twitter, too!
Looking forward to this one as well as the next one you describe.
Looking forward to this one as well as the next one you describe. That one’s up my ambition’s alley.
I’m reading Writing the Breakout Novel now and it’s so fantastic! It really is pushing me to dig deeper and deeper. I love it. I’m excited to read The Breakout Novelist too!
Love the idea for the new book he’s working on, because I definitely see the bridge between those two worlds as the best place to be right now.