The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great

In The Fire in Fiction, author and literary agent Donald Maass focuses in on the core of why books sell and why they fail. Made up of two parts literary theory, one part practical application (if Maass's theories on why books are the way they are and why authors act the way they do isn't enough to tickle your creative funnybone, rest assured there are exercises at the end of every chapter), The Fire in Fiction examines everything from winning characters to whining writers, with plenty of stops in between. Make no mistake, however. Unlike his previous book, Writing the Breakout Novel, The Fire in Fiction was written with the writer--not the book--in mind. If you're a writer in need of a little soul-searching, I'd recommend this book in a heartbeat. But if it's your manuscript you're looking to fix, go with Writing the Breakout Novel instead.

Do you have the will to put in the work to make the novel you're writing truly great? If so, you've come to the right place; if not, you may still be in the right place, you'll just get a kick in the pants first. A highly readable book that uses many of the techniques the author recommends, "The Fire in Fiction" is a practical collection of advice for the writer (and work) in progress. I read it straight through on two plane flights, but you could easily read just a chapter or chapter segment at a time, in any order. Each chapter is like the category of a cooking manual, filled not exactly with recipes, but with explanations of proper technique and examples from contemporary fiction. The end of the chapter is a set of bite-sized actions that you can apply immediately in your WIP (work in progress). Not only did I enjoy Maass's writing and his advice, but I also appreciated the personal glimpses into his large literary agency, where an agent wading through the "slush pile" of queries and manuscripts can cast one aside with no more explanation than a simple phrase describing a common problem (such as "weather opening" -- though Maass also explains and illustrates how anything that sounds clichéd can still be made exciting). He firmly believes that any fiction writer with the will -- in his words, a "story teller" rather than a "status seeker" -- can write powerful fiction that people will read (and more importantly, buy): there's enough room for everyone to tell their story. It's natural to want to know how this book compares to Writing the Breakout Novel, Maass's first fiction-advice book. To me, "Breakout Novel" was about the bones of a book: its premise, plot and main characters. I found it more useful for evaluating and developing ideas that hadn't reached full-manuscript stage. "Fire" had more advice for the "muscles and skin" of a book, as it were. It seemed to me like the advice would be more useful if you have an already (nearly) completed manuscript, to make sure it has... well, more fire, more pop, more of what makes us want to keep reading. We writers may think that the ingredients of a highly readable book are some nebulous mystery, but Maass shows that they are not only definable but doable, if only have the will.

Because Donald Maass's earlier book, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL was so good, I was afraid of being let down by his newest and didn't even touch it for a while when it arrived in mail. What is he going to say that could be better? Is this going to be just a rehash of the old material in his earlier book? Doubts swirled, but I finally convinced myself to read it. What a ride. He goes well above and beyond my highest expectations. Compared to his earlier book, the book is more tightly organized and focused, and comes with tons of practical tools to energize your manuscript with - something his earlier book didn't have. He really goes in depth with the most important topics of writing fiction, and Chapter 8 on micro-tension alone is worth the price of the entire book in my opinion. It is extremely difficult to determine the cause from effects. What makes a good story? That is the million-dollar question I have been asking myself ever since I began writing seriously. I've read a fair number of books on writing but none of them seemed to do it for me. I groped further and read book after book, classic after classic in search of the holy grail of storytelling. But I couldn't figure it out. When I read Murakami, for example, I would lose myself in his world as if by magic and when I came back out of it, I could only say, "What the hell happened?" And it looks like Mr. Maass could be the Galahad I have been looking for as he has a theory on the secret workings of this magic of good fiction. If not, at least he gives us a key to unlocking the mystery of The Good Story. What's this key, this Holy Grail of Storytelling? That, my friends, you must find for yourself between the covers of this book. A must read for any serious fiction writer.

"THE FIRE IN FICTION--Passion, Purpose and Techniques" is a sophisticated workbook for revising fiction drafts. The reviewer who wrote that it's "not as in-depth" as the author's earlier workbook is mistaken. On the contrary, "The Fire in Fiction" presents advanced exercises, aptly titled "Practical Tools," in each chapter that deepen and build on the earlier workbook's foundational exercises. Having recently studied the three fiction-craft books by Maass, in the order they were published -- Writing the Breakout Novel; Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook; The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques -- I have to disagree with the same reviewer's odd classification, "If you think of the original Breakout as a bachelor's degree in fiction writing, the Workbook is a PhD. However, The Fire in Fiction is more like a master's degree." No. The first chapter in "The Fire in Fiction" suggests exercises such as: "Is your protagonist an ordinary person? Find in him any kind of strength. Work out a way for that strength to be demonstrated within your protagonist's first five pages. Is your protagonist a hero--that is, someone who is already strong? Find in him something conflicted, fallible, humbling, or human. Work out a way for that flaw to be demonstrated within your protagonist's first five pages. Revise your character's introduction to your readers. Be sure to soften the flaw with self-awareness or self-deprecating humor." Examples cited include excerpts from novels by Chuck Palahuniak's "Choke" (2001); Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"(2006); Charles Frazier's "Thirteen Moons (2006); and Ethan Canin's "America America" (2008). The second chapter, "Characters Who Matter," suggests exercises such as: "Find five ways and times at which your antagonist will directly engage your protagonist. Create four actions that will make your antagonist warm and sympathetic." Illustrations include excerpts from Russell Banks's "The Reserve" (2008) and Charles Baxter's "The Soul Thief" (2008). Some of the most instructive exercises are in Chapter 8, "Tension All the Time": exercises on creating tension on every page -- in dialogue, action, exposition. Throughout, Maass presents excerpts from genre fiction like Jim Butcher's "White Night" (2007) as well as stellar literary novels like Nick Hornby's "How to be Good" (2001), Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead" (2004), E.L. Doctorow's "The March" (2005), Gary Shteyngart's "Absurdistan" (2006), Christopher Buckley's "Boomsday" (2007), and Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" (2008). Five shining stars for Donald Maass's "Fire in Fiction." -- C J Singh

As good as his "Writing a Breakout Novel." Very readable, with many insightful tips. This book has many ideas and anecdotes that helped me with revision. What Donald offers here that isn't in other books is a set of techniques to amplify characters and make the story more theirs, while enhancing emotional connections with reader. Personally, I got the most mileage out of Chapter 6: Making the Impossible Real, which explores how to draw readers into parts of the novel that are utter and complete make-believe with exercises that will help you overcome a reader's suspension of disbelief on things like villains, monsters, and the story world. These tool can also be used when planning a novel, but I think them most useful after that 1st draft is on paper.