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The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface Paperback – December 30, 2016

by Donald Maass (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,100 ratings
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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 writing
   • beyond showing versus telling
   • your story's emotional world
   • moral stakes
   • connecting the inner and outer journeys
   • plot as emotional opportunities
   • invoking higher emotions, symbols, and emotional language
   • cascading change
   • story as emotional mirror
   • positive spirit and magnanimous writing
   • the hidden current that makes stories move
Readers can simply read a novel...or they can experience it. The Emotional Craft of Fiction shows you how to make that happen.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Writer's Digest Books
  4. Publication date
    December 30, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    5.43 x 0.55 x 8.42 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781440348372
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1440348372
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1440348375
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Writer's Digest Books; Illustrated edition (December 30, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781440348372
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1440348372
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.43 x 0.55 x 8.42 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,100 ratings

About the author

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Donald Maass

Donald Maass

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Donald Maass is the author of more than 16 novels. He now works as a literary agent, representing dozens of novelists in the SF, fantasy, crime, mystery, romance and thriller categories. He speaks at writer's conferences throughout the country and lives in New York City.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
1,100 global ratings
I LOVE this book
5 Stars
I LOVE this book
Donald Maass is a genius when it comes to writing and deepening emotion in story. I read this book when I was in the middle of rewrites for The Choices She Made, and it completely changed my mindset and the book itself. Now, I re-read it as I begin to dig into each subsequent novel, and it helps me to build scenes and scenarios from the start to enliven and enrich the reader's experience as the characters grow and heal from their wounds. Cannot recommend this book enough. It needs to be on every writer's desk and read often!
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Top reviews from the United States

J. L. Gribble
5.0 out of 5 stars recommended for writers looking for a crash course in developing 3D characters
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2022
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I’m not a huge craft book consumer, but I wanted to give myself a refresher course on certain topics before I shift genres for my next series. The Amazon algorithms fed me this option, and I snapped it up based on the price point and author.

This book is an easy read that I devoured during two plane flights. The writing style is conversational but informative, allowing me to highlight lines that jumped out at me without covering half the page. Maass does an excellent job of keeping the work centered on the concept of character itself rather than character type, so that this book can be applied to all genres. He shares personal anecdotes but primarily gives examples from works published within the past 20 years. The examples are always tailored to show exactly Maass’ intent, but they also cover a wide array of genres and styles.

Maass distills much of what he shares into specific exercises sprinkled throughout the text. I may not find all of them applicable to my current needs, but I would dismiss none as useless. I plan to employ over a dozen in the revisions to my current project and during the characterization and outlining process of my next series.

I recommend this book to any writer looking for a crash course in developing three-dimensional characters. The best craft books also serve as inspiration, and I was able to immediately apply much of what I read to existent character arcs and ideas still in the brainstorming stage.
9 people found this helpful
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Jackie Pascoe
5.0 out of 5 stars Tired of formulaic writing craft books?--take heart
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
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Donald Maass's craft workshops online or in books get writers going in all the right ways. At least this writer.

Instead of grids or formulae or spreadsheets (these have a place no doubt but...) he provokes with flurries of probing, interesting, sometimes off-the-wall questions about your characters, your plot -- whatever is the theme of the various chapters. At least one question of any flurry will zing for you and send you to your notebook, scribbling ideas.

The exercises too are productive. He'll give you an exercise for character A's relationship with character B, then ask you to reverse them or apply them to character C or mix things up some other way and run things through your thought-feeling imagination again.

I do advise reading this book after you have finished your first (or second, or third...) draft. The questions will be more fruitful if you can apply them to your own characters. If you have current problems in your plot that you want to work on, say. Or just want to take the story to the next level.

In this book, he of course focuses on emotion. Provokes you to feel your way around, to switch things up and see what emotions are released in your stories--and when.

His main point here (which I know from attending an online workshop - was a personal revelation for him) is that you are not trying to get your readers to feel your characters' emotions - you want your readers to have strong, emotional experiences of their own, which is not the same thing. What is a satisfying read? Why do you love the favorite books you do? His question is - how are we as writers going to give readers that gift?

Maass practices what he preaches - in this book, his focus is on you, dear writer-reader, and on giving you heart, and inspired ideas for the draft ahead -- that's how I feel coming out of it, and I'm not done with his book yet, not by a long chalk. It's one I will come back to over and over.

If Maass has a banner he waves shamelessly, it's one with a big heart on it. Your readers don't generally want or like to come out of your book feeling depressed, discouraged, and cynical, he says. Having those as elements of a story - well - that's what makes it interesting, nail biting, engrossing... But Maass holds, as an article of faith in human nature, that people thrive on hope, justice, love. That we're on the whole good. That readers want to, even after a tough read, come out of it feeling in some way - good.

And the feelings readers experience during and after reading your book? They all come from you, he says. The writer. From your heart. Have you ever come out of a craft book feeling loved? You will. You will feel good.

And it isn't wishy-washy. It's intelligent. I have a strong anti-sentimental streak. He got through to me. I feel renewed and raring to go. On to my next revision!
21 people found this helpful
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J.E. Mac
5.0 out of 5 stars Next level writing tips -- writing with heart
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2017
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I get stuck every now and then in my own writing, and I like to read books about the craft of writing. But, for me, it seems my journey is in search of treasure I can never find.

Every 'How to' book regurgitates the same things. (No adverbs. No passive voice. Show, don't tell). And as helpful as they may be, they're things you can learn in about five minutes of practice. What I was looking for was something else--something Godard refers to as 'writing the invisible.'

This book is the only book I've ever seen/read that goes into great detail on both how and why we like stories that 'write the invisible.'

I've known for a long time that the books I read, the ones I like, the ones I carry with me, inside me--the defining attribute is not character, or plot, or genre that I'm drawn to. It's my emotional response to the combination. It's how a writer, someone I've never met, manipulated my emotions that produced tears or laughter or terror.

No 'How to' book talks about the craft of writing as it pertains to manipulating emotion. But it seems so clear that the writers who have mastered this are the ones that consistently write stories I want to read.

I have been searching for a long time for a book to shed some insight, or at the very least confirm the notion that thinking plot and character are secondary to emotional response of the reader isn't the thoughts of a madman.

Donald Maas' The Emotional Craft of Fiction is exactly the book I was looking for. Kudos.

EDIT NOTE: The other thing I was searching for was EXAMPLES. Examples of other writers successfully and skillfully manipulating emotion. This book has a TON of examples. Passages and excerpts galore.
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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fantasy reader
5.0 out of 5 stars How to infuse heart and hope into stories
Reviewed in Canada on November 17, 2023
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Over the years, I’ve read many books on different aspects of fiction writing. Some are helpful, some indispensable; some are ‘nice to have’, and some are inspirational.

After reading ‘The Emotional Craft of Fiction’, I struggled to place it in only one of those categories. That makes it, to me at least, something very special.

Subtitled ‘How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface’, this is not (at first glance) a book for newbie writers. Technique, as any musician will tell you, needs to be in place before we can focus on expression, on interpretation. That said, the subject of this book is so fundamental (not at all basic but truly fundamental) to story-telling that any writer who cares about their readers’ experience will benefit from reading it.

The author establishes the need to elicit emotion from readers, to give them an immersive experience. Examples from different novels are used to make his point. (I often found myself wishing for better examples, to be honest, but anyway.)

The main thrust of the book is really a plea for the writer to become more self-aware, for it is through self-awareness and openness that we can craft compelling and relatable characters that readers will care deeply about.

An alternative subtitle could be ‘The Need to Infuse Heart/Hope into Our Stories’. I happen to agree with the author on this point, but considering the trend towards ‘dark’ in fiction, I wonder if this message will resonate with many.

I hope it does, because trends come and go, but stories with heart are timeless. They are the ones that endure. Writing is a craft, no question about it. But it is also an art form. We need the skills (technique) to write well. But to elicit emotion in order to give our readers a satisfying, perhaps even memorable, experience? That requires more than skills. It requires intention.

There are those who will argue that some genres/subgenres do not need heart or hope. I happen to disagree (I have read some beautiful and moving horror stories). I look forward to a time when every writer understands that ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. For our readers’ sake and our own, I hope to find that the story beneath the surface is one of heart, of hope, of good intention. Those are the stories that I want to read and tell everyone else to read. Those are the stories I want to write.
One person found this helpful
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Thub
5.0 out of 5 stars Made me go down into my emotions
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2023
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I can't say anything else but that this book was amazing: for my writing as well as for learning more about myself. It made me think a lot about each tool it gave, sometimes rereading every word a couple of times to fully understand what it wanted to say.
Because of this, I made a last change to my manuscript (don't worry, I write in a different language than English... :) ), to be happier with the inner plot.

I would fully recommend this book if you are struggling with the feelings of your characters and how to show them to the world.
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Sandra
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read
Reviewed in Spain on December 21, 2018
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This book changed the perspective of my novel. I have had more ideas in 3 days that I had in 2 years.

Thanks.
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L. t. Read
5.0 out of 5 stars Empfehlenswert
Reviewed in Germany on January 24, 2018
Verified Purchase
Sehr klar strukturierte Einführung in besseres, sprich emotionaleres Schreiben. Leicht verständlich geschrieben und mit detaillierten Anwendungsbeispielen. Kann ich uneingeschränkt empfehlen.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Not a quick read but worth the time
Reviewed in Australia on October 11, 2023
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This is not a quick read and I find I have to break it down into small chunks but the exercises are well worth the effort.
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