How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface - The Emotional Craft of Fiction

Surprising, given the author's credentials, this felt like a collection of blog posts reformatted for a book and seems very much in need of an editor, or maybe just better typesetting? What exactly keeps this book from being readable is eluding me, but it makes my eyes cross themselves. Maybe a tighter, revised edition could make for a great resource; as it is, I had trouble staying engaged and felt much of the information was tired or too general, recycled from a thousand other craft-centric, "how to write fiction" books. The advice is good enough, but it's nonspecific and presented in an unparsable clump.

Brilliant stuff for the writer looking to take their stories to the next level. Can't wait to implement all of this knowledge in my writing. Maass breaks it down, with examples and explanations a plenty.

The book was delivered on time & was in excellent condition. It is a very helpful book that explains how to develop character emotions using different examples as to what words to write that are effective in portraying a specific emotion.

This is the fourth Donald Maass book I’ve read. All four helped me improve my writing. But this one—The Emotional Craft of Fiction—is amazing. I’m already starting to supercharge my WIP with emotion. Emotion that each reader will experience in her own unique way.

Here are a few quotes from the book:

“…readers may believe that they’re living a story along with its characters. Actually, they’re not. Readers are having their own experience that is merely occasioned by what’s on the page…inducing for each reader a unique emotional journey through a story.”

“[Readers] do not automatically adopt your outlook and outrage. They formulate their own. You are not the author of what readers feel, just the provocateur of those feelings. You may curate your characters’ experiences and put them on display, but the exhibit’s meaning is different in thousands of ways for thousands of different museum visitors, your readers.”

“Emotional craft isn’t a repackaging of old writing bromides. It’s a way of understanding what causes emotional impact on readers and deliberately using those methods.”

FYI: In case you're wondering why my purchase was not a "Verified the store Purchase," it's because I bought the ebook directly from the publisher as a PDF when it was not yet available from the store. I could have saved a few bucks by waiting and got it in Kindle format, which I would have preferred, but I was too excited to read the book to wait until then. ;)

Maass must have a big following--what, with all those glowing five-star reviews. I say Hogwash. Nothing new in this book. Worse yet, it takes tried and true methods of generating reader emotion and shrouds them in a dark, nebulous cloud. Maass is very good at writing a whole lot, while at the same time teaching very little.

Another writing book that claims to make you a better writer, but nothing really does that other than a tremendous amount of time spent actually writing. But books about writing can be a shortcut and this one is ok for that. Maass uses many examples from successful authors that write emotional scenes and gives a summary at the end of each chapter so you can apply those tips to your own work.

If nothing else, I find Maass's writing style engaging and fun to read and his examples are top-notch. My list of books I want to read always grows after reading Maass and I sometimes wonder if all his examples are from writers he represents - so they get free advertising. Nonetheless, Maas makes some good points about avoiding the "gut clenched in fear" or "a shudder ran through me" because those have never made ME feel the emotion of the protagonist. Those phrases take me out of the story long enough to wish the writer would have said it more eloquently. Does Maass give a good schooling on how to write every emotion? I didn't think so. I'm going to try the Emotional Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman to see if it's any better.

Donald Maass’s THE EMOTIONAL CRAFT OF FICTION: HOW TO WRITE THE STORY BENEATH THE SURFACE is the ultimate writer’s guide to telling a story. Set aside the countless books about plotting, structure, and craft and read this book before you go any further in imagining, drafting, and revising your stories. Throughout this pithy, important book, Maass instructs, demonstrates, motivates, and then gently pushes you out the door to write your story as only you can do. Read it in one exhilarating thrill ride and then read it again slowly to savor its clear prose and authoritative examples. Do the 34 Emotional Mastery exercises and witness your stories grow complexity, depth, and power. Learn from a brilliant master of story at his most personal, eloquent, and encouraging: “The spirit you bring is the spirit that we’ll feel as we read, and of all the feelings you can excite in your readers the most gripping and beautiful is the spirit of hope.”

The near-universal praise for this book is well-deserved. I now assign it to all my students as a required text -- and not just my students. It has transformed the way I write and regard my own fiction.

Specifically, it's guidance on how to both control and intensify the emotional impact of scenes is invaluable. And his insights on how it's the reader's experience of emotion, not the characters', that provides the real impact of a work of fiction -- and how that should effect the way one writes -- was utterly eye-opening,

Caveat: I know Don -- we both contribute to Writer Unboxed, a blog on the business and craft of fiction -- and respect him greatly. That said, I would not have written this review if I didn't mean everything I've written.

Maass must have a big following--what, with all those glowing five-star reviews. I say Hogwash. Nothing new in this book. Worse yet, it takes tried and true methods of generating reader emotion and shrouds them in a dark, nebulous cloud. Maass is very good at writing a whole lot, while at the same time teaching very little.

Another writing book that claims to make you a better writer, but nothing really does that other than a tremendous amount of time spent actually writing. But books about writing can be a shortcut and this one is ok for that. Maass uses many examples from successful authors that write emotional scenes and gives a summary at the end of each chapter so you can apply those tips to your own work.

If nothing else, I find Maass's writing style engaging and fun to read and his examples are top-notch. My list of books I want to read always grows after reading Maass and I sometimes wonder if all his examples are from writers he represents - so they get free advertising. Nonetheless, Maas makes some good points about avoiding the "gut clenched in fear" or "a shudder ran through me" because those have never made ME feel the emotion of the protagonist. Those phrases take me out of the story long enough to wish the writer would have said it more eloquently. Does Maass give a good schooling on how to write every emotion? I didn't think so. I'm going to try the Emotional Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman to see if it's any better.

Donald Maass’s THE EMOTIONAL CRAFT OF FICTION: HOW TO WRITE THE STORY BENEATH THE SURFACE is the ultimate writer’s guide to telling a story. Set aside the countless books about plotting, structure, and craft and read this book before you go any further in imagining, drafting, and revising your stories. Throughout this pithy, important book, Maass instructs, demonstrates, motivates, and then gently pushes you out the door to write your story as only you can do. Read it in one exhilarating thrill ride and then read it again slowly to savor its clear prose and authoritative examples. Do the 34 Emotional Mastery exercises and witness your stories grow complexity, depth, and power. Learn from a brilliant master of story at his most personal, eloquent, and encouraging: “The spirit you bring is the spirit that we’ll feel as we read, and of all the feelings you can excite in your readers the most gripping and beautiful is the spirit of hope.”

The near-universal praise for this book is well-deserved. I now assign it to all my students as a required text -- and not just my students. It has transformed the way I write and regard my own fiction.

Specifically, it's guidance on how to both control and intensify the emotional impact of scenes is invaluable. And his insights on how it's the reader's experience of emotion, not the characters', that provides the real impact of a work of fiction -- and how that should effect the way one writes -- was utterly eye-opening,

Caveat: I know Don -- we both contribute to Writer Unboxed, a blog on the business and craft of fiction -- and respect him greatly. That said, I would not have written this review if I didn't mean everything I've written.

A MUST-READ for any writer/author!! This book taught me more than I ever thought I could learn about how to captivate readers on an emotional level. Implementing the hero's journey, moral stakes, positivity, the emotional hook, and more is critical to getting your readers to never stop thinking about your book. Donald Maas uses a myriad of examples from published books to show us how these authors bring out the emotional connection with readers onto the page. This book will be a staple in my writer toolbox and will help any writer make their novel the one readers can't stop reading, yet never want to end.

I have read many Author Self-Help books, and this one is by far the best. Where I've found many books on the topic of novel writing to be bloated pontifications, I found this book to be full of useful information, and insightful references to other bodies of work. Mr. Maass creatively brings together lessons and examples for aspiring writers in digestible and relevant vignettes. This book is clear, concise, and an enjoyable read, which is rare in self-help books of any kind. I know I like a book when I hate to put it down, and when I have to keep a pad of paper to take notes nearby.

As usual, a highly competent ( no surprise) journey crafted by Donald Maass, about craft. Very rewarding and inspiring. Thank you, Don.
Once read you'll have a fuller understanding on infusing feelings into your writings. Thank you.