Book Review - Writing the Breakout Novel

Title: Writing the Breakout Novel
Author: Donald Maass
Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
ISBN: 0-89879-995-3
My Rating - 5 out of 5

Writing the Breakout Novel is one book that will definitely help you take your fiction writing to the next level. Whether you're a first time novelist or a published author, Donald Maass can show you how write that novel that will stand out on the bookstore shelves and scream "Read Me!" If you want to find your novel on the best-seller lists, then this writing reference book is a must.

Writing fiction is a whole different ballgame than non-fiction. You have characters that sometimes get a mind of their own, plots that come to a screeching halt in a dead-end alley or times and places that just don't seem to mesh together for one reason or another. What do you do?

First things first. Grab Maass' book from out of the collection which stands neatly on your desk and open it up. Start with the encouraging forward by Anne Perry and then dig right in to the first of eleven highly-packed chapters. Be prepared, as the author doesn't just give you the book to read but shows you how to use it.

You'll learn how to write your breakout novel by learning the techniques to create your premise, characters, plots and multiple viewpoints, along with honing your skills in developing a theme, pace, voice, endings and much more, including the finer details. Breakout check-lists at the end of each chapter are very helpful in making sure you have everything covered before moving on to the next task at hand. Each component of every element of novel writing is broken down, covering what often goes wrong and how to remedy it. Identify the roadblocks and learn the systematic removal of them. Using other literary masterpieces, cases in point are made to show how it is successfully accomplished.

After you have a completed novel, you will learn how to "break out", to find and work along with your agent and editor, as you venture into writing the pitch and outline (synopsis). As an author of seventeen novels and more than twenty years of experience as a literary agent, Maas gives sound advice on publishing and beyond.

"Every novel is a world unto itself. It lives, breathes, alternates between day and night, changes, grows and acts upon the characters or is indifferent to them. So build your world!"

Are you ready to take your writing to the next level? Then this book is essential to own.