The Emotional Craft of Fiction

How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface

By: Donald Maass

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

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

● Connecting the inner and outer journeys and much more

Readers can simply read a novel...or they can experience it. The Emotional Craft of Fiction shows you how to make that happen.

©2016 Donald Maass (P)2020 Tantor

Read this if you're a writer

My writing instructor, a successful author, referred me to Donald Maas’s The Emotional Craft of Fiction, and I am glad he did. Maas makes an airtight case for instilling emotion in works of fiction, and I will take heed. His emotional mastery checklists will come in very handy. I just finished the book and am already re-reading it to ensure a fuller understanding. If you’re an aspiring writer, and seek instructional material, choose this one. I am reading another book by another writing guru, but already I want to put it down. That one is formulaic; Maas’s book is inspirational.

Insightful

Thoughtful and insightful this makes a great companion to the print version. I recommend having a copy of the print version or writing down the end of chapter exercises for later referencing.

A fantastic book for novelists!!

Every novelist needs to read this novel. So insightful and eye opening. Great narration too.

For Writers

Its a long book in comparison to some other shorter books that bring you to the craft of writing but it helped me ask the right questions about my characters and their emotions. I had been stuck in the editing process and after listening to this book I've come back to my work with all the questions and reflections. A useful book.

👍

Very soft spoken and well written. This book is one of the best teaching books I have ever read or had read to me. It's extremely informative and insightful. It gives tangible details to grow your craft and exercises involving not just word play, but different ways to convey your ideas.

Better than “am.”

I grabbed this book based on a referral from my beta reading group with hopes that it would help me understand how to become a “better writer.” Not only did this piece successfully accomplish breaking through my expectations, but it also helped me see that I AM through and through, a novelist. The text is priceless with vast knowledge, but beyond this, it helps the true writer understand her purpose of authenticity.
I highly recommend to even the most seasoned, as well as us newbies!

Listen and then Listen Again

A gold mine of wisdom and insight into what makes stories and characters pure magic.

Masterful insight

This book beautifully narrated , conveys information regarding essential tools a writer needs to know in order to develop outstanding and moving fiction.

Moving

I’ve found David Maass’ books on writing to be ‘must reads.’ For me they help to understand the books of others, and help develop my own skills and depth of writing…

Learn something new everyday

Like this idea of emotion not to cry and feel sad but a story within a story showing action and real emotion and feeling toward the story. To move one to write something that can cause effect and change lives to write and cause a reader to think about their own life.

This book is great and I would recommend it.