Product Description: SPECIAL SHRINKWRAPPED BUNDLE! Break out of a crowded marketplace with the Breakout Novel Collection. Legendary agent and author Donald Maass shows you the elements that successful novels share and how you can translate these aspects into your own work with Writing the Breakout Novel...read more

Discover the Difference Between a So-So Manuscript and a Novel Readers Can't ForgetWe've all read them: novels by our favorite authors that disappoint. Uninspired and lifeless, we wonder what happened. Was the author in a hurry? Did she have a bad year? Has he lost interest altogether?Something similar is true of a great many unpublished manuscripts. They are okay stories that never take flight. They don't grip the imagination, let alone the heart. They merit only a shrug and a polite dismissal by agents and editors.It doesn't have to be that way. In The Fire in Fiction, successful literary agent and author Donald Maass shows you not only how to infuse your story with deep conviction and fiery passion, but how to do it over and over again. The book features:Techniques for capturing a special time and place, creating characters whose lives matter, nailing multiple-impact plot turns, making the supernatural real, infusing issues into fiction, and more.Story-enriching exercises at the end of every chapter to show you how to apply the practical tools just covered to your own work.Rich examples drawn from contemporary novels as diverse as The Lake House, Water for Elephants, and Jennifer Government to illustrate how various techniques work in actual stories.Plus, Maass introduces an original technique that any novelist can use any time, in any scene, in any novel, even on the most uninspired day...to take the most powerful experiences from your personal life and turn those experiences directly into powerful fiction.Tap into The Fire in Fiction, and supercharge your story with originality and spark!

A practical guide to mastering the art of the novel from the founder of the Donald Maass Literary Agency shows readers how to build plot layers, strengthen point of view, create inner conflict, and develop a 'psychology of place,' among other important novelistic techniques. Original.

Describes the elements that all 'breakout novels' share and details writing techniques to make a book stand out and succeed. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Invaluable advice on the realities of being a published author, the best way to choose an agent, the marketing game, the give and take of collaboration, and much more.