Reviews
The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great by Donald Maass
thegabecole's review against another edition
5.0
I’ll admit that I caved into buying this one because it was one of those books I suspected I should read and never really got around to picking up, but now Borders is going out of business and I figured well, what better time than now? So I bought it. And I read the first chapter. And I had a serious facepalm Why-did-I-wait-so-absurdly-long-to-read-this-book?-moment.
I mean it when I say my only regret was not reading The Fire in Fiction sooner. The advice is fantastic and the exercises at the end of the chapter are more useful than I can even describe. I haven’t done all of them yet, but I definitely will.
So if you’re looking for a good writing book, I highly recommend this one. It covers everything from deepening characters (yes, even your moustache-twirling antagonist) to writing interesting description to weaving tension throughout your prose. It’s a fantastic read, and one I intend to go through again with a highlighter or two.
I mean it when I say my only regret was not reading The Fire in Fiction sooner. The advice is fantastic and the exercises at the end of the chapter are more useful than I can even describe. I haven’t done all of them yet, but I definitely will.
So if you’re looking for a good writing book, I highly recommend this one. It covers everything from deepening characters (yes, even your moustache-twirling antagonist) to writing interesting description to weaving tension throughout your prose. It’s a fantastic read, and one I intend to go through again with a highlighter or two.
radchik1313's review against another edition
5.0
Great exercises and some good points. Sometimes a little heavy on the examples but definitely worth a read.
I recommend this to new writers that aren’t sure where to begin.
I recommend this to new writers that aren’t sure where to begin.
nottoolate's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
4.0
The exercises at the end of each chapter are the most helpful part of the book.
abigailfair's review against another edition
5.0
The qualities of exciting plot prose that makes readers want to keep turning pages are not nebulous and mysterious, but definable and doable! Maass's book gives a bunch of great advice that'll be most useful to someone who's already got a manuscript underway.
daaan's review against another edition
4.0
More useful advice from Donald Maass. Not quite as good as 21st century fiction or Emotional craft, but I have basically read his books in reverse order.
bookishwendy's review
4.0
Not the usual writing manual--this book is ideal for writers who have a complete manuscript, but still want to "punch it up". Author Donald Maass is a well-known literary agent, so as far as marketing fiction goes, there are few more knowledgeable sources. He draws examples from a wide range of fiction, from thrillers and sci-fi to Don DeLillo and Andre Dubus. Chapters cover microtension, dialogue that moves, and other techniques to entice a reader to hang on every word of your 500 page magnum opus--and each feature exercises drawing from your own manuscript (I didn't do them, since this was a library book, but I've earmarked some in my brain and plan to apply them!)
littlenyssa's review
5.0
This book was extremely helpful for my own writing, even though the sources & examples he uses are a slightly different type of literature than I am trying to write.