I'm working on keeping the pages lit! With a little help from Donald Maass and The Fire in Fiction. Though I haven't attended of his workshops, I've heard Mr. Maass speak at writers conferences. He has a long history in the writing biz, and his inside perspective is invaluable.
More than that, his focus on craft is essential for writers who want their stories to pop off the page. Every sentence, every scene. Here's an excerpt from the book, which is actually a workbook with exercises following chapters.
I know I do. So this book will be one of the many I'm applying toward craft. It's been on the shelf a few years, along with many others. I've been so busy writing, I always thought, I'll get to it later.
Later doesn't help me now. I love the stories I've written, but want to write even better. Make my characters more three-dimensional, more interesting, more exciting, more relatable.
I have to admit, I had an agent's session years ago with Donald Maass, one of those five-minute pitch sessions that make your nerves want to pop out of your skin. I'm terrible at pitch sessions, but I was so confident he'd fall in love with my first few pages. After skimming, he simply asked, "Why should I care?" Of course, he crushed me. I'd spent years researching - the mythology of the constellations, the decades of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, astronomy. The premise itself is universal and I loved those characters. I still do. But the craft wasn't there on the page. Oh, I think my writing was lyrical and beautiful, but there was no hook.
I haven't given up yet on that story. It was one of my first, and sometimes those "books of the heart" aren't the ones that should be published. But someday, I'm going to prove Donald Maass wrong, maybe using his own techniques. :) I bet he'd like that, too.
I know I do. So this book will be one of the many I'm applying toward craft. It's been on the shelf a few years, along with many others. I've been so busy writing, I always thought, I'll get to it later.
Later doesn't help me now. I love the stories I've written, but want to write even better. Make my characters more three-dimensional, more interesting, more exciting, more relatable.
I have to admit, I had an agent's session years ago with Donald Maass, one of those five-minute pitch sessions that make your nerves want to pop out of your skin. I'm terrible at pitch sessions, but I was so confident he'd fall in love with my first few pages. After skimming, he simply asked, "Why should I care?" Of course, he crushed me. I'd spent years researching - the mythology of the constellations, the decades of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, astronomy. The premise itself is universal and I loved those characters. I still do. But the craft wasn't there on the page. Oh, I think my writing was lyrical and beautiful, but there was no hook.
I haven't given up yet on that story. It was one of my first, and sometimes those "books of the heart" aren't the ones that should be published. But someday, I'm going to prove Donald Maass wrong, maybe using his own techniques. :) I bet he'd like that, too.
