Donald Maass Quotes

#1. The fact is that roughly two-thirds of all fiction purchases are made because the consumer is already familiar with the author.

Donald Maass

#2. That said, nothing builds reader involvement more surely than a character whose moral struggle pervades the tale. When readers hope, beg, and plead with you to let a character turn toward the light, you have readers where you want them. A character who is good is good; a character

Donald Maass

#3. His characters may be cardboard, but each has a clear, uncomplicated purpose. Every moment of the story contributes to building conflict.

Donald Maass

#4. In short, a premise is any single image, moment, feeling, or belief that has enough power and personal meaning for the author to set her story on fire, and propel it like a rocket for hundreds of pages.

Donald Maass

#5. It takes courage to violate expectations, but sometimes the reward is a new level of success.

Donald Maass

#6. High-impact 21st century fiction is built on unique voices, uncommon characters, and tales that can only be told by a particular author. They're sui generis.

Donald Maass

#7. How many novels have moved you to tears, rage, and a resolution to live differently?

Donald Maass

#8. Do it. Go there. Take it away, permanently. Deliver the fear. Force the task. Remove all hope. Demand the sacrifice. Enact defeat. Wreck everything. Great endings are built of great climaxes: enormous feats, worst fears, tremendous losses, harrowing sacrifices, utter destruction.

Donald Maass

#9. Positive means feeling enjoyment, suspense, amusement, and the satisfaction of what psychologists call belief affirmation - stories turning out as readers believe they should. That requires more than just a happy ending. It means affirming readers' beliefs and validating their morals.

Donald Maass

#10. Who your characters are, how they behave, what they believe, how they think, what they do, and the ways in which they feel are in your control. Why create characters who only raise shrugs? In

Donald Maass

#11. To infuse a novel with a significance that speaks to many requires, paradoxically, that you ignore what the public wants and focus instead on what matters to you.

Donald Maass

#12. How many have left a permanent mark, branding you with a story that you will never forget?

Donald Maass

#13. Do not keep secrets - except in your fiction, where their corrosive influence and dark gravity make for high drama.

Donald Maass

#14. Here's a writing craft tool that you can remove from your toolbox and throw away: description. It's the stuff that most readers skim. Even when deftly done using the five senses it's a lead weight. It isn't needed anymore.

Donald Maass

#15. What makes them classics? Artful storytelling, sure, but beyond the storytelling, classics have enduring appeal mostly because we remember the experiences we had while reading them; we remember not the art but the impact. When

Donald Maass

#16. A work of fiction grips our imaginations because we care, both about the characters in the tale and about ourselves. To put it another way, we are concerned about the outcome of the story because what is happening to the characters could happen to us.

Donald Maass