This book does
more than give you strategies and tips and writing exercises. It does more than
elucidate principles with stellar writing from others’ novels. The Emotional Craft of Writing is at
heart a book about how to write an enduring
book, a book for the ages.
What do “books for
the ages” all have in common? They create a resonance that remains in the mind
and heart of the reader. An emotional chord is played and reverberates long
after the song has ended.
Maass’ is a unique
book among my myriad writing craft books. From the first chapter you know this
book will be different. He makes a strong case for taking the reader on the
emotional journey of the characters, not just describing the journey.
Merely telling or showing those inner conflicts and effects is the skin-deep part of
the novel. Getting to the internal organs and the skeleton is what we should be
aiming to do. The visceral reaction, not merely the goosebumps of reaction.
You might not need
to read this book if you want to be a good writer. Lots of serviceable and
successful writers don’t tap the emotion of fiction as deeply as Maass directs
us to.
But if you want to be a great writer, start here. Plan to read this book more than once. Get your stickies out to tag the segments that speak to your need as a writer.
As Maya Angelou said, “At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” Maass understands that very well. His analysis of thousands of books over the decades informed and guided this book. The subheading delineates that: The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface.
Here are some quotes that show the depth of his expectations for our writing:
“How many
novels have moved you to tears, rage, and a resolution to live
differently? How many have left a
permanent mark, branding you with a story that you will never forget?”
“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.”
“What all that means is that readers fundamentally want to feel something, not about your story, but about themselves. They want to play. They want to anticipate, guess, think, and judge. They want to finish a story and feel competent. They want to feel like they’ve been through something. They want to connect with your characters and live their fictional experience, or believe that they have.”
“When a plot resolves, readers are satisfied, but what they remember of a novel is what they felt while reading it. Hooks may hook, twists may intrigue, tension may turn pages, and prose may dazzle, but all of those effects fade as quickly as fireworks in a night sky. Ask readers what they best remember about novels and most will say the characters, but is that accurate? It’s true that characters become real to us but that is because of what they cause us to feel. Characters aren’t actually real; only our own feelings are.”
“When readers feel strongly, their hearts are
open. Your stories can not only reach them for a moment, but they can change
them forever.”
“What shapes us and gives our lives meaning are
not the things that happen to us, but their significance. Life lessons,
revelations, changes, and growing convictions are what we think of when we
ponder who we are.”
Each of the seven chapters concludes with
exercises for you to apply what you were just taught. The seven chapters are:
~The Emotional Craft of Writing
~Inner versus Outer
~The Emotional World
~Emotions, Meaning, and Arc
~The Emotional Plot
~The Reader’s Emotional Journey
~The Writer’s Emotional Journey
Interspersed among the seven chapters are
thirty-four “Emotional Mastery” elements (like moral stakes, shifting from
tension to energy, and the emotional mirror) with exercises for you to
internalize the lessons.
An appendix, “The Emotional Mastery Checklist”,
provides you a list in one place of these thirty-four elements you need to
embed in your writing. The depth of thinking Maass demonstrates is impressive.
The task before us to learn the principles is daunting.
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