WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL
by Donald Maass, Writer's Digest Books (2001)
A book review by Edmund R. Schubert

Why are people waiting in line to part with $1,400 for the privilege of spending time with Donald Maass? Because the man knows what he is talking about. One of the most powerful literary agents in New York City, he sells more than one hundred novels a year and obtaining six and seven figure advances for some of them. In the event that you, like me, don’t have a few thousand dollars for one of Mr. Maass’s seminars, there is an alternative: Writing The Breakout Novel (and its companion Writing The Breakout Novel Workbook).

What is a breakout novel? Mr. Maass tells us and presents a simple master plan. “Delight your readers with your own brand of story, then continue to delight them in a similar way–-only better–-on a regular basis. That is the way to build an audience. It is the only way to become a brand name author.”

He’s not talking about millions of copies sold, nor is he talking about cracking the New York Times Bestseller list. Simply put, he’s talking about any novel that outperforms the last one penned by that author.

This is good news, because unless you’re Anne Tyler (one of Maass’ clients), the idea of needing to make it to the Times Bestseller list is daunting. From the insider perspective that he enjoys as an agent, Mr. Maass knows that authors whose sales numbers are stagnant, or, perish the thought, declining, are not going to be published much longer. Each successive book must outperform the last.

How does that affect the unpublished author? Directly and unequivocally. Whether you’ve published five novels or are planning your first, the basic principles that make for a compelling read don’t change. Writing a breakout novel is, as Mr. Maass says, “as much about cultivating an outlook as anything. It is the habit of avoiding the obvious or of covering familiar ground... It is to delve deeper, think harder, revise more, and commit to creating characters and plot that surpass one’s previous accomplishments. It is to say “no” to merely being good enough to be published.”

“No” to merely being good enough to be published? Talk about setting your sights high!

But that’s what it takes. Given the level of competition that exists in a market that most experts acknowledge is shrinking, good enough to be published isn’t good enough anymore. The good news is that Writing The Breakout Novel (the book) is as inspiring as people tell me the seminars are. It leaves you feeling like you understand what it takes to surpass being merely “good enough.” And can attain that goal.

Writing The Breakout Novel contains eleven chapters, including Why Write The Breakout Novel?; Premise; Stakes; Time and Place; Characters; Plot; Contemporary Plot techniques; Multiple Viewpoints, Subplots, Voice, and Endings; Advanced Plot Structures; Theme; and Breaking Out. The Writing The Breakout Novel Workbook is presented in three parts: Part I, Character Development; Part II, Plot Development; and Part III, General Storytelling Techniques. The workbook is packed with exercises patterned after the ones from Mr. Maass’s seminars and are designed to make you delve deeper, think harder, revise more.

To paraphrase Maass, breakout novels go beyond issues like setting, characters, and plot; they alter our way of seeing the world. If they don’t actually change our opinions or beliefs, at least they show us something about humanity that we had not previously realized. Breakout novels are about something, and their stories challenge our hopes, plumb our fears, test our faith, and enact our human wills.

I told you that you were going to have to set your sights high.
But isn’t your book worth it?

© Edmund R. Schubert 2005

Edmund R. Schubert (ed-terry@worldnet.att.net) has been published in the US and England and took first prize in Lynx Eye’s Captivating Beginnings Contest. His greatest claim to fame, however, remains that the underground newspaper he published in college made him the subject of a professor's lecture—in abnormal psychology.

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