Writing a Bestseller

"Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo. Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel - one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists.

Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share - regardless of genre - then shows you writing techniques that can make your own books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace.

You'll learn to:

• establish a powerful and sweeping sense of time and place

• weave subplots into the main action for a complex, engrossing story

• create larger-than-life characters that step right off the page

• explore universal themes that will interest a broad audience of readers

• sustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finish

• develop an inspired premise that sets your novel apart from the competition

Donald Maass asserts that consistent promotion is what makes a work a bestseller, so you must thoroughly consider your publisher and/or agent.

Then, using examples from the recent works of several best-selling authors - including novelist Anne Perry - Maass illustrates methods for upping the ante in every aspect of your novel writing. You'll capture the eye of an agent, generate publisher interest and lay the foundation for a promising career."

- Goodreads

Writing the Breakout Novel is a book worth reading. You see both readers' and agents' perspectives of the writing elements necessary to keep readers interested. Maass's idea is not that all writers write the same, but that everyone writes better; learn how to make your writing into the bestseller that it can be through this book.

"[Donald Maass's] previous book, Writing the Breakout Novel, offered novelists of all skill levels and genres insider advice on how to make their books rise above the competition and succeed in a crowded marketplace.

Now, building on the success of its predecessor, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook calls that advice into action! This powerful book presents the patented techniques and writing exercises from Maass's popular writing workshops to offer novelists first-class instruction and practical guidance. You'll learn to develop and strengthen aspects of your prose with sections on:

Building plot layers

Creating inner conflict

Strengthening voice and point of view

Discovering and heightening larger-than-life character qualities

Strengthening theme

And much more!

Learn about the specific building blocks to a great story and practice writing them to elevate your craft.

Maass also carefully dissects examples from real-life breakout novels so you'll learn how to read and analyze fiction like a writer. With authoritative instruction and hands-on workbook exercises, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook is one of the most accessible novel-writing guides available."

-Amazon Books

This workbook shows you how to construct a bestselling story, from primary and secondary plots to deep character building. You'll learn to analyze the plots and characters of the stories that you read, as well as your own. Ultimately, the individual skills you practice will combine together to give you a comprehensive toolset for a great book.

"Albert Zuckerman, legendary literary agent, has worked with many bestselling authors, including Ken Follett, Olivia Goldsmith, Antoinette Van Heugten, Michael Lewis, and F. Paul Wilson. Zuckerman is a master at teaching writers the skills necessary to crack the bestseller list.

For this revised edition of Writing the Blockbuster Novel, Zuckerman has added an analysis of Nora Roberts's The Witness, which he uses along with classic books like Gone With the Wind and The Godfather, to illustrate his points. Zuckerman's commentary on Ken Follett's working outlines for The Man From St. Petersburg provide a blueprint for building links between plot and character. A new introduction discusses social media and self-publishing.

Zuckerman describes how a perfectly well-written story still might be considered a "small" book to a publisher.

Writing the Blockbuster Novel is an essential tool for any aspiring author. As Dan Brown said in an interview: "Not long ago, I had an amusing experience meeting the author of a book I received as a gift nearly two decades ago a book that in many ways changed my life. I was halfway through writing my first novel when I was given a copy of Writing the Blockbuster Novel. [Zuckerman's] book helped me complete my manuscript and get it published. [When] I met Mr. Zuckerman for the first time. I gratefully told him that he had helped me. He jokingly replied that he planned to tell everyone that he had helped me write The Da Vinci Code."

-Macmillan Publishers

 

Writing the Blockbuster Novel was originally published before the turn of the century; it has been updated to include contemporary examples, but the bulk of its timeless advice has been kept the same. The successes of writers who have followed the guidance of this book are seen through their lasting impacts on pop culture, and you're more likely to get to the same place by heeding Zuckerman's words.

"Now, in this entertaining, revelatory book, James W. Hall reveals how bestsellers work, using twelve twentieth-century blockbusters as case studies—including The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird and Jaws. From tempting glimpses inside secret societies, such as submariners in The Hunt for Red October, and Opus Dei in The Da Vinci Code, to vivid representations of the American Dream and its opposite—the American Nightmare—in novels like The Firm and The Dead Zone, Hall identifies the common features of mega-bestsellers. Including fascinating and little-known facts about some of the most beloved books of the last century, Hit Lit is a must-read for fiction lovers and aspiring writers alike, and makes us think anew about why we love the books we love."

- Penguin Random House

James W. Hall indicates successful strategies for both fiction and nonfiction work.

Hit Lit talks you through oft-seen tropes, many of which you were probably already planning on including in your story. You learn how these tropes were successfully utilized through in-depth analyses of famous works, so navigating this book may be difficult without prior familiarity with the works that James W. Hall includes. While confined to examples from the twentieth century, the tips you'll pick up are sure to be helpful for making a modern bestseller as well.