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A review by crispycritter
The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface by Donald Maass
2.0
Like most craft books, there are going to be parts you take and parts that don’t resonate with you. I think you can get all that you need from this book out of the first chapter or two.
Things started going off the rails when Maass used Twilight as a positive example of emotional interiority. Then we took a sharp nosedive. Highlights included: punching down on genre fiction, using a book about assisted suicide and at least three books involving extreme sexual violence against women as lodestars for his flavor of “emotional” fiction, and encouraging writers to emotionally manipulate readers by making them cry. I’d say this dude must have a hard on for A Little Life, but it might be above his reading level.
I agree with the general premise of this book: the most impactful books tend to delve deep into character. Without emotional depth books can feel hallow. Maass’s examples indicate that emotional depth is something that only comes from dramatic content choices: death, destruction, all-consuming romance, etc. Almost like there’s nothing to be learned from quiet books and ordinary interactions.
I did not resonate with any of the examples Maass shared nor did I appreciate how prescriptive his advice was. Overall, I just don’t think I can take a craft book seriously that holds up The Fault In Our Stars as peak Literature™️ .
Things started going off the rails when Maass used Twilight as a positive example of emotional interiority. Then we took a sharp nosedive. Highlights included: punching down on genre fiction, using a book about assisted suicide and at least three books involving extreme sexual violence against women as lodestars for his flavor of “emotional” fiction, and encouraging writers to emotionally manipulate readers by making them cry. I’d say this dude must have a hard on for A Little Life, but it might be above his reading level.
I agree with the general premise of this book: the most impactful books tend to delve deep into character. Without emotional depth books can feel hallow. Maass’s examples indicate that emotional depth is something that only comes from dramatic content choices: death, destruction, all-consuming romance, etc. Almost like there’s nothing to be learned from quiet books and ordinary interactions.
I did not resonate with any of the examples Maass shared nor did I appreciate how prescriptive his advice was. Overall, I just don’t think I can take a craft book seriously that holds up The Fault In Our Stars as peak Literature™️ .