Writer Unboxed » Donald Maass

This month I’m departing from my usual craft advice to share something from the other side of my work as a literary agent, the business of publishing. It starts with a sad story. The other d...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/10/02/work-for-hire-a-cautionary-tale/

Problem: you’ve got someone or something to write about, but you’ve got no plot. Perhaps you’re not that kind of writer. Perhaps you dislike plot templates. Perhaps the tricks and tropes o...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/09/04/character-driven-driven-character/

Have you ever been reading a novel and asked yourself, “Why should I care?” Have you ever set a novel aside because the answer is “I don’t”? If you have, then you have experienced a ...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/08/07/who-cares/

There’s no getting around it. Times change. Authors worry about that. Specifically, what if one’s novel becomes dated? Details will do that. Bell bottoms. Flip phones. My Space. Will those s...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/07/03/what-makes-timeless-fiction-timeless/

A writer whom I know, Benjamin Brinks, is in a critique group. At a recent meeting, he ran into a problem. He’s working on a novel set in 1953. Its main character is a beautiful young woman wh...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/06/05/please-explain/

Writing fiction requires imagination. So does reading fiction. But what kinds? Are both writing and reading imagination the same? Let’s take a closer look. Daydreaming is passive imagination...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/05/01/story-imagination-writer-versus-reader/

I’m writing this post in a public library. It isn’t a research library, the awesome university kind where you might go to dig up fabulous story details. It’s a humble branch library. The p...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/04/03/page-98/

What is the purpose of fiction? There are reasons to read. There are reasons to write. Much ink has been spent on those things. I propose, however, that the various purposes so often discussed b...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/03/06/the-hierarchy-of-exposition/

What’s your state of mind? What condition are you in at the moment? Are you in a state of curiosity? Fear? Amusement? Apathy? Disbelief? Detachment? Celebration? Rage? Sorrow? Bewilderment? Co...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/02/07/effect-and-cause/

What makes the world of your story feel real? The way it looks? Sounds? Smells? Its society, rules, history, traditions, transportation, rites and rituals, celebrations? Its broad avenues and dar...

https://writerunboxed.com/2024/01/03/the-missing-piece-of-your-story-world/