Once Upon a Page

(With thanks to writer T.A. Barnes for the title of this post.)
How many pages are in your current manuscript? Every one of them is a momentary story. A story instant. For your reader, that story instant is as important as the grand problem, the giant premise that you established in your opening.
Your reader is only once on the opening page. After that, it is up to each page to tell the story: not the big story—the overall plot, although it may advance that one step—but the little story of right now. This instant. You can bring story effects to bear upon this instant, or you can cruise along on the presumption that, once hooked, your reader will read anything you set down for hundreds of pages.
Do you think that’s likely? Nah, me either.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/05/06/once-upon-a-page/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass

Overlooked Tools

I moved recently. My new place is great. It’s all set up, but that took some doing. Unpacking. Arranging. Assembling some flat-pack furniture. Hanging pictures and art. Naturally, I needed tools.
What surprised me were which tools were the most needed. Like many, I have a toolbox. I’ve collected quite a few over the years. Chisels. Scrapers. Wire strippers. Plumber’s wrench. Vice grips. The workhorse tools in the box would be screwdriver and hammer, you would think, and I did use those but not as much as a couple of others. I came to appreciate those overlooked tools.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/04/01/overlooked-tools/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass

Reading as an Agent

Two very recent WU posts ( HERE and HERE ) got me thinking about how I read. In one mode, I read manuscripts with an agent’s eyes. In another mode, I read novels (published or pre-) as a craft analyst and teacher. In still a different mode, I read as a fiction writer.
Once in a while, I read for enjoyment. It’s difficult to do. The other modes don’t like to shut up. And not all novels are so absorbing that my inner analyst forgets to analyze.
As agent, you might imagine that I am looking for work that matches the market’s needs. As craft analyst and teacher, you might think that I am looking for illustrative examples. As fiction writer, you might expect that that I read in awe, envy, or judgment.
In those presumptions, you would be wrong.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/04/reading-as-an-agent/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #characters #DonaldMaass #inspiration

The Sentence and the Story: A New Year’s Fable

The Sentence
The sentence sat, unmoving.
The sentence was dissatisfied.
The sentence knew that it had untapped potential, but wasn’t using it.
The sentence longed to be metaphorical but it was feeling stuck, like a bluebottle in a room with walls of flypaper.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/01/07/the-sentence-and-the-story-a-new-years-fable-2/

#CRAFT #Humor #Inspirations #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass

Keeping Score

[Note to Keith Cronin: I am dictating this post while commuting in my car, simultaneously listening to The New York Times being read aloud. I’ll finish this post by the time I arrive at my office.]
Did you watch any football on Thanksgiving? If so, did you turn off the sound on your TV?
https://writerunboxed.com/2025/12/03/keeping-score/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass #writing

The Staircase & The Story

…
https://writerunboxed.com/2025/11/05/the-staircase-the-story/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass

The Uses, and Abuses, of Ambition

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https://writerunboxed.com/2025/10/03/the-uses-and-abuses-of-ambition/

#Business #REALWORLD #UnConference #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass

How To Find A New Book

In Publishing News this week Publishers Weekly had a story about Bookshop.org beginning to sell eBooks in the UK. If you haven’t heard of Bookshop.org they are an independent online book seller that sells into the US and UK. They donate their profits to your local independent bookseller. Their…
https://www.maureencrisp.com/2025/10/how-to-find-new-book.html

#angelaackerman #beccapuglisi #davechesson #DavidGaughran #DonaldMaass

Can Set Up and Backstory Actually Work in Chapter One?

Short answer: no.
At least, those oh-so-necessary-feeling dumps of information do not work in 99.9% of manuscripts. But anything is possible if done right. Let’s start with some definitions.
https://writerunboxed.com/2025/10/01/can-set-up-and-backstory-actually-work-in-chapter-one/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass #writing

Imagine That

In Publishing News this week. Publishers Weekly has a report from Booksellers in the Washington DC area about book sales slumping as a result of the National Guard being deployed in the city. In response some booksellers have quietly protested by getting creative with their front windows. KDP has just opened up Kindle…
https://www.maureencrisp.com/2025/09/imagine-that.html

#AI #Courtcases #DonaldMaass #elevenlabs #GEO
@indieauthors