THIRD-PERSON POSSESSED

Klaassen adds to his series of writing manuals with this new guide, aimed at would-be authors of gripping novels.

Sometimes a writer needs to think like a reader. “The writer must understand that readers are not just a passive audience; they are critical participants,” explains Klaassen in his introduction. “Reader involvement can range from unengaged to highly engaged, depending on the skill of the writer.” To foster that engagement, Klaassen uses what he calls “third-person possessed,” an intimate form of third-person narration that feels as urgent and compelling as first-person. Designed for beginners, Klaassen’s text walks readers through the basics of story, character, and scene, with particular emphasis placed on point-of-view strategies. He then offers tips for troubleshooting a fiction manuscript that isn’t quite working, including notes about structure and revision, using a version of the fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk” as a sample text. Klaassen incorporates many original ideas from his two previous writing manuals, including 11 modes of fiction writing and the scene-sequel structure. With these lessons and more, Klaassen hopes to turn the aspiring writers of today into the bestselling novelists of tomorrow. The prose here is direct and easy to follow, gradually building up the reader’s knowledge of craft jargon: “A character’s voice may be revealed in several ways. The most obvious is through dialogue. A character’s unspoken words, his thoughts, may also reveal his voice, especially when those thoughts are expressed through direct introspection.” His choice to use a public domain fairy tale as his primary example is perhaps an odd one, however, given the many stylistic differences between a fairy tale and contemporary adult fiction. Klaassen does not quite deliver on his rather ambitious claims. The eponymous and supposedly new narrative perspective doesn’t ultimately sound all too revolutionary. But his guidelines are by and large good ones that will help his readers improve their stories. While it should probably not be the final resource consulted by an aspiring writer, the book works well as an introductory fiction guide.

A comprehensive writing guide that mixes conventional wisdom with some original notions.