The Irresistible Novel: How to Craft an Extraordinary Story That Engages Readers from Start to Finish

Discover Your Voice and Enthrall Readers

The craft of writing is filled with various debates: Should I include a prologue? Should I delete all adverbs from my manuscript? Just how much backstory--if any--can I include in my story? These questions--and their often-contradictory answers--can cause confusion, frustration, and even paralysis in the writer.

The Irresistible Novel frees you from the limits of so-called "rules" and instead provides you with a singular goal: You must engage your readers from beginning to end. Filled with down-to-earth discussions on the various debates of writing, as well as innovative research on neuroscience and reader response, this book shows you how to:

• Navigate the various debates on writing fiction--showing versus telling, purple prose, outlining, writing description, and more--to decide what kind of novelist you want to be.
• Hack your reader's brain to hook her interest and trigger emotional engagement from the very first page.
• Incorporate enduring elements of storytelling from masters like Joseph Campbell, Aristotle, and Carl Jung.