Thursday, August 09, 2007

So, you wanna write like Rowling...

Writing the Jane Espenson Way...
(Image from Wikipedia)

Or maybe, you just want to make that much money. Well, you're in luck, for Jane Espenson, "The Secret to Selling Sci-Fi: Fantasy Land" (The New Republic, August 7, 2007), has just revealed the secret to Rowling's success:

Write books that people want to read.

Nah, just kidding. That's not the secret, though most individuals who write books do write the sort that they seem to prefer go unread -- and not just scholars producing their academic tomes, either, but even writers of fiction, who one would ordinarily assume wish to produce bestsellers.

I blame the crit-lit theorists.

But you're still waiting for that secret. Okay, here it is, from Jane's Literary Advisory Services. Hold on, that link looks fishy. Here's the right one:

It's a very specific type of Hero's Journey, the most potent sub-case. It's told over and over again, and it works, over and over again .... [The heroes are] living a life, sometimes a fine one, often a troubled one, but certainly one governed by ordinary rules, when suddenly the curtain is pulled back and a whole new world, or a new set of rules of this world, is revealed. And what's more -- and this is the important part -- in that new world, they are something special. They are The Chosen One .... The Chosen One paradigm is the most positive, most comforting, most affirming metaphorical version of change, of growing up, that I can imagine .... [This paradigm] has obvious inherent appeal to children. They know that they're going to have to move into new worlds as they grow up, and they're scared. A story that tells them that when they arrive they're going to be recognized for the extraordinary person they hope they are, and that they're going to overcome all obstacles even if they're scared[, will push all the right buttons] .... [T]he big secret is that grown-ups are every bit as terrified of change as kids, and even more eager to imagine that the ordinary world might be replaced with somewhere in which their specialness is suddenly obvious .... So here's what I think we need to do if we want to write [a bestseller]. We need to start with an empty page of notebook paper, write "The Chosen One" across the top and start brainstorming.
Espenson is writing tongue in cheek, but her central point is correct. The Hero's Journey paradigm of The Chosen One is widely appealing, so if you want to sell a lot of books and make a lot of money like J.K. Rowling has done, then you've got to tell a hero's tale.

Simple as Rowling off a log ... almost.

What you now must learn is the even more crucial secret to writing a hero's tale that sells millions and rakes in billions, and if you're interested in knowing that, then just send me a bank check for $50.00 -- a small investment -- and I'll reveal that secret to you alone since this is obviously not the sort of knowledge that we'd want to share with everybody.

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10 Comments:

At 6:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh Jeff,

I don't know why I found it so very funny when I read:

"That's not the secret, though most individuals who write books do write the sort that they seem to prefer go unread."

Should my check be sent to the University's address or where?

JK

 
At 7:14 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

JK, I can't explain your reaction either. I wrote those words in sadness...

But as for the money, yes, do send me that bank check in an envelope addressed to Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea. That should be enough for it to reach me.

Jeffery Hodges

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At 7:14 AM, Blogger Doug said...

Hmm, someone should have told the nine publishers and their readers who turned Rowling down before Bloomsbury agreed to a small print run publictaion for the first book

 
At 7:25 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Well, if those 9 publishers will each send me just $50.00...

Jeffery Hodges

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At 8:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jeff,

I too appreciate the quality of sadness that some books which have reached the published level evoke.

But, having read a few manuscripts writers were really enthusiastic about, who wanted me to edit, correct little things, adjust: I learned after a bit to say in some cases, wait a year then read it again. If you still feel the same, I'll help you any way I can. Except for one case only did I get a re-submission. The book was published and she and her Mom really enjoyed it.

Perhaps my giggling arose from the many pages of snippets which lay about in corners of my rooms awaiting their true calling. I'm speaking of works of fiction. The two authors I read prior to publication were very good but not much purchased.Non-fiction of course.

But once one sits upon it the requisite time, takes another look, decides the diction, grammer and such to be exemplary but then decides, "Lord, thank you for telling me to wait." Then the giggling part takes meaning.

JK

 
At 9:02 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

JK, what a full, surprising life you have led.

Sadness and humor ... the former needs the latter.

Jeffery Hodges

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At 10:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually Jeff,

There is a bridge, direct and paved smooth for easy passage from one to the other. No guardrails of course and it tends to sway. The chasm is steep, the water swift yet deep.

"The former needs the latter"? Mark my words. They are each the same.

Yet something still stinks within this room. Perhaps I should do my dishes?

JK

 
At 11:03 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Whose bridge that is, I think I know. I seem to have crossed it more than once...

Jeffery Hodges

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At 1:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ms Espenson may have plagiarized her advice from Bruno Bettelheim's "The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales".

I think I remember the passage "...a life, sometimes a fine one, often a troubled one, but certainly one governed by ordinary rules, when suddenly the curtain is pulled back and a whole new world, or a new set of rules of this world, is revealed. And what's more ... in that new world, they are something special. They are The Chosen One".

Bettelheim's book is a treasure trove, or a cheat-sheet, for every aspiring author of children's literature, even though this was of course not its intent. I'm glad somebody made me read the book. Every parent should.

 
At 5:24 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Erdal, thanks. I'll try to look that up.

Jeffery Hodges

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