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Sunday, April 11, 2010
Getting the Widest Audience Possible
Frequently we talk about craft elements that make books must haves: characters, plot, setting, voice, theme, pacing, etc. These are all things that must make up a best seller, yes, and as a writer, one feels almost like one is trying to juggle a bunch of knives and flaming torches to get everything into a mere 400 pages. It’s no wonder we feel sliced up and set on fire at the end, trying to accomplish the impossible: the perfect book. No book is perfect. Not even a J. K. Rowling book. Still, as writers, it is important to understand what attracts a best-seller audience. That is, if your long-term goal is to write commercial fiction, it is best to understand the audience that buys it.
But there are books that come close. Sugar Daddy was one of the most perfect novels for me. And the taut-line tension and suspense in the Deathly Hallows nearly killed me trying to get to the end. More than voice, more than craft, more than talent—there are elements that make up commercial fiction. The things you have to deliver if you want the widest possible audience. You can’t please everyone individually; but collectively, there are things that people as a whole expect from their stories.
The Universal: writers should write about things readers care about—and that they care about. What does the large collective audience care about? Family. Friends. Love. Comedy. Drama. The little guy triumphing over the bully. Justice. Fairness. Hope. Survival. Success. How these things are defined is up to you. Family is different for everyone; and love certainly encompasses a number of possibilities.
The Hero’s Journey: A nobody suddenly gets pulled into a series of events he wanted nothing to do with and/or doesn’t have time for because he’s too busy trying to keep his current life from going down the crapper; however, he faces his insecurities and accomplishes his goals with a little help from his sidekick. If he’s lucky he may be able to blow something up and kiss a girl. The key point about the hero’s journey is this: if the hero grows—changes—he triumphs and is reborn; but if he doesn’t change, he’s roadkill. Heroes are heroic; and heroes bring change. If they’re not, they’re called tragic heroes because they usually die at the end. So if your story has a “happy” ending for your hero, it means your hero changed. Make sure your reader notices.
The Escapism: The collective audience needs to escape the daily grind and wants to read your books to feel better. Prozac for the brain. Accomplishing goals; getting the girl; winning the prize—these all make us feel good about ourselves, even if it is vicariously. We all want to feel good about ourselves. We all want to think we’re special and capable of greatness. Triumph over adversity. The Chariot card in tarot. I swear this motif of storytelling came out of the primordial ooze. Best of all, once we read about someone special who is capable of greatness, we feel more special and capable of greatness. Books feed the soul; they’re a place where we can recharge before we have to face the world again.
These are the things that do it for me in commercial fiction—and these needs aren’t met, I don’t consider it commercial fiction. (I.e. this is why Nicky Sparks will never be commercial to me—he offends points two and three.)
What qualities do you bring to your commercial fiction (assuming that is what you write)? Are they same as mine, or do you have others? What do you look for in the books you read? What are some of your favorite books that offer these qualities?
But there are books that come close. Sugar Daddy was one of the most perfect novels for me. And the taut-line tension and suspense in the Deathly Hallows nearly killed me trying to get to the end. More than voice, more than craft, more than talent—there are elements that make up commercial fiction. The things you have to deliver if you want the widest possible audience. You can’t please everyone individually; but collectively, there are things that people as a whole expect from their stories.
The Universal: writers should write about things readers care about—and that they care about. What does the large collective audience care about? Family. Friends. Love. Comedy. Drama. The little guy triumphing over the bully. Justice. Fairness. Hope. Survival. Success. How these things are defined is up to you. Family is different for everyone; and love certainly encompasses a number of possibilities.
The Hero’s Journey: A nobody suddenly gets pulled into a series of events he wanted nothing to do with and/or doesn’t have time for because he’s too busy trying to keep his current life from going down the crapper; however, he faces his insecurities and accomplishes his goals with a little help from his sidekick. If he’s lucky he may be able to blow something up and kiss a girl. The key point about the hero’s journey is this: if the hero grows—changes—he triumphs and is reborn; but if he doesn’t change, he’s roadkill. Heroes are heroic; and heroes bring change. If they’re not, they’re called tragic heroes because they usually die at the end. So if your story has a “happy” ending for your hero, it means your hero changed. Make sure your reader notices.
The Escapism: The collective audience needs to escape the daily grind and wants to read your books to feel better. Prozac for the brain. Accomplishing goals; getting the girl; winning the prize—these all make us feel good about ourselves, even if it is vicariously. We all want to feel good about ourselves. We all want to think we’re special and capable of greatness. Triumph over adversity. The Chariot card in tarot. I swear this motif of storytelling came out of the primordial ooze. Best of all, once we read about someone special who is capable of greatness, we feel more special and capable of greatness. Books feed the soul; they’re a place where we can recharge before we have to face the world again.
These are the things that do it for me in commercial fiction—and these needs aren’t met, I don’t consider it commercial fiction. (I.e. this is why Nicky Sparks will never be commercial to me—he offends points two and three.)
What qualities do you bring to your commercial fiction (assuming that is what you write)? Are they same as mine, or do you have others? What do you look for in the books you read? What are some of your favorite books that offer these qualities?
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41 comments:
Wow...the quality I bring is the complete denial of reality as it is. Which I think is healthy for everyone to dicker about with now and then. Escapism to the maximum level, but something you can be comfortable with.
A blender sitting on the side of the pirate ship bar. A coffee shop open in a post-apocalypse world where music still plays. A young man born of a fox mother...
When I read I love to look for similiar anachronisms. Done cleverly, they just tickle me and a smile amidst the horror or adventure reassures me that hey, just playing here!
And btw We are special and capable of greatness. We doTriumph over adversity. It all depends on how you define special, greatness and adversity!
It's too early to stir up the ambivalence blender, Chance. And it's Monday, which is worse.
I suppose I'm fortunate in that what I write is very mainstream, right down the middle. Many on this blog, both crew members and faithful followers, will be breaking barriers in Romanceland. However, Bo'sun is not a barrier breaker. (No idea why I just referred to myself in the third person.)
But as we established last week, those wanting the uber-alpha will not find him in my stories. Those who want danger and saving the world won't get that either. But this blog is making me feel much better about the whole thing. I have family and love, overcoming adversity and characters who grow and change.
Yep, this makes me feel much better.
Ooohkay, 2nd, so you look for the wildest extremes possible to know you're no longer in reality...you're in good company. Many of the paranormals I've picked up the last couple years seem to be straining along those ropes.
So you're on the Escapism route--though that is subjective to the reader. I read to escape, but I like the sort of escape into a life I can believe would exist (small town, maybe, neurotic heroine, busybodies and drama) but where things turn out better than they do in my version of this life. *LOL*
Bo'sun, I'm glad my blog made you feel better. *LOL* (I'm guessing it put everyone else to sleep. Ah, well, I knew I should have gone with "Best Places You've Had Sex" blog. I know next time!) Can't entertain them every time....
Hellion, what a great description. I've always wondered how to describe what "commercial fiction" is, but now I'll just point people to this post!
When I finally got brave enough to tell people I'm a writer, I always let them know I was writing escapist fiction -- I want people to sit in their bubble bath at the end of a craptastic day and giggle because of my crazy characters, and feel happy when they're done.
In real life lately I've been getting a little exasperated with people who don't "grow". LOL I can see what changes they're going through, even if they can't, and I get impatient waiting for them to experience the growth I'm used to with characters in books. LOL
I guess I need to scale back on the escapism. LOL
I like escapism. I like thinking about living in an alternate world where I live amongst the vamps, witches, pixies and demons. I find myself gravitating to paranormals only because of this element. While I do enjoy the norm, even enjoy fiction that is a helluva lot like where I grew up, it's not the type of reading I love to do.
Now, writing? I tend to write the Hero's journey and escapism at the same time. And denial. Which I think this writing should be called, "No Mans Land" writing.
And I'm totally writing about the places you have your characters have sex this week. After I said something about chandelier sex this weekend, I had to talk about sex.
Ah, well, I knew I should have gone with “Best Places You’ve Had Sex” blog.
Well, personally, I'd prefer some advance notice on this one. So I'll have time to come up with something interesting. LOL
That's what I was thinking, Donna. LOL! I can't come up with stuff like that right off the top of my head!
And this was like a smack upside the head. "In real life lately I’ve been getting a little exasperated with people who don’t “grow”. This makes me nuts and it describes most of the key players in my life. You'd think at some point they couldn't help but change. But noooooooooo.
I think I go for Escapism and the Universal. I try to hit on things that everyone can relate to (universal) but without the negative outcomes (escapism). :)
Universal themes I favor: coming to accept our own imperfections. Even to embrace them as part of our overall package.
I'm guessing I'm not big on escapism. No alternate universes for me. No creatures of myth and legend. Man, I'm boring.
But I don't want all strict reality either. That's just depressing. LOL!
Sin, you like to write in denial? *LOL* This is true. But I can see with your books how they'd follow an actiony Hero's Journey sort of growth and change...and I think with a series, it's very important to make sure your characters keep growing and changing.
Sin, clearly you'd do a sex blog far more justice than I would.
Donna, you have until Wednesday to think of something.
Donna, don't scale back on the escapism. It makes the reality so much easier to deal with. *LOL* You know that somewhere, even if it's only in fiction, people actually change! *LOL*
In fiction, evolution happens at the speed of light. In reality, evolution happens at the speed of a snail...it's just how it is.
Marnee, I love that Universal! Acceptance is a great Universal theme--and one of my favorite ones to read. It's probably why I like Plain Jane stories so much...it's not really about looking beautiful suddenly, it's about understanding you were beautiful all along. :)
I guess I should hand out scripts to the real-life people who don't realize they're experiencing "growth". LOL It might make things easier for them (and for ME, now that I think about it! LOL)
And the escapism in my books is not other-worldly. It's reality-based, but kicked up a notch on the kooky scale. LOL
Oh, and I meant I'd need time to CREATE something interesting for the "Best Places" blog. LOL It's been a little dull in that arena lately!
Bo'sun, escapism isn't only alternate universes. Linda Lael Miller's contemporary single-title cowboy series (McKendricks?) are very "normal" universe. But I definitely felt pulled into the story and setting, and it was an escape to spend time with modern men who are coping with things we all cope with, who are honorable and just trying to do right by their kids. It was a good escape.
And no one got shot at. No one died. No one had alien sex. I still enjoyed it mightily.
Nothing drives me battier than to read a book where no one GROWS. Ugh. It's like opening up a Stephanie Plum book where everything stays the freakin' same. I dunno why I torture myself but I do it over and over again.
Though, I can't remember if I read 15 or not. It must be that denial that I love so dearly kicking in.
Hellie - I think I like your same kind of escapism. I just want the characters to say what people never seem to say in real life. I want the story to turn out well and for the people who deserve to win to win.
Reality with some tweaks for the good.
Sin, I wonder if it's possible for characters to grow much in a series. People keep coming back to a series character because they like them, and maybe if they DID change, it would change what brought the reader back?
Did that make sense to anyone but me? LOL
I assume they have to make small changes or the story wouldn't work. But larger changes? Maybe it's not permitted in that world. I don't know. Just speculating.
Sin, I'm going to take your advice and pretend the books ended with 12. *LOL*
Bo'sun, we're not that witty or brave in real life. *LOL* Some of the things said in a book take real balls.
Donna, believe me, not changing also can lose your readership. You start screaming, "Tinkle or get off the pot already!" I think you should have an end for your series in sight; and you should have an overreaching character arc for your protagonist. Heroes who don't change die. That's the paradigm in storytelling that I see anyway. *LOL*
But yes, I definitely agree if you change "in the wrong direction" for your audience, or if your audience didn't want something particular to happen--how you'd have a rebellion on your hands. But you need to stay true to your characters and their needs. The audience will just need to deal. (People are still pissed off that Harry Potter didn't die for good. They wanted the LOTR ending, I guess.)
But it might depend on the series. The series I read I believe needs character arc and hero growth. I don't read fantasy, so maybe it's not as important in those areas??
Regardless if it's a series or a single title, if your character didn't grow from mistakes, what type of character would they truly be? Can you really relate to a character like that as a reader? I don't think so but that's MHO.
You have to change in the "right" direction if you're going to have growth. There is constant growth in Kim Harrison's books, yet her readership keeps growing. I need growth in characters ARCs to keep me interested. If you keep making the same stupid mistake over and over again, after the first couple of times I don't think it's funny anymore. I just think it's overdone and burnt and ready to pitch into the trash can.
I think that's why I'm done with Plum. She does NOT grow or learn from her mistakes; and the author even SAYS she doesn't plan to have the character arc in any way.
Frequently in series there is a romance triangle, and sometimes your readership is heartbroken if the hero/ine doesn't pick the triangle leg you were rooting for--but hell, if you COMMIT to the decision, at least I can eventually come to respect it. I may not like it, but I will still respect it.
If you do nothing, I don't like it or respect it.
Learn from your mistakes or get hit by the bus already...if I wanted to hang out with people who never changed their ways, I'd contemplate my own life!
I agree with you on making the same stupid mistakes over and over. It's hard to root for a character if they don't at least REALIZE they're doing that! But I feel they can be heroic if they change those things, or you can see they really are trying to change them.
I think it would be boring for the author too -- to keep writing the same character with not a speck of change to them.
I'm not bored, Hellie, just insanely busy.
I think all of us who write romance with a guaranteed HEA know we're writing escapism. Real life HEAs seem to be the exception rather than the rule, and even among the HEAers, I'd venture to say there are more struggles, more work, less drama, and fewer perfect-word exchanges than we see in romance fiction. But I like the idea of being an escape artist.
OK, I say we strap Bo'sun to the mast and slap her everytime she says she's boring.
OK, now that is off my chest.
- big sigh
I think about my super long Caribbean series, and the characters certainly change. But there are always old haunts that come back to show them just how much they haven't changed. Because I think we do tend to repeat the programming. Hopefully, each time we approach it again, we get better and better at getting ourselves out of the trips and traps. But they are still there.
Escapism can sometimes just going to a different place...doesn't have to be another planet, or time or reality. I've read Nora for her Ireland escape. I've read Nevada Barr for the visit to the National Parks she sets each book in. All contemporaries!
And don't put down alien sex! ;)
Janga the Escape Artist. I like it. It fits you.
I think in real life, we're always working on HEAs all the time--it fluctuates--but in books, it seems like it's "permanent". But we prefer the feel of permanent at the ending of books, I think. I think we prefer the reassurance that some things remain the same even if we don't visit them for a long time--like when you go off to college, you expect your room to stay the same. You don't expect it to be turned into a guest bedroom or the house sold outright so your parents can go RVing. It's that Human Desire of Permanence and Comfortable and Safe. HEAs offer a place of safety (I think).
Now, now, 2nd, if Bo'sun won't let me strap YOU to the mast and slap you every time you say something Californian and completely hippie, then you're not allowed to do the same to her.
But there are always old haunts that come back to show them just how much they haven’t changed. Because I think we do tend to repeat the programming. Hopefully, each time we approach it again, we get better and better at getting ourselves out of the trips and traps. But they are still there.
This I could very well believe. I see this all the time. *LOL* I think the key is showing the character recognizing it though. (I think we're annoyed at Plum because she doesn't even realize it. She's a twit.)
I quit reading the Plum books around book 9... Same old, same old and I just couldn't stand another Lulu bit of nonsense. Honestly, Grandma I could handle, but Lulu was getting on my nerves.
I'll take a lash or two if we can break Bo'sun's "I'm boring" habit.
I might even enjoy it... ;)
How about "I'm less eccentric?" ;)
When I say I'm boring, I'm speaking comparatively to the rest of you. Let's face it, on this ship, I'm not in the top five when it comes to interesting characters. LOL!
And I totally get the characters revisiting some old traps. I mean, they are who they are, that's how we justify their motivations and actions. So there will always be that quick-fire, maybe not the best reaction when certain hot buttons are pushed.
It's not that I don't think people can't change. I'm a big believer in change. But I think people get lazy or quits paying attention and then the old stuff just sorta slides back in. And if we do that with characters, in a long series, we acknowledge that.
It's in how fast you catch it, how you react to it. That is where the change can be shown.
Less eccentric? A state trooper was chasing you for who knows how far and with your i-pod on too loud and attention so taken by other things...you didn't see him in your rear view mirror?
That has all the potential for one hell of an interesting cross country chase! The rest stop intervened... I love it!
Lulu gets on my nerves too. Though I enjoyed book 9 for the pie reference.
Hot buttons are a bitch sometimes. *LOL*
Lulu is such an outdated stereotype...I'm surprised she doesn't get bitched at for the character, honestly.
I've only read the first Plum book so I have the joy of thinking of it as a one off. LOL!
I don't think he was chasing me for that long. Maybe. He wasn't pissed when he pulled up next to me. And didn't seem irritated that I had no idea why he was even talking to me. LOL!
Honestly, I think 11 and 12 are my favorite Plum books. Mostly because there isn't much Lula and Connie and Grandma. I get comedic relief characters, but the same gags over and over again is lame.
I'm saddened. Plum was the first series I actually LOVED to read. I've always enjoyed reading, I just was never CONSUMED by fiction before Plum. It's since been replaced with Kim Harrison, who is by far a much better writer.
I got a Plum book at the library the other day, since I haven't read one for a while, and I wanted to be able to chat here about the books. I think I got the third one.
So, when does Ranger get to be more interesting? :)
High Five, Hot Six, Ranger's characters starts to get real interesting. Change, character arc, I don't get it. JE once knew how to do this stuff, why is it so difficult to do it now?
Sin - I think JE started phoning it in. You know, she arrived and is off the road... It's sad. I don't think it's anymore difficult for her than before, but...why bother?
I just don't think she wants to. She basically SAYS she doesn't want to. And considering the complacency of a lot of the readership, they don't care either.
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