On how to be a zillionaire, Patrick King wrote:
>>There in lies the rub. You can spend a buck on a lottery ticket, or you can spend three years of your life writing a book you calculate "everybody" is going to love.
>>I doubt that that was the method Brown or Rowling used to break the mind barrier, anymore than it was the method of Ian Fleming, Grace Metslious, Margaret Mitchell, or Edgar Rice Burroughs.
>>These writers wrote what amused and interested them, and were fortunate to be published in such a way as to attract a very large audience. They aimed at their own inner core and found something that resonated with many. I doubt anyone who has aimed at the audience in a calculating manner has ever hit that kind of payday. I've read lots of books that come from that cold, professional attitude and they don't resonate. Many people may buy them searching for more Harry or more Bond or more Scarlett, but those characters aren't there and though the books sell, they fail. Ultimately, a novel is a work of art however crudely executed. If one's writing to make millions, the lottery ticket is probably going to be less disappointing.<<
I've often been at odds with Patrick -- eh, not often but occassionaly -- but his comment above is utterly target.
Other than "write from the heart" the only way to be the first kid on the block with something is to write what "they didn't know they wanted."
Frankly, Christine Matthews book sounds classic. Maybe RJR could put his name on it and both he and she could break out. (It's about time for Randisi and probably Christine too)
Jack Bludis
The "Dead Starlets" trilogy of retro pulp by Jack Burns is up at
Amazon Kindle--It is some of Jack's earliest work in the PI genre.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 14 Mar 2010 EDT