Unless you've authored a novel yourself, you don't know that these ideas are often amorphous at first. I was asked where I got the idea for OTHERS, and that's unanswerable in a sound bite.
It began as a simple story on a beach, and elements came in over the years to grow it towards a novel-sized work. the theme of handling violence in a swift and certain and respectful and just way came out of an observation I had about what you may call sweet justice or vigilante justice or a happy accident.
I'll let the manuscript expound on that kind of justice, as that's the theme I finally conjured up to allow the rest of the story to write itself.
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Another idea--which turns out to be attention-grabbing--came out of my frustration with the recent Penn State story. What could have and should have been done at the earliest moment of this violence to absolutely stop it then and prevent attack on more victims? Too many people steer around that point, and it's totally lost in the overall discussion of this octopus they now view as the Penn State Evil Empire. It was an epiphany, a single line that popped into my head, that sums up the idea behind OTHERS:
Good thing someone assassinated Adolph Hitler back in 1932; imagine the millions of innocent lives that may have saved.
I'm using that line both in the ms. and as a basis for queries. Yeah, a single line that's technically not a logline may crash against the common rules and requirements for a query, but that line is definitely worth toying with for a possible variety of uses.
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I got some interesting feedback from a reader.
I wrote OTHERS with details and ideas I'd hope readers would latch onto, figuring some may find this or that little tidbit powerful enough to them so they'd give the book an overall thumbs-up.
My reader, however, had other feelings.
She dodged the many callbacks and points I made, and burst into flames because of a few portmanteaus the main character created. She claimed they're fads that need to be purged from the public vocabulary, or something close to those words. I'm willing to bet, though, that's she has at some time stayed at a motel, eaten at Panera, and gets her cable TV from Comcast. The term was invented by Lewis Carroll, and it appeared in two of his most famous books, so that reference was missed... not that I'd count on any reader to be aware of that. True, some portmanteaus stink, but some have wormed into the vernacular without exposing themselves for the hybrids they are.
She was also unable to connect with any of the characters, stating that she felt they were not well-developed. "Interesting concept", she once said, about this form of justice, and I believe she camouflaged her genuine feelings with that statement, an unstated revulsion of the theme that may have therefore failed any connection to any of the characters.
She also said she had a hard time following things here and there, and I believe that was also from this revulsion, an inability to get past something she found unappetizing.
She mentioned that the dialogue was verbose in places, and that "people don't talk that way." I'm a fan of simplicity, but I'm also a fan of leaning away from it a bit at times so as to get points across and make the reader think a little. Some people may talk that way, which is one point, but the better proof of that is a transcript I have of an Oprah show with Jay Leno as guest. The broken sentences, the crashed trains of thought, talking over each other, page-loads of ellipses. What you think people say and what they actually do may be two far different critters.
What may be telling, however, is the line she picked out as an example. For someone who is all for the justice system as it is and is totally against any form of street justice, this line would get in their grille. I strongly suspect that's her mindset.
I realize that when this hits print, I'll have to state up-front and unequivocally that I'm not at all an advocate of what's espoused in the book. It's a story. I wrote it to provoke, and get readers to think. I advocate this no more than Stephen King advocates bleeding at the prom.
What may be telling, however, is the line she picked out as an example. For someone who is all for the justice system as it is and is totally against any form of street justice, this line would get in their grille. I strongly suspect that's her mindset.
I realize that when this hits print, I'll have to state up-front and unequivocally that I'm not at all an advocate of what's espoused in the book. It's a story. I wrote it to provoke, and get readers to think. I advocate this no more than Stephen King advocates bleeding at the prom.
Because she couldn't get past a couple of objections and missed many elements I incorporated, she felt the ms. is not commercially viable. Well, maybe not for her. Now she knows not to buy a copy.
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Which brings up a point I've mentioned before, and which is the thread common to creations such as books, music, and movies: How do you get someone to assume ahead of time that their purchase will be worth their hard-earned paycheck?
The most common solution is to have some track record, something the consumer is aware of and has adjudged worth applying to the creator's next effort. A safe bet, based upon reliability and confidence, if you will. Reviews and word-of-mouth are huge help, anytime, but for someone trying out the dogfood in the beta stage, it's a colossal risk, but one that has to be analyzed with care and depth if one wants to market their next effort.
Further reviews and opinions will be the most telling, so I do what I can to generate those, ones of worth--if I can wisely swing it.
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