Make No Demands on Me

Though this job has many pluses, one of the big negatives is the feeling that no matter how hard I try, I'll never catch up.  There is always a manuscript to be read or a new book by a favorite writer.  Then I have to try to keep up with the writers who seem to be breaking through, as well as interesting new voices.  I try to keep track of what the small presses are doing; and even the larger houses do publish a good book every now and again (kidding, kidding - they publish a lot of good stuff).  

When the pressure becomes too much, I look at my TBR pile and choose the book that I believe will make no demands on me.  These books are very much welcome when I want to go along for the ride and not think too hard, or learn anything, or deal with complicated characters.  When I pick up such a book, I want to give myself over to the story.  That puts me in a very uncritical frame of mind.  I'm more concerned with just enjoying the experience, not critiquing or thinking how it could have been better.

It occurs to me that such books can be pulled off by only the most skilled of writers.  Fortunately, there are a lot of them out there - you'll see their names on the bestseller lists often.  Take Patterson as an example.  You don't really have to think too hard; everything that's going on is pretty transparent, until that final surprise, which is all the more surprising because you've had the wool so effectively pulled over your eyes.  J.D. Robb is splendid at delivering a good story, well told; you know you're in the hands of a master.  I don't give a fig about anything that goes on in any of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books; Precious Ramotswe could spend 250 pages watching the dust collect and I'd be enthralled.

It takes a lot of talent to completely remove the desire to critique, and yet I think this is exactly what so much successful genre fiction accomplishes.  This goes back to a phenomenon I find frustrating and yet understand completely: The books that People (by which I mean the Reading Public that makes best-sellers) want to read are the ones that are most escapist. I really don't think most casual readers are looking for deep, meaningful tales.  They are looking for enjoyment.  And this accords with everything I've seen in all my years of doing this.  The "serious" books get great reviews and win awards; the "fun" books get as many 1-star reviews as 5-star reviews on Amazon and sell scads.  And this truism does drive acquisitions strategy, at least for those of us who want to make a profit.

I thought I'd sketch out a quick list of those things that the best escapist writers accomplish - what they do, and what they don't.

1. They don't overstay their welcome.  These books usually clock in about 300 pages or less, meaning they can be finished in a week, which I think is probably the average American's attention span these days.

2. They distinguish their characters from the get-go and avoid confusing readers.  They don't have three main characters names Tammy, Terri, and Tommy, knowing that all those capital T's will cause confusion.  Nor do they make the mistake of naming their characters Jane, Mike, and Tom.  No, their character names will be Prunella, Sebastian, and Big Mongo.

3. They keep it simple - one plot and no more than one subplot.  Too many threads makes people's heads spin, which is the last thing they want before bed.

4. They throw in a little romance, which rarely hurts and which always adds that fantasy element that people love to see.  And need I say that a happy ending is an absolute necessity?

5. Their books, while written for adults, interestingly work quite well for Young Adults.  There's not a surplus of "bad language" or sex, because books really don't need these to appeal to a wide cross-section of people.  The vocabulary isn't overly challenging - the words can be understood by the typical 15-year-old, with a few exceptions.  

6. They write to formula but mix it up a little bit, throwing in new situations and new characters to keep it all fresh.

I can't say that having all those elements in your manuscript will get you a contract, but if you already have a following, I can say that they'll most likely keep people buying/reading your books.

Comments

[Vicki]

Excellent post.

Both as a reader and a writer, I couldn’t agree more. As I was reading through the points, I was saying, “Yes, yes, YES.”

I work hard to ensure my writing is easy reading, and this post just confirms I’m on the right track. Thank you.

[James L. Thane]

Good points, all. This is exactly the sort of book I'm looking for on a day when my to-do list has suddenly become overwheliming, or when I'm stuck in airports and on planes all day and am in absolutely no mood whatsoever for something challenging and complex. There's definitely a time and place for more serious books, but some times you just want to kick back and relax in the company of a favorite genre author or someone who looks like he or she could become one.

[Naomi Johnson]

Patterson makes no demands on you? He makes the most impossible demand on me: that I suspend my disbelief when he's made it impossible for me to do so.