Finally, we come to it. What makes the successful break out novel? In order to get here, we’ve played with the concepts of literature and genre. Lines are often arbitrary drawn between the two. We’ve also talked about the issue of popularity and how sales don’t necessarily mean a break out novel, although people do get confused in regard to that point.
Let’s talk about sales for a moment. Mind you, this is from someone who’s first story has yet to come out, and who knows minimally about publishing, so I can’t talk about anything from a business end. What I want to say is that the point of sales is to make cash, right? For you, for the publisher. Don’t confuse writing the breakout novel with popularity or high sales. Yesterday, perusing the program book of a convention I’m going to soon, there seems to be some doubt that cross pollination of genres is a good thing, and that maybe what a writer creates when they do cross pollinate is a many-headed hydra (yup, getting ready for that Hercules novel). The industry, and often readers of genre fiction, are hostile toward something new. If something isn’t broken, why fix it? If you’re making money, why fix it? If you’re enjoying reading the same thing, why change the formula? Ditto on writing. The break out novel can be a way to reach a wider audience. It can also alarm the audience you have and can frighten your editor. You’re going against your brand.
So, why try to write the break out novel? Break out novels can be popular, but so can genre novels. Popularity is based on a myriad of factors we can’t control as writers, and the ones we can do not guarantee that readers who don’t usually read us will read us. I guess it’s got to be a personal thing.
How do I know, as a reader, if I’m looking at a break out novel. If I use my definition of literature as my guide, a book that speaks to human experience over time, I know that if I’m moved or engaged by a novel, I’m half way there. The rest? If others around me are moved, the writer stands to make some scratch. If 20 years later, the book still speaks to people, congrats! You’ve really broken out!
Who’s really broken out? I suggest Tolkien. Yup, he’s the grandmaster of high fantasy, but what pulled me into that story was the epic friendship between Sam and Frodo, the moral grappling of Smeagol/Gollum, as well as the battles between good and evil. Lots of people who don’t read fantasy have read that book for those human elements. Who else? Peter Beagle. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I know, heavy hitters. Look at their books. See the human mixed with the fantastic. See countless generations appreciate the human experience.
Michael Chabon then? He shows every sign of having written a break out novel, but I’ll have to look back on him in 20 years and see how it goes.
How do you write the break out novel? Oh, that’s for different muses than me. I’d suggest graduate school classes, the Clarion workshop, and maybe some gin. Or not.
Catherine
