It’s harder than ever to get published by writing original fiction. So why bother? Why not just reimagine a proven bestseller with a tweak of genre, or a change of setting, and call it your own? If it works in politics…
So how about writing The Bourne Identity as a lifestyle thriller set in IKEA? What if fans of Stephen King wanted to see his take on YA Romance? Would The Hunger Games work as a diet book?
I will be far too busy at the end of this year to look back over what happened in the book world in 2017, so I’m doing my review now, before any of it has happened. Those of you familiar with this shtick may be aware that my 2016 advance review may have accidentally heralded the apocalypse. Sorry about that. I’m not proud of it, but I’m afraid I can’t promise you sunshine and bunnies in 2017 either.
It’s January, so it must be time you were told to change your life because everything’s wrong with it. Most of us will stumble across some article this week telling us to ditch the day job and follow our passion. But what if writing was like an ordinary, everyday office job?
I’m guest-posting over on Anne R. Allen’s blog this week with my book title generators – featuring the all-new Christmas Book Title Generator. If you’re feeling deprived of fun at any time over the next 3 weeks, this might be for you. And if you’re not feeling deprived of anything, this is definitely for you.
There are certain classic novels which we all know, because they’re still widely read today. But what would they look like if they were being published for the first time this year? Would Jane Eyre fit the Domestic Noir genre profile? Would the numerous plot strands of Bleak House be dumbed down? Who would supply the perfect cover quote for Robinson Crusoe? And who would dare to pigeon hole Ulysses? I would, that’s who.
What really happens at a book festival? Is it true they’re like music festivals for adults? And when it comes to fiction, why does crime always pay? Answers to these questions, along with others nobody ever bothered asking, within a click.
When customers want things, they want things now. They don’t want to wait for things to be manufactured or delivered or tested or marketed. If the fashion industry is now managing to get from catwalk to customer in six weeks, why does it take a year for a book which has already been written to get on the market? Also, naked men. Honest.
Why is Young Adult Fiction pigeon-holed into a daftly narrow age category? If so-called General Fiction is a mirror held up to society which helps us to cope with what we are – how better to do this, than to look at ourselves while we are becoming what we are? But don’t worry, it’s not all serious. Or perhaps it all is, except for that last sentence. Hmmmm.
When it comes to arts funding, we’re doing it wrong. We need to come at it from another angle, if we really want to bring writers, artists and filmmakers to their full and climactic potential. It’s a pun-filled manifesto.
Every writer with a day job dreams of writing full-time. It’s the holy grail of writerdom. But what’s it really like? Is the reality different from the dream? And what is it going to mean for your bathroom?
Tara Sparling writes 