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January 29, 2005

Candidates

filed under publishers & publishing | the fiction business

There were some interesting suggestions in the comments yesterday regarding Category Seven novels. --which of course I defined, so the whole enterprise is highly suspect. But here we go anyway.

If you'll remember, a Category Seven novel:

1)
(a) is well written (prose that is above the ordinary, strong characterization, etc);
(b) has a strong, well structured plot;
(c) is thematically relevant or fashionable or at least, potentially engaging

2) is a critical success (has been noted by major review/newspaper outlets in an over-all positive way)

3) is a commercial success (though we haven't figured out if we're talking world-wide commercial success or not).
The hypothesis is this:
whether a novel is (1) commercially successful, (2) critically successfuly, or (3) both depends on the ratio of the three characteristics given above (strong writing, strong plot, strong theme) as well as on marketing. More specifically, my hypothesis is that a book can be commercially wildly successful if it has some combination of (a) and/or (b), and that (c) doesn't predict much except critical success. A novel that meets ALL the criteria is a Category Seven novel.
Everybody confused now? Okay, so here's the list of novels offered as Category Seven:
  • To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee
  • Birdsong | Sebastian Faulks
  • Regeneration | Pat Barker
  • Fly Away Peter | David Malouf
  • The Lovely Bones | Alice Sebold
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon
  • The Name of the Rose | Umberto Eco
  • Possession | A. S. Byatt
Somebody mentioned Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, but that isn't a novel, so I'm leaving it off the list for now.

If you could measure commercial success solely in terms of books sold (as they do with box office receipts for movies) it would be a little easier to talk about this, but as it is, we have to be pretty flexible in our definition of commercial success. It occurs to me that it would be interesting to name some hugely successful novels and see how they fit into the scheme. What about these big sellers?

Title Story/Plot Writing Theme Critical
success?
Harry Potter ? ? ? ?
The DaVinci Code - - + -
The Shining ? ? ? ?
Cold Mountain ? ? ? ?
The Accidental Tourist ? ? ? ?

The only book I've evaluated is The DaVinci Code, because I've reviewed it here, very bluntly. And this is my opinion, of course, and nothing more. I could fill in the others according to my own perceptions, but that would defeat the purpose. Because i do have one.

January 29, 2005 03:03 PM

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Comments

I'd say "Cold Mountain" is a category Seven novel. Not sure about the others as its been some while since I've read them or I haven't read them yet so I don't know if they are well written or about their plot. I'd agree with you on "The Da Vinci Code".

Posted by: Jacqui at January 29, 2005 07:08 PM

Harry Potter is the odd one out in that list; in terms of evaluation I would rate it highly in all categories...within the context of the Young Adult genre.

I agree with you on "The Davinci Code", entirely.

"The Shining" (for me) falls down on the Writing criteria. The imagery and use of language in both narrative and conversation is not as subtle or intricate as, say, "Cold Mountain". But maybe a deliberate lack of this is as commendable as the deliberate use of it?

Posted by: Meredith at January 30, 2005 12:34 AM

I've limited my list to 5 extant authors:
Card, Orson Scott: Ender’s Game
Gabaldon, Diana: The Outlander
Kinsale, Laura: Flowers from the Storm
Niffenegger, Audrey: The Time Traveler’s Wife
Takashi, Matsuoka: Cloud of Sparrows

Posted by: asdfg at February 4, 2005 06:47 AM

Tough assignment! The life that teems around me got in the way. Jostling elbows, screaming for food and so on.

I don't think I've read "serious lit" in a while. For "7" I thought maybe Anne of Green Gables, it is so loved in Japan, after all. Not sure of the thematic relevance, although coming of age is always popular I guess. And how well she wrote, I've never had a problem, but experts may differ.

I look at my bookshelves and I see mainly genres - scifi, fantasy, romance, spy novels. And childrens' classics are fast hogging shelf space.

Aside from your Wilderness novels, I haven't read much contemporary lit. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler is one I recall enjoying a great deal. I'm sort of glad I wasn't raised to be a literature snob. All reading was encouraged, and not questioned much. My library card was my own business, thankfully. But I think that I missed "the classics" due to my french immersion schooling. We read To Kill a Mocking Bird, and Dickens, Chaucer, V.S. Naipaul and those are the ones I remember. Surely there were others.

One of my girls is turning 5. She is starting to read and it's so exciting. I know this is unrelated, but a topic that would be of keen interest to me in the future would be the appropriate age to read novels (and which ones) to pre-schoolers, and primary school children. My husband and I are currently debating the merits of The Princess Bride or The Hobbit. I was not in favour. But I didn't have a "counter" for him to consider. Just want to start them off well for imagination and interest.

Posted by: Pam at February 5, 2005 10:39 AM

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