Posts
Literary tastes are drying up. I Googled "Cover of KIM" and got the first picture. Interesting.
Somewhere on the net I read that "children and adolescents are a distinct race."
Children and adolescents are certainly regarded as a distinct literary species. And the production of books for said species has become a mighty industy.
More the pity, for it is based on a lie. Let's be kind and call it a theory - one not backed up by the facts.
Many children/teenagers, like many of us, never read when they can find any other entertainment. But they, like us, do not read the same thing. Some read fantasies, others sport legends, still others war or romance or ...
You see my point. They, like us, are human. Silly children/teenagers prefer success stories about school life as silly adults prefer success stories about adult life.
KIM, GULLIVER, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, SHERLOCK HOLMES, WAR OF THE WORLDS ... all now considered juvenile fare. They were written for, and are still enjoyed by, adults.
Even the fairy tale was not originally intended for children. They were told and enjoyed in (of all places) the court of Louis XIV. J.R.R. Tolkien points out that it gravitated to the nursery when it went out of fashion for the adults.
Juvenile taste is simply human taste,
going on from age to age, silly with a universal silliness or wise with a universal wisdom, regardless of culture or literary nay-sayers.
Moral?
Those who have a story to tell must appeal to the audience that still cares for storytelling,
who still love Story --
those series of events that pull back the curtains on the mechanisms of life :
Romance. Power. Danger. And the continuing quest to find the truth of our lives and our place in the crowded, yet solitary, path of life.
You're frowning.
Turn Story into Music, and you will understand at once.
JACK THE GIANT KILLER is not the story of a clever hero evading danger. No. Its essence is the hero surmounting danger from giants.
Think the intro music for Darth Vader ... for the shark in JAWS ... for Michael Myers in HALLOWEEN ... for Hannibal Lector in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
That intro music touches the soul of each in the audience, each in a different way ...
no matter the age.
The Story dictates the villain which dictates the trials of the hero. A good Story will appeal to all ages as did the trials of Harry Potter.
In this traumatized Publishing Industry, we must draw all ages to our Story, not fence any out.
What are your thoughts?
Somewhere on the net I read that "children and adolescents are a distinct race."
Children and adolescents are certainly regarded as a distinct literary species. And the production of books for said species has become a mighty industy.
More the pity, for it is based on a lie. Let's be kind and call it a theory - one not backed up by the facts.
Many children/teenagers, like many of us, never read when they can find any other entertainment. But they, like us, do not read the same thing. Some read fantasies, others sport legends, still others war or romance or ...
You see my point. They, like us, are human. Silly children/teenagers prefer success stories about school life as silly adults prefer success stories about adult life.
KIM, GULLIVER, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, SHERLOCK HOLMES, WAR OF THE WORLDS ... all now considered juvenile fare. They were written for, and are still enjoyed by, adults.
Even the fairy tale was not originally intended for children. They were told and enjoyed in (of all places) the court of Louis XIV. J.R.R. Tolkien points out that it gravitated to the nursery when it went out of fashion for the adults.
Juvenile taste is simply human taste,
going on from age to age, silly with a universal silliness or wise with a universal wisdom, regardless of culture or literary nay-sayers.
Moral?
Those who have a story to tell must appeal to the audience that still cares for storytelling,
who still love Story --
those series of events that pull back the curtains on the mechanisms of life :
Romance. Power. Danger. And the continuing quest to find the truth of our lives and our place in the crowded, yet solitary, path of life.
You're frowning.
Turn Story into Music, and you will understand at once.
JACK THE GIANT KILLER is not the story of a clever hero evading danger. No. Its essence is the hero surmounting danger from giants.
Think the intro music for Darth Vader ... for the shark in JAWS ... for Michael Myers in HALLOWEEN ... for Hannibal Lector in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
That intro music touches the soul of each in the audience, each in a different way ...
no matter the age.
The Story dictates the villain which dictates the trials of the hero. A good Story will appeal to all ages as did the trials of Harry Potter.
In this traumatized Publishing Industry, we must draw all ages to our Story, not fence any out.
What are your thoughts?
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ONLY 6 MORE DAYS LEFT TO WRITE A REVIEW OF ONE OF MY BOOKS ON AMAZON AND ENTER MY CONTEST!!!
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