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The more wide the appeal of your book, the more copies it will sell ...
which will enable you to write more, and isn't that what we all want?
I am speaking this April on how to write fantasy well. Here is some of what I will say.
People still read Dumas, Dickens, Twain, and Jane Austen. Why?
Their characters speak to universal needs and dreams: to belong, to be felt of worth, to find that ship that is better than any made of steel or wood ... friendship.
The universal stories which resonate within the human core contain archetypes, which are symbols or energetic imprints that exist in our psyches.
Jung theorized that humans have a "collective unconscious", and in this collective unconscious are "deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.
We even find them in our dreams ... or our movies:
Why should we strive to make our novels universal?
1.) Obtain the largest possible audience.
2.) Why shoot for second best? Shoot for the moon.
3.) It is a harsh publishing climate ... we must work to stand out from the crowd.
WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES A NOVEL UNIVERSAL?
DO YOU THINK WE AUTHORS SHOULD STRIVE TO MAKE OUR NOVELS CLASSICS?
A novel is universal when it addresses a basic need shared by most humans: a need for love, a need to be recognized as having value, and a feeling of worth. If we can identify with the character's struggles, we will remember that story for a long time. That's what classics mean to me.
ReplyDeleteWhat DG said. It has to tap into a common feeling.
ReplyDeleteD.G.:
ReplyDeleteAnd to me as well.
Alex:
I guess you, D.G., and I are on the same page! :-)