Post by account_disabled on Dec 28, 2023 3:29:51 GMT -5
In the last 2 years I have received several offers to write novels ... but not from publishers. They were readers passing through the blog, who asked me if I wanted to write a novel for them . Someone had a good idea, but said they couldn't turn it into a novel. Someone else had a plot and was looking for someone to develop it into a novel. Someone else had started his novel and was asking me to finish it for him. My answer has always been the same: no, thanks. Of course I responded in a more polite way, explaining why. I'm not Stephen King Among the frequently asked questions on the King's website there is one on this topic: Do you accept ideas for your stories? Guess the answer.
It is easy to imagine how a world-famous author like Stephen King could receive similar proposals from his readers. Maybe they're hoping for a check for a few thousand dollars for coming up with a good idea. Maybe it's just for the glory, to have their name on the cover next to him. King gave the most obvious answer: he has enough ideas to write novels . I gave another one: I already Special Data have my problems writing my novels . We're both right (and in any case I also have enough ideas to write stories... if anything the problem is in managing to transform them all into novels ). However, there is another aspect of the matter to consider, perhaps the fundamental one: who stops to think about the consequences.
You entrust me with your idea and I'll write a novel about it: what if you don't like it? How an idea becomes a novel An idea is not a story , as I always say: it's just an idea. A thought, maybe just a situation; an idea is a signal: it tells us that something is being born in our head, something that is piquing our curiosity, that is triggering the desire to write. The idea, if it persists, if it remains in our memory, is a strong idea , an idea that is worth working on. But we don't know how it will evolve. Furthermore, an idea that may please me may not please you and vice versa. This is also the meaning of a strong idea: an idea that takes hold , which spurs the author to develop it into a plot and finally into a real story. Only in this way can that idea become a novel.
It is easy to imagine how a world-famous author like Stephen King could receive similar proposals from his readers. Maybe they're hoping for a check for a few thousand dollars for coming up with a good idea. Maybe it's just for the glory, to have their name on the cover next to him. King gave the most obvious answer: he has enough ideas to write novels . I gave another one: I already Special Data have my problems writing my novels . We're both right (and in any case I also have enough ideas to write stories... if anything the problem is in managing to transform them all into novels ). However, there is another aspect of the matter to consider, perhaps the fundamental one: who stops to think about the consequences.
You entrust me with your idea and I'll write a novel about it: what if you don't like it? How an idea becomes a novel An idea is not a story , as I always say: it's just an idea. A thought, maybe just a situation; an idea is a signal: it tells us that something is being born in our head, something that is piquing our curiosity, that is triggering the desire to write. The idea, if it persists, if it remains in our memory, is a strong idea , an idea that is worth working on. But we don't know how it will evolve. Furthermore, an idea that may please me may not please you and vice versa. This is also the meaning of a strong idea: an idea that takes hold , which spurs the author to develop it into a plot and finally into a real story. Only in this way can that idea become a novel.