Comments on: Why I Bristle When People Ask Me What My Novel Is About

By: Irina

Irina — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:50:00 +0000

Ha! Maybe that’s the best answer: what’s your novel about? It’s about everything.

By: bigdumbjim

bigdumbjim — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:55:00 +0000

Well, I’m happy to know that it isn’t just me. It’s kind of the anti-Seinfeld novel. Instead of a novel about nothing it’s a novel about everything…

By: Irina

Irina — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:49:00 +0000

I wish I’d thought of it David’s way too. I think it’s really difficult when you’re close to the novel and one of its cheerleaders to think about it in the terms that David mentions: fragmentation and community, creativity and marginalization…yes, that’s it exactly isn’t it? Every tiny bit of this manuscript, as I originally saw it, feels essential and the urge is to say to a prospective reader: this is one of the most tightly constructed tales about the complexity of being people that’s been written in the last decade. It’s hard to talk about WLP without wanting to get into the fabulous minutia. I know because I keep trying to explain it to friends and run into that same wall again and again.

By: bigdumbjim

bigdumbjim — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:23:00 +0000

ROFL.

David, you crack me up.

By: David Rochester

David Rochester — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 06:01:00 +0000

Well, each book is different . . . some books really ought to focus on the micro vs. the macro. For example, I bet I would have had a better chance at selling my book had my agent and I not pitched it as a philosophical study about extremism, identity, and self-invention. We should have said “It’s about heroin-shooting lesbian whores in corsets.”

So, you know. It all depends.

By: bigdumbjim

bigdumbjim — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:05:00 +0000

I think you're both right. And I wish I'd heard it put David's way earlier.

>Saying that your book is about a fantasy game is like saying that "Huckleberry Finn" is about a rafting trip.

Wow. Nicely said. I don't know why, but I feel compelled to talk about the plot with my book, but really, I shouldn't. It's the macro issues that make the book unique. I only wish I'd thought about this some time ago when we were working on all the marketing materials.

*sighs*

By: David Rochester

David Rochester — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 02:36:00 +0000

I’m with Irina on this one, whomever she may be. Because really, the book isn’t about fantasy gaming — that happens to be the device you used to tell a story about connection and disconnection, fragmentation and community, creativity and marginalization. Saying that your book is about a fantasy game is like saying that “Huckleberry Finn” is about a rafting trip.

By: Irina

Irina — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 01:51:00 +0000

I would go with: It’s a book about how the internet has changed our lives. I think that is a brilliant way to succinctly tell people what the book is about. Plus, it’s open-ended and deep sounding. People are usually moved to read books about the modern human condition. Don’t you think?