Monday, November 17, 2008

Economy The New Terror?

No, that's not a political manifesto (thank god).

Smita Jain (author of the new book Kkrishnaa's Konfessions)
asks here
For example, many thriller writers almost went out of business after the end of the cold war between the USA and USSR. Till they found terror. Perhaps it is time to think the same economically?


For some reason I couldn't leave a comment there, so here's my thoughts -

(1) For suspense you need a villain. Who is the antagonist in an economic suspense novel? Another corporation? Been there, done that.

(2) Remember that publication is on a two year delay, more or less. A story keyed to an economic environment rapidly becomes dated (although economies do cycle).

(3) It doesn't work to write about what everyone else is writing about. Just write what you think people would actually enjoy reading, especially people like yourself.

(4) I believe that upbeat stories are more likely to be successful in the coming climate, but that's just an educated guess.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Dal Jeanis, think 'A stone for danny Fisher.' Newer realities throw up newer villians, not necessarily big bad corporations.

Dal Jeanis said...

Hey Smita! Your novel sounds very fun!

I'm informal, call me Dal, like in Dallas. (Or in your part of the world, like a nice lentil stew.)

I've seen King Creole, years ago, but never read the Harold Robbins Stone novel it was based on. I understand the adaptation into an Elvis Presley musical movie vehicle took some, ah, liberties...

I do think that stories about depressions perform better a few years after the economic problems end - Stone was published in 1952, the movie in 1958 - but writers should write whatever inspires them.