The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
characters, to be thought of as successful, must be so unique, so complex, and so well rendered inside and out that the reader can know them in a way they will never know their real friends or even themselves. In other words, a character in a novel should be psychologically deep and real.
Jodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
What the godparents are teaching us about bestselling is that there must be a dominant topic to give the glue to a novel, and that topics in the next highest proportions should suggest a direct conflict that might be quite threatening.
Jodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
Consider romance alongside thrillers. These are two centrally important categories for any researcher of the contemporary book world because they are the two most lucrative genres. They rule the market, albeit different areas of the market. Thrillers still seem to have more power when it comes to the New York Times list. This is especially true in
... See moreJodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
When writing direct speech, the dialogue tags should be almost silent to the reader’s ear, as unremarkable as the word “said.” The contextual setup and the words inside the quotation marks matter to effective characterization, not a distracting verb outside them. This is precisely why ask and say are bestselling verbs but demanded and exclaimed are
... See moreJodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
The bestselling novel is a world in which characters know, control, and display their agency. Their verbs are clean and self-assured. Characters in bestsellers more often grab and do, think and ask, look and hold. They more often love. These characters have some self-awareness and self-knowledge. They own themselves, even when they don’t
... See moreJodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
our notion of character, among the many to choose from, is that a character must do things, and that doing is their agency.
Jodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
Characters without agency are wallpaper and detract from the story.
The title, then, when well chosen, should foreground the agency and, therefore, the action and drama of the entire upcoming narrative—its structure, its focus, its drive, its magnetism.
Jodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
Amy and Nick’s use of the word need captures their marriage perfectly, and to read a spreadsheet of these extracted sentences is to quickly experience the mounting tension between them. Nick says, “I need a drink.” Amy says, “I needed to be ambushed, caught unawares, like some feral love-jackal.” Nick says, “I don’t feel the need to explain my
... See moreJodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
I loved this book and did not consciously recognize this important indicator. The characters are saying straight-up what they need, no matter how childish, at almost all times. They are all impulse and action, even when having domestic conversations in the home.
The model’s favorite manuscript of the past thirty years was The Circle by Dave Eggers.
Jodie Archer • The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel
Now that was a bit of a surprise. I really like Eggers and do not place him in the same canon with many of the other best-sellers mentioned herein. That could also be, of course, since I have not read many of these best-sellers...