Monday, February 7, 2011

And all I could say was... "Hello."

Fifteen bonus points to whoever can name that movie! :)

I loved Christa's post last week! And I especially loved the commentary that followed! And yes - I wrote Miss Match very loosely based on Emma and Cool Beans very loosely based on Persuasion. I'm rather fond of rewriting classics - or at least borrowing their plot lines!

I've heard it said that there are no new plots and I have to agree. I present Exhibit A - Avatar. Which, in all honesty, was just a dressed up, sci-fied, blue-bodied Pocahontas. It even had it's own version of the talking tree.

That being said, we can still be original - both in our voices and in our characters. So, even if you are writing the newest version of Moby Dick, you can still make it unique to YOU - because no one else will ever write the same way you do.

My agent told me once that great stories will always be published. Whether that's a retelling of Mary Poppins, a book about dragons, Mr. Peanut's back story or the latest and greatest chick-lit - if you write it well, it will find a home.

So, don't get down on yourself or your writing if you have been working for the last four years on an Indiana Jones-style novel and find out that no one is publishing those anymore. Great fiction will always sell. Learn to write, write your story well, and wait to see what God has planned for you.

It's going to be great!!

5 comments:

  1. Sleepless in Seattle!! Yay!! Now you need to pay up, darlin'! I'll take it in the form of a mocha, please! HA!! :)

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  2. Thanks erynn! I wondered which book you got Cool Beans from. Is your next book with Zondervan from Jane Austen?

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  3. Yep, definitely Sleepless in Seattle. :) And I love, love, love that we had such good conversation going last week. Always a bonus, that's for sure.

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  4. Before Sleepless in Seattle it was in An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr which was remake of Love Affair with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer.

    I love when a Tom Hanks movie can be used to make a point about life or writing :~)

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  5. You got it, Mom - And yep, I can pay you in a mocha! :) Yay! Coffee date! :)

    Tonya - No, my next book is totally free from plot-borrowing. WOW. New for me! Ha! :) It's a comedic suspense - I can't wait for it to release!

    Christa - it was such a great conversation! Loved it!

    Tamara - Exactly!! Sleepless in Seattle definitely borrowed that movie plot and then threw in quotes from it just to give a wink (like Christa said last week) to those who'd seen An Affair to Remember. Gotta love that!

    And I'm always a fan of using Tom Hanks movies to make a point. ;)

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