h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why do so many blockbuster novels fade into obscurity? What does it take for a novel to have lasting quality?

What I think a novel needs is as follows


1. A story (well D'uh I hear you cry). What I mean by this is something to grip you and carry you along, so that you immerse yourself in the writers creation.

2. Cross the Generation gap. I think it has to appeal to Old and young, so that the novel gets passed down from generation to generation. A grandparent reading it to a child.

3. Originality. If it is just a slight spin on something else already there the chances are it will have it's 15 minutes and then fade to obscurity.

4. Word of mouth. Much more powerful and lasting. What are you more likely to read? Something launched in a blaze of publicity that the media believes you should, or something that a friend/relative recommends?

5. Connection. The reader needs to be able to connect with the story, the characters and/or the setting. If you get all 3 then chances are you will have a classic.

Well that's what I think anyway

KJ

Hi Hypatia!

Do you have a specific novel in mind that you think shouldn't have faded into obscurity?

Love The Circle, by the way. Well done!

Hi KJ, Taralome.

Not a particular novel. We were having a discussion at work about some authors who were bestsellers when I was younger. Frank Yerby, for one, who I used to just love. And Taylor Caldwell. Both were great novelists. But their books are out of print and no one is interested in them anymore.

So that brings up today's stars. I wonder if in 40 years you will be able to find a John Grisham on the shelf or a Danielle Steel or a Mary Higgins Clark?

Then take a writer like Agatha Christie. I like her books but she certainly wasn't the craftsman that Yerby or Caldwell were. So why is she still popular?

Hi Hypatia,

See now you are asking a different question. Popularity and lasting quality don't always go together hand in hand.

Popularity, such as Agatha Christie (Stephen King also springs to mind) is mainly down to appealing to the masses. Providing something that isn't really too challenging, and appeals to the lowest common denominator (TV Execs and Hollywood) will suffice. A lot of the current popularity of the works of these writers can be put down to the fact that most people can watch the stories on screen rather than having to go to the trouble of reading the book.

True. The V.C. Andrews books fall into that category. I think they're dreadful. But they are big sellers and have a cult following. (Of course it annoys me that she has been dead for years and they've turned her into a corporation and are getting rich using her name.)

And Anne Rice. Popular now, but I can't imagine them still being around in 50 years.

Fantasy seems to have staying power - the good ones, of course. Probably because they don't become dated the way general fiction does.

H