The Da Vinci Cough
Recently I began reading The Da Vinci Code. A book I often scoffed at even though I never read it. I'm never one for popular fiction but after relentless bugging from Wenhui, I decided I'd give it a pop.
Ok, let's disregard the fact that Brown's first passage is false. That bit about how all the art, architecture, societies and rituals are all true.
Its basically a less than half decent book mixing religion, facts and history into a sort of suspense/thriller. Its an ok read right up until the ending. Which leaves you feeling rather flat. Brown's mixing of fact and fiction might be a good trick that manages to halt the slide of your interest for much of the book but falling into a chasm at the end certainly made my mind up.
Before I read the book, I watched The Real Da Vinci Code. A documentary hosted by Tony Robinson which I found immensely more interesting in terms of delivering new knowledge and questioning the standard version of events. Perhaps this made me biased, but then I had that disclaimer above that basically said I was reviewing it as a piece of fiction.
What was good about Brown's book was how it was a brilliant way to write a conspiracy novel. If you're going to write anything at all, a pure fiction book never creates any controversy even if you're writing about incestous baby boys and blood gargling gothic grannies. You want to mix fact and fiction but market it as fiction. Be sure to involve a touchy topic. That way, the storm of controversy that follows puts the title on everyone's lips. Go on tv a few times to sell your book, give blanket statements and "what do you think?" answers to questions to spike up the intrigue. After that, sit back, relax and watch the money roll in. All that guerilla marketing basically ensures that whatever crappy ounce of a story you've got is glossed over as readers search for the conspiracy!
I've obviously simplified things a bit but the main bits are there. The difficult part is finding the right topic, with enough fact to substantiate the fiction. It doesn't matter if you're basically writing the same book as someone else before you as long as you sell it right. And with that, I'm off to write my 3 sentence manifesto that will have the Pope, the Dalai Lama, various Muslim clerics and other religious heads after my ass. You heard it here first.
Ok, let's disregard the fact that Brown's first passage is false. That bit about how all the art, architecture, societies and rituals are all true.
Its basically a less than half decent book mixing religion, facts and history into a sort of suspense/thriller. Its an ok read right up until the ending. Which leaves you feeling rather flat. Brown's mixing of fact and fiction might be a good trick that manages to halt the slide of your interest for much of the book but falling into a chasm at the end certainly made my mind up.
Before I read the book, I watched The Real Da Vinci Code. A documentary hosted by Tony Robinson which I found immensely more interesting in terms of delivering new knowledge and questioning the standard version of events. Perhaps this made me biased, but then I had that disclaimer above that basically said I was reviewing it as a piece of fiction.
What was good about Brown's book was how it was a brilliant way to write a conspiracy novel. If you're going to write anything at all, a pure fiction book never creates any controversy even if you're writing about incestous baby boys and blood gargling gothic grannies. You want to mix fact and fiction but market it as fiction. Be sure to involve a touchy topic. That way, the storm of controversy that follows puts the title on everyone's lips. Go on tv a few times to sell your book, give blanket statements and "what do you think?" answers to questions to spike up the intrigue. After that, sit back, relax and watch the money roll in. All that guerilla marketing basically ensures that whatever crappy ounce of a story you've got is glossed over as readers search for the conspiracy!
I've obviously simplified things a bit but the main bits are there. The difficult part is finding the right topic, with enough fact to substantiate the fiction. It doesn't matter if you're basically writing the same book as someone else before you as long as you sell it right. And with that, I'm off to write my 3 sentence manifesto that will have the Pope, the Dalai Lama, various Muslim clerics and other religious heads after my ass. You heard it here first.
posted by Unknown @ 11:20 AM
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