There is this blog called Stuff White People Like. Have you heard of it? This blog got a $300,000 advance for a book contract.
Of course, this could all be racist, or could all be about social stereotypes, or it could all be satire. Or, it could be all three. You decide. But the point is is it gets our attention. So why does it get our attention? Let’s discuss…
The writing draws us in. It talks about upper middle class whites and values. No, you won’t find people driving rusty pick-up trucks with fishing licenses hanging our of their back pockets here. Unless, perhaps, they are carrying $800 Orvis fly fishing rods.
It walks a fine line between what we register in our in unconscious minds and what we usually, politely, don’t articulate.
This person found a way to articulate it.
An Aside…
William Faulkner worked at the post office. No one listened to what he had to say. And the mail was always late. Why? ‘Cause Willy was always to busy writing, that’s why. So they fired him.
Faulkner has written some of the best stuff about social stereotypes and undercover urges. He knew the racist South and why it was the way it was. Because of this he wrote The Sound and the Fury. He was later awarded a Noble Prize in Literature.
70 Years later…
Toni Morrison is working her job. She works at night, during the day, and whenever she has a chance. She also knows about the racist South and why it is the way it is. She writes Beloved which wins a Pulitzer Prize and is a kick ass story of slavery and redemption and the by product of its psychological despair.
20 Years later…
(Fill in Your Name Please) Because you know something we don’t and you need to tell us about it.
What am I getting at? Write something close to home;write something that hurts. And who will be waiting? We, of course, and the famed Literary Agent.
Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like, received a $300,000 advance. Gee I wonder why. That is every writer’s dream. Need I say you can then quit your job at the post office?
As a short story writer and novelist, I like to hear these things. It inspires me.
What would you do with $300,000? Would you quit your day job? Would you quit blogging?
So that is why good writing matters. Impress us. Flamboozle us.
Just keep at it baby. And we’ll do lunch…
*Psst…Literary Agent – I’ve got a hot ecothriller just waiting to be published. Wanna read it?*
Photo Credit: © Ellen Wilson