Jul 26, 2009
What makes a best-seller?
Blogathon Workspace, 12:30 AM
Just another random rambling. Something I’ve been thinking about.
I love scientific thrillers. I enjoyed Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. I hadn’t heard about his earlier novels, but I got caught up in the Da Vinci Code hype back in 2003. Come to think of it, it wasn’t that much of an action or a suspense novel, but there was something about it that made it a phenomenal best-seller. Soon, I too found myself applauding it. I then went on to look for his earlier novels and found that I liked Angels and Demons better. I then read his Digital Fortress and Deception Point, but they weren’t as good as Angels and Demons.
And then I saw Geoff Pullum’s scathing criticism of almost all of Dan Brown’s novels, and re-read them. I couldn’t disagree with Pullum. How did I miss such things? Was it the media hype? Would I have enjoyed Da Vinci code just as well if it wasn’t a best-seller, but just another book by an unknown author on clearance sale for $2.00?
What makes a best-seller?
A Business Systems Analyst pondering over requirements analysis, process improvements, project management, communication, story telling, the meaning of life and how everything fits together. This blog is to share my thoughts on all these and more.
I read that scathing article, too, last week some time, I think. I haven’t revisited the novel yet, and am actually unlikely to do so, given the examples of the writing included in the article.
Considering my almost obsessive attention to detail in my own writing, I’m surprised that I became such a sheep when it came to this particular “big thing”.
I know I’m pretty easy to entertain (I even enjoyed the movie version of The Da Vinci Code), so perhaps that’s my explanation.