Quantum Storytelling

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the debate over art vs. entertainment, and the debate appears to be framed in the wrong way.

On one hand you have this idea of integrity–that as a writer you should just follow your own heart, mind, wants, dreams, whatever and then just hope and pray that other people like it. On the other hand there is the idea that maybe you can identify the things that make up a bestseller, and maybe strive to nail some of those things in the hopes they will work.

The problem here whether we’re talking about ‘following your heart’ or ‘writing for the market’ – we’re talking in the abstract, being as vague as anyone can possibly be. As a result, we’re not getting to the bottom of the issue and truly cracking these values that seem to conflict for so many writers.

So this morning I was reading Ian Hocking’s post, which was prompted by an essay. The essay came pretty close, albeit accidentally, to identifying the problem with this art-entertainment conflict of values.

“At some point you find that 90% of the stuff you’re writing is motivated and informed by an overwhelming need to be liked. This results in shitty fiction. And the shitty work must get fed to the wastebasket, less because of any sort of artistic integrity than simply because shitty work will cause you to be disliked.”

First, I like that he eventually throws the notion of artistic integrity out the window. We’re talking about fiction here. The writer’s job is to make things up. The writer’s job is to tell a lie, and to make that lie as believable as possible. I’m not sure how integrity can be valued in a portion of books that are entirely mythical. When you boil it down, fiction is nothing other than well-crafted bullshit. We’re not publishing groundbreaking science nor medical knowledge that will save millions of lives and earn us the Nobel. We make widgets that people bury their nose in when they’re bored. Some may not like that image because it erodes the grandiose idea of what a writer is, but it’s true. How can you say one B.S. artist has more integrity than another? You can’t. At the end of the day we’re all pulling stuff out of our butts. I can’t pretend mine stinks any less than yours, and you can’t pretend that yours stinks any less than the next person.

Second, the line about “the stuff you’re writing is motivated and informed by an overwhelming need to be liked” comes very close to identifying the heart of the matter.

The unfortunate mistake that both art-minded and pop-minded writers make is they both often write for the approval of others.

If you’re aiming for art, your most cherished goal is to create something that the critics will applaud, that intellectuals will dissect, and that everyone will find ‘deep’ and meaningful.

If you’re aiming for pop fiction, your most cherished goal is to create a story that everyone likes, talks about, and that everyone finds highly entertaining.

Here’s the problem; Both of these ignore why stories catch on, become liked, or sell.

The answer is content. Ideas. Everyone in the lit world is talking about how horrible Dan Brown’s prose is. Clue Phone for Lit World–Dan Brown stories don’t sell for their beautiful prose.

Neither does Stranger in a Strange Land, any Philip K. Dick story, or just about any fiction I can think of…

Nor do they sell because they had twelve stages within three acts. They don’t sell because you did or didn’t use flashbacks. They don’t sell because you used lots of metaphors, similes, or other literary constructs. When it comes down to an individual buying a book, they never buy books for this generic range of tools that writers use. Admit it right now–nobody cares.

Hit stories spread like wildfire for the controversy and conflict of their ideas. The ideas are the only thing that matter. If the content is strong enough, you can completely choke on the prose. I would even go so far as to say the ideas can sometimes carry a botched storytelling. The structure, pacing, arrangement, and the way the story plays out can even be flawed. If the ideas are strong enough, it will spread. If it’s still a story that people want to hear in spite of all flaws, it will spread.

The goal of both the art-minded and the pop-minded writer are the same; To have the book appreciated. Quality prose is great. A good structure is great. But ultimately, the work will be judged on its ideas–its content.

People don’t care about you as the writer. They only care about your ideas… your content. If the subject of your story is strong enough, only then will people care.

If you want your story to be successful then choose ideas that people care about. Choose ideas that many people would find interesting. This doesn’t mean they have to be existing popular ideas. But they need to be something that the audience would care about. Storytelling is about relevance. It’s about the question, “Why does anyone care?”

Only well-chosen content can answer that question.

Content is king. If you believe anything else, you might be lying to yourself.