Fast Food Fiction or a Six Course Novel?
I finally finished Gone With the Wind! Whoo-hoo!!!! I LOVE the book [have read it multiple times], but I read it slowly this time around [partly due to all the chaos in my life: selling house, living with husband and five kids in two bedroom apartment, buying new house, moving from CA to TX, and partly to savor the amazing storytelling ability of Margaret Mitchell].
Immediately upon finishing it [the next day actually] I began a new book. The Frog Prince, by Jane Porter. I heard Jane speak at a workshop she gave last year in Dallas at the RWA National Convention. She is engaging, smart, funny, and a great speaker. She made me want to read one of her books. Knowing I’d be free of Gone With the Wind, I had my husband check out two Jane Porter books from the library when he went last week. The Frog Prince was one of the two he came home with.
I started reading Saturday and I’m nearly done with it. It’s a fast read. Super fast, in fact. And after 1000 pages of Scarlett and Rhett, I’m glad for the speed. But as I’m reading I’m also missing the word pictures and the amazing imagery and character depth Mitchell created in Gone With the Wind. After such a lengthy book, I’d gotten used to her style. It was comfortable.
Jane’s writing is fun and engaging, just like she is, but the word pictures and character depth aren’t there to the degree they are in Mitchell’s book. The Frog Prince and Gone With the Wind are two entirely different animals and each has their place in the fiction world. And while I love the fast read, I also, at times, need the meatier read, the one that challenges my mind and makes me think about issues and images and people and the human condition.
All this got me thinking about my own style and what kind of books I write [and what kind I want to write]. The Lola Cruz Mystery series [Living the Vida Lola, St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books, Feb. 2009] is definitely light and fun and engaging ala The Frog Prince.
It’s Fast Food Fiction.
I have another book I’m going to begin reworking [read: rewriting] after my revisions are done for Dead Girl Walking, the second Lola Cruz Mystery. I’ve been mulling over what to do with this book. It started out as a romantic suspense, but that just not my voice, I’ve decided. So do I make it a straight romance? Or women’s fiction? Or do I go literary with it? The premise of the story is such that I really could take it in any of those directions. The problem is I’m not sure what I want to write, or how I want to write it.
I love Fast Food Fiction. It’s an addiction and I embrace it. But I also love a good Six Course Novel and part of me wants to know if I can write one. If I can write about the human condition in an engaging, meaningful way.
I’ll let you know what I decide!
Question of the Day:
Do you prefer to read Fast Food Fiction or a Six Course Novel and why?
June 9th, 2008
Misa 
in
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June 9th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Honestly? Fast food fiction is my standard fare, if I get to read at all. But I think a book can be both fast and substantial. I just read Jodi Piccoult’s Her Sister’s Keeper and I thought it was both. Definitely a literary novel as opposed to commercial fiction, but I loved it anyway.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I love both. And I love Jane Porter and many other authors like her. Right now I’m reading the six course, which actually more like four. I’m reading The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I’m a lover of Spanish authors and books, because they still have the big formal dinner style, and picture words, and emotions that are so compelling. But when I’m traveling, I love the fast food. They are pure entertainment, with fun characters, and stories I can sail through, that can leave me felling full. For myself, I’m not a fast food writer, or a romance writer, but a something of a three course writer. If a romance pops up, I’m always pleased. Usually I’ll let my characters tell me what they want. It will be fun to hear what your characters decide.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I like both, too. Each type of book has its place and time. I’m almost finished with The Frog Prince and it is a good book and has a certain amount of depth, or at least quite a bit of character growth/self-realization. It’s a great beach read, and that’s where I am…the beach!
June 9th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I like both types of books. But I usually go some where in between. I get too bogged down and overwhelmed by the Six course book and the fast food doesn’t have the depth to hold my attention. I read a lot of paranormal, Series, and books that carry charcters over but not in a series. I am reading Jayne Ann Krentz right now. It’a probably a 3 course meal book. I really like Christine Feehan’s books also. Usually a good romance holds my attention, especially at bedtime. Your insights are very helpful to me as I choose books to read altthough we have different tastes. Have a great evening and take care. Hugs.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
The three course meal is mighty palatable, I agree, Fannine. =) I definitely couldn’t do either the fast food or the six course book exclusively, but I do enjoy both. Just depends on my mood and what’s going on in real life. But the middle ground, just like in most everything else, is usually what I go for.
I just started Julia Quinn’s new one, The Lost Duke of Wyndham, and it’s much slower than Jane Porter’s book, but faster than Gone With the Wind. I love JQ. I think she’s my three course favorite.
I hope you’ll give Living the Vida Lola a shot, Fannie! She’s fast food fun. =)
June 10th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I do intend to purchase your book as soon as I can. I will be intrested to know your opinion on the Julia Quinn book as it is in my “to be read” books. I got it a few days ago. Hugs