The seven basic plots – according to Christopher Booker . . .
Waterstone’s boost for small publishers
EVERY now and then, not as often as we would like, a book appears about
the craft of writing which is chapter and verse above the mass of how-to
literature. Such a volume is The Seven Basic Plots by
Christopher Booker.
But anybody who buys it expecting it to provide a quick-fix route to
bestsellerdom is in for a shock.
It could not be further away from the rash of cut price volumes offering
advice and instant success.
However, if you are taking a master’s degree in creative writing or
better still study literature for its own sake and the enhanced enjoyment
you experience through knowing more about the subject, this is a book you
should put at the top of your list. It ranks alongside Aristotle’s Poetics.
Booker’s volume is a work of monumental scholarship, research and
deduction. Although it will figure high in future lists of required reading
for Eng. Lit. followers it is never dull or pretentious.
From Beowulf to Jaws and from Gilgamesh
to Lord of the Rings Booker uncovers common factors which
have thrilled audiences through the ages.
If there is a story inside your heart it may well help you to transfer it
to the page in a form which will excite and entertain.
It will articulate half-formed opinions and thoughts you may well have
held for some time, looking for confirmation that your feelings are correct.
Why classic stories remain classic stories in one guise or another for
ever. Why overcoming a monster, travelling from rags to riches, completing a
quest, embarking upon a voyage, being the victim of tragedy and suffering
the pangs of rebirth provide all the grist needed for an author’s
imagination.
Some writers arrive at these answers by instinct, some by trial and
error. Others study the craft of writing rather like a foreign language.
Routes may vary, but the end result is the same. They reach the goal
which every author seeks – to keep the reader spellbound.
At 717 pages and £25 for the hardback version this is no dainty stocking
filler like Eats Shoots, and Leaves but serious stuff. It has
been 35 years in the making.
At one moment we are analysing Moby Dick; at another on the trail
of The Gold Rush with Chaplin. We look at Shaw, D H Lawrence,
Chekhov, Shakespeare and Proust.
Booker decided in 1969 to write this book. "To spend half a lifetime
writing a single book is obviously ridiculous," he claims. I disagree. Not
when the result is as good as this.
As Fay Weldon puts it: "This is the most extraordinary, exhilarating
book. It always seemed to me that ‘the story’ was God’s way of giving
meaning to crude creation. Booker now interprets the mind of God and
analyses not just the novel – which will never to me be quite the same again
– but puts the narrative of contemporary human affairs into a new
perspective. If it took its author a lifetime to write, one can only feel
gratitude that he did it."
In fact I could not fault his analysis of great books although I was less
convinced by his psycho analyses of Shaw, Chaplin, Fleming and Proust.
The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker is published by
Continuum at £25 ISBN 0-8264-52309-4.
WATERSTONE’S is to give independent publishers and self-published authors
their own channel into the chain with the appointment of Peter Saxton as
Independent Publisher Co-ordinator.
Peter was previously the group’s bibliographic editor and began his
career selling at the Kingston branch in Surrey.
As part of the service Waterstone’s will also offer advice to
independents and self publishers on how best to approach their task.
This is a great step forward by Waterstone’s who have stolen a march on W
H Smith which has consistently neglected to spot the commercial potential in
this area.
Sheila Bounford, who steps down as executive director of the Independent
Publishers Guild welcomes the move. "Just because some companies are small
does not mean that what they are publishing is insignificant."
David Roche, Product Director for Waterstone’s said that although the
chain already deals with thousands of small and independent publishers it
will improve the relationship with new authors.
"We know there are a lot of great books out there and they don’t all
come from big publishers," he said.
So many good books, such little time ...
