10 Comments
Oct 13Liked by Alexandra Sokoloff

Brilliant post and timely--TY! I'm noodling on a new mystery now--have the elements, but not the pop... yet. I'm going to rethink with high concept and big book in mind...

Two books I read this summer have Big Book stock IMHO--Eruption by James Patterson and Michael Crichton (global disaster-nefarious government org--can mankind be saved) and Extinction by Douglas Preston (murder mystery-Jurassic Park-rogue science gone extreme). Thrilling reads, visual scenes, and I cannot wait to see them hit the big screen. You're spot on--high concept/big book makes a huge impact.

Thanks again!

Veronica

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Veronica, two great examples (disaster/extinction is automatically big, isn't it?). So you're already thinking big, and now you've got your brain working with you to apply it all to your own new book. Have fun with it!

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Oct 15Liked by Alexandra Sokoloff

I want to ask you a question. Is The Chestnut Man a High Concept book? If yes, can you tell me why? Can you write about its book to TV adaptation?

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Hi Gulfam - that's an excellent question. I said above that The Perfect Couple is an example of a trope that has become almost its own subgenre of crime: the "murder at a wedding (or reunion or anniversary or resort)" plot.

For those who don't know, this is the IMDb logline of The Chestnut Man: "A young woman is found brutally murdered in a playground and one of her hands is missing. Above her hangs a small man made of chestnuts".

That makes The Chestnut Man an example of another trope that has become its own subgenre of crime - the "pattern serial killer" plot. So I would say it is NOT High Concept. But obviously, publishers keep publishing this kind of book and studios keep making this kind of movie/series, so it's commercially viable. Although I hope - with diminishing returns, because it has already been done to death.

I have a particular hatred of this trope because more often than not, it whitewashes the brutal reality of sexual homicide by portraying serial killers as artistic or poetic, often leaving intricate clues for the detective to follow. In reality, serial killers are rapists who have graduated to murder.

It's extremely useful to be aware of overused tropes, because then you can avoid cliche and even subvert the trope to write a more timely and marketable story. My whole Huntress Moon series takes the "pattern serial killer" trope and twists it to examine the real misogyny behind these crimes and the inadequate laws and failure of investigative tools to apprehend these real-life monsters.

I have avoided watching or reading The Chestnut Man because of my hatred for the pattern serial killer trope and my equal hatred for the "refrigerator girl" trope it starts with —any movie/TV/book that opens with a beautiful mutilated dead woman, I'm instantly out. But I hope I've answered your first two questions!

I also hope other writers here read this thread, because it really is a useful point. Thanks for posting!

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Oct 16·edited Oct 16Liked by Alexandra Sokoloff

Hi Alexandra, thank you so much for clearing my doubt. Yes, I understand but this series is better than The Perfect Couple. I've one more question related to this topic. I'm asking because you have written in your post to ask. What do you think about END OF STORY BY A.J. FINN? I'm 100% sure that Netflix will pick it up. I've read the book. When I read it's premise, my reaction was :- "oh! I want to read it. Why an author wants his correspondent to come and tell his story?" And after finishing it ( which took a week because I was understanding scenes, setpieces and acts and I didn't see that ending coming. Finn did it so well again. ) my reaction was :- "I wish I could've written this book." So for me it's a High Concept book because I've those two reactions. I want to know your POV about it. Is it a high concept book? I think you should give it a go. If you've read it already then what do you call such book? Because Finn was writing it from 2016.

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Gulfam, I love how seriously you’re taking this! Your passion for story comes shining through in your posts and I know it will hook agents and editors – and readers.

I haven’t read END OF STORY, but that doesn’t matter. When you say: “I wish I had written this book,” you’ve identified it as a touchstone book for you. A teaching book. I hope you’ve made a Master List of other books, films and shows that will be your guides to great writing (From your examples it sounds like you're writing a crime thriller, right?) But especially, keep studying End of Story. Is it similar to your own book idea? Or are you still looking around for an idea that you want to write?

Either way, you can use End of Story as your own personal writing guide. Write out everything you love about it. It sounds like you've already broken the structure down, the way I do in the workbooks, identifying Act and Sequence Climaxes and the essential story elements. But it really helps to read it again, and keep adding to your breakdown. I go back to my favorite books over and over and I always see new things I can learn from.

AJ Finn is a problematic writer for other writers (for reasons you can read about here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/02/18/end-story-aj-finn-review/). But since you’ve asked, when I have time I’ll take a look at the book and see if there’s anything I can do with it for this newsletter.

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Yes, I've made a master list. My 4th book is a family drama. And after that I'm going to write my first psychological thriller. End Of Story is a psychological thriller and I highly recommend you to read it. Although it's getting mixed reviews but those readers don't know anything about writing. They're just blabbing in their reviews. See how Finn wrote the imagery :- "Ink sinks into stationery, indelible as a scar; email is breath on glass, an instant dissolve."

This is a sentence from End Of Story which I feel is 100% relatable to authors. Your book is really helpful and I want to thank you for writing it. If I want to tell you about idea then can I send you an email?

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Oct 13Liked by Alexandra Sokoloff

Hey Alex! This was very timely for me as I have just started writing a high concept book and my agent is really excited about it, which is nice. BUT...I would love to know if there are any resources out there (aside from Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, which I'm a huge fan of) that specifically talk about dealing with the fear that comes from 'going big'. It feels risky, which of course it is...and I feel in need of something that will help give me a bit of courage for it! Thanks in advance :)

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Hey Caroline! So there was a popular radio sex therapist in the US, Dr. Toni Grant, who used to say, "That's not fear you're feeling, dear - that's excitement."

So first, let yourself be excited!

But have you written out what exactly you're afraid of? Articulating it would be a good start. We can talk about it here, or you know - the other place!

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Oct 14Liked by Alexandra Sokoloff

Thanks for the reply! Writing it out is a really good idea. It's odd, because I pretty much write out everything in my head, as a rule! But for some reason I haven't attempted to analyse the nature of the fear that much. I may message you at some point if that's okay!

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