We recently watched Les Miserables, and at the conclusion I received the pivotal question, "You're an author, why didn't you write this book?"
"Mmmm, yes. Always an observation to make one feel confident in their skills."
Aside from the fact that I'm not French, I did not write Les Miserables because it was not a genre of choice for me. It wasn't Romantic Suspense. At the time he penned Les Mis, Victor Hugo had already become quite political. I'm not one for bringing politics into my writing. Perhaps politics will exist as part of the plot, but never as a personal stand.
But, lets jump back thirty years earlier, when a young, more romantic Hugo wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Is this something I would have written? Well, it was pretty violent. When I was a child I accidentally saw a movie on TV with a hanging taking place. To this day, I can't watch anything like that. I have to close my eyes. I can take blood, gore, etc. ... but not that. So no, I wouldn't have written Hunchback because it had a hanging in it. I also would not have written the book because I always root against Notre Dame in football. And lastly, as Quasimodo once said, "always stick to your hunches." So I listened to him and wrote ENDLESS NIGHT instead, which is equally a literary masterpiece. :)
So I ask the gifted group of authors here, "Why didn't YOU write the Hunchback of Notre Dame?"Maureen
www.maureenamiller.com
12 comments:
Oh no, I couldn't do the hunchback. Glad you didn't either because Endless Night is a damned sight better and much more fun to read.
Thanks, Wendy. If I ran a bell tower, time would cease because I couldn't handle all the noise. :)
Didn't I read somewhere that Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice were considered the pulp fiction of the day for authors now considered masters?
Not that we write pulp fiction, although Pulp Fiction is another cult classic.
Just sayin'
I don't believe the Hunchback is quite my style. There are, however, movies or books (usually movies) that make me slap my forehead with a "Why didn't I think of that first?!" But then, there's not enough time in the day to write all of those lovely stories, so I'm glad others are doing it. Gives me time to focus on my stuff. ;)
@Cathy - Good point! Some day 200 years from now, someone may unearth my novels and consider them classics! :)
@Anne Marie - We like your stuff! :)
Vic beat me to it :)
Maureen, always write what you love, and what I love :)
I often see something I wish I'd written, but remind myself I can't do everything :) Plus many people write stuff better than I so I get to enjoy their gifts instead :)
I really would like to see your take on The Hunchback, Maureen. Perhaps when you have a spare moment?
I like my stories to end well, and having Quasimodo die... I'm sorry, that's not ending well.
Don't get me wrong. My H&H can go through hell, but they have to come out at the other end.
None of this hanging stuff.
@Toni - That pesky Vic!
@Elise - Very depressing, needless to say. It's been quite some time since I picked up that book. Some of the classics I've read multiple times because it seems with each passing decade I can draw more from it.
@Marcelle - Thank you! I'm afraid of ropes. I get antsy in nautical-themed restaurants because of all the ropes. :)
Because I write what I want to read :)
Amen, Shelley! :)
Of course we're writing classics--what people of our time want to read. Submitted by Mother Harrington
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