The term I use for regular Joe books is "ordinary man
in
extraordinary circumstances."
There is a rich literature outside of this hard-boiled that
deals
with this premise. You'll find it in westerns, cold war
espionage
(much more WWII era espionage), Bob Johnson (or Fred Willard)
saves
western civilization thrillers and on and on back to Tom
Jones.
There are a number of practical reasons a writer might
consider
writing a book series. One is that it takes a lot of time to
imagine
a fictional universe for your novel to derive from. If they
all come
from the same fictional world, it's faster.
A series helps a writer with name recognition, because both
the
protagonist and the writer can be recognized. Frequently,
the
protagonist is recognized more than the writer. This sells
books,
making publishers, agents, and the writer's spouse and
landlord
happy.
The practical problems are probably numerous also, but
one
significant one is that these days it requires a stable
relationship
between a writer and his house. If you change houses, unless
you're
an A+ list author, you might not find anyone interested in
buying
another publishers' series character.
It could have been very different in the past, but today's
market is
not very author friendly. I've read reliable print articles
that said
if Amy Tan and John Irving were breaking in to today's
market, their
initial sales would not have allowed them to have a second
book
published.
For me the single biggest problem with series is just what
this
thread has been saying. I like to write Regular Joe books -
well, in
my case, they're highly abnormal regular Joes, but the point
is they
aren't paid to solve problems.
Maybe, they get in the middle of a problem, and see an angle
for
themselves, but this isn't their profession.
In the course of their adventure, they experience
significant, life
changing events.
The way these events change them is very interesting, but
sometimes
inconvenient for the next book.
I think this may be a good argument for the detective, or
some other
professional, as the anchor for a series. Not exactly a new
discovery
on my part.
A number of years ago, I heard John D. MacDonald talking
about how he
fought writing a series for many years. A lot of these books
could be
called regular Joe books.
I can't remember any of the names of the regular Joe
characters at
the moment, but I do remember Travis McGee.
Fred
------------------------------
Down on Ponce by Fred Willard
fwillard@mindspring.com
http://fwillard.home.mindspring.com/
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