THE CAREER NOVELIST
Midnight? It is an unrealistic story about people who could not pos-
sibly exist. It is a fable, all black and white. Its plot strains credulity
to the breaking point.
That is all true, and yet millions of people, myself included, could
not put down Sheldon's novel. As incredible as its events were, they
nevertheless got me involved. I think this was not only because
Sheldon set an effective premise and then complicated it with ruthless
single-mindedness, but also because he created characters to whom
anyone could relate, and gave them problems that we all understand.
Stay with me here. First, about the characters: they may not seem
like you or me, but that is not important. What matters is that there
is something about them with which you and I can identify. Take the
Aristotle Onassis character, Constantin Demiris. We do not identify
with him because he resembles Onassis (although his wealth is
attractive); we are drawn to him because he controls his own des-
tiny and because he is driven by the all-consuming need for
revenge. He not only feels a desire that we all have felt but also acts
upon it successfully.
What is so great about that? Just this: we can see ourselves in
him. He journeys somewhere that we all would like to journey, does
things we all wish we were allowed to do. In him, Sheldon has
magnified a common desire. Now, here is where many authors and
critics differ with trash hacks and junk readers. Aesthetes feel that
because a character, feeling, theme, plot, or moral is familiar, it is
valueless, trite, overused; a spice that has lost its flavor.
Popular writers and their readers disagree. They say exactly the
opposite: familiar characters, feelings, themes, plots, and morals
are powerful precisely because they are familiar. They are durable.
Time-tested. They are undeniably true. So, here is my second thesis:
Trash sells because readers want their values and beliefs affirmed in their fiction.
You do not have to like that. You may be the sort of writer and read-
er who likes to see things in a new way, to be challenged by (or chal-
lenge in) a novel. If so, more power to you. However, it is pointless to
deny that what you want from fiction is not what most people want.
Generally speaking, readers want a mirror in which to see themselves
as they would like to be; not as they are, but as they hope to become.
If you look closely at the work of trashy best-sellers, you will find