The front page of this Sunday's Los Angeles Times Calendar section features a big essay by my brother Tod discussing his experience writing BURN NOTICE: THE FIX and his research into the business of tie-in writing. I was approached to write the novels, but I declined and recommended Tod, who I knew was perfect for the job:
My brother was right: I was the perfect person. The only problem was my
advanced sense of artistic self. I had long, twisting conversations
with my agent, my wife and the kid who makes my sandwiches at Quiznos
about the literary equity I'd accrued, about how writing a tie-in might
somehow sully my career and other topics concerning my navel. My agent
told me to take a deep breath, get lucid and call her back after I did
some research…
advanced sense of artistic self. I had long, twisting conversations
with my agent, my wife and the kid who makes my sandwiches at Quiznos
about the literary equity I'd accrued, about how writing a tie-in might
somehow sully my career and other topics concerning my navel. My agent
told me to take a deep breath, get lucid and call her back after I did
some research…
So he did. Read his very funny article and find out what he learned.
UPDATE 8-25-2008: Tod's article got a surprisingly unsnarky mention on GAWKER, some love on TV Squad and some attention from Publisher's Weekly's Book Maven.
UPDATE 8-26-2008: TV Squad also gave Tod's book a rave review.
What a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining essay, by turns humorous and then serious, insightful and touching. It comes across as a really interesting debate a writer has with himself where he loses, only to find something of great value that he didn’t know had existed — and only to find a cause he believes in so much, he is ready to fight for it. This is a work of real intelligence by a writer who is not afraid to change his mind when his experience does not match his biases. Reading this essay gave me a whole new way to feel about the TIE-IN NOVEL, and the essay has elevated these books in my thinking. Really a good essay!
Tod’s piece is superb, true and entertaining. A while ago I went through the same angst when invited to write a work for hire. But I had no reputation to sully, and my only life accomplishment has been to make a decent living for decades writing fiction. So I wrote the novel, involving a character created by a dead author, and it went well. Now they want another. I’ll do whatever it takes to put bread on my table.
On top of everything else, BURN NOTICE: THE FIX is just plain fun to read.
I cannot wait for the second in the series….
Tod is left-handed; Lee is right-handed. How does this affect your literary preferences and lives, if at all?
Nice to see Bethanne Patrick’s blog (The Book Maven) out at Publisher’s Weekly be about Tod and TV tie-ins today! The entry of the blog is called “As Seen on TV”. Here’s the link in case you haven’t seen it: http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/670000267/post/290032229.html
And today Tod made the Publishers Weekly Morning Report! VERY nice to get mentioned in “PW daily” two days in a row! Here’s a link to the Morning Report: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6590620.html?nid=2286&source=link&rid=1899946982
Richard,
The only impact I can see is that we bump into each other when we’re signing together if I sit on his left. And his handwriting is even more illegible than mine (at least I have a bum arm as an excuse).
Lee