I got this email yesterday:
I recently finished three courses in screenwriting
at UCLA. For my "writing the one-hour drama" classes, I wrote
a spec for "Monk". […] Earlier today I thought, "Hmmm… this could make a decent
novel." Imagine my surprise when, less than a day later, I
found that there ARE such things!! Since you are obviously
"in the know", to whom might I pitch my "Monk" spec as a
novel? Although I don't have a TV agent, I do have a literary
agent, and am doing the final edits of a book I've co-authored,
coming out in December.
I must get one or two emails a week like this. I wonder what makes them think it's a good idea to ask the guy who writes all of the MONK novels for his advice on how they can take his job away from him. I also wonder why they think that if someone is already writing the books that they might have a shot at it, too. Perhaps it's because the STAR TREK books are written by multiple writers…and these people haven't noticed that the MONK books are only written by one guy…me. Or maybe they are just dumb.
We get laughs from emails like this as well. You have to admire their enthusiasm.
Well, optimistically speaking, I would suggest “naive” or “inexperienced” or perhaps, “Uneducated” or “uninformed” might be better descriptors than “dumb.”
I think the depth of ignorance about how the film and publishing industry works, even by published novelists (and here I’ll stick to the publishing industry), can be pretty amazing. When I give talks about publishing, whether it’s books, magazines, etc., it’s clear that most people think these things just sort of appear in stores.
I am going with just dumb for $100, Lee.
My guess is that it’s because the biggest tie in novels in the world, Stars Trek and Wars, are all written by different people. They don’t realize that on the mystery side of things, its almost all written by one person.
It’s not dumb to be new and naive, but it is dumb to be new and not take advantage of the ‘net to learn before making a fool of yourself.
Certainly glad I took a break and checked in. I needed the laugh!
But what an idea– all those old specs really should be novels! Especially when you spec a show that announced it cancellation back in November!
Or these guys probably think that “Lee Goldberg” is the umbrella name under which multiple writers produce a series of books under a single name ala Franklin W. Dixon for “The Hardy Boys” and Carolyn Keene for “Nancy Drew.”