It Take a Village:
The Importance of Book Clubs to the Creative Process by
Anderson
O’Donnell
I’ve got a dirty little secret to share: When I published
KINGDOM, it wasn’t finished. Sure, there was a beginning, middle, and an end.
The narrative made some semblance of sense; I did a half decent job following
the classic hero arc. And yes, it was edited and had a sexy cover and some
snazzy typeset, but even after it was released, it was still just words on the
page. Something was still missing—something critical, that thing that would
breathe live into the words I threw down on the page: Readers.
And I don’t mean customers who buy the book and let KINGDOM
languish on their Kindles; I’m talking about readers—the people who devour books, dissecting them and freeing
the characters from the author’s constraints and allowing the artistic process
to continue. It’s never really done; but there is only so much the artist can
do before the job becomes communal. To paraphrase Hillary, real art takes a
village.
Why Readers
As the writer, the creator, I mold the characters, give them
their personalities and their conflicts, and then I set the narrative in
motion. But these characters, as well as the story itself, are never fully
realized until the writer sets them free—until that moment, they are still too
much a product of the author’s own psyche. In order to function as art that is
capable of transcending, and therefore, transforming—the ultimate goal of any
creative endeavor, including, of course, literary fiction, the author must
relinquish control. This can be a painful process, but one that is ultimately
necessary if a writer’s creation is to reach its full potential: the artist is
ultimately limited by his or her own perspective. The best we can do as writers
is start the process—and that’s no small feat. We apprehend the story,
snatching it out of the ether and giving it form. But then we must step aside,
and allow the community to take our creation and claim it as its own.
Salvation Through
Book Clubs
Nowhere is this communal creative process more apparent than
book clubs and reading groups. One of the most overlooked aspects of the
digital publishing revolution is the ability of readers across the globe to
engage in conversations about literature. Even traditional book clubs are
flourishing, as members use various forums and social media to continue the
conversations begun in living rooms. While individual readers can, of course,
continue the creative process described above, it’s these communal readings and
discussions that are capable—through discussion and passionate debate—pushing
the writing process toward its completion, freeing the characters from my own
limitations.
I’ve done what I can as the artist. And so now, it’s with
great excitement that I turn KINGDOM over to the Book Club Bash—to passionate
readers ready to continue the creative process, and finish the process I
started in my basement, so many years ago.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anderson
O’Donnell lives in
Connecticut
with his wife and 2 sons. His debut novel, Kingdom, a dystopian, biopunk
thriller, is now available in paperback and ebook format. Kingdom is the first
part of the Tiber City Trilogy. Look for part two, Exile, in the summer of
2013. http://www.tibercitynoir.com/
Synopsis:
In
a secret laboratory hidden under the desert, a covert bioengineering
project--codename "Exodus"--has discovered the gene responsible for
the human soul.
Somewhere in the neon sprawl outside the nation's collapsing
economic core, a group of renegade monks are on the verge of uncovering a
secret that has eluded mankind for centuries.
In a glittering tower high above the urban decay, an ascendant U.S.
Senator is found dead--an apparent, yet inexplicable, suicide.
And in the streets below, a young man races through an ultra modern
metropolis on the verge of a violent revolution....closing in on the terrible
truth behind Exodus--and one man's dark vision for the future of mankind.
Welcome to
Tiber
City
.
Purchase Links:
Kindle
Edition: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085DY50A/
Paperback
Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Anderson-ODonnell/dp/0615553184/
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