Is The Hunger Games a Masterpiece?

NOTICE: Before I begin, I want to announce the winner of a free copy of SHADOW ON THE MOON. It is Estella, but she left no way to contact her. So, Estella, please contact me at connieflynn@yahoo.com and I’ll get that free book to you ASAP.  

                                                                                                                  from Connie Flynn

    Even though I’m starting this post by telling you I finished my fantasy novel a couple weeks ago, this blog really is about The Hunger Games.  Honest.  But I wanted you to know that I had plans to announce my completed novel from the rooftops.  I figured I’d Facebook it, tweet it, blog it, post to my every Yahoo Group.  But I didn’t and I’m not sure why. Oh, told friends and family, announced it at a couple writer’s groups, but that’s pretty much it.
    I have no answer except that I still have revisions and some rewrites to do, so the book isn’t fully finished. So . . . perhaps I’m saving the celebration for the sale or pub date.  Or maybe there’s a questions I’m not brave enough to ask myself.
    Which brings me now to The Hunger Games. I wonder if Suzanne Collins knew, as she was writing, that she would produce a masterpiece?     
    I truly doubt that. 
    The book is composed with such effortless prose that I don’t think her thoughts were on anything except getting that scene just right, exposing Katniss’s true character action by action.
    In case you haven’t read the books or seen the movie, here’s a quick synopsis.  
    Katniss Aberdeen is a hunter, living in a post-war society divided into twelve districts. Most of the sectors are pockets of abject poverty and District Twelve, where Katniss lives, is one of the worst.  Katniss provides for her fatherless family by poaching in the forbidden forest and bartering her illegal kills for other commodities.
    The seat of government is called the Capitol. It is affluent and corrupt and their major concern is keeping the districts under control so they continue providing raw materials that sustain the Capitol’s lifestyle. 
    They do this through the Hunger Games, an annual challenge fueled by a lottery called the reaping. One girl and one boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen as ‘tributes’ to compete with tributes from other districts. The televised game is unsupervised and at an isolated location and these young tributes battle until all but one is dead.  The sole winner gains lifelong financial security and valuable boons for their district.
    The story opens the day of the reaping. This is Katniss’s sister’s first year and she is not expected to be drawn. Unlikely as they thought it was, she is drawn and Katniss volunteers to take her place.  Her offer is accepted.
    She puts her family in the care of the boy who was her lifelong friend and hunting partner then  leaves for the games with the baker’s son, Peeta, a gentle soul whose own mother told him she thought Katniss would win the games.
    This powerful premise leads into a story of high stakes and unlikely alliances that require strategies worthy of Lucrezia Borgia and plays out with non-stop action, high emotion and unexpected twists. The writing itself is smooth, clear and punchy.  Male readers are devouring this book and its sequels, probably due to the non-stop action.
    The movie is just as powerful. A breath-stealing ride through the world Suzanne Collins built, it stayed truer to the book itself than most adaptations. According to the buzz, Collins was an active consultant. If so, this woman really knows how to structure a story. The complex details of this story demanded careful sifting to keep the external story thread intact, yet maintain the same rich emotional moments that gave the book its impact. The movie succeeds beautifully because the book was brilliantly written.  In my only moderately humble opinion, The Hunger Games might be declared a masterpiece.
    Now I wonder, did Collins know she was writing a masterpiece while she was writing?  I still don’t think so. I think she was just doing a writer’s job, putting words on paper to build scene after scene, reveal character after character.
    And that brings me back to finishing my own book, which contains complex societies and multiple characters.  I, too, wrote it page by page, scene by scene, character by character. Yes, I now see the question I was afraid to ask:
     Have I written a masterpiece?
    It would be nice, wouldn’t it?  But the truth is that I have no idea.  Only time can tell. All I do know is to keep on writing, keep on revising, and keep on coming up with story ideas. So that’s what I’ll do.
    I’m fairly well convinced that’s what Suzanne Collins did . . . and probably still does.

    I hope some of you are as jazzed by The Hunger Games as I am, although some of you might not be and I’d be delighted to hear your opinions (no spoilers, though, please).  Leave a comment and I’ll put you in for a drawing for a free ebook version of my first mystery short story, Old Bones, published by my alter-ego, K.C. Flynn.  Please leave a way to reach you if you happen to be the winner.  In the meantime have a great April and, if you celebrate it, a lovely Easter. 

Following My Heart – Part II: The Branding Process

Now that I’ve remembered where my heart is and have decided to step out there, I started listening more to this whole branding thing. Seems I have three personae to brand: Connie Flynn who writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy; K.C. Flynn who writes mysteries with maybe some paranormal thrown in; and Connie/K.C. partner and owner/instructor of Bootcamp for Novelists Online. And, of course, there’s still my college creative writing instructor persona, especially now that teachers are expected more and more to market their own courses.

Although K.C. (Old Bones) is more likely to have a new book out sooner, I’m starting with Connie because her book is the most “out there” (as in weird and strange, not out on the shelves). And she also has four ebook reissued titles available in bookstores. Various branding gurus of my recent acquaintance (when the student asks, the teacher appears) tell me I need three keywords related to what I’m writing which will also be of interest to me and my potential readers. After lots of doodling, I came up with them.

Fashion: True, I dreamed about being on America’s Top Model, but what’s more to the point is that the heroine in my fantasy THE XANADU REBELLION was a world famous fashion model before a tragic accident scarred her face. Although she now spends her time learning how to save the universe (some minor hyperbole) she still loves beautiful quirky clothes. How I understand her. Although I spend my time working for a living, I also love beautiful, quirky clothes – an indulgence I’ve denied myself for far too long. So this is my era of QUIRKY FASHION. I’ve even taken to following Lady Gaga and Prince Poppycock on Twitter and Facebook, but never fear that I’ve gone off the edge. I’m still no stranger to Ann Kline and Inc. And there is at least one pair of sturdy, sensible walking shoes in my closet.

Breakthrough Science: THE XANADU REBELLION book is a crossover between science fiction, urban fantasy, and high fantasy . . . with a little romance thrown in. So are a couple of my soon to be reissued backlist, THE FIRE OPAL and THE DRAGON HOUR. And, frankly, I’m a bit of a science geek. Mostly blow your mind stuff like the neutrino joke I posted on Connie’s Corner and the possible space elevator that I’ll be posting about soon, so welcome to FREAKY SCIENCE.

My Twisted Philosophy: I’m not sure how old I was when I realized that not many people saw the world quite the way I do. Perhaps in the second grade where Mrs. Brown constantly got after me to put my crayons away in a timely manner. Oh how I loved the coloring hour. Anyway, I have spent most of my life with my nose stuck in various, often little known, human potential movements. I’ve learned a bit of this and a bit of that and have reached a point where I might know enough to share a bit here and there. I warn you this is not for the faint of heart. Look for: GOOFBALL MUSINGS. Topics can range from how to avoid being asked to bring a hot dish to a potluck dinner to why you should be careful about what you declare yourself to be. My musings may often be goofball-y, but I AM not a goofball.

Bootcamp for Novelists is also getting a brand workover . . . and a new location. Yes, the online writing school is getting it’s very own blog where my partner Linda Style and I will switch off posts on writing, on the writing industry, and on the writer’s life. We’ve added a new slogan: COMMITMENT, CRAFT, CREATIVITY to round out our goal of teaching step by step and our promise that we can help. Check out course listings at the Bootcamp website and look for our changes around the first of 2012.

In the meantime, if you’d like to check out Connie’s books, click on the book names. SHADOW ON THE MOON and SHADOW OF THE WOLF are currently available in ebook format and so is the Old Bones story by K.C. Flynn. If you’d be willing to write a short review to post on Amazon and Goodreads (blogs are good, too) for any or all of these stories, email me at connieflynn@cox.net. I’ll send you a code that will let you download the books for free.

Meanwhile, I’m not sure how long I’ll be running with the Following my Heart theme, but for now I close part II. If part III comes into existence, you’ll find it here at Much Cheaper Than Therapy on the first Tuesday of January.