Project Bestseller

Warning!

Everything related to this project is dripping with spoilers for these specific books, as well as the entire series. If you have any intention of reading any of the books in these series, please do not read anything in the Project Bestseller area. Go read the books first!

Disclaimer: Project Bestseller and all related documents are Living Documents. I will continue updating them, adding to them, and building them as I proceed through this project. There will be things that are repeated. This is mostly intentional. Most things that I repeat are things that need to be driven into my skull. Please bear with me.

The goal of Project Bestseller is simple: Analyze authors who I admire in order to distill a “formula” for writing a novel series with the potential to be a best seller.

I have had an idea for a story for a long time and have spent a couple years building that idea. For a long time, even before this idea came to me, I have wanted to write a book. Not just any book, I want to write a book that makes people feel how I do when I read a great book. And, I want that book to be, at minimum, part of a trilogy. Why a trilogy? I enjoy reading well thought out series. That, and I just want to. That is it, nothing more. My goal is not to copy the great authors that I am analyzing, my goal is to learn from them and develop my own formula for turning an idea into a fantastic story. I feel that this is immensely valuable, mostly because I am also of the opinion that ideas are cheap, dirt cheap. Actually, cheaper that dirt. Execution is where all of the value is in any idea. This “formula” will aid me, and hopefully someone else too, in the important side of storytelling; the execution.

I understand that many people have this dream, to write a bestselling novel or novel series. And I know what I am about to say is very cliché and ill advised. I feel like I am different. I feel like I am the exception. Correction...I feel like anybody with a vision who is willing to put forth effort can be the exception, and I believe I have the vision and drive to be that person. Nobody could have put it better that Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is terribly paraphrased (and maybe soon I will look up his actual words and update this), but he said something along the lines of this; “I didn't go to those competitions to compete. (referring to bodybuilding competitions) I went to those competitions to win. I didn't go to the gym to work out, I went to the gym to win.” I probably butchered that, but the point is, if you don't aim to be that outlier then you never will be. You can't expect luck and hope and dreams and unicorn dust to get you where you want to be, you have to aim for it and work for it. You can’t aim at the stratosphere and hope you land on the moon, you have to aim at the freakin’ moon, and you also have to do a lot of work to make sure you actually get there instead of blowing up on the pad or launching yourself into the cold, uncaring, deadly vacuum of space.

So, that is my goal here, to learn what I need to know to be that outlier. I don't want to be on the bell curve, I want to be that lone dot way off to the side that is ignored because it messes up the data. And I want to share it all with whoever wants it. Why would I want to share this? Glad you asked. On top of my crazy idea that you have to make your own dreams happen rather than wish and hope them into existence, I also have the unpopular opinion that the human race is far better off when we help each other and share our knowledge. Every great accomplishment ever happened because of the hard work of other people, people who get forgotten about. Forgetting is inevitable, I mean, can we really expect to remember who invented the wheel after how many thousands of years? No, it is not possible to remember these details. It is however very possible to remember that you cannot accomplish anything without the help of others. This sounds so corny, like an episode of Elmo or something, but I believe it to be true. Hand in hand with that is my belief that the more people we help, the faster the human condition improves. Its kind of an exponential thing. We would all probably be living in a utopia right now if humans didn’t have this impulsive need to hoard information, like keeping discoveries a secret will somehow guarantee them long life, or happiness, or job security. I say phooey. I think that in most cases, we should share our discoveries and our hard work so that others can learn from it. Provide others with a stepping stone and they can reach even further. We all stand on the shoulders of others, every accomplishment is built on a foundation laid far before we were born. Add to it, don’t tear it down. And remember, sharing is caring. (Gets off soap box, picks it up, and exists stage left.)

Feynman said that a scientist mus report everything they learned, whether it supports their beliefs or not. This is part of the reason for my extensive notes in this part of the website, as well as some of my observations. Another reason is that, well, I have never done this before, and it is a little hard to tell what I should not write. So, I just wrote, and I figured I could refine it later. I am hoping that the more I analyze this, the more I will learn.

I hope to refine this section at some point, but it is good enough for now. If you managed to make it to this sentence then you may have some inkling of what I am trying to do here. Create a “formula” for writing a great book or series and share my findings with weirdos like you. Anything you find in the “Project Bestseller” tab on the menu falls into this experiment. Be sure to check back for updates, and thank you for reading this.

Rev: 28 April 2023