Books you wish you had written

[serria]

Here's a little ice-breaker: what existing book do you wish you had written? Whether it's because the story really resonated with you or because the book was similar to your own style in terms or writing or themes, is there any book out there that you wish had your name on it?

For me, my favorite genre is fantasy, and I absolutely love elves, dragons, and other fantasy elements that have been done a million times now. In that regard, it's tough not to be a little jealous of Tolkien. His stuff isn't even my favorite in the fantasy genre, but I'd love to be on record for "revolutionizing" a genre, or establishing elements that would later become tropes.

Comments

[badass_tiger]

Not really a book, but I just found out about the Not Actually The Ultimate Question trope and now I wish I'd been the one to make that trope popular. I love that it's something like an inverted trope in itself, and it always sets up hilariously.

I remember that as a child I was always jealous of Lemony Snicket's writing style. I loved the whole 'a word which here means ...' thing. Plus, it's so simple but it's engaging and funny without taking away from the dark moments at the same time. I've read his latest book, When Did You See Her Last? He's still as good as my childhood memories remember him to be!

[serria]

Haha, I'd never heard of that trope name before, but that is certainly always an awesome exchange. And I just found out, from your comment and Google, that Lemony Snicket was the author's pen name in addition to being a character... whoops. I read several of the Unfortunate Events books when I was a kid, their whimsical darkness was oddly engaging.

[badass_tiger]

That's right, he writes from the POV of one of the minor characters in A Series of Unfortunate Events! His current series, All The Wrong Questions, is about Snicket's backstory, and is a sort of prequel to ASOUE. ASOUE is one of my favourite series and I'm really happy that he's continuing to write for it.

[lunabee34]

My daughter recently finished that series and loved it (although not so much the ending).

I love books that are "educational" for whatever value of educational without overtly being so.

[badass_tiger]

Haha, nobody enjoys the ending of the series. That was the whole point. In real life, endings don't leave you feeling all warm inside and people rarely die knowing everything they set out to find out about. I didn't enjoy the ending, but I most certainly liked it.

[sarillia]

I actually did enjoy the ending. But I have weird tastes when it comes to that sort of thing.

[lunabee34]

Ah, okay. I didn't read them along with her, just parts of them when she wanted me to read out loud to her before bed. I think Ems does not yet appreciate ambiguity. LOL She is very much a happy endings kind of girl.