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

[lunabee34]

This is a great opening topic. :)

I wish I had written Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. It's a Victorian novel whose basic plot (so many subthreads LOL) is that a woman's husband essentially abandons her to go to Australia to try and make his fortune. She assumes another identity in order to marry someone wealthy; her husband returns to England, and she's got to keep him from realizing who she is. Spoiler alert: she is not so successful. LOL

It's melodramatic without being ridiculous which I admire highly. As a reader, I love melodrama. I love highly emotional stories and angst and sudden plot twists. I think the Victorians really did melodrama best because they're so endearingly earnest about all the characters faking their deaths or secretly squirreling away illegitimate children or whatever the convoluted plot is. And the language is beautiful; Braddon can turn a phrase so beautifully.

There's some disconnect for me where I just don't seem to be able to write the kinds of stories I most want to read, the ones that really scratch my id. IDK if that's a problem other people have.

[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!

[siofrabunnies]

That's such a difficult question to answer!

I'll say I'm very jealous of Douglas Adams' writing style. HHGG is one of my favorite book series, and I catch something new each time I read it. There are other authors that do the same thing, but I think Adams did it best. I particularly like the idea that the story isn't about the characters, but about the Guide itself, which lets the action and dialog be a lot more natural, at least as natural as a sci-fi novel can be.

[sarillia]

I would love to write the kind of experimental stuff that I love. I adore Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler, and I'm determined to write something in 2nd person that I like even if everyone else hates it. I also want to write something like London Fields, where it switches from a narrative about a writer to the novel he's writing based on his situation. I'm sorting working on plotting something like that but the "novel" sections are limited to excerpts at the beginning of each chapter which will then go on to show what really happened.

I'd also love to write the sort of fantasy that Guy Gavriel Kay writes. And Lois McMaster Bujold too.

And fairy tale retellings! My favorite is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I would love to have written that.