Why, Not How
Taking on a mulligan on 2011 seems to be working. Optimism levels back up and rising! Huzzah!
Answer this question, please.
I am apparently becoming (in)famous both at work and online for my abhorrence of FEEEEEEEEEEELINGS, but as far as editorial mantras go, NO FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS is a pretty terrible one to go on, as that has more to do with personal opinion than good editorial vision.
Cap’n Sweet Valley has an editorial mantra, which has served him rather well in his years as an editor and packager. His mantra is What’s the Fucking Handle?, meaning “What’s the selling point–handle–I can hold on to?” Blunt, and a little crass, perhaps, but rather effective when you’re trying to pitch the book to the editorial board and the book buyers.
The Handle is also known in the industry as a high concept hook, often given as an X Meets Y formula (e.g. THE HANDMAID’S TALE meets LORD OF THE FLIES…in space!). Nearly all the bestsellers and commercial blockbusters have a Handle, and a really simple one at that. Handles are easy to conceptualize, and are therefore easily consumed.
Of course, Cap’n Sweet Valley’s tastes do run much more commercial than mine, so What’s the Fucking Handle? is not a mantra I can necessarily adopt, nor do I want my guiding vision for a book to come down to “how will I sell it?”. (Although I see the practicality in that too. I’m not all idealism!) In addition to reading submissions for us, I do second reads for my colleagues, and I’ve slowly started to recognize a pattern in the questions I ask, which I can now refine into my own personal editorial mantra: Why? (Not How.)
