What’s more important: a great theme or great writing?
I’d like to think great writing wins the day, but marketing guru Marcia Yudkin makes a case for a book’s ability to plumb “unresolved, contentious issues, such as race relations, small town vs. the metropolis, abuse of political or religious power, and the dark side of success in America.” (Her post draws on Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers by novelist James W. Hall.)
Certainly, some of the bestsellers mentioned in her post and Mr. Hall’s book are not examples of great writing. Case in point: The Da Vinci Code and Jaws. The point Ms. Yudkin is really making, though, is that as marketing writers, we can “also strike a nerve by tapping into passionate undertones, whether that’s the urge for adventure, wealth vs. personal fulfillment, or the ruination of paradise.”
My recent posts have been about writing, but they have also addressed how we can use compelling themes and words to create emotional portraits that elicit the responses we want from our readers. What could be better than to bring together good technique with a great story?
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