Novel: a question for everyone.

[dwiguitar]

"What makes a book valuable?..."

I'm working on a novel. Fiction, mystery-drama. It has no horror or detectives or "best friend in love with my worst enemy who is actually my father" plots.

The premise is simple. There's a book. The most valuable book in history. Not for any mystical or magical or shady reasons. Everyone knows why and everyone wants it. A copy of this book falls into the hands of a normal person, all sorts of hell break loose.

When I say I'm working on it, it just means I'm naming characters, creating settings so on and so forth. So why am I posting here?

To ask you a question. Scroll up. There you go. What, in your opinion, makes a book valuable? That line opens my story, as a student asks the teacher... "...and the teacher looks at him, but not at him. Past the seats, on a table, near the wall; there was..."

[Charles Darnay]

"best friend in love with my worst enemy who is actually my father" - what? Does this exist? This sounds like a terrible story? If you just made this up, please don't follow through with it.

As for your story - it sounds like a cross between Maltese Falcon and Lord of the Rings (in that all hell breaks loose when an ordinary person gets a desired object) - could be interesting depending on what you do with it.

I know you're not here for criticism.....

"What makes a book valuable?" It's not the paper, or the ink, or the binding - in short, there is nothing physical about a book that makes it valuable, unless it is handwritten and the ink used was unicorn ink or something like that (please don't do that idea either.)

What makes a book valuable? Two possibilities.

A) It contains some idea that is crucial to our existence as humans, and could contain information that is dangerous to a certain institution (such as in Umberto Eco's "Name of the Rose" or somewhat in "Fahrenheit 451)

B) It sheds some light on the author and contains some scandal, usually involving the author's death: "M. Flombay was murdered and it is believed that he produced a secret novel that would have brought down Louis XIV"

Hmmmm......the first one is a better option.

[cafolini]

"What makes a book valuable?..."

I'm working on a novel. Fiction, mystery-drama. It has no horror or detectives or "best friend in love with my worst enemy who is actually my father" plots.

The premise is simple. There's a book. The most valuable book in history. Not for any mystical or magical or shady reasons. Everyone knows why and everyone wants it. A copy of this book falls into the hands of a normal person, all sorts of hell break loose.

When I say I'm working on it, it just means I'm naming characters, creating settings so on and so forth. So why am I posting here?

To ask you a question. Scroll up. There you go. What, in your opinion, makes a book valuable? That line opens my story, as a student asks the teacher... "...and the teacher looks at him, but not at him. Past the seats, on a table, near the wall; there was..."

A new book is valuable only if it sells. Any book in the past that became valuable was because it sold at some point in time, either fresh or posthumous. You have to write about today and make it relate to those who are potential buyers. Then you need an editor who would buy the potential and discuss issues with you regarding relatability. You'll be surprised about how much you need a good editor in touch with today's marketting. Most people make the mistake of not considering that important. But if you are serious about publishing, you need to get in touch with the publishing machines and the people that work there and know what's needed in true feasability.

"The most imnportant things in life cannot be bought. But they are so expensive." ~ Groucho Marx.

[Calidore]

Sounds like you have a classic Hitchcock plot there: Regular guy accidentally gets hold of a McGuffin and finds himself in way over his head.

The obvious reason for a book's value would be scarcity. So rather than _a_ copy of the book, how about _the_ copy.

What could the book be? How about a surviving something from the Library of Alexandria (it had been stolen before the fire) that puts the lie to something currently believed science/religionwise.

[MystyrMystyry]

A book of spells? Of mystical equations which had fallen through a portal in time?

Or perhaps the author was Da Vinci - and it's a secret tome stolen from some collector's safe.

Things hidden between the pages or bindings - the book as clue in larger plot development?

The possibilities if you choose supernatural/sci fi are limitless. But if it's strictly an Earthbound odyssey then it could have come from any time period - even before the recognised first Egyptian scribblings on papyrus.


I used a similiar idea once, but it was in a comedy setting where the paperback's value was not only the sudden prompt cessation by the publisher and printer and subsequent pulping of the few copies, making it the sole survivor, but it also had the author's own annotations in the margins. Story wise, no one else cared about it except the protagonist who snatched it from his shelf after 'accidentally' breaking into his house. He thought the pursuers were after it, but actually they were after him for entirely different reasons (thus the comedy - I didn't say it was good...)

[dwiguitar]

Just a quick clarification: I know why I want the fictional book to be considered "valuable" for. But some characters will not agree with it being valuable, for various reasons.

@ C. darnay: While I love LotR, I don't want this to be about the book. It's only a catalyst. I want this story to be about the people that you meet in life. Although the dangers of the book will be the engine that drives the plot, I want the human side to shine.

@Mystyry: Actually, in the novel's setting, the book was published just a year prior to the current events. The authors are actually still alive and in hiding, for various reasons. They (the authors) are also important characters, essential I'd say. But they're not particularly powerful, or wise, or wealthy. I'm not saying there's not any outstanding characters in the story though... they're just not outstanding for the usual reasons.