Why The Hunger Games Caught Fire by Jennifer Spiller
[caption id="attachment_10480" align="aligncenter" width="198" caption="North American First Edition Cover, Scholastic"]
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In the world of huge writerly confessions, “I had no interest in reading The Hunger Games” probably doesn’t top the list. It can’t compare, say, to, “I’ve never read Moby Dick.” (I haven’t). But, with just a little over twenty-four hours until hordes of rabid fans descend like popcorn-eating-locusts on the theatres of the U.S., confessions of this sort could be dangerous to my online health.
The truth is this: I had never heard of The Hunger Games until the day that Mockingjay was released.
And then I heard about it because I didn’t hear anything at all.
My Twitter feed became a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Thankfully, a few brave souls came online, just to squee and say why they weren’t online. My entire Twitter feed was curled up with Mockingjay, a young adult novel.
WHAT?
I love Harry Potter as much as the next person, and you’d have to be living in an enchanted sleep to have missed the Twilight phenomenon, but what was this Mockingjay? I’d never heard of it.
So, I looked it up and discovered it was the third of a series. I love series, but this sounded completely uninteresting. Blech.
Only, EVERYONE was reading it, and most importantly, lots of people with totally different reading habits were reading it and enjoying it. My reader brain was still bored. My writer brain was intrigued.
So, with heavy sighs and rolling eyes, I downloaded the sample of The Hunger Games to my Kindle. About ten minutes later, I frantically tried to figure out how to buy the rest of the book. Then I read through the night. Then I read Catching Fire. Then I read Mockingjay. In two days.
Thank you, Kindle, for making this gluttony possible.
After I did the equivalent of inserting a needle and shooting high octane fiction up my arm, I did what every addict does--I pushed my drug on others. In the process of riding the Hunger Games high, I forgot my lofty writer goals. All I wanted was for other people to share the crazy with me.
Come on! Let’s debate the layers of meaning inherent in the reality show insanity! How is violence affecting these young people? Are you Team Peeta (YES) or Team Gale?
It took a year for me to refocus my writer brain on analyzing the story.
You’ve seen brains on drugs? -->Scrambled eggs.
This was my brain on Hunger Games.-->Sobbing break dancing.
So, what makes these books so popular? Why do they work for so many different types of readers?
Well, pick up any major book on writing fiction, apply the rules to The Hunger Games, and you’ll see.
One of my favorite books on writing is The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. The following elements are all things he advocates for taking your fiction to the next level.
Katniss is a hero, not just a protagonist. For evidence, look no further than the moment she offers herself as tribute. She’s offering to DIE so her little sister can live! (Please excuse me while I swoon and sob).
And let’s not forget Peeta. Oh, Peeta, you sweet, wonderful thing, you. You burned the bread so Katniss wouldn’t starve. You’re going to die so Katniss can live--because you love her! (Get the smelling salts, NOW).
Best of all, these two change the people around them. They change the hearts of their whole freaking country! (Yay)!
Even drunk, slovenly, doesn’t give a damn about anyone, Haymitch is won over. (Ooh, a redemption plot! My favorite)!
There are three sets of antagonists. The first are the other kids in the games, and they have excellent motivation. They don’t want to die. The second antagonist is the government who controls their lives. We all love to hate an evil, oppressive regime, right? But even the government has a twisted sort of logic to its madness. It’s keeping the peace. (Yeah, right).
The third antagonist is my favorite--the setting. You could say the setting is really an arm of the government, but I think it acts like its own character. It has the creepiest motivation of all, entertainment. How sick is it that the setting changes to make things harder for the game players so the audience will send money? No sicker than a lot of reality tv is, well, minus that pesky death element.
What other elements of the Fire in Fiction does The Hunger Games have? Frankly? A lot. It has a unique voice and point of view which yanks the reader into the story and makes them experience it viscerally. The prose has a distinctive style. The world is detailed and believable. And there is tension ALL THE TIME.
Even before we know what the Reaping is, we know it’s bad. It’s called the Reaping, for heaven’s sake.
So, if you’re working on a novel now, or wondering why that manuscript isn’t getting the attention it deserves, take a look at The Hunger Games. Then take a look at some of the great books on storytelling. The Hunger Games stacked the odds ever in its favor.
Can you say the same for your work?
[/caption]In the world of huge writerly confessions, “I had no interest in reading The Hunger Games” probably doesn’t top the list. It can’t compare, say, to, “I’ve never read Moby Dick.” (I haven’t). But, with just a little over twenty-four hours until hordes of rabid fans descend like popcorn-eating-locusts on the theatres of the U.S., confessions of this sort could be dangerous to my online health.
The truth is this: I had never heard of The Hunger Games until the day that Mockingjay was released.
And then I heard about it because I didn’t hear anything at all.
My Twitter feed became a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Thankfully, a few brave souls came online, just to squee and say why they weren’t online. My entire Twitter feed was curled up with Mockingjay, a young adult novel.
WHAT?
I love Harry Potter as much as the next person, and you’d have to be living in an enchanted sleep to have missed the Twilight phenomenon, but what was this Mockingjay? I’d never heard of it.
So, I looked it up and discovered it was the third of a series. I love series, but this sounded completely uninteresting. Blech.
Only, EVERYONE was reading it, and most importantly, lots of people with totally different reading habits were reading it and enjoying it. My reader brain was still bored. My writer brain was intrigued.
So, with heavy sighs and rolling eyes, I downloaded the sample of The Hunger Games to my Kindle. About ten minutes later, I frantically tried to figure out how to buy the rest of the book. Then I read through the night. Then I read Catching Fire. Then I read Mockingjay. In two days.
Thank you, Kindle, for making this gluttony possible.
After I did the equivalent of inserting a needle and shooting high octane fiction up my arm, I did what every addict does--I pushed my drug on others. In the process of riding the Hunger Games high, I forgot my lofty writer goals. All I wanted was for other people to share the crazy with me.
Come on! Let’s debate the layers of meaning inherent in the reality show insanity! How is violence affecting these young people? Are you Team Peeta (YES) or Team Gale?
It took a year for me to refocus my writer brain on analyzing the story.
You’ve seen brains on drugs? -->Scrambled eggs.
This was my brain on Hunger Games.-->Sobbing break dancing.
So, what makes these books so popular? Why do they work for so many different types of readers?
Well, pick up any major book on writing fiction, apply the rules to The Hunger Games, and you’ll see.
One of my favorite books on writing is The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. The following elements are all things he advocates for taking your fiction to the next level.
Katniss is a hero, not just a protagonist. For evidence, look no further than the moment she offers herself as tribute. She’s offering to DIE so her little sister can live! (Please excuse me while I swoon and sob).
And let’s not forget Peeta. Oh, Peeta, you sweet, wonderful thing, you. You burned the bread so Katniss wouldn’t starve. You’re going to die so Katniss can live--because you love her! (Get the smelling salts, NOW).
Best of all, these two change the people around them. They change the hearts of their whole freaking country! (Yay)!
Even drunk, slovenly, doesn’t give a damn about anyone, Haymitch is won over. (Ooh, a redemption plot! My favorite)!
There are three sets of antagonists. The first are the other kids in the games, and they have excellent motivation. They don’t want to die. The second antagonist is the government who controls their lives. We all love to hate an evil, oppressive regime, right? But even the government has a twisted sort of logic to its madness. It’s keeping the peace. (Yeah, right).
The third antagonist is my favorite--the setting. You could say the setting is really an arm of the government, but I think it acts like its own character. It has the creepiest motivation of all, entertainment. How sick is it that the setting changes to make things harder for the game players so the audience will send money? No sicker than a lot of reality tv is, well, minus that pesky death element.
What other elements of the Fire in Fiction does The Hunger Games have? Frankly? A lot. It has a unique voice and point of view which yanks the reader into the story and makes them experience it viscerally. The prose has a distinctive style. The world is detailed and believable. And there is tension ALL THE TIME.
Even before we know what the Reaping is, we know it’s bad. It’s called the Reaping, for heaven’s sake.
So, if you’re working on a novel now, or wondering why that manuscript isn’t getting the attention it deserves, take a look at The Hunger Games. Then take a look at some of the great books on storytelling. The Hunger Games stacked the odds ever in its favor.
Can you say the same for your work?
