Literary trope question

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Excidio

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I'm at the slightly awkward point of thinking about my SECOND novel. The first is in queryland, but I'm not holding my breath. After several failed attempts to write a book I decided I would write something I wanted to read regardless of its commercial appeal. I'm proud of what I wrote and it's rather good (if I say so myself) but way too long and possibly too obscure to have a realistic chance of being published.

So, my goal for my next novel is to write something which builds on all the skills and habits I've learned but which is more likely to connect with the market. I don't want to spend months on a project only to find myself once again with something that is too boutique to have a fighting chance of getting picked up.

All of which brings me to the reason for posing this question. I have a very clear idea for a book. It would be set in the contemporary US and somewhere abroad. The 'somewhere abroad' would be a made-up country sharing the aspects and history of several real ones, without being constrained by the exact reality of those places.

My question: Is this a viable idea or something which has already been done to death? I'm posting in this forum, because I specifically want to know about the reception this device would have within the literary genre.

I know there are classics which use it (e.g. Nostromo) and it crops up a lot in film, but I don't want to delve into writing this if every agent is going to look at the eventual query letter and immediately be put off on reading the synopsis.

[Without going into too much detail, the reason I want to use a made up country is that a major part of the plot revolves around politics, palace intrigue and revolution and therefore it just does not seem right to pick on a real country.]
 

dgaughran

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My question: Is this a viable idea or something which has already been done to death? I'm posting in this forum, because I specifically want to know about the reception this device would have within the literary genre.

There is really not enough detail in your post to say whether you are using a device which has been done to death or not.

All I can really get from the above is that you have an idea for a book set in two different countries, one of which is made-up (a composite or whatever).

If that's it, you have nothing to worry about. Plenty of great books use composite/imagined countries (100 Years of Solitude) and plenty combine imagined countries with real ones (Absurdistan).

I don't think it will help or hinder your book. What will matter, as always, is the execution.
 

dgaughran

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Without going into too much detail, the reason I want to use a made up country is that a major part of the plot revolves around politics, palace intrigue and revolution and therefore it just does not seem right to pick on a real country.

On a side note, why not use a real country if using an imagined one potentially bothers you? People do it all the time and feathers only tend to be ruffled when a book is hugely successful. And if that's your biggest problem, then you are one lucky duck.
 

Excidio

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Thank you for your thoughts. Personally, I like the idea of books set in imaginary countries - I just don't want to write a good one and find nobody even wants to read a sample because they are put off by the synopsis.

To give a bit more information, which also helps explain why I want to set it somewhere made up, the plot would involve a protagonist from the US who gets caught up in political turmoil in a Third World country. Ultimately, we're talking coups and revolutions - not the sort of thing I want to wish upon anybody. Now, I could set it in a real country, but historically, but the trouble with that is that you can be very constrained by the history.
 

dgaughran

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Ok, well that makes sense.

You have two choices then. A made up name for your country, or leave it unnamed. Either work and either is easy to do. Saramago, except once I know of, never named the country where the action took place, allowing him to make a story universal. Garcia Marquez never explicity mentioned where 100 Years of Solitude took place (although it is clearly based on Colombia). Authors do this all the time. Or to give a totally different example in the TV series The West Wing, the US fought a pretty convincing war with a country called Qumar.

In short, don't sweat it.
 

sincerely_anna

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I say go for it! Your best writing will come out when you're writing what you believe in, not what you want others to buy. Personally, I love reading about new countries/lands that authors have made up. The good news is: no two fictional countries are alike :)
 

plunderpuss

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I agree with the other responses--I don't think anyone is going to care as long as the writing is strong.

Though as a little side note, if you do want to avoid ruffled feathers, maybe refer to it as a 'developing nation' instead of 'third world.' ;)
 
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A.V. Hollingshead

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There is a book I quite like, Austin Tappan Wright's Islandia. The entire book is basically about a continent called Islandia and a student from Harvard going there to study the culture. Bit Tolkien-esque in the dedication to explaining every detail of the world, but interesting nonetheless.
 

Ria13

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Thank you for your thoughts. Personally, I like the idea of books set in imaginary countries - I just don't want to write a good one and find nobody even wants to read a sample because they are put off by the synopsis.

I have the impression that readers judge sypnoses less for themselves then what they say about the writer. they want to weed out the writers who come off semi-literate, clueless or insane. setting a novel sypnosis in an imaginary land would not accomplish these things.
 
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