An imagined conversation

Jim: Dan, I know that your book ‘Angels and Demons’ wasn’t as big a hit as you had hoped for but I think you should keep working on the idea.
Dan Brown: Are you crazy? I am going to try something different now. 'Angels and Demons' is a lost cause.
Jim: No No Dan. Hear me out. I think you should revisit the entire premise once again and give it another shot! Just change the mystery that drives the plot but keep the general plotline and the basic idea of the characters the same. I have a gut feeling about this!
Dan Brown: Are you fucking drunk Jim? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Wouldn’t people find it weird that almost similar things happen to the protagonist twice in his life? Who is going to buy that?
Jim: That doesn’t matter Dan. If the new book becomes a huge hit nobody will care about such things. You have to trust me.
Dan Brown: Hmmm…let me think about it. If I do this, I have to make sure it contains more controversial elements than the first.
Jim: Yes of course. I think hitting up Christianity once again is a good idea.
Dan Brown: Jim…you are insane. I can’t write about Christianity once again.
Jim: Yes you can. Just make it even more controversial. Here’s the thing. Simply forget that you ever wrote 'Angels and Demons'. Try to write something that is a new and improved 'Angels and Demons' without worrying about repetition or things like that! The only thing is you have to make it more controversial. That way it will get a lot of attention and boom…jackpot!
Dan Brown: Hmmmm…seems like a crazy idea that just might work. Let me think about it more seriously! If it doesn’t work, you owe me a beer though!
Jim: You’ve got yourself a deal Dan!


Aside: I think one commendable thing about Dan Brown is that it is relatively easier to create your own world and plant clues in it to create a mystery. Dan Brown however works with real world artifacts and makes them part of a treasure hunt which at least on the face value of it seems like quite an impressive task.

EDIT (Dec 24th 2008): Since I am pseudo-intellectually bashing authors here, let me say this: MALCOLM GLADWELL...stop researching things that are explained by common sense and write something new. Your books are the equivalent of headlines that go "Scientists show people who drink too much make a lot of stupid mistakes". It is freaking obvious, everybody knows that and nobody wants to know why. Stop turning one page essays into books jackass!