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Out Authoring Your Favorite Auther

Surpassing Shakespeare?  

Famous authors are famous for a reason.  They write compelling books that lots of people read.  That usually translates to them being good writers.  While there ARE popular authors whose writing, in my estimation, is mediocre at best, my default assumption is that an author that manages to sell thousands or millions of books has something to teach me about writing.

Therefore, an aspiring writer will find it beneficial to examine the writings of his or her favorite authors for examples of how to write well.  Which is rather standard advice.  Expected.  Normal.  Something a writing group might tell you.  

I imagine something wilder.  World-class authors across different genres write exceptional pieces of literature.  Literature almost impossible to top.  Almost.  There is always the possibility for their mountain peak to be eclipsed by yet a higher mountain.  Your mountain.

I like to imagine how one might out-author a famous author.  Not to say that I'll be the one to do it.  My current writing is but the foothills of the foothills of great writing.  But every climb begins with the first handhold.  And if a goal cannot be imagined, it can't be aimed at.  

Here are five authors I imagine out-authoring.

Stephen King: Epic Fantasy with Cosmic Stakes via the Dark Tower series:

  • Background: I'm not normally a Stephen King fan, but the Dark Tower series, where all realities are joined in the center by the Dark Tower, is magnificent.  The plot of the novels have cosmic consequences. 
  • Goal: Create a story with greater cosmic stakes.
  • Ideas:
    • Add a stronger religious element: The Lost Son at the Center of the Universe
    • Impart multiple symbols with cosmic meaning: The Tree, Bell, and, Arrow 
    • Incorporate a strong time/time-travel element: Karios and the Chronorangers

J. K. Rowling: Young Adult Fantasy set in a Parallel World via the Harry Potter series:

  • Background: It's not easy getting modern youth to read.  Let alone devour several massively long (for children's literature) books.  The characters don't always have the best development (they're moral on the big issues but are amoral on smaller issues), but the plot has surprisingly archetypical depth (dragon and virgin, alchemical renewal, etc.).  Few authors have created such an appealing and relatable parallels world (hidden subset of the ordinary world).
  • Goal: Create a richer and more engaging parallel world for children.
  • Ideas:
    • Center around young adventuring sailors across uncharted islands: Islands of Adventure
    • Center around young clerics in a secret war between interdimensional beings: The Healer's War
    • Center around young artificers in a hidden world above the clouds: Skywonder

H. P. Lovecraft: Cosmic Horror via the Cthulhu Mythos:

  • Background: I'm not as versed in Lovecraft's corpus as I should be (a shortcoming I'm trying to address).  He essentially defined the genre of Cosmic Horror through his short stories.
  • Goal: Create a horror genre more encompassing than cosmic.
  • Ideas:
    • Focus on alternative universes where the rules of physics are different: Bent Reality
    • Incorporate the spiritual dimension in a well-developed way: The Breaking of Heaven and Earth
    • Address monstrosities that can change the past as well as the future: No Yesterdays, No Tomorrows

J. R. R. Tolkien: World Building via the Lord of the Rings:

  • Background: The standard to which all modern fantasy tries to live up to.  Tolkien created his own languages, mythology, geography, and culture for Middle Earth.
  • Goal: Create a more detailed world.
  • Ideas: 
    • Create a similar opus to his Lord of the Rings using science fiction
    • Include the world building he used (language, culture, etc.), but also include an extremely detailed natural history (geology, biology, cosmology, etc.)
    • Have each world in the universe under the guard of a noble spirit (similar to the Space Trilogy, written by his friend, C. S. Lewis): The Bearers of the Hemispheres

Brandon Sanderson: Connected Worlds via the Stormlight Archives, Mistborn, etc.:

  • Background: He's famous for massive fantasy novels with surprising twists and interconnectedness.  Most of his novels are found in the the shared universe called the Cosmere.
  • Goal: Create a bigger shared universe.
  • Ideas:
    • Multiple shared universes, each budding from the mind of an Author: Period
    • Nested universes found with the main universe: Oververse Overtures
    • Shattered worlds that were once whole: The Ruined Cosmoweb

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