Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Location: Books & Such Main Office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
A few weekends ago, I joined my book club on a Dashiell Hammett tour of San Francisco. We ate at John’s Grill (which appears in The Maltese Falcon, the book our club read in preparation for the tour). The guide has been leading Dashiell Hammett tours for 30 years and was a fount of knowledge about not only Hammett but also Lillian Hellman (who was Hammett’s long-term lover), the history of mystery writing, and the current state of publishing. Despite the physical challenge of taking a walking tour in San Francisco, the time was enthralling.
One of the comments Don, our guide, made was regarding the importance of icons in a novel. He used the figure of the Maltese falcon as an example. That started my mind going on other icons that were introduced in literature and have become a part of our culture. Dorothy’s red shoes and Scarlett O’Hara’s Tara belong on that list.
What do I mean by icon? The traditional meaning is a religious symbol; some of these symbols are believed to be imbued with spiritual power, others not. The cross is an icon.The Silver Chalice (which was a novel and then a film in the 1950s centered on the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper) is an icon.
A more contemporary understanding of icon is a symbol that communicates a certain meaning. The Maltese falcon symbolizes the lust for riches; Dorothy’s shoes symbolize an adventure to another land while longing to return home. The films of both of these books were instrumental in making the bird and the shoes iconic. Nowadays we speak of “icons” as computer symbols that we click on to get to Twitter or Microsoft Office.
But what does an icon have to do with your writing?
Once a person is published, he or she soon realizes that merely being published isn’t enough to keep a career alive. The next step is to figure out how to break out from the pack; how to develop momentum and build on a strong foundation.
One of the ways to purpose to break out–or to break into publishing–is to write a manuscript centered on a powerful image. The book’s readers are the ones who make the image into an icon, but without the image, there is no icon.
Such imagery is important in nonfiction as well as fiction, especially today, when story is an elemental part of successful nonfiction. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings conveys, even in its title, a powerful image.
I just checked the New York Times best-seller list to see which book titles contain an evocative image. In nonfiction we have Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin and Oprah by Kitty Kelley, which reminded me that a person as well as an object can be an icon. In fiction, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo conveys the iconic importance of tattoos in current culture. And The Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini, who has built a successful series on quilts called the Elm Creek Quilts Novels.
What books can you think of that have center on a powerful image? And the much bigger question, do you have a powerful image at the core of your work in progress?
I love the study of symbols in novels. Susan May Warren used singing as a symbol in her new World War II novel, Sons of Thunder. It reoccured throughout the book evoking different emotions and the “dark” side of music as well as the light.
I think the best symbols are the ones the arise naturally (almost subconsciously) from the story. Once they’re present organically, then we can go back and enhance them in a place or two.
Great concept…and yet one other item to consider in the weaving of a memorable novel. I would say the “one ring to rule them all” would stand out as an example in Lord of the Rings. The classic short film, “The Red Balloon,” would provide another. How about any of the three icons in the title, “The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe” in C.S. Lewis’ classic?
Teri and Michael, those are good examples. Since the movie version of The Lord of the Rings, I’d say “Precious-s–s-s” was the icon that viewers adopted. Which tells us sometimes we don’t know what will call to readers. I’d also say L. Frank Baum wouldn’t have guessed that Dorothy’s shoes would become iconic.
I wonder if that means just writing a rich story and following one’s instincts is the way for an author to go. The icons will find their place by themselves. What do you think?
So true. I love how you encourage this for nonfiction as well as for fiction. As a nonfiction writer, I often start writing from a single image, and use it as a metaphor for “the rest of the story.” As I write, sometimes that image changes, another one joins it, or it becomes more pronounced as the central theme. Regardless, the finished book should indeed leave readers with an icon. It’s like gifting them with a souvenier to take home from vacation. Sweet.
One advantage of the icon idea with non-fiction is that it allows the author (while presenting workshops / discussing the topic) an opportunity to feel out the audience what they are grabbing onto, and then tweak the message from there.
It’s been 3 years since I first presented my subject, and I still occasionally run into people who remember both the subject and specific examples / stories.
Every year people enter my workshop because they were told they ‘had to’ by someone 1, 2, or 3 years prior! These opportunities to discuss the ideas with people who have already had the seed planted are huge encouragements, and keep the fire going when the writing process gets bogged down.
Looking forward to wrapping up a men’s seminar I’m presenting in 2 weeks and back to polishing the icon.
I do wonder, however, if it possible to so focus on the iconic image/saying/etc that instead of being what becomes part of the cultural awareness, it becomes an idol that detracts from the overall impact or quality of the book.
I love metaphors and analogies, but sometimes people work so hard to make them apply to every possible scenario that they start to fall apart, but the author/presenter seems scared to death to let that happen.
If it doesn’t fit one particular situation, admit it and go on. There is nothing wrong with having a framework of discussion that is not 100% applicable.
Just my 3 cents (inflation and fuel surcharge)
What an interesting concept. I agree, however, that sometimes what becomes iconic is accidental.
I took a look at the books I’ve read so far this year. None would qualify. From last year, I would select Susan Meissner’s White Picket Fences (the fence), Patti Lacy’s What The Bayou Saw (the bayou), Dara Girard’s Black Stockings series (the stockings), and Tosca Lee’s Havah (Eve), as having some type of icon in the work.
Given the ones I’ve selected and your examples, I wonder whether a good title often hints as to what the icon is, when one is present?
Patricia, yes, often the icon does show up in the title of a book because the publishing house recognizes what a powerful image it is.
Rich, thanks for mentioning that an image can be overdone. Imagery is rather like spices–a pinch or two is just right, but a tablespoon will disrupt the blending of ingredients.
Fascinating post! I never thought about the concept of an icon and how it solidifies an idea or theme. After reading this though, I realized I do have an image in my wip. It didn’t start out that way but evolved in subsequent drafts.
One book I read recently that carries this idea is Melody Carlson’s These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking.
I’m not sure I fully understand what an icon is in literature, but it seems to me that the Alps in Heidi were iconic.
In Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy, the linder stone was an icon, I think, and in her Book of a Thousand Days, the book was the icon.
In the book I recently finished, which has a working title of THE BUTTON GIRL, my character carries some gray buttons with her throughout the story. They remind her of her foggy home village.
Sally, I’d say you have the idea about icons figured out. Of course, only the culture can make an image iconic, but that happens when readers find an image that’s so powerful and contains such symbolism that it just naturally occurs that people start talking and thinking in terms of that icon–it can even be removed from the book and still have power because everyone in the culture has heard about what the icon stands for.
I’m late to the party on this one, but I saw an icon Tuesday night in the book I’m reading (W. Dale Cramer’s LEVI’S WILL), and it kept me awake an extra hour, just admiring the beauty of it. Cramer sets the scene outside the realm of spoken language by making one character non-English speaking, a father who is upset that the POV character’s brother has gone too far with his daughter. We hear a scream in the woods and the father chases the brother with a machete (they’ve been working sugar cane). The POV brother interrupts and confiscates the machete, stabbing it into the ground. The father turns on him and delivers an unintelligible tirade while taking the POV’s hat and hanging it on the machete handle. Then an English-speaking character gives an explanation. It is World War II, the girl has a brother buried under his rifle and helmet. Why are these two boys not in the military? The POV character is gradually shedding his Amish upbringing. He spends the night in thought, and in the morning decides to join the army. The civilian machete and felt hat so masterfully become the grave marker for the character’s pacifism. For me, that is what an icon is supposed to do. It will be in my mind forever.