Nicholas Sparks, the prolific and popular novelist behind “The Notebook” and many other titles, outlined his rules for writing compelling romance stories during his appearance Thursday at Variety‘s Entertainment Marketing Summit presented by Deloitte.
Sparks divulged some secrets for crafting a satisfying story. The first question he asks himself when he sits down to write a new property: “What are the ages of the characters who will fall in love,” Sparks told Jennifer Maas, Variety‘s senior writer for TV business and gaming, at the daylong conference held at Neuehouse in Hollywood.
The variation among his characters keeps it interesting for Sparks — and it makes a lot of sense for the larger business of Nicholas Sparks Inc.
“It’s a simple fact in the publishing world that generally, people like to read about people they relate to, and one of the things they relate to is the age of the characters,” Sparks said. “Teenagers don’t always like to read about elderly people, or people in their 50s, or read about people who remind them of their parents. They like to read about teenagers. So it’s a hard and fast rule to vary the age of the characters.”
What’s more, Sparks holds himself to a high standard when it comes to the stories he embraces for novels.
“When I’m trying to conceive a story and characters and plot elements within the story, I try to meet three criteria. I want it to be original, I want it to be interesting and I want it to be universal,” he said.
The trick is finding a concept that supports all three components.
“Most products, whether they’re books or films, those elements will fit two of those three. Maybe you can be interesting and original and come up with Hannibal Lecter very easily, or an assassin or some crime, but they often fail on universality. The more a reader or viewer feels like, ‘Hey, this can happen to me’ — that universality is incredibly important.”
Among other subjects that Sparks touched on during the session:
Splenda and chicken salad: A New York Times feature last fall on Sparks referenced him making his unusual chicken salad recipe that calls for the use of Splenda sweetener. The recipe went viral, sparking fans to try their own versions. The Splenda brand eventually reached out to Sparks for a marketing collaboration. At first, the reaction to the recipe was skeptical to negative. But Sparks’ enthusiasm for his recipe won them over.
“I’ll put it up against anybody’s,” Sparks said. “I made it on my book tours. We fed people, and sure enough, Splenda was thrilled, and so they’re putting my chicken salad recipe on Splenda boxes this year.”
Teaming with M. Night Shyamalan on the film “Remain”: Sparks began the process of collaborating on a thriller story idea with the famed writer-director more than a year ago. Shyamalan has committed to making the film, for release later this year in tandem with Sparks’ novel of the same name. Filming is slated to begin in June.
Sparks found the “Remain” assignment to be an invigorating challenge. He was tasked by his manager, Anonymous Content’s Howie Sanders, with developing “an original story that you think will fit his audience and yours — and he’s going to do the same thing,” Sparks recalled. “So we met for a couple of hours. I told him my story. He told me his story and in that very first meeting [Shyamalan] said ‘OK, let’s do yours.’ ”
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