How to Make Your Novel into a Media Franchise, part 2
August 9th, 2007 by Guest
Last week we were thrilled to have Eric von Rothkirch from the must-read blog Quantum Storytelling join WU as a guest blogger. Part one of his post on How to Make Your Novel into a Media Franchise generated a nice discussion on this exciting idea. Most of us just dream about having our work made into a movie, but Eric tells us ways to make this dream become more likely. In part one, Eric outlined the concepts of a successful media franchise. In today’s part two post, Eric breaks down the elements by using recognizable mega-franchises as examples. Enjoy!
Let’s take a closer look at these elements of successful media franchises.
Memorable or Interesting Character Names
Indiana Jones
A common technique for creating a memorable character name is to give them a nickname, and have everyone in the story refer to them by that name. In fact, the more successful naming conventions feature the character’s name alongside the episode title. Henry Jones Jr. is a less interesting name than Indiana Jones, although Henry Jones is the character’s birth name. Lucas and Spielberg were drawing from their experiences growing up with westerns when they named him Indiana. It immediately brings to mind Rio Bravo’s Ricky Nelson as ‘Colorado’ Ryan.The later re-imagining of the story as the film El Dorado features a young James Caan as the character ‘Mississippi,’ the equivalent of ‘Colorado’ in Rio Bravo. The use of humor or jokes to explain and reference the nicknames is a common part of the storytelling. A scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy’s father explains that Indiana was the dog’s name. Of course the in-joke there is that George Lucas had a dog named Indiana. This is probably the influence of westerns on George Lucas as a child, where characters often had memorable names or nicknames.
Harry Potter and James Bond
Both Harry Potter and James Bond share something in common; They are generic names that have come to symbolize a legendary character. As Ian Fleming explained the naming of James Bond; “I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, ‘James Bond’ was much better than something more interesting, like ‘Peregrine Carruthers.’ Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure — an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department.”
A generic name can sometimes work wonders, as long as it isn’t too generic. It seems to have worked for both Harry Potter and James Bond, although it should be noted that Potter and Bond are unusual last names. You can get away with using a somewhat generic name as long as it isn’t Tom Smith or Jack Johnson. You can try a little harder than that. At least aim for a Bond or a Potter, something that sounds interesting when you say it out loud.
Jason Bourne
James Bond. Jason Bourne. The initials for both are J.B.. Normally you should avoid such similarities but Bourne is an interesting name which also has an explanation in the fiction. Bourne is the character’s false identity given by the government as part of the character’s backstory. In the Bourne Identity novel, Jason only finds out his real name is David Webb at the very end. He decides to keep the name Bourne, as it’s the name he went by after his amnesia. The Bourne name is also used in the episode titles in a clever way, which we will examine in a moment. This helps to counteract some of its genericness.
Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, James Bond, and Jason Bourne are just a few examples of memorable and interesting characters. Take a look at some of your favorite popular franchises, they most likely have an interesting character with a memorable name.
Episode Titles
An Amazon search of ‘Dark Night’ returns hundreds of titles featuring those words. Don’t be one of them. The worst kind of name you can choose for the title of a story is one that features generic words that everyone always chooses by default. If you’re writing a mystery series, ‘blood’ and ‘murder’ are probably overused words. Avoid them. They say nothing about the story you’re telling, other than the story features blood and murder. So do thousands of other stories dating back to the dawn of man. Try a little harder. How do you do that?
McGuffins are one easy way to name an episode in a series. A McGuffin is an item in the story that drives the plot or characters. Think Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The episode title manages to use an item in the story and some alliteration. Those two S in the name make for a catchy title. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are good titles. One features a mysterious temple, and the other involves the crusade for the cup of Christ. The original film was merely titled Raiders of the Lost Ark, but was wisely renamed Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s a good title because it features the character name and the Ark, which is a central McGuffin in the story.
The Bourne series doesn’t feature a McGuffin in the titles, which makes the titles a bit more generic. However, they do feature a very high concept of the basic plot. The Bourne Identity surrounds Jason Bourne’s attempt to discover his identity after suffering from amnesia. The Bourne Supremacy involves Bourne’s quest to prove himself ’superior’ to the government forces that are hunting him, in addition to getting revenge. Identity and Supremacy are not unique words, but in the context with the Bourne name and the plots featured in the story, they make a lot more sense.
Character names and features of the plot or story definitely help to make a story’s name more memorable. The use of alliteration or a sing-song convention to the title makes it easy for people to remember the name of your work, and more likely to talk about it among friends. Here’s a simple guideline for naming; If it’s fun to say out loud, people will talk about it.
Hooks and Themes
James Bond is a slick and stylish superspy who uses gadgets to get all the ladies. He has catchphrases such as “Shaken, not stirred.” and in the films often uses witty one-liners with women. Although the original novels are more serious, the films have taken a more lighthearted approach — something that has allowed Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series to encroach on the James Bond franchise. Jason Bourne doesn’t use gadgets, instead choosing to use the powers of his mind to allocate resources from the environment to get out of sticky situations. The themes of Bourne are also darker, featuring paranoia and persecution surrounding Jason Bourne’s amnesia. In James Bond, the villains are comic book, often featuring scars or glass eyes, always stroking a persian cat, etc. They have some hallmark ’signature’ characteristic as to what they always do or how they always appear to the audience. In Jason Bourne, the villains are not comic book. They are often government officials, or former-bosses. They represent governmental corruption and obtuse, belligerent command and control intent.
The end result is the entire style of the Bourne series is much different from James Bond, even though as franchises the two are comparable.
Indiana Jones is an archeologist who wears a fedora and carries a whip. Many of the themes of the Indiana Jones stories involve Indy’s philosophy about archeology. Historical artifacts belong in a museum, for historians and the public to enjoy. They don’t belong in some greedy man’s private collection, or for sale to the highest bidder. This theme pervades the Indiana Jones stories, as the villain is often stealing an artifact to sell it to the forces of evil, such as the Nazis who only want the artifact as a symbol of their theories about a master race. These elements make Indiana Jones an interesting character, and provide for interesting themes in the world and characters.
Hogwart’s school is a major element in the Harry Potter stories. Your world needs memorable institutions, corporations, or organizations that are signified visually with certain architectural style or building types. Indiana Jones stories often century around exotic, ancient places and their buried artifacts.
Factions also bring interesting themes or hooks to the story. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is the super criminal organization in the early 007 stories. The villains often represent a viewpoint which is thematically and philosophically opposite to that of the main character. By default this means you can’t just block copy elements from popular memes and themes of other media franchises. You must have your own for people to remember you.
You will need differentiating hooks and themes to separate your characters and story from the rest that are competing for your audience’s attention.
Unique Mythology and Media Agnostic Concepts
What does this mean? Unique Mythology means that there is a story behind an item or concept in your universe. Media Agnostic Concepts are concepts that work across multiple mediums. The Sword in the Stone of Arthurian legend creates intrigue in a novel, is visually appealing or symbolic in a film, and probably has magical properties that allow someone to perform cool feats in a video game.
“But I’m not making a video game!” That may be true, but the Harry Potter novels have gone on to become a huge success in both film and games because the magical abilities and items found in the Harry Potter universe translate well among all mediums. The same is true for a media franchise like Star Wars. Lightsabers and The Force are cool to see on screen, and fun to use in a video game. Likewise I’m sure they’ve made the Star Wars novelizations much more visual in their writing than if they had less appealing concepts. The Force is a genuinely interesting spiritual and philosophical concept, with a story behind it that is explained by the mentor character Obi Wan Kenobi. Lightsabers are essentially laser swords, a concept nobody had popularized prior to Star Wars.
Indiana Jones uses his whip in a visually exciting way in the Indiana Jones films. When Indiana Jones games are made, of course players expect to be able to use Indy’s whip to climb dangerous terrain, grab items, or injure enemies. Does your hero or villain have a preferred weapon of choice?
Highly appealing, marketable concepts like these are a goldmine for your media franchise. Try to develop a few of them no matter what.
By now I hope you are starting to see how memorable character names, significant episode titles, hooks, themes, unique mythology, and media agnostic concepts can help to make your media franchise a success. Remember, you’re not just a writer. You are a Media Franchise Creator. You never know, someday I might be watching the film or video game adaptation of your novel.
In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about making your stories more marketable, here is a list of books on the topic:
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Primal Branding by Patrick Hanlon
Origin of Brands by Al Ries and Laura Ries
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it’s a starting point. Happy reading and writing!
This was interesting reading, and I’d never heard of a McGuffin before.
I wonder if franchises are easier to create for sci-fi/fantasy stories in general— or at least stories with some of these elements. Magic/ mysticism seems to be key.
Or adventure/action. Though the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants seems about to be launched into franchise history. And parents of pre-teens can’t hide from the High School Musical franchise. My kid has everything Disney has hawked for that fluffball thing.
Therese,
It doesn’t have to be magic. But you do have to make up your own rules for how the world works and why it works the way it does.
In the Bourne series, for example, Jason was part of a new kind of military assassin under the Treadstone project. Both in the books and the movies, Treadstone is built up into this ‘legendary’ government program.
You could say that the unique mythology of the Bourne series involves black ops top secret government programs. Because Bourne just wants to live a free and peaceful existence, the villains in the Bourne series are usually high ranking members of intelligence organizations like the CIA or the State Department. They are often people connected to the Treadstone project in some way, or are at least investigating it. Bourne can never escape his dark past! This is part of the unique mythology of the Bourne franchise.
So it doesn’t have to be magic or sci-fi. A unique mythology is just a unique angle or set of rules that define the world that your characters exist in. In the case of the Hannibal Lecter series, sometimes it’s the characters themselves! It’s either got to be the characters, or the world, or some combination of them that makes them unique. I like to call it unique mythology, because classic mythology such as Greek or Roman is a good way to think about it. You’re building larger-than-life characters who face larger-than-life threats. So what is your larger-than-life element? It is usually tied to the theme of the story in some way.
You’re not telling a story about ordinary people living ordinary lives. In the world you create, there must be something extraordinary that creates intrigue, and that extraordinary set of things are your unique mythology.