So.
This newsletter is no longer called Daniel McInerny’s Studio Stories.
I thought it was early enough in its history that a name change wouldn’t be too confusing or disruptive.
But why the change?
In a word, because of you.
In recent weeks, I’ve been reading a lot of the work of the “Category Pirates” (Christopher Lochhead, Eddie Yoon, Nicolas Cole, and others). This group of young entrepreneurs devote themselves to Category Creation and Category Design, which they see as the keys to building a business from online writing. (You can check out their Substack here. I also highly recommend their book on Category Creation and Design, Snow Leopard, as well as the podcast that Nicolas Cole produces with Dickie Bush, The Digital Writing Podcast.)
What have I learned about Category Creation and Design from the Category Pirates?
A category is a niche that you “own.”
It is not simply a way of doing “better” what someone else is already doing. Rather, it is a way of doing something that isn’t being done by anyone else.
It is an utterly unique “value proposition.”
A category shouldn’t be confused with a “personal brand.” That is because the notion of a personal brand puts the focus on the person behind the brand. But a category puts the focus on the person who values what the category has to offer.
In their book Snow Leopard, the Category Pirates tell the following story about the singer Billie Eilish:
“We hear marketers say all the time: ‘Build a personal brand! Get people to fall in love with YOU! Then, people will buy anything and everything you create!’ No, they won’t. For example, Billie Eilish is one of the biggest music stars in the world. She has millions and millions of fans and followers. And in 2019 she published a book (called Billie Eilish—‘People love you!!!’) and it was a massive flop. Nobody bought it.”
That is because what music lovers want most from Billie Eilish is a category of music, not stories from her personal life.
As the Category Pirates put it:
“What readers, listeners, viewers, and potential customers want isn’t you. It’s your category.”
For a writer such as myself to create a category, I have to realize, to quote again from the book Snow Leopard, that my reader is the Main Character, not me.
I, Daniel McInerny, am of interest to you only insofar as I deliver a category that satisfies your interests and passions.
Because the category—the service being promised—is more important than the creator.
I suspect that is why the group of young entrepreneurs I’ve been talking about write under a group name, “Category Pirates,” rather than under their personal names.
And that is why I have changed the name of this newsletter to The Comic Muse.
What is My Category?
My category is Christ-haunted comic fiction, both dark and light.
That is my category as a writer.
What does it mean?
Comic Fiction
Let me start with the “comic fiction” part.
It’s too bad this phrase has become a confusing one in our current arts & entertainment culture.
The confusion is the result of our associating the word “comic” predominantly with comic books, comic strips, and stand-up comedy. When somebody talks about “comic fiction” or the “comic novel,” we tend to think they are talking about a comic book or some sort of graphic novel, or maybe a book of stand-up-style sketches like Jerry Seinfeld’s Is This Anything?
I have nothing in principle, of course, against comic books, comic strips, and stand-up comedy. Far from it. There is work I love in each one of these genres. But I would like to retrieve an older—not so very old, but 20th-century—understanding of “comic fiction.” The understanding that people had when they picked up one of P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves novels. Or when they bought Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies and Scoop. The understanding that Flannery O’Connor had when she referred to her novel, Wise Blood, as a comic novel.
So what is comic fiction?
In her Author’s Note to the second edition of Wise Blood, O’Connor said about her book:
“it is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui [in spite of himself], and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death.”
According to O’Connor, comic fiction—not to mention comic drama and screenwriting—is serious business. It is about matters of life and death.
But how, then, is comedy different from tragedy, or from ordinary drama?
This is a large question, and soon I will be offering to subscribers to The Comic Muse a free ebook on Flannery O’Connor’s approach to this question.
But to put the answer in brief: comic writing shows a comic character
who represents an exaggeration of the difference, or gap, between the low state of human beings and the end for which human beings are made: a virtuous life ultimately directed toward friendship with God;
a character, moreover, who is aware, or comes to be made aware, of that gap—who realizes that it is a matter of life and death whether or not he bridges the gap;
and who finally makes a move to bridge the gap. Thus the happy ending we expect of comedy. (Though often, as we see, for example, in the fiction of O’Connor herself, the positive move to bridge the gap involves a loss of some kind, and so the ending is happy yet ironic. If you know the ending of O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” you know what I’m talking about.)
This definition of comic fiction works for Dante’s Divine Comedy and O’Connor’s Wise Blood; for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I even think it works for Wodehouse, but that is a discussion for another day.
What About “Christ-Haunted”?
Hazel Motes, the chief comic character of O’Connor’s Wise Blood, is a “Christ-haunted” figure. While doing everything he can to undermine Christianity—even to the point of starting a Church Without Christ—he cannot keep the thought of Christ out of his mind. He is a Christian despite himself.
In her essay, “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Literature,” O’Connor observes:
“I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted. The Southerner, who isn’t convinced of it, is very much afraid that he may have been formed in the image and likeness of God. Ghosts can be very fierce and instructive. They cast strange shadows, particularly in our literature. In any case, it is when the freak [that exaggerated comic character mentioned earlier] can be sensed as a figure of our essential displacement that he attains some depth in literature.”
I define my own category in light of O’Connor’s notion of the displaced, Christ-haunted comic character.
But I do not write about O’Connor’s mid-20th-century South. My comic characters navigate the even choppier waters of the 21st-century, where everything of value seems up for grabs, where legacy institutions are crumbling, where the thought of God is often taken to be ridiculous, if not indecent.
And I call my category Christ-haunted comic fiction “both dark and light,” because my work at times veers toward the lighter, more farcical end of the comic spectrum (as for example in my Kingdom of Patria stories for middle grade readers) and at other times veers toward the darker, more dramatic end of the comic spectrum (as in my forthcoming novel, The Good Death of Kate Montclair).
(Here’s me on Instagram talking about the spectrum of comic fiction…
The Spectrum of Comic Fiction (Instagram Reel)
The Unique Value Proposition
I believe readers love the category of comic fiction.
And I believe those who value, or who are at least intrigued by, the Catholic imagination, will be drawn to my particular category of comic fiction.
There is a dearth of good comic fiction at present, and in particular Christ-haunted comic fiction. I believe readers are hungering for it, whether they realize it or not.
Such readers are the Main Characters of this newsletter.
So, what is my unique value proposition to these readers?
First and foremost, it is my fiction. My core offering belongs to the world of art and entertainment. Though other writers, past and present, compose works that belong to this category, my fiction, my voice, is unique to me.
But I also offer to my readers writing that is educational in nature.
Here at The Comic Muse, of course, but also on my social media (Instagram and Twitter), and also in content such as the free ebook I mentioned earlier, in which I will attempt to explain the comic genius of Flannery O’Connor, I offer deeper dives into what makes the category of Christ-haunted comic fiction work.
My hope is that these educational writings will enhance your reading enjoyment and lead to good conversations about this category and about particular works in this category.
And, if you are a reader who also is a writer, I hope that they will also enhance your understanding of your craft.
We’re “Go” to Launch
Speaking of my own writing, The Good Death of Kate Montclair now has an official launch date: March 15, 2023.
I was delighted and honored the other day to receive the first review of the book, from Maya Sinha, a novelist whose The City Mother appeared from Chrism Press last year. Here’s what Maya had to say (which will appear as a blurb on the back of the book):
"Witty, exacting, independent Kate Montclair is a beloved English teacher . . . with a past. When a surprise diagnosis forces her to wrap up her affairs, she’s got it all under control – but has she misread the story of her own life? The Good Death of Kate Montclair is an enchanting, page-turning novel with real spiritual depth. An instant classic of 21st century Catholic fiction.”
Again, the book can be pre-ordered here. And I am told it will be available on Amazon even before March 15.
Meanwhile, have a great weekend. If you have a moment, let me know what you think of the revamped category design here at The Comic Muse and of how ways in which I might serve you.