I’m sure you are aware that a new version of Dune (part 1) is out in cinemas. I was able to get my hands on the first six books of Dune and naturally started reading them. I’d only ever read the first book before which is the most famous one. I would say it’s the best one but it’s not the one that made him famous. That was the third one in the trilogy though I’m pretty sure it stood on the shoulders of the first two. I’m not sure if I’ll go further than the first six books, as those were written by Frank Herbert. More recent books were written by his son and another author together (always based on Herbert’s notes of course) and I’m not sure I’ll read them. So I sped through the first book which as always was an awesome story on so many layers. I made my way slowly to the second novel in the trilogy but I didn’t feel quite the urgency to finish it. Without giving away spoilers let’s just say both the story and the writing style make it hard to really immerse yourself in Dune.
Frank Herbert as a writer
Reading Dune made me almost despair of ever becoming a good novel writer. I mean I think the novel I’m writing right now is alright and enjoyable to the reader but I’ll be the first to admit I’m still a beginner when it comes to crafting a story and it’s nowhere near to the complexity of plot and themes in Dune. I was worried that I’d have to write something like Dune to be a good writer. Fortunately, I realized a few things after reading more about Frank Herbert and listening to some of his speeches and interviews.
The first thing is that he was fifty-five years old before he became a success so I still have time. The second thing is that I don’t have to write Dune, it’s already been written. All I need to do is tell a good story.
The universe of Dune is not for everyone. The novels are often very abstract and written in a strange way. I recently read an article that said the last three Dune books out of the six Frank Herbert wrote were “turgid and impenetrable.” I’m only halfway through the fourth book so I’ll reserve judgment. So far I’ll just say that while well-written the story is a bit of a slog but it might all make sense in the end (I hope.)
What I’ve learned from Frank Herbert
What I’ve found more interesting than his novels is his writing habits and how he got his ideas for the stories and developed them. His consistency in writing is an inspiration and something I hope to emulate.
These are the most important thing I’ve learned from Frank Herbert so far:
“You don’t write for success. That takes part of your attention away from the writing. If you’re really doing it, that’s all you’re doing: writing”
“There’s an unwritten compact between you and the reader. If someone enters a bookstore and sets down hard-earned money (energy) for your book, you owe that person some entertainment and as much more as you can give.”
Keeping my views to myself
When I sent my first novel out to alpha readers, most of the feedback was positive. One, however, said that while I was a good writer, the story itself was “trite.” Maybe it is though as I see it there are some original ideas in it. Perhaps they meant that it didn’t have much in the way of a political message. Dune has a political message and it gets more and more evident as the series continues, sometimes to the story’s detriment. It seems to be the rage in the writers’ groups I watch these days that every story must have a political message or some theme currently in vogue. I prefer to just write a story to be a story. The views of characters are just that and not my view on something. In the novel I’m currently working on, some characters have opposing views on the same subject and I hope the reader will not be able to identify which view is mine but simply attribute the views to the characters.
I don’t think, as a writer, it’s my job to sell a certain point of view or to convince the reader of something. I’m not saying that a reader won’t learn anything from my novel but that’s not my main goal. If they walk away thinking about something in the novel or it changes their life then that’s great. In the end, like Louis L’Amour, I’m just a troubadour around a campfire; here to entertain and hopefully tell a great story.