This past month I took the on-line class, James Patterson’s Master Class on Writing, where I learned a new name for contemporary fiction—”Commercial Fiction.” That’s what James Patterson calls his style of writing, and he’s very successful at it. I was watching a re-run of Castle recently, in which his girlfriend, Detective Beckett, asks him, “Are you rich?”

Castle replied, “Not James Patterson rich, but I do okay.”

So, writing Commercial Fiction will make you…if not rich, at least make you some money. Commerce is business, and business is selling, and selling is providing a product or service that people are willing to pay for. I would venture to guess that there are ten writers for every one reader in this country, and each writer is hoping he or she is providing a product that the reader will desire sufficiently so as to part with some hard-earned cash.

I’m remembering a delightful line from a Fats Waller song: “Find out what they want, and how they want it, and give it to ’em just that way.” And isn’t that the idea at the heart of marketing? Therefore, Commercial Fiction is the style of writing that satisfies what that lonely reader is wanting…at the moment. However, we all know that what we want and enjoy changes––from day to day, from person to person, from year to year.

Many books for writers advocate that the author should please himself rather than seeking to please a fickle readership. After all, who can predict the next BIG thing? Who knew a grumpy cat would become a social phenomenon? We writers are urged to follow our own muse, rather than attempting to chase down a muse that is forever changing.

Our leader in the current blog challenge gave us a prompt recently, asking, “What writer has influenced you the most?” Immediately, I thought of Dave Barry. He has a way of looking at life, not through rose-colored glasses, but through specs spattered with mud and wisps of cotton candy. I love his style because that’s the way I view life as well. It’s not beautiful and perfect, but it is kind of fun.

Writing Commercial Fiction also means writing in a style that is easy to be read by the masses, whose average reading level is that of a ten-year-old. Commercial Fiction writers use what I would call a “bare bones” style––leaving out words that don’t advance the story. No adverbs at all, and very few adjectives. It’s all action, action, action, with no commas getting in the way. And sentence fragments. AND sentences that start with conjunctions.

Therefore, dear readers, I think I’ll continue to write the way I always have, and continue to be poor…and foolish. And laughing all the way to the old folks’ home. (Spell-check just underlined that last sentence as “Sentence fragment…consider revising.” In a pig’s eye.)

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Dr. Stepanich is a retired professor of organizational behavior. She told her students at Purdue, “I’m very organized, but my behavior’s a bit wonky.” Her publications include academic journal articles, comedy show scripts, stories in Good Old Days magazine, and an award-winning radio play, Voices From the Front. Mary Ellen blogs on her website at www.maryellenstepanich.com, and can be reached via e-mail at DrStep@cox.net.