You've written or are writing a novel or screenplay, and it's original. It's not a rehash of the hunt for a serial killer, it's not a rich boy woos poor girl (or vice versa) romantic comedy. It's not another sci-fi it came from the sky tale. It's fresh, it's different...and you may have a hard time selling it, as some recent experiments confirm.
I'm talking about two experiments done last year at the University of Pennsylvania. The report of the study is called "The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas." I found a write-up of it at www.TheNextBigFuture, and it summarized the key findings:
* Creative ideas are by definition novel, and novelty can trigger feelings of uncertainty that make most people uncomfortable.
* People dismiss creative ideas in favor of ideas that are purely practical -- tried and true.
* Objective evidence shoring up the validity of a creative proposal does not motivate people to accept it.
* Anti-creativity bias is so subtle that people are unaware of it, which can interfere with their ability to recognize a creative idea.
Actually, I didn't need a study to tell me this, my years in Hollywood made it plain. Then the mantra was "Bring us something different...but not TOO different." Judging by the number of sequels being made, that's changed to, "Bring us something that's the same."
I have encountered something similar with a novel I wrote--as yet unpublished. One publisher wrote to my agent, "This is exactly the kind of edgy material we are looking for, but it's a bit TOO edgy."
This is not to suggest you should stop writing things that are different, just to help prepare you for the reactions you'll have to wade through until you find someone who desires and doesn't reject creative ideas.
One of the suggestions from the study applies here, too: "The field of creativity may need to shift its current focus from identifying how to generate more creative ideas to identify how to help innovative institutions recognize and accept creativity."
(For a creativity boost that includes how to make ideas real and how 25 creative people found acceptance for their new ideas and projects, see my book, "Creativity Now!", published by Pearson and available from Amazon and other booksellers.)
