What Kicks Us In The Pants To Write?
As Illustrated By The Story Behind Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol - The Magic of Writing
The famous book, A Christmas Carol and its iterations, are a favorite tome during the holiday season. Do you know the story behind the writing of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens?
A fictional answer to that question can be found in a holiday movie. The Man Who Invented Christmas, released in 2017 and now steaming on Netflix will improve your holiday spirit AND motivate you to keep writing. The movie stars Dan Stevens, Matthew of Downton Abby Fame, Christopher Plummer and few more famous actors that you will recognize. It is entertaining, informational, clever and extremely well-acted.
The Man Who Invented Christmas transposes the story of Dickens’ writing of the famous novella in parallel with his personal story spanning the time he wrote the book (within weeks) with snippits from his relevant past.
That’s what writers do, isn’t it?
Writers take ideas from where there are and where they have been and combine them with the things that have happened and are happening to them to create their books.
In this fun, but at the same time, serious look at Dickens’ personal life, we sneak a peek at the writing process – how characters come to life, how the names of characters are borrowed from real people, how all-encompassing writing the story can be – the getting it out process. It’s a process that for the writer can be at the exclusion of everything else in life. Dickens had an all-consuming passion for A Christmas Carol that extended to his personal funds - he put up his own dwindling funds to publish it. He commissioned colored illustrations, embossed pages, gilded edges and a quick turnaround for the book that was unheard of by even today’s publishing standards. His passion was such that he did indeed finish it in October and had it in the stores and ready for sale by Dec 19th .
The book became an instant hit, though profitability for Dickens lagged behind for a while. More important than profitability was the effect that the book had on society. Charitable giving went way up at the time. I don’t have to tell you the effect on future years – society and artists have used the model of A Christmas Carol in hundreds of ways – heck, even the sitcom Family Ties had a version of it. Another example, the movie, The Family Man, starring Nickolas Cage is on as I write this and is certainly twist on the classic.
The conceiving and the writing of A Christmas Carol illustrates the magic of writing. The process and the passion of the creative process, of getting the message and the story out into the world is so important. When the idea and the urge to write hit at the same time - look out and heed it - get writing!
In 2024, I wish you all godspeed in getting your message out and hope that Get Your Book Seen and Sold and all its iterations, substack newsletter, podcast, and book as well as the Sit & Write: Begin video course help you to get your Christmas Carol out into the world.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! It has been my pleasure to share book marketing information with you. I would love to hear what YOU did in 2023 to further your dream to become an author or what you plan to do in 2024! Let’s hear it in the comments.