An innocent goes free - always a good book?

Oh, you know we "geniuses" are going to say "go for it!" We all want to believe a good story, compellingly told, will find a market.

I think you're probably better off running it past your agent. S/he's the one with the finger on the publishing pulse.

A compelling story is a compelling story.

The question, of course, is what story are you going to tell?

Does the person have an interesting background? Is there a mom/wife/sister who never lost faith? Was the case and/or conviction controversial? Was he on death row? What was his time in jail like? Did the state embrace DNA testing or did it resist it like mad? What kind of lawyers did he have working for him?

The story could be about the wronged man, but also about the system and people around him.

An agent/publisher will also want to know what makes this book different from the others out there. What's your hook?

How about the search for the real culprit? I'd like to read soomething like that. Go back to the origional investigators and try to solve a new cold case with the guy who did the time for the whole thing. I'm sure he would like to know who did it.

MarkEsq said:

Actually, there is a mother and a brother who refused to give up hope. I've thought that the story would be good angled their way. Also, apparently, he was a model prisoner and everyone, even the guards, were cheering when he got released.
I guess I'm asking because my agent is on vacation until Jan 5 and the waiting is killing me!

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That sounds promising!

Agents aren't allowed to be on vacation when writers have burning ideas.

When I was a reporter working in community news, our editors practically had a moratorium on "unjustly convicted" stories. It would have to be a pretty compelling one to get past them.

I think that, partly, the idea was that we were in the business of serving readers and not preaching to them about the injustices of the world. (It's a fine line, I know.)

As others here said, a compelling story is a compelling story. But your subject area seems tricky to me. 1. "Guy wrongly convicted" is an old story. We've all heard it before. It needs something uniquely compelling to hold the attention of a reader already versed in the injustice-happens premise. 2. Readers seem to have little interest in stories that are too much of a downer. "Shawshank Redemption" is perched solely on the "redemption" part. 3. I think some readers have a knee-jerk response to certain topics -- they dismiss them as preachy. That makes the writer's job tougher.

But, perhaps that's it: It's all about how the writer does his job. One of the best-selling books in the country for the past two years is about a misbehaved dog. How many people in the country could have told similar stories? Lots. How many could have told them in ways that netted a major motion picture deal and more than 300,000 copies sold in Brazil alone? Not many.

I think you're right to suspect your subject matter creates in uphill battle. But good writing can transcend it.

MarkEsq said:

Actually, there is a mother and a brother who refused to give up hope. I've thought that the story would be good angled their way. Also, apparently, he was a model prisoner and everyone, even the guards, were cheering when he got released.

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Honestly, the innocent man in prison story is pretty old and played out on the evening news fairly often. In fact, I think I saw this particular story on the news not very long ago.

Maybe a different approach other than those who believed in him. There had to be family members who actually thought he was guilty... along with the prosecution and the victim's family. Their reaction when they found he was innocent.

He is a completely different man after twenty years in prison... sometimes not for the better. All the things he missed out on, his family, first trip to the mall and trying to find a job. The book could end with him in a better place... even if he was never wrongly accused.

Perhaps a different focus? No one talks/writes about those who were sure he was GUILTY. How about focusing on those who knew the scumbag was guilty and needed to rot in prison for the rest of his life? The prosecutor, the jury, or him telling his prison mates: "I'm innocent." Another inmate responds: "Aren't we all!"

How did they feel when they thought he was guilty, then heard about his attempt for clearing his name by taking the DNA test, then how they felt about the results? About his release? How does this event change how they prosecute, view juries, or prison inmates and how they react when another inmate says, "I'm innocent?"

How's this for an angle: writer is introduced to recently-released wrongly convicted felon to write his story. As writer delves into the story we are treated to flashbacks of the original incident. Together they concoct a plan to nab the real perpetrator. Meanwhile, writer secretly harbors doubts in the guy; maybe he isn't as innocent as he claims. They come up with a sting operation, which puts them both at risk and involves at least one chase down a lonely desert ravine. Big finale scene on top of a skyscraper in which it almost seems the good guy is the bad guy and vice-versa. Writer ends up getting the girl. Not sure if your subject would cooperate in writing it this way, but it does sound like a decent thriller at least. Maybe you're better off writing a novel "based on" a true incident.