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On Books to Movies
I believe I have previously reported that I was a fan of the author Emily St. John Mandel, and specifically her novel Station Eleven. I recently broke down and signed up for a "free trial" of HBO in order to watch the miniseries based on the book. I've not finished my viewing, but so far it's been an education on the differences between two mediums.
The biggest difference is in how visual mediums work, and a character decision thereof. In the book, there is a character named Jeevan Chaudhary. All the main characters have a relationship to Arthur Leander, an actor who dies (not of the plague) in Chapter 1. Jeevan's relationship is the most tangential of the main characters.
He is, however, important in that through him we see the chaos of the collapse of civilization - Year One in the book. So for the miniseries, Jeevan is given a much bigger role - he basically saves the young Kirsten Raymonde, who is the book's protagonist. Frankly the other option would have been to cut him out entirely, but then we would have lost the emotional hit of Year One.
Other Creative Thoughts
I have also mentioned that I have a novel I've been shopping, a conventional cozy mystery called Eastville. I realized that the title was not helping to sell the book, so I renamed it The Body in the Backyard. The discovery of said body is the inciting incident of the book, and (one of) the mysteries to be solved.
However, over the weekend, I realized that I had a bigger problem. Said realization came about when I was looking to query a literary agent and I read her blog post six things you need in a mystery novel and noted I was missing one. Basically, the detective, especially an amateur detective like in my book, needs a reason to investigate. I didn't have one - or at least not a good one. Fortunately, I figured one out. Alas, that means a rewrite is in my future.
I believe I have previously reported that I was a fan of the author Emily St. John Mandel, and specifically her novel Station Eleven. I recently broke down and signed up for a "free trial" of HBO in order to watch the miniseries based on the book. I've not finished my viewing, but so far it's been an education on the differences between two mediums.
The biggest difference is in how visual mediums work, and a character decision thereof. In the book, there is a character named Jeevan Chaudhary. All the main characters have a relationship to Arthur Leander, an actor who dies (not of the plague) in Chapter 1. Jeevan's relationship is the most tangential of the main characters.
He is, however, important in that through him we see the chaos of the collapse of civilization - Year One in the book. So for the miniseries, Jeevan is given a much bigger role - he basically saves the young Kirsten Raymonde, who is the book's protagonist. Frankly the other option would have been to cut him out entirely, but then we would have lost the emotional hit of Year One.
Other Creative Thoughts
I have also mentioned that I have a novel I've been shopping, a conventional cozy mystery called Eastville. I realized that the title was not helping to sell the book, so I renamed it The Body in the Backyard. The discovery of said body is the inciting incident of the book, and (one of) the mysteries to be solved.
However, over the weekend, I realized that I had a bigger problem. Said realization came about when I was looking to query a literary agent and I read her blog post six things you need in a mystery novel and noted I was missing one. Basically, the detective, especially an amateur detective like in my book, needs a reason to investigate. I didn't have one - or at least not a good one. Fortunately, I figured one out. Alas, that means a rewrite is in my future.
