The question of what makes a good adaptation of a book into a movie is on my mind, since I saw “The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug” this week (and also because I would love to see my own Dream Series books turned into movies).

I liked the movie, but at the same time, to me, it’s not really an adaptation of “The Hobbit.”  It’s a film showing all the events of the book (more or less), but it’s not telling remotely the same story.

It’s not simply that scenes (and characters!) were added – it’s the focus of the story.  “The Hobbit” is completely Bilbo’s story, and it’s solely concerned with his development as a character.  We don’t see anything that he doesn’t see, and several major events (including the climactic Battle of Five Armies) happen “offscreen” because Bilbo isn’t there (or awake, as the case may be) to witness them.

The movie is totally different – Bilbo is just one character, and really not the focus of the story at all.  The movie is centered mainly around Thorin Oakenshield and his quest to reclaim Erebor; and on Galdalf and his efforts to fight the returning meance of Sauron.

That’s all fine, and it does make for a very entertaining and well-told movie.  But it’s not “The Hobbit.”

I’d say there are four basic categories of book adaptations into movies (or TV, I guess):

The word-for word translation.  The first two “Harry Potter” movies are a good example of this type of adaptation, where the book is taken, as much as possible, word-for-word and scene-for-scene.  Obviously, even the most literal adaptation will have to make some changes, simply because film is such a different medium, but the goal here is to put the book on screen exactly as it was written.

Keeping the story by changing the details.  “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” is a great example of this.  The heart of the story is kept faithfully, but a lot of details are changed in order to do so.  The filmmakers choose to tell the core story, at the expense of subplots or certain characters, or even the order of events, etc.

Changing the story.  This is what “The Hobbit” did (also the last three “Harry Potter” movies).  In some ways, this approach looks more faithful to the book than the Keeping the Story strategy, but it’s not, because while the surface details are more in keeping with the book, their meaning is changed.  In “The Hobbit”, it’s not the addition of Tauriel the Elf that diverges from the book, as much as the fact that we have scenes from her point of view, that have nothing to do with Bilbo, when the entire book is from his point of view.

Similarly, in the last three Harry Potter films, we see things that superficially seem to be taken straight from the book, but are altered.  The scene in “Order of the Phoenix” when Harry witnesses Snape’s most embarrassing memory is a perfect example.  In the book, Harry goes to the pensieve while Snape isn’t in the room, and looks into it against Snape’s wishes, knowing that he shouldn’t be doing so.  In the film, Harry sees the memory in the midst of a training session with Snape, when he proves more effective than Snape expected at guarding his own memories and breaking into Snape’s.  Those are two radically different things, even though in both cases, the end result is Harry watching Snape’s worst memory, and Snape refusing to continue Harry’s training in bolstering his mental defenses afterwards.  The movies are filled with choices like that, that diverge from the books in major ways while looking like they don’t at first blush.

Throw out everything except the title.  This is the approach that pretty much all the James Bond movies after “Thunderball” took – they keep the title and (most of) the character names, but everything else is thrown out, to be replaced by whatever the filmmakers come up with.  This isn’t really adaptation at all, but simply using a familiar title to sell movie tickets to the new story the filmmakers really wanted to tell.

In the next post, I’ll come back to this and talk about how I see my books fitting into this scheme, and what I’d want to see happen…

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And here’s an interview with Kyoko…

Who is your favorite author? Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files. I absolutely adore his work and I cannot stop gushing about how detailed, beautifully written, and masterfully played the whole series is. It’s hands down the best supernatural novel series out there, if only because it blends all the best stuff about urban fantasy together without any of the usual hang ups (a-hole protagonist, sexism/misogyny, stereotypical creatures, etc). He’s also a hardcore geek and he makes nerdy references that amuse me to no end. I’m constantly recommending him to urban fantasy writers because I think they can learn a lot from him. He just plain gets it.

How do you describe your writing style? Hard to say. I consider myself to be a character writer more than a plot or setting writer. I’m far more interested in digging into the guts of my protagonists and antagonists than anything else. I tend to focus on dialogue and social interactions rather than setting or physical descriptions. I’m also pretty sarcastic and so my characters often reflect that trait because it comes to me naturally. I have a lot of growing to do as an author, but so far, the feedback I’ve gotten suggests that I am good at writing characters one can root for and enjoy.

Use no more than two sentences. Why should we read your book? Because it’s got all of the things you love about urban fantasy and none of the things you don’t.

Have any of your characters been modeled after yourself?Jordan and I are rather similar, but we depart based on our background and our approach to certain issues. For instance, I am a hardcore nerd and Jordan has a passing interest in such things. I can list all kinds of actors and voice actors I love while she’s into poetry and literature. She actively avoids social interaction while I seek it out. She also has serious denial issues when it comes to guys (it takes her damn near the whole novel to admit she’s sweet on Michael) whereas I can tell when I like a guy pretty much right off the bat.

If you could exchange lives with any of your characters for a day which character would you choose and why?This may sound incriminating, but I’d actually like to switch places with my main villain, Belial. I’ve always been a polite girl to the point where I’m sometimes a doormat, and it would be nice to just not give a crap for a day. Belial is buck wild. He says and does whatever he wants because he’s the embodiment of selfish desire, and he has the power to back it up. It’s very easy to get sucked into him, and I think it’d be fun to slink around tempting people and doing whatever I pleased. Nothing evil, mind you, but I wouldn’t mind manipulating a few souls here and there to get what I want.

What books have most influenced your life? The Dresden Files have certainly molded me as an author after I read them in summer 2013. I took a good hard look at what it takes to write great supporting characters and how to create a main hero who is down to earth but also has the potential to turn awful if pushed too far. I’d also like to mention the Anita Blake novels by Laurell K. Hamilton as a cautionary tale on what NOT to do with my own series. The first nine books in the series are pretty great, but then the author went off the deep end and just started writing sexist, misogynist bullcrap that is perhaps more offensive than 50 Shades of Grey. She started writing the main character like she was the center of the universe and had all the other characters constantly worshiping her and never questioning anything she does. Then there’s the fact that half of the sex in the books isn’t consensual and it’s poorly written by even the lowest of standards. It’s definitely proof that there is a slippery slope when you introduce more than one love interest and if your ego gets overblown with time. Beware, kiddies. Beware.

If you could select one book that you could rewrite and add your own unique twist on, which book would that be and why? OH YES. I have an answer for that. Changes by Jim Butcher. The ending to that novel made me so mad. You have no idea. I actually slapped the book when I was done. First of all, spoiler alert for Changes and everything after it. I wouldn’t change Harry’s death because it’s a hugely important character arc for him becoming the Winter Knight, but damn it all, I’d have let Harry and Murphy finally have sex. Those two have had so much sexual tension and he has only had sex a couple times in the last like ten years. Murphy’s only had sex once in the series, if I’m not mistaken. It’s not all about physical gratification or my inner shipper burning with fury when he died before they could do the Do. It would have actually created MORE tension in Ghost Story if Harry had slept with Murphy and then died because she’d be mourning what they finally shared after all that time of wondering what could have been. She would have been twice as devastated if they had expressed their love than the way it occurred in canon. But hey, I don’t know what Jim Butcher is cooking up for the next several books. I just seriously wanted them to have hot, dirty, violent sex because they both really needed a release, and to express their feelings with someone they care about.

Beatles or Monkees? Why? Beatles, but only because I love their rendition of “Twist and Shout” so much. I could listen to that all day. I also really enjoy “Eight Days a Week,” but I have Scrubs to thank for that.

Who should play you in a film of your life? I kind of wish I were white because I swear, Emma Stone would be perfect, but since I’m not, I’d go with Zoe Saldana. Tall, slender, but with a solid frame and an awesome, icy glare. She could definitely play me, even though I’m flattering myself by picking her–that girl is beyond gorgeous.

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I’ve got another indie author to introduce to you today – he’s James Gordon, who’s also known as GPA (Greatest Poet Alive)

G.P.A. (Greatest Poet Alive) is the author of four books of Poetry (The Confessional Heart of a Man, The Book of 24 Orgasms, The Mind of a Poetic Unsub, and Revenge of the Orgasm), contributed to several anthologies, and has released one cd (The G.P.A. Experience). He is the winner of the Moth Storytelling Slam, Poetry Pentathlon, and Black Essence Award, as well as having been nominate Poet of the Year for three years and Book of the Year twice. Currently, G.P.A. has added acting to his resume with two movies (Persian Version and Animals) and television shows (Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, and Mind Games). G.P.A. proudly claims Chicago as his home

As you are driving, your body involuntarily jumps. Sweat begins on your forehead and appears on your body, even though it is the middle of Winter. Inside of your left thigh, there is a tapping that is not harmful but noticeable. And you begin to wonder if sanity has departed or control of your motor skills is no longer your own. Then, the epiphany becomes clear. This is Revenge of the Orgasm

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Actually, to give it the full title, it’s “Hyperbole and a Half”, a book drawn from the incredibly funny website of Allie Brosh.

I bought her book over the weekend, and it’s just brilliant.  Something about her tone, or just the way she relates her stories, hits my sense of humor so perfectly.  If you haven’t ever seen her site, you owe it to yourself to go on over and check it out right now…

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Come on, you know you want to…

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