Hollywood Here I Come

There seems to be disturbing trend developing of late -- a growing belief that a novel isn't worth its salt until Hollywood comes a knocking on your door looking for the movie rights.

To know me is to know I'm a writer. Unfortunately that means that I have friends and family members who, upon hearing that I'm trying to publish one of my novels, will look at me all wide eyed and gush, "Ooh, do you think it's good enough to be a movie?" 

Well, no. Right now I'm just hoping it's good enough to be a book.

They also share stories of people they know who are aspiring novelists. One such story came recently from a co-worker who is a member of a church book club. Another member recently completed and self-published her first novel. Her friends, in an effort to be supportive, agreed to read her novel for their next book club meeting. Alas, this was before any of them knew what her book was a about.

Turns out it was a story that delved into illicit affairs, homosexuality, lust, and murder. While my co-worker is all for a steamy, intense book when reading in private, there was nothing about this book that screamed 'Church Book Club Read'.

After expressing concern to the author that perhaps the club was not the appropriate place for her work, the author became defensive. Instead of accepting that maybe she misjudged her audience, she told my co-worker that the book was the greatest thing ever and that there was even talk of making it into a movie.

As if that somehow determines the worth of a book! When did this become what we writers are supposed to aspire to?

I'm a novelist. Not a screenwriter. These are two completely separate arts. One no worse or better than the other...just different. The main difference being the fact that a novelist aspires to see his words in print, whereas a screenwriter wants his words to translate to film.

Literary agent, Rachelle Gardner, recently blogged about the process of taking a book to film here, so I now know a thing or two about it. The most important being:

1) Not all books translate well to film

2) The writer generally has no control over how their material is used.

We all know those movies that you couldn't wait to see because you'd read the book and loved it. And we all remember the overwhelming disappointment when what we saw on the page isn't portrayed as we expected on screen.

One such memorable occassion for me was the adaptation of Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. This novel broke my heart into a million tiny pieces and left me weeping long after I'd flipped the final page. This book was so damagingly tragic that I raved about it for weeks afterwards to anyone who would listen.

So when a movie was announced I got all jittery and excited. I couldn't wait for another chance to be devastated in that same way again.

Boy was I disappointed.

I'm not saying the movie wasn't good. Had it been a stand alone film, I probably would have liked it. But it wasn't. It was supposed to be a movie based upon an incredible book. And in the end the film makers decided to go with an alternate ending that completely destroyed the gut-wrenching, tragicly beautiful story Jodi Picoult had worked so hard to create.

I'm not saying that once I'm published I'm going to turn my nose up at an offer for the film rights (I'm not stupid). I'm just saying that for me the deciding factor as to whether my book is great or not will not be if Angelina Jolie wants to play the main character.