Morning Edition gives us the latest in jazzy, snazzy PR ideas for your book… novel trailers! Kind of like movie trailers, only… not.
Is this really a good idea!? Coming soon to a bookstore near you!
Speaking of cinematic efforts, I remember with queasy good feelings my favorite fourth grade novel How To Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell. There were rumors that it was being adapted into movie form by the same company that did the Narnia series last winter, and I thought… well, you know me. I thought uh-oh, because I am convinced that most movie directors don’t read the books upon which they’re basing their movies. (I vote for adding the word “loosely” before the word ‘based’ in the movie credits. Case in point: Disney’s version of Howl’s Moving Castle. In a word: ghastly. Some of the best plot elements were completely obscured to make an entertaining little cartoon for those who’ve never read the book! And what, then, is the point of basing a movie on a book? [I mean, besides the obvious, that directors don’t have original ideas? But I digress…]) Well, I was right to be skeptical about the Worms, it seems. The movie has already been hijacked. Fuse#8 reports on a piece she read in this month’s Creative Screenwriting that talks about the director’s “vision” for the movie, and his issues with it. Too many worms, for one thing… and since it’s a short children’s book, he seemed to feel no need to be faithful to the plot.
WOW. Does he have any concept how old that book is, and how long its been around, and how people still love it?! Novel adaptations: they’re a disease, I’m telling you! Directors out there: please! We READ EVERY WORD of the books we love, and we expect you to do it, too, and be faithful to the original vision of the author!!! We’re trying to encourage people to READ, here!