52 Novels

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Sitting in the theater over the weekend, watching GONE, BABY, GONE—Ben Affleck’s solid directorial debut—I couldn’t help but think that, without books, Hollywood would be screwed.

Quite frankly, and without a doubt, the best movies come from books.

I remember watching flicks as a kid and being surprised that the movie I just saw was based on a novel. Not coincidentally, some of the books that make this list are the direct result of that discovery. Now, I find I’m shocked when a decent movie I’ve seen didn’t begin as someone’s novel.

I’m not saying that there aren’t screenwriters out there incapable of a decent script that didn’t originate from someone’s novel or short story… because there are screenwriters out there who do write good, original material for the screen.

It seems, though, most of those people both write and direct the movie… such as Noah Baumbach, Kevin Smith, and Wes Anderson. Plus, we get any number of comic book movies every year that have canonical roots in the books themselves, but the work that appears on the finished page comes from the mind of a screenwriter (or five… plus an uncredited dialogue polish from Carrie Fisher).

So, after leaving the theater, my wife and I discussed the movie. She didn’t like it, by the way. I liked it more than she did, but I don’t think Affleck’s name should appear among the list of directors nominated for an Oscar next year.

“What’d you think,” I asked.

“It was okay.”

“You didn’t like it.”

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “I’m glad there was more movie after the part where I thought it was going to end. Otherwise, I thought it would’ve totally sucked. It was just kind of slow. I kept waiting for something to happen.”

Fair enough. I nodded and said, “I kept reminding myself the movie was true to Dennis Lehane’s story without being faithful to the words on the page, kinda take it for what it was. Still, it just wasn’t as good as the book I’d just finished reading.”

“You know,” she said, “I think mediocre books make better movies.”

“I can see that. Really good books have really good characters and movies sometimes can’t do what books do. Books have the luxury of space and time to reveal character, so directors really have to finds something small and really get it right for it to work.”

“I can’t wait for Peter Jackson to make THE LOVELY BONES because it’s probably going to be great. That book was a chore.”

I laughed. But that got me thinking more about good books that ended up as good movies.

That said, what follows are the best six book-to-movie adaptations ever made. Please, don’t go all half-cocked on me… I did establish some criteria:

• The book must be one that I’ve read
• The movie must be one that I’ve seen
• The movie must be faithful to the story

It had to meet all points above or it didn’t count. I thought about them a lot and here they are:

THE GODFATHER/THE GODFATHER, PART II

I realize that this is two movies, but PART II’s flashback scenes—almost half the movie—came directly from the novel so it’s really a continuation of the first in ways that sequels usually aren’t.

There’s not much, however, to say about these movies that hasn’t been said much better by others before me. But I will say I’ve never seen a book brought to life so perfectly by its movie counterpart than in this example.

I’ve owned the movies on VHS or DVD, and the novel now for twenty years. I often read the book and then follow it immediately with a movie marathon. Try it sometime… it’s a Godfather Geek-a-palooza.

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN

Who said the book had to be fiction? Not me.

I remember seeing this movie in the very early 80s and being fascinated by the story… mystery and palace intrigue, good versus evil, dirty shenanigans.

It’s where I learned that “follow the money” was the secret to unraveling most everything, and I was hooked by the fact that these guys were writers—not cops. And, for the son of a cop, it was almost a life changing revelation.

What’s more is that Woodward and Bernstein turned reporters into celebrities for reporting. I’ve also done the read-the-book-watch-the-movie thing with this one, too.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP

I’ve mentioned it before, but this book is what made me want to become a writer. But I never would’ve known it was a book had I not seen the movie.

In fact, I loved this movie so much that—after watching it on HBO for the first time—I had my dad drive me to the bookstore to buy the book. I still have the same copy and I’ve read it countless times since.

BIRDY

Not many people remember this movie—which won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival—and I’m not sure that many more remember the book (William Wharton’s first).

But it’s a brilliant story of guys whose friendship is forged on the tough streets of Philly and nearly torn apart by the Viet Nam war. The 80s brought us many Viet Nam movies—most of them more famous—but none of them were better than this one.

Oddly enough, I’ve read this book just once. Still, it’s one of my favorites.

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?/BLADE RUNNER

As crazy as it is, this movie was my first real introduction to the noir tradition. I was fourteen years old in 1982, the year of this movie’s release, and in love with science fiction. Take the guy who played Han Solo and put him in another sci fi movie and, well, it was cinematic genius where I was concerned.

I got way more than I’d bargained for with BLADE RUNNER. Ridley Scott’s stunning cinematic masterpiece—even the voiceover version—freaking blew me away.

Little did I know that my love affair with this movie—and Phil Dick’s brilliant book—would still be on fire some twenty five years later. And, yes, I’m super-stoked for the movie’s silver anniversary DVD release in December.

JURASSIC PARK

I literally read the final word and turned the last page of this book as the lights dimmed inside the theater on its opening weekend. Somehow, I remember the guys sitting in front of me and my girlfriend—who’s now my wife—taking bets on how many movie trailers there’d be. I think it was seven.

No matter, I’d borrowed my buddy Ike’s copy of the book—which he’d had long before the flick came out—and madly raced through it, trying to time my finish with the opening. I didn’t want to spoil the book by seeing the movie first.

While the movie version of Crichton’s thriller wasn’t as closely played to the page as some of the others on this list, the brilliance of Spielberg and all those wonderful computer dinosaurs made this a magnificent movie.

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If you delve into the crazy world of online entrepreneurship—a place where copywriters seemingly only sell copywriting courses and everyone is raking in six-figure Google AdSense checks—chances are good you’ll come across someone attributing at least some of his or her success to Napoleon Hill’s classic book, THINK AND GROW RICH.

This thin little abridged treasure, all of 233 pages, is packed with gobs of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and rags-to-riches vignettes designed to teach us all that the road to boundless prosperity is as simple as thinking about how rich we want to become… and then it happens.

Apparently, THE SECRET—the latest hooha that’s taking money from wackadoos around the globe—ain’t telling us anything new.

Of course, it isn’t quite that simple. Hill claims he studied—at the urging of Dale Andrew Carnegie—the paths of thousands of people from all walks of life to determine the common traits of two groups of people: the filthy, stinking rich, and the filthy, stinking poor.

He came up with a set of thirteen things, what he called The 13 Principles of Success. I won’t list them all here because I don’t want to spoil the surprise later.

Okay, there’s not really a surprise later… it’s just that most of them are common sense—believe in yourself, overcome fears, make specific goals, blah, blah, blah. That kind of stuff.

Besides, the specifics are widely available elsewhere. (Question for those who clicked the links just before this: the similarities are striking, no? Good thing Hill never had the Internet… the public would’ve pimp slapped him for stealing Ben Franklin’s work!)

I don’t mean to sound unkind. I’ve read this book several times and there’s lots in there I think is quite good.

And the more I thought about some of the things in the book, the more I realized that the book isn’t just a road map/self-help manual for zany, over-the-top Internet marketers. There’s some honest-to-goodness advice for we fiction writer types, too.

So here they are… Six ways writers can profit from Napoleon Hill’s THINK AND GROW RICH:

See how you can use TGR to be a better writer…

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Mmmkay. That’s headline’s not entirely true. It should read, “The six best novels I read between January and June in 2007.”

But let’s face facts here: that one was too damn long, and it’s really not very good.

I’m hoping the list is. And, by the way, these are in a particular order.

THE LAST ASSASSIN, by Barry Eisler

Just when I thought the action in a John Rain thriller couldn’t get any better… it does! Times a thousand.

As if the stakes for Rain weren’t always high, Eisler’s gone and propelled them to the stratosphere with THE LAST ASSASSIN. Rain’s lost love Midori and their newborn son are threatened by Rain’s old nemesis, Yamaoto, the yakuza boss turned politician with a major axe to grind with Rain.

Read the rest of this entry »

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I’ve got deadlines out the yingyang this week so I’m a day late on this week’s SOTB. My apologies to the handful of people who wait with bated breath.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s a double scoop of links… specifically, it’s a half-dozen blogs from writers you probably don’t know. That was rude… who am I to say who you know and who you don’t?

Anyway, just read.

By the way, I listed these in no particular order.

Dave White’s Writing Block

I first came across Dave’s awesome blog a couple of years ago. At the time, he and Bryon Quertermous were engaged in a friendly writer’s contest, called Let’s See Who Can Finish A Novel First.

The blog isn’t so much about the contest as it is about Dave’s journey as a working writer.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s got a rapier-like wit. Over time, though, and like lots of bloggers, he’s evolved… especially as he’s gotten closer to releasing his book, WHEN ONE MAN DIES. It’s due September 25th and it’s gotten a great reviews.

Read all about Dave at Dave White’s Writing Block.

David Isaak’s Tomorrowville

David Isaak’s story intrigued me because he intentionally signed with a book imprint, Macmillan New Writing, that doesn’t give advances.

Seemed odd to me. I mean, come on, we’re all trying to get paid for writing stories and here’s a guy who didn’t take a dime up front. Then again, the imprint has a great model: find talented new writers in any genre, then release one book a month. That means they can take the time to grow an author almost organically.

Dave embraced the concept full on and he’s got some great posts about the process and why he thinks it was the right deal for him. He also gives some awesome snapshots into his writing process. His book, SHOCK AND AWE, is out now.

Check it all out at David Isaak’s Tomorrowville.

John August (a ton of useful information about screenwriting)

John August is probably the most well-known of this lot of writers. He’s the guy responsible for writing the screenplays for GO, BIG FISH, CHARLIE’S ANGELS, and a few more you know. He made his directorial debut with this summer’s THE NINES.

John’s been at the Hollywood thing for a number of years now, but his blog posts reveal a generous man who seems to give more than he gets (although, I’m sure he gets quite a lot). How many other Hollywood screenwriters let just any schlub ask questions about craft and the business? Better still, how many actually answer you back?

Be sure to check out his downloads page… you can get lost for hours there reading draft scripts and outlines and treatments. There’s also a stunning essay on how BIG FISH got written and made.

Read it all at John August (a ton of useful information about screenwriting).

Duane Swierczynski’s Secret Dead Blog

I came across Duane’s blog quite by accident… read about that here. Since then, I’ve made a point of checking out Secret Dead at least once a week.

By day, Duane’s the editor of the Philadelphia City Paper, the city’s alternative weekly, and the blog reflects that sort of sensibility. Duane’s cynical and funny and ever cracking wise. Plus, he’s got a finely tuned ear for dialog, and is super-quick with uncommon similes and metaphors. I don’t get jealous of other writers very often, but when it comes to this guy I’m as green as bucket full of peas.

Make sure you also check out his three highly acclaimed crime novels—SECRET DEAD MEN, THE WHEELMAN, and THE BLONDE—and a fourth on the way. Then go read more about Duane at Duane Swierczynski’s Secret Dead Blog.

Jamie Ford’s Bittersweet Blog

I can’t remember how I found Jamie’s blog, but, by gum, I’m awful glad I did. I know it was an accident and I know he hooked me with a little tagline in his banner: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet.

Turns out, that’s the name of his forthcoming novel. Clever, and it’s got a lot of automatic resonance.

But the great thing about Jamie’s blog is the diversity… it’s about writing, and sports, and movies, and books, and lots of other things Jamie loves. When I read his words, they seem effortless to me. I’m sure they aren’t, because they never are effortless. And he almost always has the perfect photo attached to the post.

Go read—and see—for yourself at Jamie Ford’s Bittersweet Blog.

The Letter D

Last up is, perhaps, the funniest blog I read. The Letter D is the home of Dwight Hamilton, a lawyer and humor columnist for Grand Rapids Magazine.

Who can resist post titles like, “Screw You, Neal Schweiber!,” “Ponytailed Lawyer Guy,” and “The Night I Saw Prince’s Penis”?

Definitely check out the “Best of D”… you’ll giggle so much people around you will wonder what’s so freaking funny.

The worst part about The Letter D? Dwight doesn’t post often enough.

Take a peek at The Letter D.

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After last week’s doozy, I figured I’d tee up a couple of softballs out of the gate for the resurrected SOTB.

I’d like to say that I can sit down to write anywhere and any time. I do know some writers who can pack up the laptop and head to the busiest coffee shop in the neighborhood and pound out words by the thousands.

Not me.

I’d spend more time looking at people and listening to their conversations than I would actually writing anything. While I might be able to call that “research,” I’d be completely useless when it comes to getting words on the page.

Now, this doesn’t mean I have to fully control my environment before I can get things written. But it does mean I have a process for getting my nugget primed for lots of verbs and nouns and adjectives.

While I hate it when people tell me how I should write, I do like it when people can pass along to me what works for them. In that spirit, here are six things I do that make my writing productivity soar.

De-clutter

I’m not a neat guy. I’m organized—granted, it’s my own form of quasi-chaotic organization—but I’m not one to put stuff in folders or categorized piles. It’s pretty much just the one pile. I know that, if it’s important, it’s in that pile.

But the one thing I have to have, before I can pound out even the first letter of anything, is a clean workspace. Pens I’m not using get put away, stacks of Post-it pads get put in the drawer, junk gets tossed or shredded, and important papers—research, notes, etc.—I don’t need for the task at hand go in “the pile.”

I find it keeps me focused on the page in front of me, freeing me to work unencumbered. It takes just a couple of minutes at the beginning of my writing day, letting me get to work sooner.

Read yesterday’s stuff

After I de-clutter, I make sure I go over what I wrote the day before. I find it helps me in a number of ways.

First, it assuages my inner editor. I can get that shitty habit out of the way so it doesn’t poison the rest of the day’s writing.

Second, I can reinsert myself into where I left off the day before faster. Not only does this help me get the mojo back, it can help spark new ideas or paths I hadn’t considered before.

Unplug

This one’s important for me. If I’m not careful, I can get sucked into an Internet wormhole—in the name of “research”—and not return for hours. It’s best if I just turn off the damn modem and get to work.

I suspect the same is true for just about everyone.

Chunk it

It’s so easy to look at the size of a project and get overwhelmed by the sheer scope of it all. It’s for this reason the work on things like highway and skyscraper projects get partitioned out and managed as smaller projects within the larger one.

Those things—which are similar to a writing project—have lots of little moving parts. Once you focus on the smaller tasks and milestones within, the end product looks a lot easier to achieve.

Even over the course of a single writing day, I’ll break up what I’m doing into smaller, more manageable bits, say, twenty-minute blocks. It keeps me fresh and helps me maintain momentum.

Give yourself permission

A few months back, Konrath mentioned that bestseller James Rollins attached the following to his computer monitor:

“I allow myself to write crap today.”

I did the same thing two seconds after I read that. It really became a liberating way to approach my writing for the day. I know what I do isn’t always going to be good. This was a much needed way of reassuring myself that that’s okay.

Give yourself a break

If you’re a regular gym-goer, you know that one of the best things you can do for yourself is to take a day off every so often. Your body needs the time to recover… heal a little… get stronger.

I find something similar to be true when it comes to a writing project. Taking a day off from looking at and thinking about what I’m working on is often what’s needed to keep me going. Otherwise, I get bogged down in the grind of writing.

Getting away, even for just twenty-four hours, is a welcome break. And I usually come back better off than where I was when I stopped.

I know that we’re a nutty lot, given to things like “muses” and “writer’s block.” Whether real or imagined—I say imagined—it’s important for us to keep our writing moving forward.

What I’ve given here works for me… I’m curious about what works for you. Leave a comment, let’s talk about it.

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