Cinema for Authors


Pam's post last Friday reminded me of how much inspiration and honest-to-goodness craft authors draw from movies.

I'm currently taking Alexandra Sokoloff's fabulous Screenwriting Tricks for Novelists, where we study movies' structures to improve our books. As you can imagine, we discuss a lot of movies as the best model for our novels. Now this is not quite the same as being a favorite movie, since things like thematic similarity have to be considered as well as plot line.

Sometimes the class feels like a wild discussion among friends where everyone's trying to suggest the best possible movie for somebody else to study, including the reason why.

To my fascination, only four historical movies (in the New York publishing sense of "history") get mentioned regularly.

Chinatown
Gladiator
The Last of the Mohicans
Sense & Sensibility

Of these four, The Last of the Mohicans and Sense & Sensibility are definitely my favorite two films. I've undoubtedly seen Sense & Sensibility a lot more often. (I adore Alan Rickman in this film!)

But I'd have to say The Last of the Mohicans is much closer to my novels, for more reasons than sharing an American frontier setting with my books. I cherish the line "I will find you" as a declaration of love in the face of all odds.

What movie is most like your book or books? Is it a historical movie or a contemporary movie? How is it different from your "favorite" movies?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brandywine Springs Tour -- September 21

Image
Alright, I hope this isn't too last-minute of a notice, but I think we've come to a consensus. Although I did say I'd do a tour with just a few people, it seems that there are several people who can't make it this week, but can make it next week. Since this isn't anything where there's a reservation or set plans involved, I've decided to wait the extra week in order to allow more people to attend. I hope this isn't a problem for those who said they could come this week. And for what it's worth, the Weather Channel's long-term forecast has it in the 70's with a 0% chance of rain on the 21st. All in all, this seems like the best thing to do. We can nail down a time that's best for everyone, but since a few seemed to indicate that early afternoon was good, I'm suggesting 1:00 for now. The tour should take somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half, depending on how much I ramble on. As I mentioned before, we'll walk through the
Read more

N. Dushane Cloward

Image
N. Dushane Cloward, 1899 There have been many people over the years who, while they may not have been born or raised in Mill Creek Hundred, have nonetheless made a significant contribution to some aspect of its history. One such person was N. Dushane Cloward. It's easy to think of Brandywine Springs Amusement Park as consisting of no more than the rides, attractions, and buildings that once stood in the glen along Hyde Run. Of course, the park was much more than just its physical structures -- it was conceived, built, and operated by real people (a simple statement, I know, but one that often gets overlooked). Like any business today, it was populated by all kinds of people, some with simple stories, and some with more interesting backgrounds. One of the more interesting people involved with park was N. Dushane Cloward. Cloward was a musician, an artist, and a showman, and he was integral to the success of the amusement park. Nathan Dushane Cloward was born on August 11, 1865 to W
Read more

The wilder shores of love - Part I

Image
Jane Digby was known in her later years as “Engleysi,” the Madwoman. Unbelievable as it may seem, this is the true story of a Regency-era woman, born into nobility in 1807 in Norfolk, England. She grew up in comfort, in a serene pastoral countryside before the Industrial Revolution, and she gave her governess heart failure: Jane loved life; she had perfect health, a reckless and ardent temperament; and (in her later years) she thrived on scandal. Throughout her life a “scarlet thread of exoticism” pulled her into a yen for adventurous travel (not surprising since her father was a buccaneering admiral). A child of the Regency, she was enamored of romantic curiosities–Turkish slippers, Arab daggers, Moorish-style gazebos, onion-shaped domes. Jane was married (though not consulted) at age 17 to Lord Ellenborough, a man twice her age who neglected her. In 1821 she had a fling with her cousin, Captain George Anson, conceived a child, whom Lord Ellenborough accepted as his heir. Jan
Read more