Karla Stover Takes On Movies vs. Books

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS MADE INTO MOVIES—with commentary

Ghost Stories:

The Uninvited, based on Dorothy Macardle’s book, Uneasy Freehold. Both are really good. TCM likes the movie, too. I prefer the book, but only because it’s longer.

            The Haunting, based on Shirley Jackson’s book, The Haunting of Hill House. Again, prefer the book.

The Woman in Black, based on the same named book by Susan Hill. The book had a better ending.

Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer’s book of the same name. Neither encouraged me to read or watch beyond the first one.

Love Stories:

Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak’s book of the same name. I struggled with the book but love the movie.

 

Gone With the Wind, based on Margaret Mitchel’s book of the same name. Love them equally.

Musicales and Comedies:

Meet Me in St. Louis, based on by Sally Benson’s book of the same name. I love the book but the movie has a joyousness the book lacks, not that it’s gloomy, just different.

            Our Hearts Were Young and Gay based on Cornelia Otis Skinner’s book of the same name. Both are delightful.

            Cheaper By the Dozen, based on Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey’s book of the same name. The book is a hoot but the movie skimped on everything that happened to the family in this combination biography/memoir.

            The Egg and I, by Betty MacDonald’s book of the same name. I regularly reread this just for the laughs. This is where Ma and Pa Kettle came from. They were real people. The movie was a big hit but I thought it was so-so.

Dramas:

            The Jewel in the Crown, based on Paul Scott’s book, The Raj Quartet. The movie was on Masterpiece Theater and I loved it so much I bought a copy. I started the book once, but got bogged down, will have to try again.

            Rebecca, based on Daphne duMaurier’s book of the same name. Really like them both.

            Nicholas and Alexandra based on Robert K. Massie’s book of the same name. I’m a nut about Russian history and loved the book, but there was too much history in the book to be covered in a movie.

            Winter’s Bone, based on Daniel Woodrell’s book of the same name. I really liked them both, but the movie had Marideth Sisco singing—what a plus.

Obviously, this is a very incomplete list and, just as obviously, most of the books are older. I don’t read anything that might appear on the Hallmark channel or the list would be longer, and so many current movies are all about special effects or are from young adult books. Producers aren’t looking for what I read. Nevertheless, I always stay through the credits, just in case.

           

   Find Karla Stover here: http://bookswelove.net/stover.php     

  

           

           

           

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Picture Perfect Selfies - by Cheryl Wright

Every year my long-time writing group has an annual retreat.

We work hard, with lots of workshops and critiquing being held throughout the weekend. But there is also some time available for socializing, getting to know each other better, partying, and selfies!

I'm not photogenic - never have been - and hate having my photo taken, but still my friends come up and snap selfies with me in them. (Insert sad face here.)

So when I saw this stamp set from Art Impressions, I just had to have it! It is totally representative of my friends, both at retreat and at our regular meetings.

Instead of using Copics this time, I decided to watercolor this image. It's been quite a while since I did any watercoloring, and I can see I need some practice!

Before I close, I want to let you know that my romantic suspense novel, Running Scared, is on sale for just 99 cents. Go here to check it out! 


 Thanks for stopping by. Til next time,

Links:

My website:  www.cheryl-wright.com 
Blog:  www.cheryl-wright.com/blog
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cherylwrightauthor

Make sure you join my Facebook page as I run regular giveaways for followers!

Location, Location, Location by Jamie Hill

I like to set my books in real cities because I believe readers relate to places they know, live, or have visited. My cop series is set in Wichita, Kansas, which is a large enough city that they probably have plenty of crimes and good cops to solve them. Actually, around the time I was writing the first book, Family Secrets, the BTK killer had just resurfaced in Wichita and was soon apprehended. I added a mention of him, a "Did you work on that BTK case?" type of thing, for a touch of realism. But that's as far as I went with him. His crimes were horrible and touched the people of Wichita deeply. I didn't want to remind them too much.

I asked several people from the Wichita area about neighborhoods, locations by the river, various aspects of the city that I could include. I tried to steer clear of actual addresses because I didn't want a reader saying, "That's my address in Wichita!" And that's the very reason I make up business names, Like Moe's Diner and Sister Theresa's Shelter. If I wanted to make Sister Theresa the bad guy (or nun, so to speak) in the end, I didn't want the real Sister Theresa saying, "Hey now!" So while the story is set in Wichita and a few of the main streets are mentioned, as well as neighborhoods, the rest is purely fictional. Recently a reader told me she was from Wichita and while I changed the names, there was indeed a diner and a shelter like the ones I wrote about, and she could picture them as she read.

Mission accomplished.

My Witness Security series is set in Topeka, but the city won't play a major role. These people are in hiding and generally aren't going to be out doing the town. They'll also be traveling to other locations, in the first book they went to Chicago. Book two takes the characters to LA. Both towns I've visited and hopefully am able to capture their essence.

I took a different tactic with my Blame Game series, creating a fictional town for the characters to live in. I had a certain real town in mind and gave the fictional town of Marshall features of that place I knew well, but I had the freedom to jiggle them around as I desired. What I like about a fictional setting is as long as I'm consistent, I can create any details I want. No one can write me and say, "Excuse me, Fifth Street never intersects with Prospect Blvd." In my fictional town, maybe it does.

Find the first book in each of my series' here:

Family Secrets, A Cop in the Family: http://amzn.com/B004478IN6 

Pieces of the Past, Witness Security: http://amzn.com/B00K5XAGY2

Blame it on the Stars, The Blame Game: http://amzn.com/B00EOA5G3I

Jamie Hill

http://bookswelove.net/jamiehill.php

http://www.jamiehill.biz/