Karen Sandler

Author: Karen Sandler

  • RTW – What Makes a Book a Movie?

    This week, YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday offers up the blog prompt What is it that makes some books ideal for a film translation? I feel a little like that kid in class whose teacher finally asks a question she knows the answer to. The kid who suddenly wakes up and waves her arm, praying the teacher will call on her.

    Well, okay, I’m not that much of an expert on books being adapted into movies. But I have written a half-dozen or so screenplays and have written and produced a few short films. My book Tankborn and its sequels Awakening and Revolution were all adapted from a film script to books (so I’m hoping they can some day go the other way too). So I’ve actually thought a lot about what kind of books make good movies.

    IMHO, the one quality that makes a book most adaptable into film is a high concept premise. What’s high concept? I define it as a premise that can easily be described in one sentence. I’ve also heard it defined as a premise for which you can immediately imagine its movie poster. Hunger Games is an excellent example. In the future, teens are chosen in a lottery for a fight to the death with other teens. Jurassic Park–scientists recreate dinosaurs using DNA and the dinosaurs fight back. I think Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies books, in which “ugly” children are converted to “pretties” at age 16, but there’s something rotten at the core of the process, is pretty high concept and would make a fantastic film franchise.

    But not every movie is high concept, nor is every book that’s adapted to film high concept. Another crucial quality is that the book is very visual. There’s plenty of action on the page as opposed to lots of internal dialogue or long descriptive passages. There’s a whole lot of the novel Pride and Prejudice that’s left out of the movie because it just doesn’t translate into the visual medium of film.

    A third quality of a filmable book is that its story already follows a three act structure. I bet if you analyzed the movies you’ve seen, you’ll see the three act structure in most of them.

    What does that structure look like? The first act sets up the characters and their story dilemma, then there’s an inciting incident at the end of the first act that sets the hero/heroine on his/her way to their goal. The stakes continually rise in the second act, and there will be a turning point in the middle that changes everything, then a dark moment at the end of the second act. Then there’s the third act’s climax and denouement.

    Think about some of the books you’ve read, and I’ll bet many of them use this three act structure. Maybe the author made a conscious decision to write their book that way, or maybe the book ended up with three act structure because it’s a great way to write a story.

    So think about your own book, or if you’re not a writer, think about a fiction book you’ve recently read. Is it high concept (can you describe it in one sentence)? Is it extremely visual? Is it already written in a three act structure? Then you might have a very film adaptable story. I hope Hollywood comes knocking.

  • From Zero to Rage in a Millisecond

    Twenty-plus years ago when my two sons were quite small, I had a very upsetting experience while waiting in a Costco parking lot for my husband. It was night time and it was just the three of us. A man in a big pickup pulled up next to where we were parked and when he opened his door, it banged into the side of my car.

    Not long before this, my younger son had carelessly done the same thing and made a ding in a lady’s car door. We had to go in search of the owner, do the whole exchange of insurance and contact information. I’d impressed on my son that he had to be more careful opening his door.

    So when this man banged our car, I got out to say something to him. The moment I said the words “You hit our car,” he exploded verbally, spewing out obscenities, his sudden anger at me (when he was clearly at fault) unexpected and frightening. I’m sure he saw me as vulnerable–a woman alone with two small kids. I certainly felt that way. In any case, I immediately backed down, scared but seething inside. The man went on his way.

    This incident came to mind because something similar happened today. I don’t want to say where it happened. It’s a place where I’m the customer, and I was unhappy with something that had happened, something that should have been done differently. My first impulse was to call the person’s boss to complain, but I thought instead that I would just talk to the person directly.

    I told the person all this, that I wanted to avoid calling his boss. As I spoke to him, yes, I was ticked, and I probably sounded irritated. But when I told him what I wished he’d done differently, he immediately pulled out the big anger guns. He used the f-bomb and made it clear he thought the fault was mine and not his that the mistake had happened.

    I walked away and told him I’d take it up with his boss. He threw out, “You do that,” then followed me, carping at me some more. I tried again to get my point across, but kept walking until I got in my car to leave.

    Unlike the experience with the guy in the pickup truck, today’s was more unpleasant than scary. But to have a near stranger blow up at me like that was kind of shocking. Even if you think a customer is annoying (and yes, I can be annoying sometimes), you smile and apologize. In this particular situation, I had a valid point to make, but he wasn’t having any of it.

    What’s also interesting is that the same person was around the day before when my husband and another man were working on a project. I introduced myself, talked to him, made some suggestions about the work he was doing, and he took my requests with equanimity. So what was the difference today? Was he having a bad day? Or was it that I was a woman by herself, without two other men within earshot?

    Unexpected explosive anger isn’t restricted to men. I’ve known women who respond the same way to get the upper hand. And truly, there’s nothing else you can do in these situations but back down and walk away. But the next call you make should be to someone who can do something about it.

    So I called his boss. Which I now wish I’d done in the first place.

  • RTW – Staring Down the Deadline Monster

    This week, as November looms, YA Highway asks the question, Are you doing NaNoWriMo, or have you ever? Does having a deadline inspire you?

    No, I’ve never done NaNoWriMo. By the time the National Novel Writing Month came along, I’d already been published and was regularly writing books under contract. I was too busy working on those contracted books to take the time to start something new in November as NaNoWriMo requires. Me starting a NaNoWriMo book would have been a little like a busy home construction contractor in the middle of building a house dropping everything to run off and build a little cottage somewhere just for fun.

    Deadlines, on the other hand, are an entirely different beast. That is, I worship at the feet of the deadline monster. It’s not so much that deadlines inspire me, but I respect them completely. Those deadline monsters are very much the boss of me. They stand by my bed in the morning, glaring at me to get up. They point their monstrous fingers toward my desk and demand that I turn on the computer. They keep their beady eyes on me to make sure I’m producing sufficient wordage each day so that I can reach their lofty goals. And heaven forbid if I take a peek at Facebook when I’m supposed to be working. The deadline monster never believes me when I say, “But I’m just doing some research on the web.”

    So, yeah, deadlines are a powerful influence on me. I have only slipped a deadline a couple of times, both times by less than a week. I do try to front load success with my deadlines, negotiating with my editor for a reasonable amount of time to finish a given book. But I take them seriously and keep my eye on the calendar as I work.

    I kind of suck, discipline-wise, if there is no deadline. Right now, I’m between books. I’ll have to start working on Revolution, the last book of the Tankborn trilogy, the moment my editor gives the thumbs-up. Once that happens, I’ll be busy-busy-busy for close to a year. But for the moment, the only thumbs doing anything are mine, twiddling.

    Yeah, I could work on a spec book I’ve got that needs editing. I could even write some short stories like my son suggested. But it’s really hard to muster up the gumption to write. I can be a real slug when the deadline monster is taking a sabbatical.

    So, although I’ve never done NaNoWriMo myself, I’m a big believer in the concept. Because it gives you a deadline. You have only the 30 days of November to write those 50K words. That’s quite a lot of work, a lot of words to write per day to reach your goal. And working fast like that, you learn a valuable skill–how to turn off the editor and just write. That one ability, to temporarily silence your internal editor, will get you to THE END, to a completed manuscript, better than anything.

    So, are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? If so, much luck to you. And be sure to stock up on the deadline monster treats. All that glaring and pointing are hungry work.

  • RTW – Looking Into My Writer’s Crystal Ball

    This week, YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday asks the question, What do you hope to be writing in one year? Three? Five?

    I’ve always hated goal-setting. Other than the goal that in three years, or five, I want to be rich and famous. Bestselling books, accolades aplenty, twin Cadillacs in the driveway (actually, in my case, it would probably be a couple of Teslas–gotta be green, ya know).

    But that’s just pie-in-the-sky fantasizing, not goal-setting. If you’d asked me five years ago where I wanted to be right now, what I thought I would be writing, I seriously doubt that I would have said, “Just finishing book 2 and about to start book 3 of a young adult science fiction trilogy.” Five years ago, I was still writing romances for Harlequin. Tankborn, its follow-on, Awakening, and the final book, Revolution, were not even a glimmer in my eye.

    But let me try to answer the question anyway, despite my goals-averse ways. One year out is a bit of a cheat, because there is something in the works already, something I can’t talk about yet. In a year, I will have finished a re-write on Secret Book #1 and should be working on writing Secret Book #2.

    In three years, I would like to be working on another YA series. Very likely in the speculative fiction arena (fantasy, paranormal, SF). It’s also possible I will be working on future Secret Books. Because all three books of the Tankborn trilogy will have been published in three years, my dream is that we will be working on the first of the Tankborn movies (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?).

    In five years, I would be finishing up that Other YA Trilogy, possibly writing more Secret Books, and likely starting another YA series. Or maybe I’m working with an artist on Tankborn graphic novels. I think the Tankborn trilogy would lend itself very well to the graphic novel format. Maybe instead of Teslas, there are a pair of nice, new Priuses in the driveway. And schools are clamoring to hear me speak. My book signings are mob scenes. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is begging me to give a keynote at their summer conference. 🙂

    Okay, so it’s not all completely realistic. I don’t have quite as much control over the rich and famous part as I’d like. But I can keep writing the books I like to write and make my own future to a certain extent.

    How about you? What is your crystal ball saying to you?

  • Why I Can’t Write Your Story

    I got another one of those e-mails the other day. If you’re a published author, you’ve probably received one or two. It always starts out with some variation of “I have the most incredible story to tell, and it’s all true.” Or the writer will state, “It’s like a cross of Popular Book A and Popular Book B, except better.” And somewhere in there it will say, “I’m not a very good writer, so that’s why I’m contacting you.”

    Even if they don’t spell it out, the intention of the person who sent the e-mail is clear. They think their idea is so terrific that they want me, Ms. Published Author, to write it as a book. They believe their idea is so great that they’re sure I will jump at the chance to write the book on spec (i.e., with no payment) for the opportunity to make big money down the line.

    I usually ignore e-mails like this one because it’s never something I want to pursue. There’s never anything in the e-mail that tells me the person is a fan of my work. They just found me on the web, or in a listing of authors somewhere and threw out an e-mail to me.

    In the case of this particular e-mail, I did respond because of one line: “I am completely clueless how to get started, or where to go with this.” That meant to me that although she claims she’s not a very good writer, she was open to information. And it turned out I was right. When she responded to my e-mail, she was grateful for the information I’d passed on.

    Here’s a little of what I told her, and a few other points:

    • Professional writers don’t work for free. If we don’t charge for our work, we can’t make a living.
    • I have no shortage of ideas. I’m not looking for ideas from other people. In fact, I wish I had the time to write all the ideas that are floating around in my own head.
    • Ideas are actually the easy-easy-easy part. Constructing a novel-length story around that idea is what’s really hard and time consuming.
    • Sometimes people’s life stories aren’t as interesting as they seem to the person who lived it. Not to mention you will have to fictionalize parts of it to make it fit into the above mentioned story.
    • If your life story truly is that interesting, you ought to be the one to write it. Because you are the one most passionate about it. Because you’re the one who really cares about it.
    • Sometimes people say they’re not very good at writing when they really mean they don’t like to write. And maybe they don’t like to write because they were never properly taught how. The best solution to that is to take a class–at your local community college, online, at the library, wherever you find one offered. Learn enough to see if you actually do like writing, then you can write your story yourself.

    What if this person does learn the craft of writing, writes her life story, and it turns out to be so fantastic she gets a giant book deal? I will be thrilled. I’ll be proud that I might have had a tiny bit to do with that. But truly, it will be her own hard work that got her to bestsellerdom. And that will make the victory all the sweeter for her.