Watching Different Versions of Movies for Lessons in Plots: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

Yesterday had a cold, wet, dismal night and all the new fuzzy throws we got for Christmas came in handy, as did the marvelous ROKU streaming TV gizmo (which actually hit the door in November, when I decided to cut the cable).

We watched two film versions of the book I just finished re-reading: Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.  It was fascinating to watch the changes made in the Angela Lansbury version as opposed to the later version with Joan Hickson.

Hickson's my favorite actress to play Miss Marple, by a long shot - but I'm a huge fan of Angela Lansbury and I have no complaints about her take on the character.

Here's the thing: this isn't a movie review.  Goodness knows there are more than enough Agatha Christie books made into films if I wanted to go that route.  Nope.

I wanted to share here something that I discovered by watching how the directors and screenwriters took Agatha Christie's work and adapted it for their own purposes.  The Hickson version is pretty close to the book itself; the Lansbury version makes changes.

Writing lessons are here to be learned, I think.  I find myself pondering the omission of Gladys - was this wise?  I consider the opening of the Lansbury version, where the black and white film is being played for St. Mary Mead's vicarage as a regular weekly event, and I like this addition for various reasons.

It's as if the story is clay and the two movie versions have molded it in different ways.  As I hold that same clay in my hands, having read the book, what would I do with it - if I had to write the screenplay with Big Name Stars needing screen time and limitations of settings and the like?

It's fun to think about and it's helping me with plotting.  Characterization, too.  

There's another version on Netflix, too -- one with Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple.  We're watching it tonight with homemade pizza.  Can't wait!

Free EBooks as Marketing Strategy? Joyce Magnin Got Me -- Now I'm Buying Her Books.

Who doesn't like a freebie, especially in today's economy?  Well, I know that I do.  Several times during the week, I'll check the Top 100 Kindle Free EBooks list.  Sometimes I grab one or two; sometimes, there's nothing there that I want. 

You might find more (or less) than I have.  Most of the books on the Top 100 Free list at Amazon's Kindle Store are highly rated, I'm just not interested in more cookbooks right now, for example.

Here's the thing.  I've noticed that some authors are smart enough to drop one of their books into the "free" section of the Kindle store for a short time period.  Not that long, but long enough.

Like Joyce Magnin. 

I discovered her in the Kindle Free Top 100, and now I buy her books.  That's right:  I buy them.  Authors, agents, and publishers take note.  I spend money because she's giving me a good read, and I admit I like the fact that she started out by giving me something. 

How does that translate in bookseller lingo?  I'm on a book budget.  If I am choosing between one of Joyce Magnin's books and one of another author I like, and only have money in the budget for one book, then Joyce it is. 

I guess that I am more loyal to Joyce Magnin because I think she's more loyal to me? 

Reading Robert B. Parker Now ...

I don't know why I've never read any Robert B. Parker before now.

Stupid.

And, truth be told, I owe it all to Tom Selleck, because those Jesse Stone movies he's been producing and starring in -- they're specials on CBS -- made me wonder about the novels. Then, I was in line at the store and someone had stuffed one of the Jesse Stone paperbacks (Stranger in Paradise) in between the beef jerky and the King Size Snickers bars and of course, I took it as a sign.

And, sure enough it was. I love and adore Robert B. Parker.

Fast read, clean read. A true master here -- especially enjoying his dialogue. Wow. So well done, and he appears to be a member of the "use 'said' or don't use anything at all school."

Dialogue. Wow.

You know -- he said, she said. Not he cried, she exclaimed, he snarled. Dean Koontz, another one with this as a writing rule ....

I'm going through the Sunny Randall series now. From the debut forward, in publication order. And, I'm also doing this with the Jesse Stone series.

Spencer? I'm waiting on him -- that's a big buncha books, plus I dunno. I feel less connected somehow to Spencer, although I do remember the TV series from years ago, and I do remember liking the characters there. Hawk. Cool.

And, fine. I have to be honest. One of the reasons that I'm really enjoying Parker's work has nothing to do with plots or settings or character development or series construction or mysteries or thrillers or anything like that.

I love Rosie the bull terrier.

I just really like Rosie, the miniature bull terrier that splits her time between Sunny Randall and her ex-husband. Rosie is just endearing and fabulous, and well ... dog lovers are a special kind of folk, and it's nice to know that Robert B. Parker is one of us. (And, sure, I'm waiting for Jesse Stone to get his dog ... he better get one, the TV Jesse has that great golden in every story that I've seen.)

Wish Rosie had a blog, though. I mean, Martha Stewart's pugs (Francesca and Sharky) just got one, and heck. Dean Koontz's dog Trixie Koontz, has a blog AND is still writing books from the other side of Rainbow Bridge.

Dean Koontz, Dreyer's Almond Crunch Bar, and You

Over at Amazon.com, Dean Koontz has given writers a little juicy tidbit on writing angst ... not only did he spend hours in deliberation non-writers would dismiss as silly or (ahem) mad, but he did the obviously wise thing to do when faced with a dilemma.

Yes, he did eat ice cream. And, yes, he recommends it.

Personally, I've just found these cute little Ben and Jerry individual cups for a buck, they even come with a little spoon in the lid. Thanks to Dean Koontz, I now find them to be a writing necessity not merely a mindless temptation and I'll be stocking up those little jewels this weekend.

This is not the first time that I have thought: Thank God for Dean Koontz.

PS On a serious note, Dean Koontz's tidbit on the Amazon site is important to read from a writing standpoint - don't miss it - and don't let my fixation on Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream this afternoon distract you from some very good writing information from one of the masters.

Great Interview with Janet Evonovich

Click on the title to jump over to a nice, and not too long, interview with Janet Evonovich -- where she discusses writing with humor and promises that "good people do not die in this series!" Whew.

What's Your Genre?

Who do you read? That's what you should write, so they say. Here are books/authors I've read recently - some, if not most, are favorites:

Cozy
Tamar Myers (Magdalena Yoder)
MC Beaton (Agatha Raisin)
Nancy Bell (Biggie)
Alexander McCall Smith (Mme Ramotswe)
Susan Conant (Holly Winter)
Diane Mott Davidson (Goldy Bear)

Hard-Boiled
James M. Cain
Raymond Chandler
Dashiell Hammett
John D. McDonald

Legal Thriller
Lisa Scottoline (all)
John Grisham
Earl Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason)

Private Eye/Caper
Janet Evonovich (all)
Sue Grafton (Kinsey Milhone)
Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody)

Whodunit-Classic
Elizabeth George (Inspector Linley)
Agatha Christie (Poirot, Marple)
Carolyn Hart (Henrie O)
PD James (Inspector Adam Dalgliesh)

True Crime
Diane Fanning (all)
Frank Abagnale (Catch Me If You Can)

Science Fiction
Patricia Briggs (Mercedes series)

Romantic Suspense
Daphne DuMaurier - Rebecca
Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre

Romance
Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
George Eliot - Middlemarch
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities

Here's my quick list - I know I've missed some. Already, I see that I'm driven by characterization in my reading, as well as my writing. Ethical dilemmas and the fight between good and evil also form a theme in this list. Humor and wit are there. And, I'm much more focused on mysteries than romance. All, good to know.

The Razor's Edge and Truman Capote

Somerset Maugham's famous work The Razor's Edge has been made into a movie twice: first, with Tyrone Power in the lead; and later, with Bill Murray portraying the seeker, Larry Darrell. It's hard to say which version I prefer at this point.

Both made me think - and Bill Murray's version introduced me to the work of Maugham, for which I'm very grateful. Edge was one of those books of which I bought multiple copies to share with friends. I was seeking truth, my way of moving forward after a divorce left me lost and brokenhearted - and this book helped me. I wanted to share that.

A movie brought me to the book, to the author.
And, a movie has done that again, with Capote.

Not that I haven't read Truman Capote before now - I have. I think I own copies of most all his work - Other Voices, Other Rooms through Unanswered Prayers. (Why is it that Dominick Dunne always come to mind here?)

But the movie Capote introduced me to the writer - and his process - that I hadn't understood before now. I don't know that I like the man. Take for example that snide aside he makes at the bar about sweet, kind, patient Harper Lee -- well, yes, it's scripted - but when you recall all the Capote interviews, it's accurate.

This was not a nice man. This was, however, a great writer.

Either you are a writer, or you're not. And I think many writers waste away in jobs that miss the mark for them -- stymied by a lack of confidence, or maybe a fear of money - and the lack of it. Doesn't matter. Writers just are. They are humans given charge over words, and only some take up that responsibility.

Capote, the movie, explained to me that writers aren't perfect. They may not be kind or meek or subtle. They come in all shapes and sizes, and some can be quite disheartening in their failings.

Capote took writers off the pedestal for me -- and left the writing there.