Frequently in this business, I run into people (even really cool and generally very sensible people) who seem to have fallen for the idea that books are essentially sacred, somehow better or more meaningful that any other medium or activity. These people might be aghast to know that very few book professionals would agree with them. Is S&S Sorry about the gobs of money involved in Jodi Picoult movies? I guarantee you they are not. Is TOR crying itself to sleep at night because according to its own site, it has as many big best sellers with licensed novels based off the Halo games as with the works of Robert Jordan or Orson Scott Card? I doubt it. Have I mentioned that I interned at one of those places and know several people at the other? I'm an academic, you know. Liberal arts, no less. Trained to see the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate disciplines. The same applies the creation of media in three main ways.
1. Connection between the individual stories and creators involved.
2. The way one medium can put another in perspective
3. The personal benefit to any creator of media who draws on a wide experience of different kinds of stories and formats.
Unfortunately, I can't go into great detail about 3. It's something relatively personal. I could ramble for enormous tracts of time about bizarre convergences and divergences, similarities and dissimilarities between Author X and Author Y or I could babble about Gilgamesh and it's connection to the biblical story of Noah and the Ark, or for that matter, compare the bible to other religious texts. I could, but my insights are my insights. You need your own and right now, all I'm interested in is convincing you that if you're a "books are sacred" type that you WILL have new insights if you broaden your scope. As for points one and two, here are some examples.
Just yesterday, I got a query at the agency that stands out as being interesting. Something the author said amused me. She was very earnest, but kind of flustered. I can appreciate the sentiment. Since she didn't include her sample, I sent her a pretty generic note asking for the first twenty, but appended a couple of sentences and jokes to personalize it, hoping to put her at her ease. Turns out, this particular aspiring author is a veteran voice actress in Magical Girl anime. I was always more of a Giant Robot kind of guy, but that's still pretty damn cool. She sent the sample but I haven't gotten to read it yet. I hope it's good. Why? Cross promotion mofos! It's a wonderful thing. She can pitch her book at Comicon and discuss her anime at Book Expo, doubly so if the Manga (Japanese graphic novel) it was based on has been released stateside. That reminds me, if you're planning to be involved with anything remotely related to media of any kind and you live within a hundred miles of NYC, you might as well memorize the floor plans for the Javits center since both of the aforementioed conventions (and many, many others) take place there. It's like your home away from home.
Over the weekend, I decided to re-read Starship Titanic and Road to Mars. Starship Titanic is the book of the game, of the throw away joke from Douglas Adams' Life the Universe and Everything which is itself a book in a series that began life as a radio drama. Terry Jones, that is, the guy from Monty Python who was always either naked or a woman, wound up writing the book after going in to play the voice of a parrot in the game and realized Adams' was too busy to write the novel fast enough for a simultaneous release, which his publishers demanded (CROSS PROMOTION, MOFOS). Road to Mars is a meatier, wholly original book that also happens to take place in space and involves tragedy that surrounds a luxury liner and was written by Eric Idle, as in the guy from Monty Python who was always singing. It's an interesting comparison. I offer again a comparitive review of the two, but the point is that they're part of a wider, if somewhat aimless study. Even within the miniature realm of Pythonology, you'd still have cause to compare Jones and Idle elsewhere. For example, Jones was the man with the plan behind Meideval Lives, an Honest to God Documentary mini-series that bears the unique honor of being the only documentary to ever make me laugh, while Idle was the mastermind who created The Rutles, the world's funniest "mockumentary" parodying the Beatles.
So, on to point two. By now you're probably losing interest. I'm a windbag. I know, trust me, I know. Even I'd be bored of me by now. I've been rambling too long already, so I'll save personal notations for how one medium can put another in perspective for a later date. Suffice to say that just recently, I shot juice out my nose when I saw a skit by The Whitest Kids U' Know (as in, possibly the funniest sketch comedy TV show since Monty Python) which, as I'm sure you'll all notice, is jab at Sue Grafton specifically, and theme crime dramas in general.
To understand how much I love this, you'll have to read my book. Good stuff here. The media world is fascinating in it's diversity and interconnectedness.
ReplyDeleteLOL- I was considering writing a story or a book about a guy who's girlfriend attempts to murder him while he's playing WOW. His soul gets sucked into the game (which is full of animated robot-people and disembodied voices) then has to battle his way out to get back to his body and press charges on the killer-chick.
Still contemplating.
So, I've been reduced to posting as "anonymous" on my own blog. Damnit, google/Blogspot. Is this because I called you big brother in that e-mail? Anyway, yes. Interplay of different mediums is fascinating and sometimes the styles and lessons of one can be used elsewhere. I hadn't even thought of the importance of one media within another as per your story. - RC
ReplyDeleteI used a lot of pop culture references in the book I'm working on. I think it makes it more relevant to readers, a lot more realistic. There are those who argue that it dates the story, but isn't that the point of having a setting in the first place? It adds flavor.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with promoting in different arenas, and think it's important to stay as abreast of all of it as one can. Have your finger on the pulse or whatever...