Atlanta Nights - The Movie!

RoyCBooth said:

Thank you (and everyone else, for that matter) for the assist, Nick. No, I wouldn't call it "giggling," per se, more like "chortling with an occassional guffaw." My adapting the book to script has been a real hoot and a holler and I am sure that whatever Rachael and I come up with in the months to come should prove to be interesting, to say the least.

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James D. Macdonald said:

Wow. You read the book? My hat's off to you. If you figured out what the plot was ... could you tell me? I've always wondered.

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8thSamurai said:

I can't thank you guys enough!

Yep, we both read the book (I don't know about Roy, but I couldn't do it all in one sitting - which says amazing things about the effort involved).

***** Two sittings on my part the second time, about a half dozen on the third. First time can't really remember, except that my head hurt afterward.

This is so far the most complicated adaptation I've ever attempted. It'll be amazing.

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Let's look a little closer at those self-anointed "experts", the ones who call themselves author advocates, or watchdogs. You won't find too many of them, but they are usually loud. Their writing is typically characterized by the use of an overkill of adjectives, and by references to you being a victim of something. Their own book genre is almost always Science-Fiction or Fantasy.

That's why some of them are actually published writers. SciFi and Fantasy are among the easier genres, requiring no believable storylines, and no believable every-day characters. Not the sky is the limit, but outer space, and there everything goes. Ever since great writers such as Asimov and Tolkien pioneered the genre, copycats have stampeded through the open gates.

SciFi and Fantasy abounds with literary parasites and plagiarists. Some writers have built a name for themselves by writing spin-offs of hugely popular movies, such as Star Trek, after all the characters and story parameters had been handed to them on a silver plate by the story owners who licensed the merchandising rights to a publisher. It requires some talent, but not too much, to write such a book. And it definitely calls for modesty if, no surprise there, the book sells. The millions of Star Trek aficionados will read just anything as long as it says Star Trek on the cover.

There are some others who, particularly in the field of Fantasy, rewrite all but everything under the sun that has already been written before. They rummage through books on mythology, steal a character here, borrow a plot line there, throw in a wizzard from King Arthur, and literally loot all the mythologies ever written. They mix it, knead it, call the adventure a Journey or a Quest, and there's their work of Fantasy. And the funny thing is, it is widely accepted among fellow fantasy writers as the right thing to do. They call it a craft. Many make it to the mass market book sector, where Fantasy publishers need a new title every other week or so.

Does this mean there are no honest and original SciFi and Fantasy authors? On the contrary. There are many hardworking writers who do their best to come up with something original. Some make it to the published ranks, others seek acceptance in vain. But you never hear them thumping their chests. True-blooded original writers don't brag. They don't crown themselves.

Now what is wrong with the loudmouths, the ones who looted, leeched, or plagiarized their way to local stardom? What's wrong with them is that they claim a mantle of expertise about writing or being a writer in general that they don't possess. But what's even more wrong is that they love their elite status, of being published, too much. Once they start calling themselves author advocates, beware. Often they only advocate themselves and their status. They have found a spotlight, and the last thing they want is to share it with others.

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Ever since great writers such as Asimov and Tolkien pioneered the genre, copycats have stampeded through the open gates.

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Now what is wrong with the loudmouths, the ones who looted, leeched, or plagiarized their way to local stardom?

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