I think most of us have compared a book to a movie or a movie to a book and said, The book was better or The movie was better. In recent months I have done this with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Hunger Games. In my opinion, these two movies stayed as true to the books as could be reasonably expected. Both movies were exceptional.
But, in both cases, I liked the book better.
In all honestly, this usually happens to me. I tend to like the book better. And, if you think about it, there is a reason for this.
As we watch a movie, we experience the story by what we SEE and HEAR on the screen. A film by its very nature is the product of many people: the director, screenwriter, actors, cameramen and musicians, to name a few. Additionally, a film can be hindered by underfunding or problems with the location, weather, etc. And a movie has time constraints, too, usually lasting somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes in length, which is why, most scripts come in at under 120 pages. Every script page translates to roughly one minute of screen time. The typical moviegoer does not want to sit through a movie that is four, five, six, or more hours long.
A book, on the other hand, is written by one person. There are writing teams out there who do a fine job but, USUALLY, one person has total control over the entire project. Once the book reaches a publisher, other people might be involved for, perhaps, cover art and font choice, some editing, but, for the most part, the story is the writer’s responsibility. And the writer does not have the restraints that a movie might have. The story can be as long or short as the author desires. And the reader can read the book over several days, weeks, or months, if they desire. Compare that to the two hours a moviegoer gives to the same title.
A short novel is usually about 50,000 words. In comparison, the longest novel ever written, In Search of Lost Time, a French novel by Marcel Proust has an estimated 1,200,000 words. It was 4,211 pages and was published in seven volumes. Recent longer novels have included War and Peace by Leoy Tolstoy, published in paperback with 1,440 pages and over 560,000 words; and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Its paperback version had 1,088 pages and over 550,000 words. The Stand by Stephen King is 1,153 pages.
When a novelist describes a character who is about to punch another character’s face, he might describe the clenching of that character’s fist, the glare of the sun in the character’s eye, or a memory about the first time the character hit someone. The writer can even go off in a tangent and have the character “remember” the first time he met the person he is about to hit.
In a screenplay, the writer will write something similar to CHARACTER #1 slams fist into CHARACTER #2′s nose. The moviegoer will see the character’s reaction to the fist. They might see the fist hit a nose. But thoughts, memories, etc. are usually not part of the script or scene.
What I am trying to say is a novel can be deeper with more levels and intricacies. And, this is why I usually like book is better.
