Richard V. Rupp

October 2, 2021

Good Saturday morning. I'm author Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California. Welcome to RUPP'S NOTES/FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMAN SERIES posts.

 

Happy October, which I just learned happens to be National Novel Writing Month or NANOWRIMO for short. As a writer I'm going, why is a month devoted to novel writing? Then I discovered there is an excellent reason. The organization behind it is dedicated to encouraging young people to write novels.

 

National Novel Writing Month is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that promotes creative writing around the world. Its flagship program is an annual, international creative writing event where participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript. Well-known authors write "pep talks" to motivate the participants. The website provides participants, called "Wrimos," with tips for writer's block, information on where local participants are meeting, and an online support community. Focusing on the length of a work rather than the quality, writers are encouraged to finish their first draft quickly to later be edited at the author's discretion. The project started in July 1999 with 21 participants. In 2019, 455,080 participated in the organization's programs.

 

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, empowering approach to creative writing. The challenge: is to draft an entire novel in just one month. For 30 wild, exciting, surprising days, you get to lock away your inner editor, let your imagination take over, and just create!

 

You may want to suggest the challenge to young members of your family or to a young friend. I can guarantee you creative writing expands your mind.

 

On this date 101 years ago, Agatha Christie's first novel, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, was published in the United States. And today, her stories are still being made into movies. Long before HARRY POTTER, book-based movies have captivated global audiences and produced blockbuster movies. You don't have to look far to find book-inspired films with major box office success. Titles include FORREST GUMP, SHREK, GONE WITH THE WIND, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, THE DA VINCI CODE, and more.

 

It is reported that 53% of movies are based on books, and nearly 25% of TV dramas are book-based. And that book-based productions produce an audience share 56% larger than original scripts.

 

I believe books make great movies because an author must develop a more complete story and is telling a story they want to write about. It comes from their heart. Where generally, a screenplay is a collaborative effort. Screenwriters write with the actors, director, cinematographer, set designers in mind because ultimately, the script is for other people. While they can be a team effort, novels are rarely written with more than a novelist and an editor.

 

I latched onto telling this story because of what I heard at a local watering hole last night. Because of the pandemic screenplay, collaboration has not existed for a while. Therefore more movies and TV productions will be based on books written by authors who have been holed up in their cubbyholes. I believe that could be a good thing for both audiences and authors.

 

The great thing for us authors is that literature is a mainstream for popular movies and TV productions. And in this perpetual-motion media marketplace, popular book-based movies and TV productions generate more sales for the books on which they are based.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright©2021 by Richard V. Rupp