Books & Adaptations

     I've been going through a lot of posts from an old blog I used to maintain. While reviewing a lot of these sometimes awkward and grammatically challenged posts, I discovered a creative jewel that I have long forgotten. The post detailed a letter I wrote to my favorite author at the time in regards to adapting one of his series into films. I also mention "The Golden Compass", which at the time had not been released as a film. While The Golden Compass had immense potential, it was dragged down and destroyed by the narrow-minded and unimaginative members of the American religious community. The backlash of negative press resulted in the studio (New Line) pulling the plug on future projects. To make matters even worse, major plot lines were intentionally omitted from the film due to studio censorship. It's ridiculous that people would boycott a fantasy film because of it's over arching themes, but would still allow trash like Borat, Jackass 2, and even The Paranormal Activity series to thrive. Alas, I have digressed.  I hope you enjoy this blast from the past and feel encouraged to post comments. Thanks!

  I recently wrote a letter to my favorite author of all time (at the moment) to bounce some thoughts off of his head and generally get some off of mine. I am posting that very same letter here as well for the opinions of my friends, family and dedicated readers. Please feel free to respond with thoughts, advice or commentary.


Dear Garth Nix,

     Mr. Nix I am an avid reader and an aspiring writer in the US. I'm writing this to share with you some of my thoughts and propose a few questions. At this current time you are my favorite author. Overall, I love the energy and flow of all of your books. Your literature has helped me write several short stories and has furthered my own dreams to become an accomplished filmmaker. You are fiercely imaginative and you have yet to release a book or story that is less than riveting. It has been a dream of mine to adapt "The Abhorsen Trilogy" into three separate powerful screenplays for film. Of course yours is not the only one, but the most pressing. I initially fell in love with Sabriel long before I knew it was a trilogy. I have since written a screenplay based on it for a school project. The world of the Abhorsen is so complex and imaginative that I feel like it can spawn a generation of followers via films and mini-series. While I am sure that you are in current discussions and/or negotiations with many people about bringing your many works to life. I wanted to be sure that unlike some authors, that this is done in the most accurate way possible. For example, I love Philip Pullman and my dream of bringing the "His Dark Materials Trilogy" to life is now dead. Alas, all I can do is hope that Mr. Pullman had more than a hand in the adaptation of a very complicated book (The Golden Compass) than other authors have had in theirs. A fine example would be what I consider to be the travesty of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Mrs. Rowling has accomplished what many writers dare to achieve. She started with nothing and ended with a cultural phenomenon. As she wrote, her books became more complex and progressively more stylized and powerful. In essence, she got better as she went along. Unlike her writing, the films have done just the opposite. I may be over exaggerating, but I could have publicly executed David Yates (the director) for the most recent film (Order of the Phoenix). I do not wish for this to happen to any of your films, or to others whom I admire. I feel that as an author you have to be just as fiercely dedicated to your own works of literary art as you were during their initial editing process.
     I am sure that you are well aware of all of this. Then again this is an open forum so I am also writing this for all those who wish to read and respond. So in final words, I wish to say that I pray for your continuing success and hope that like myself your passion for great writing will translate into great films. I look forward to your response (as well as anyone else) and bid you adieu.