What Works in Stories for BOOKS vs. MOVIES

Books do some aspects of storytelling better, while movies do other aspects better.

Let’s compare some adaptations of books vs. movies, see what’s different, then write our own adaptation together!

During the last stream, the subscribers voted that we go over what works in stories for books versus movies.

Watch a shortened version of the stream here or scroll down for what we did.

What Works in Stories for Books vs. Movies

Books and movies are both great, but they’re two very different mediums for storytelling, just like how paint and clay are very different mediums for creating art
Some aspects of storytelling work better in books, while others work better in movies; some aspects of storytelling work worse in books, and others work worse in movies
So what exactly DOES work in books vs. movies? Let’s take a look at five aspects of storytelling, and see which does it better

Disclaimer: I’m not saying that the book/movie version of a story is BETTER than another. Rather, I’m saying certain aspects of that story can be CONVEYED better depending on the medium it’s told through. Whichever you prefer is up to you.

#1. Better in movies: taking the viewer’s attention for granted

When someone sits down to watch a movie, unless it’s unbearably bad, they’re probably going to watch all of it
At worst it’s only 1-2 hours long, and they don’t have to work to watch it
But for a book, it could take days to read, and requires much more brain activity to get through it
Because of that, movies can start slower/more confusing, whereas books need to start more quickly/clearly

Example: Gone Girl

Here’s the opening to the film version:

The very beginning is intriguing, but then it shows a bunch of random shots of scenery. That’s perfectly fine for a movie, but impossible in a book
Imagine an opening that described a bridge, a dog barking, an old sign, a Coca Cola ad, an empty intersection… it would be torture to read

Here’s the opening to the book version:

The very beginning is quite similar, but then it gets right to something happening, the main character waking up and talking to us in his voice
It’s not anything special, but it’s something happening to the main character, which is necessary to hold the reader’s attention

#2. Better in books: introspection and voice

When we read a book, we spend the entirety of the story inside a character’s head, having direct access to their thoughts
But when we watch a film, we can only infer what a character is thinking by what they physically do

Example: Game of Thrones

Here’s the introduction of Catelyn in the book version

Catelyn had never liked this godswood. She had been born a Tully, at Riverrun far to the south, on the Red Fork of the Trident. The godswood there was a garden, bright and airy, where tall redwoods spread dappled shadows across tinkling streams, birds sang from hidden nests, and the air was spicy with the scent of flowers.

The gods of Winterfell kept a different sort of wood. It was a dark, primal place, three acres of old forest untouched for ten thousand years as the gloomy castle rose around it. It smelled of moist earth and decay. No redwoods grew here. This was a wood of stubborn sentinel trees armored in grey-green needles, of mighty oaks, of ironwoods as old as the realm itself. Here thick black trunks crowded close together while twisted branches wove a dense canopy overhead and misshapen roots wrestled beneath the soil. This was a place of deep silence and brooding shadows, and the gods who lived here had no names.

We learn so much about her in those two paragraphs, how she’s an outsider, what she thinks of her husband’s home, a sense of forlornness, etc.

Here’s the introduction of Catelyn in the film version:

We still get a sense of her being different from the others, with her “Do you have to?” and shaking her head, and asking Ned not to take their young son to see a beheading
It’s well acted and crafted, but it still can’t hold a candle to the amount of introspection in the book

* When you’re writing a book, take full advantage of the medium and get deep inside the head of your character
* If you just describe things happening, with no introspection, then you’re missing out on one of the big advantages of writing
* Doing that is like trying to make a statue out of paint

#3. Better in movies: lots of action

It’s much easier to process a lot of information happening at once in a movie, since several things can be happening at the same time on the screen
But in a book, we have to read sentence by sentence, so it’s much more difficult to juggle several things happening at once without it becoming confusing

Example: The Hunger Games

Here’s the film version of the start of the tournament

It’s chaotic, kids are killing each other all over, it’s over two minutes of nonstop action

Here’s the book version of the start of the tournament:

It’s only about a paragraph and a half long!
Not only that, but it only describes what Katniss is doing, the other characters are barely mentioned
It’s well written, and feels tense, but it can’t hold a candle to the action in the film version

* When writing action, less is more: stick to describing the main character only, and giving the reader only what they need
* Even though long car chases and fight scenes are fun in films, too much action inside a written story gets tiresome quickly since the reader has to keep track of it all in their own head

#4. Better in books: narration

Sometimes when telling a story, we just want to say cool things
In a book, that’s easy to do: just write it!
But in a film it’s much more difficult. Characters need to outright say things for the audience to hear them.
Monologues and philosophical musings can get tiresome quickly in a film, whereas in a book they can be fun

Example: Call of Cthulhu

Here’s the beginning of the book version

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

Theosophists have guessed at the awesome grandeur of the cosmic cycle wherein our world and human race form transient incidents. They have hinted at strange survivals in terms which would freeze the blood if not masked by a bland optimism. But it is not from them that there came the single glimpse of forbidden aeons which chills me when I think of it and maddens me when I dream of it.

How could you possibly film something like this? You can’t. It all exists in the narrator’s head. It’s abstract words, not anything physical you can touch
Yet it’s beautiful and leaves an emotional impact on readers

Here’s the beginning of a film version

This story has long been thought impossible to adapt to film, and the producers of this 2005 version had to bend a lot of film conventions even to accomplish what they did
It’s a silent film, in black and white, has a more straightforward premise, shows lots of writing, etc.

* Getting crazy with words is a pleasure of writing, embrace it!

#5. Better in movies: lots of physical details

In a film, you can go as crazy as you want with costume and set designs, the crazier and more detailed the better
But in a book, the reader only has so much mental capacity to imagine what you throw at them, so less is more

Example: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Here’s the film version of going to Gringotts for the first time (at 1:43):

Look at how crazy the design of the wizarding bank is: it’s wide, has columns, balconies, half-circle protrusions, etc.
The book has to describe all those things, right?

Here’s the book version of going to Gringotts:

The description of Gringotts is one sentence: “a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops.”
That’s it! We learn that there are “bronze doors” later, but 100 different readers would imagine 100 different versions of it
And that’s fine. When writing, you want to give a balance between too much description and too little; enough for a reader to see something unique, but not so much to overwhelm

* When writing a book, it can be fun to imagine you’re creating a movie set, but try not to get carried away
* You can see everything clearly in your own head because it’s already there, take pity on the reader who has to actually read it

After that, chat voted that we write a story adaptation of this YouTube video:

May god have mercy on our souls.

Here’s what we came up with:

Bouncing into Kitty City, down the endless feline freeway. A ball of fur, and nothing more, the hard asphalt a trampoline. Needing something to get me out of my bubble, a smaller friend, a hairball, whispers unshaven answers.

“A cat-eat-cat world, I warn you with pity. Don’t f*ck with Kitty City.”

It rolls away, beyond the limits. Left alone as always. The horizon calls for another bounce. A scab bursts at the seam, spilling hot mucus congealing the hairs, gurgling a slug to life.

I am born.

I bounce away, a squelch of wet cat food, Kitty City’s pulsating heartbeat resonating with my gooey furball core. Leaving a trail, like a snail, from the city therein, expanding my tail as I flail to prevail in my mission.

The undulating buildings, bobbing as one.
Cat ears on everything! Cheering me on.
I’m not alone as I caterpillar flop.
Only the crosswalk makes me stop.

Engines purring, cat-cars slide down the road
Their faces stretched out untethered toads.
Riding within them, more cats make haste
Meowing horns en route to the rat race.

Surprised, I give a mrowing honk,
As sewer cats sprout up — bluuurp-kadonk.
No, a bouncing kitty-worm won’t work,
I must evolve above street drain splurts!

A rash curdles within my furry flesh sack,
My legs sprout mouths, ready to bite back.
They pound the pavement, spitting even more limbs,
The world is my stepping stone, arachni-cat’s whim!

No city trash, just kitty litter.
Kitty homes, and no cat sitters!
My paws spew fourth then six then
ate. I don’t know where I start and end.

I can go no further, I’ve achieved the peak
Plato’s ideal feline physique.
Before I die I must retch a clone,
Of my former form to grow
alone, a burning glow
sears within like a comet,
I open my mouth and prepare to

paw it down the road again, as a baby cat-slug,
A seed for a cat-tree of what’s to come,
Planted and bursting with fractal suns,
Heads blooming outward, cackled and crikled and

I was one and one was I, kaleidoscope-cats as land and sky, the streets bled cat-car kitty drivers, kitty trains and kitty spires. But! I was a kitty too, and puked a furball now I’m two, and more and more of me were there, my cute cat faces and soft cat hair.

City Kitties, I’m the same! Kitty City, I became!

Little more than kitty soup
A single slug-cat wriggles out like poop,
Amongst a hoop of dead cat loops,
I crawl toward the exit.

The green sign welcomes. The city’s end.
I’m only a hairball, a prancer.
A fresh guest waits to come in themself,
I whisper unshaven answers.

“Recall how you were coughed up, a furball round and true.
A kitty you may hope to be, but the city will eat you.”

Nevertheless, they go inside,
Not heeding my small quip.
No worries though, I’ve learned my lesson:
Never again lacing LSD
With catnip.

Be sure to check out the video for a dramatic reading!

If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.

And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.

Hope to see you next time, friend!

Top images: Pakutaso