Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Summer and Movies…and of course, Books!

Over at my Sourcebooks Casablanca blog, we have themes for every month, and I thought I’d share my post on summer for those of you who follow me on this blog:

When I heard that our theme for this month was summer, I had to smile. In other parts of the world, summer may be a time of family cookouts and camping and vacations. Winter is often the time to stay snugly indoors out of the snow and rain. In Arizona, winters are the best time of the year, where the temperatures are in the 70’s and everyone is out and about. But in the summer, where we hit temperatures of 120 plus degrees, it’s time for us desert-dwellers to stay inside. In the air-conditioning.

The good thing is, we have large malls, movie theaters, and lots of water attractions. Since my skin is so pale, I have a tendency to avoid the water parks, so for me, summer is all about movies. (And shopping, but that’s a given.)

I love the theater, the smell of popcorn, the drama of the big screen, the communion of a group of strangers sighing and laughing and crying over the same thing. And within the past few years, there are so many more movies that appeal to me. I have always been an avid science fiction/fantasy reader and the influx of so many more movies in this genre is a dream come true. From STAR WARS to MEN IN BLACK to LORD OF THE RINGS, I love them all. I’m grateful for the new technology that makes the production of these movies possible.

But as much as I love a good movie, I have to add that I will always prefer a good book.

Maybe it’s the imagination. When I’m reading, I use my imagination to picture the world and it’s characters. And my imagination is always better than reality, no matter how gorgeous the actors, no matter how fabulous our new technology can make dreams become real. (Although I have to admit, AVATAR came so very close!)

I just finished up some posts for my upcoming blog tour and in an interview I was asked that if my upcoming release, THE FIRE LORDS LOVER, was turned into a movie, which actor would play one of my heroes. Since Orlando Bloom (as Legolas in LORD OF THE RINGS) inspired my elven lords series, I chose him…but not as one of the elven lords themselves. For my heroes in THE ELVEN LORDS series are all half-breeds, humans with a mix of elven blood. And Orlando Bloom’s beauty is at least human. I think the elven lords themselves have become so beautiful in my mind that no real person could actually portray them.

My imagination will always be better than the reality. I wonder if that’s just a curse of the writer, or if all readers feel that way?

2 comments:

  1. I have to agree. I don't usually like the actors movie studios pick to represent characters I've read and imagined. Sometimes I just have to say, "Did you read the book at all? How could you pick_______ for that role?" It ruins the whole movie for me. Luckily, I can just open the book, read, and imagine! :)

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  2. Whew! Good to know I'm not the only one. :} Thanks for the fun comment!

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