Sunday, January 29, 2012

Car chases and writing

I was taking a break from writing and was watching shows on Netflix. I'm a fan of comedian Eddie Izzard. I watched his show "Unrepeatable" and he brought up a topic that I thought was interesting. Why are there no car chases in books?

In all the action movies we sit on the edge of our seats as cars go tearing around cities, through deserts or off road with good guys after bad guys or some combination of the two. There are plenty of books with a lot of action, but you never read a good car chase scene. Well, at least I haven't. If any of you have read something with a great car chase written in, I'd love to know about it.

It makes you think about what other elements are so important in movies that aren't given the same weight in a book. Especially with the trend of so many books becoming movies, is it any wonder that the fans of the book are often disappointed because the movie changes what we love so much.

I think the biggest difference is that movies have to do a lot of our thinking for us. A book can say a man walks into the room. Immediately as readers we can imagine what kind of man we think has arrived. In a movie, they have to pick out that man and when he walks into the room we aren't allowed to imagine what kind of man he is because we can see who he is.

Reading will always be my favorite getaway, but I do enjoy movies for the entertainment value. The two seem to go together so often, but it is amazing just how different they are. I'm glad that I can enjoy both and even more glad that my writing creates my very own movies in my mind. I've always told everyone that I am easily entertained. I think because I often entertain myself.

4 comments:

  1. Hi, Bridget. Hmm? I want to say that I have read something with a car chase, but can't quite recall what it might have been. I promise not to call at 3:00 am when I think of it. ;)
    Can you imagine trying to stage a car chase in a book? It was bad enough the one big fight scene that I did in my debut novel. *wipes forehead*

    -Jimmy

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  2. I know exactly what you mean. It would be tough I think. I also don't think it would be quite as exciting in print.

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  3. I love Eddie Izzard, he's hilarious! I've never thought about there being no car chases in books, but I suppose it makes sense, because it would be really hard to describe the chase and keep the reader entertained.

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    1. He is fantastic! I agree that car chases would be tough to build suspense with in books. It just is something to make you wonder. Everything can make you think.

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