No, You Can't Do This On TV

Blazing Reader:

In my interview on Just Right this week, Bob Metz commented how he thought Much Ado About Corona would make an excellent movie or TV series. Despite the fact I only saw one movie last year and zero TV shows, I would love to see this happen. Partly for the unique artistic expression "moving pictures" offer — but also to reach even more (possibly illiterate) people.

Nonetheless, I do not think screenplays are a superior story-telling medium when compared to novels. While they certainly have their (expensive) advantages, there are just some things you can't do on TV, or even in the movies.

Case in point, I just finished reading Shift by Hugh Howey — a post-apocalyptic tale of survivors living beneath the surface of the earth. Here's an example — of a character pretending he's deceased in a body bag — that could not be depicted on the small or big screen:

"As the steps passed, the journey grew more and more uncomfortable. It wasn't the difficulty breathing, for he had been shadowed well to manage his lungs on a long climb. He could also handle the stuffiness from the plastic pressed against his face. Nor was it the dark, for his favourite hour for porting had always been the dim-time, time alone with his thoughts while others slept. It wasn't the stench of plastic and smoke, the tickle in his throat, or the pain of the straps. It was the act of lying still. Of being carried. Of being a burden."

The humble novel provides an inner experience that even a billion dollar CGI budget can't begin to mimic. 

Stay sane & keep reading,
John C. A. Manley

PS For more about my recent appearance on the Just Right show — where I was interviewed alongside Ray Bradbury, Ayn Rand, George Orwell and Richard Castle — check out Thursday's post.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/