Video Games, Movies, and Novels: You Can't Tell Stories The Same Way

Stories are stories are stories. Good prevails. Evil falls. Telling your kids 'Cinderella' and seeing the Disney movie and playing a game where you do puzzles to determine how much food to cook for the dwarves are not the same thing. Put this way, it seems obvious, but it's not.

I've often read, on the blog Murderati among other places, that you can use a movie or play's three-act structure to think about plotting novels. Yes, maybe you can. And you can likely see that same three-act structure in books, two. Act one: set-up. Act two: difficulties upon difficulties. Act three: Everything-on-the-line success-or-failure and denouement.

But how many times have we adored a book, gone to theaters, and walked out in a huff? How many times have we turned to someone and said 'The book's better' and had them believe it? How many people trust novelized movie adaptations, with 'based on the movie' on the cover? I sure don't. And, to compare and be fair: I enjoy the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies. The books put me to sleep.

This is for one very simple reason: these mediums have very different ways of interacting with the reader/viewer/player, and cannot be treated the same way.

The Hunger Games, book one/movie one, came out in theaters/DVD recently this year. The book was told entirely in first person, and included the heroine's paranoia about numerous events, her gradual working-out of different points, and her fears. The movie cannot see into her head, and had it tried, the effect would have fallen flat. Instead, the movie took advantage of the fact that the premise revolves around the games being televised, and-- in vital moments-- cued in commentators, sports-match style. It cut to a scene of people watching, shouting at the screen. If they'd tried to put those moments in the book, they would have fallen through, but they worked. Fans will vary on if the movie truly measure up, but I enjoyed them both.

The book-to-movie and movie-to-book controversy has a counterpart: I've never found a book-to-video game or movie-to-video game I've enjoyed. I think gamers have more caution, actually, because these knock-off games tend to be significantly worse than similar games that are not based on other media. And that has to do largely with the way these mediums are set up, and how they interact.

Let's look at plot, just to begin with. We'll give a very basic story premise: Mike's little sister Lucy goes missing, and his family recieves an ominous note saying they can have her if they find her. Mike learns Lucy is being held at the abandoned house on the edge of town, and sets off to rescue her alone.

You can have that plot in a movie, book, or game. Let's settle a few other things: Mike is 15, Lucy 7. Mike gets in a lot of trouble trying to invent things, fixed his family's car and toaster at least three times, and buys Lucy ice-cream every time he aces a test. Lucy hates dresses, loves playing baseball and hopscotch, and often helps her big brother with his projects. You can put any of these things in movies, games, or books.

But how would those books, movies, and games start?

Tell you what. Next week, instead of a blog entry, I'll post three openings to that story. One novel, one movie, one game. And when I do, I hope you'll tell me how you would react to the three examples.

Happy Writing,

-Alaina