Monday, June 10, 2013

A Perfect Day for a book into a Film Script

Rain has pelted our area since early morning.  Instead of going to my Writer's Group I am sitting at my desk, staring at the waterlogged trees which are bowing their branches since they are too full of moisture to stand erect. My dogs have decided that it is a great day to sleep, and for once, they are not begging to go on a five mile hike.  I do feel guilty about not going to the Group, but I think I will have a more productive day writing here at home than listening to those authors brave enough to venture out in this damp, dank, dull day (I love alliteration).

Changing a book into a movie script has been a revelation.  Now I know why the book is usually better than the film.  Dialogue is all important and metaphors, alliteration, and symbols are employed  in a visual manner which is up to the director, cinematographer and actors to interpret..  When an author writes a book, he or she has full control of the media,  The creative process is limited to the author and his or her readers  which still allows for considerable variations in communication.   In fact, when I gave the last presentation of my book I asked the group what they thought the theme of the novel was, and I received 7 different answers, none of which was the one I had selected.  All of the 7, however, were equally valid.  But the communication was still between the readers and me.  So many different variables are involved in film.  For instance,  I read somewhere that Casablanca was originally going to star Ronald Reagan and Ann Baxter, and Shirley Temple and  WC. Fields were goiing to play Dorothy and the Wfacebook.com, twitter.comizard in The Wizard of Oz. If these actors had appeared in these films the movies would have been quite different, even though the scripts would be the same.  Thank goodness,  The Great Gatsby will always be the same book no matter who plays the various roles.

So have a good day everyone while I try to change my novel into a film script.  At least, until it stops raining and the dogs (who really are my muses) want to go for a walk in the rain forest.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

A synopsis of my novel The Conspiracies of Dreams

My new book is about Chrisitians, Jews, Muslims, and Canaanites who all share an ancient dream of possessing the land that lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea which they hold sacred. In 1956 an Egyptian spy, Ishmael al Mohammed, is determined to gain information which will reclaim the infant state of Israel for the displaced Palestinian Arabs. While on an espionage mission posing as an Israeli, he falls passionately in love with a Jewish woman, Rebecca Silverman. He must decide if he will betray the only person he will ever care for or be true to Islam, Egypt, and his family. A Christian, Danny O’Halloran, dreams of walking the Stations of the Cross while the pagan donkey goddess Palés dreams of being worshipped again by the original natives of Canaan. Israeli politicians dream of making Israel a nuclear power while Britain and France conspire to regain the Suez Canal, which the President of Egypt nationalized. Against the backdrop of circumstances leading to the 1956 Suez War between Israel and Egypt a love story which encompasses the forbidden romance of Romeo and Juliet, Delilah’s betrayal of Samson, and the treachery of Britain’s MI6 double agents unfolds as Ishmael and Rebecca’s story spans three millennia of history. Title: The Conspiracies of Dreams Author: Sandra Biber Didner ISBN: 978-1-59299-784-8 Publisher: Inkwater Press Price: $12.95 paperback from www.amazon.com Digital versions are $5.99 at www.amazon.com, www.barnes&noble.com, and at the Apple store for the IPAD.