We’ve all heard it before: “I read the book. I saw the movie. The book was better.” In this insightful piece, crime fiction author Steve Rush explores why novels—especially those grounded in real-world detail—continue to outshine their Hollywood counterparts. From believability to bullet trajectories, it’s the facts that make the fiction unforgettable.
The Book Was Better
Steve Rush
Producers, directors, and actors deliver sight and sound in movies and television shows not available in novels no matter how well we write them. They invite us into a world filled with on-screen action and special effects accompanied by emotion-evoked soundtracks. The use lighting, camera angles, and other attention-drawing behavior for dramatic effect.
Many theatrical releases and made-for-television movies and series are based on novels. Yet, we hear comments from readers who opine, “I read the book. I saw the movie. The book was better.”
Why are some novels considered better? Novels (especially crime fiction, suspense, and thrillers) rank higher based on their sense of authenticity and credibility. Think about it. How many cinematic portrayals of inciting incidents, crime scenes, and law enforcement responses and actions included parts believed improbable and unlikely compared to the real-world?
Hooray for writers who research, show, and offer thought-provoking and emotion-evoked effects in their short stories, novellas, and novels. Readers prefer to lose themselves in the worlds created by authors who produce works filled with authenticity and credibility.
I have read books on craft written by successful writers and have taken online classes to improve my works in progress. Those most helpful to me are: Story Trumps Structure, Steven James; On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King; How to Write Best Selling Fiction, Dean Koontz; Plot and Structure, James Scott Bell; and On Writing Well, William Zinsser.
Craft alone proves not enough. Readers know if and when we fail to include the correct facts in our stories. Along with craft, we strive for authenticity, believability, and credibility to keep readers turning pages. Accuracy in our prose reflects credibility and enhances belief. Facts support our efforts. Facts paint the images we want readers to see as if everything happens in their presence. In crime fiction, suspense, and thrillers, we show readers how to kill. We show them how to collect evidence, how to investigate deaths, and how to put together a case for prosecution. Each endeavor must embrace appropriate facts. Facts validate scenes.
Details in fiction reflect real-world situations. Unbelievable instances in life frequently prove to be true, although many come as a surprise. When readers see events as too easy and convenient, skepticism turns focus away from the story. Like Jack Webb’s character Joe Friday in the TV series Dragnet, “All we want are the facts.”
The facts in our stories must relate to reality if we want readers to keep turning pages. Here are a few examples:
Will a bullet or shotgun blast knock a two-hundred-pound person off of their feet?
Are gunshot exit wounds always larger than entrance wounds?
Does the number of stab or slash injuries offer clues to the assailant’s identity?
Was the brain injury caused by a fall or a blow to the head?
Will vehicles explode in a crash?
How might you determine if a body discovered in a burned building was alive or dead at the time the fire started?
The circumstances and facts offer answers. Further investigation becomes necessary to answer and either prove or disprove each scenario. All the above questions and more are answered in Kill Your Characters, Crime Scene Tips for Writers published by Genius Books.
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