Talking about the novelization of Snakes on a Plane earlier today got me thinking about what an odd experience it must have been to write such a thing. The author of the novelization, Chrisa Faust, has done a number of other novelizations as well as a good deal of her own work AND has agreed to answer a few questions.
What should I ask her?
Will there be an audiobook version as read by Sam Jackson?
What was it like working with Samuel L. Jackson? Or his character, whatever.
Who did the special effects for the book?
How long do you think it will take for Snakes on a Plane to become a standard part of the English Lit curriculum at every major Ivy League university? Six months or so?
You’re matching Tom Clancy drink for drink. Who passes out first?
-Could you, would you, on a plane?
-What are the chances of your “Snakes on a Plane” novel being adapted into a major motion picture?
-Was it your goal going in to create a novel so awesome that it made the books of Charles Dickens look like the books of Charles Barkley - or did it just happen naturaly?
Does every copy come with a viper randomly secreted between two of the pages, which when the reader reaches it will leap out and bite them in the face?
Have you built a shelf for your Pulitzer Prize yet?
Those are all very silly questions. We have a chance to ask questions to a verbal artist and you want to ask joke questions? For shame.
My question is: Are you hot?
Have you seen my remote I can’t find it anywhere!!!!
How many times did you have to see the film inorder to successfuly novelize it?
Is novelize a word?
How many times do the words “snake” and “plane” (or their pluralised forms) appear in the book?
What liberties did you take adapting the film to text?
A lot of writers borrow elements from their own life experiences when writing. Have you had any life experiences in which you have had to deal with snakes on a plane?
I wonder if MemyselfandI was talking about MY blog, or Christa’s?
Check this out:
http://ws.cdyne.com/notifyws/phonenotify.asmx
http://ws.cdyne.com/notifyws/phonenotify.asmx?op=NotifyPhoneEnglishBasic
Enter any number in and a computer calls it with SNAKE MESSAGES!!!
How did you prepare for the daunting task of putting this drama into words? For instance, did you learn snake-handling, or did you learn how to fly a plane, or did you release hundreds of deadly poisonous snakes onto an airliner above the Pacific Ocean?
Were you given a free creative hand in creating the novelization? For instance, were you given the leeway to add scenes not featured in the screenplay, or to take liberties with your characterization of pivotal characters such as Neville Flynn, iPod Girl, Man in Suit, and Reticulated Python?
What is the tone of the book? Is it tongue-in-cheek about its unlikely premise? Or does it simply attempt a straight-ahead treatment of the plot?
Do you expect this work to garner you a Pulitzer Prize?
Do you think you would save the rainforests (and therefore the innocent slandered snakes) if you used tiny tiny print and only had books of 1 page each?
Also, with the new gas crisis, would it have been better if the snakes carpooled?
Stiknstein sez…..
The people who come to this site are Awesome.
sick, but Awesome.
What was is like to have to add background stories and character to some of these characters?
How close is the book to movie?
Where did you get the ideas for some of the background on characters? Like Sander’s and his Shelia story?
How much research did you have to do before writing the book? Such as snake research and aviation research?
[...] Last week I asked you for questions that I could pose to Christa Faust, author of the Snakes on a Plane novelization. Today I received our answers… and they’re good. First off, to give you an idea of who we’re talking to, this is Christa Faust: [...]
I’d like to know what her initial reaction was when New Line approached her to do the novelization. Also, I’d like to know about how much profanity is actually in the book, knowing that the odds of my reading it are directly proportional to the number of times that the word “motherfucker” or some variant thereof is used.