Every now and then I come across a book that's so good my initial reaction is "Wow, this is one of the best books I've ever read. I wish I had written it!" Isn't that frustrating? The worst is when you encounter something so good you inevitably feel the need to do your own variation of it... and more often then not, the imitation is weaker then the original!
I can think of a few books I wish I had written. "American Psycho" would probably be at the top of the list, some of Lovecraft's stuff, Dennis Cooper, Eco, and so forth. My latest obsession is "Battle Royale". First I read the book. Then I saw the movie. Then I read the manga (which I'm halfway through now and am starting to think is better then both the book & film). But oh man, when I first read that book, I was just in total heaven. It just had such a great premise, you know? Going into the book, I had no idea which student would win the Program... it starts off with these two lists, and any name on that list had potential. I imagine it must have been fun for the author to write: The thrill of designing an island, populating it with students, giving them random weapons, and then setting them loose on each other. And as I was reading it I kept thinking about how I would have written it... like, what would I have changed? For starters, I thought there were too many guns, and some variety in the weapons would have been nice... I would have liked to see some chainsaws and katanas, for starters! Anyway, ever since I've read the book I've just had this huge obsession with doing my own version of "Battle Royale", but I guess it's not just me as the friend who introduced me to the series also felt the same desire, and he even linked me to this site where some other guy had written out this gigantic American version of the book, this massive slab of fan fiction. So maybe there's just something about "Battle Royale"'s premise that inspires a lot of other people. The only detrimental effect the book has had on me is, I've gotten zero work done on any new books recently because everytime I start something it ends up as a "Battle Royale" rip-off! very frustrating.
What are some of the books you've read that you wish you had written, or that have obsessed you to some bizarre degree? And, for the writers here, books you appreciated so much you felt a strong desire to "do your own version" (kind of like how when Quentin Tarantino sees a scene he likes in another film he often incorporates it shamelessly into his own movies)? |
