They are much richer because of the characterizations, and they didn't have to be. " `The Terminator' and `Aliens' could have been standard monster movies, but they're not. He had read some of my short stories in Omni (magazine) from '79 and '80 and said he thought my strength was in the characterizations, which is what he was looking for. "The reason he wanted me had nothing to do with my more recent work. But Jim is a reader and he wanted the novelization to be done right. "As Jim tells it, he tried to get me for `The Terminator' and `Aliens,' but the studio wanted someone who had already done novelizations. But for somebody who's been around awhile, like me, it's not very much. The money isn't big, usually between $5,000 and $10,000, which, for someone just starting out, yes, it's a lot. "As a general rule the only writers who do them are writers who have done them before - like Alan Dean Foster, who just does a lot of them. They are done before the filming even takes place and the writer works straight from the screenplay. "Most novelizations are terrible," Card said, "but part of that is not the writer's fault. That was the kind of assurance Card was looking for, indicating this would not be an ordinary screenplay adapted to novel form. "The real thing that made the difference, however, was the name Jim Cameron."Ĭard said he was not only familiar with Cameron's work, but he considers Cameron one of only two really good science fiction filmmakers - the other being John Boorman ("Zardoz").Ĭameron made his name as writer-director of two very well-respected science fiction films - "The Terminator" and "Aliens." And he offered accessibility to "The Abyss" as it was being shot, which is unheard of. The royalties for a novelization are small because they are split with the screenwriter and the studio and everything else, so overall it would mean less money for me. "But they named a figure that showed they were willing to meet my price, an advance that said the publisher would value me. "You look like a hack who'll do anything for a buck.
"There's a danger in doing a novelization," Card explained. Orson Scott Card's "The Abyss," the novel, has been on the stands for more than a month. James Cameron's "The Abyss," the movie, opens in theaters Wednesday. "I told her, `You know I don't do that.' I had never been approached about one before, but we both knew I'd never do one."But he did. "My agent was approached, and she gave me a call," Card, a former Utahn, said in a telephone interview.
When award-winning science fiction writer Orson Scott Card was offered the job of writing a novel based on a new science fiction movie, he didn't just balk - he turned up his nose.
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