Why is the book always better than the movie, the TV show spinoff, the video game, or any other subsequent media content? Some say it’s because a book can pursue multitude of plot scenarios, or that it can dive deeper into character and scene descriptions. Perhaps it’s simpler than that.
A book is a single story idea from the author. It’s where it all starts. So why is it that most authors aren’t involved in the development of other media around that story? They don’t write the screenplay (nor do they usually have anything to do with the movie after the rights are purchased). They usually aren’t hired by production studios to help implement other media elements like video games or comic book story lines.
A problem arises when production company takes the story into another medium, and doesn’t really know the original idea. The original idea is where the heart of the story is. It’s where the magic comes from. So when people say, “the movie was ok, but the book was much better,” what they’re saying is that the book story resonates with me, this other stuff doesn’t. It might be fun, or entertaining, but it’s missing that core, that essence of a good story. The author, if asked, could help provide that core to ALL the mediums.
Just like if you photo copy an image a dozen times, the picture gets more and more deluded. The further away you get from the original concept, the less people resonate with that particular story.
In the digital age, people are constantly distracted. They’re more shallow and lazy in their entertainment choices. Yet, they know (or at least sense) when they encounter a good story. This is the reason why the movie and TV business churns out so much crap. We need more story. We need the author to help inject that magic into the story world, no matter what medium it expands to.