Dean Bakopoulos's "My American Unhappiness"

Dean Bakopoulos's is the author of the novel Please Don't Come Back from the Moon, a New York Times Notable Book, and the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is a professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment at Iowa State University, and the former director of both the Wisconsin Book Festival and the Wisconsin Humanities Council.Here he shares some casting suggestions for the leads in an adaptation of his new novel, My American Unhappiness: The most difficult challenge of writing My American Unhappiness was

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Liane Moriarty's "What Alice Forgot"

Liane Moriarty is the author of three novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary and most recently, What Alice Forgot (Amy Einhorn/Putnam). What Alice Forgot is the story of a woman who loses ten years of her memory. She thinks she’s 29, pregnant with her first child and blissfully in love with her husband. In fact, she’s 39, the mother of three children, and she’s in the middle of a bitter divorce. Publishers Weekly described it as "moving, well-paced and thoroughly pleasurable." Book clubs love it because it gives everyone a chance to reflect on how their lives have changed o

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Lee Martin's "Break the Skin"

Lee Martin is the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Bright Forever; a novel, Quakertown; a story collection, The Least You Need to Know; and two memoirs, From Our House and Turning Bones. He has won a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, a Lawrence Foundation Award, and the Glenna Luschei Prize. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he directs the creative writing program at The Ohio State University.Here he shares some suggestions for casting the lead characters in an adaptation of his new novel, Break the Skin:It’s always

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Reavis Z. Wortham's "The Rock Hole"

Reavis Z. Wortham recently retired from 35 years in public education, the past 25 in the Communications Department of the Garland ISD in Texas, and the final 4 as the Director. He is now a full-time freelance writer and novelist. His first book, Doreen’s 24 HR Eat Gas Now Café, was released in 1999.Here he shares some ideas for casting a cinematic adaptation of his new novel, The Rock Hole, the first mystery in The Red River Series:The Rock Hole is set in rural 1964 Lamar County, Texas. A bottomland farming community, the setting is reminiscent of the classic movie, Home From the Hill

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Michele Young-Stone's "The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors"

Michele Young-Stone's debut novel The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors came out last year to wide acclaim and is now available in paperback.Here she shares some ideas for casting a big-screen adaptation of the novel:People always ask: When your book is made into a movie, who do you want to star in it?I have zero illusions—but lots of fantasies!!!!!! My sister used to ask if my niece could be in it as an extra. I guess… Oh, sure! What the hell…At that time, the novel wasn’t even published. But, all that said, here is my wish list:Becca Burke (main character—feisty redhead) Abigai

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Man Martin's "Paradise Dogs"

Man Martin is a writer, teacher, and founding member of the Perambulators living in Atlanta, Georgia. His debut novel, Days of the Endless Corvette, made him Georgia Author of the Year in 2008.Here he shares his picks for the cast of an adaptation of his new novel, Paradise Dogs:Casting a hypothetical film version of Paradise Dogs, what a fun indulgence! But it won’t have any relevance to someone who doesn’t know the plot, so in a nutshell, it’s about Adam Newman, an alcoholic entrepreneur attempting to reunite with his estranged ex-wife, recover a fortune in missing diamonds, and expose a

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Rebecca Makkai's "The Borrower"

Rebecca Makkai’s stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2008, 2009, and 2010, and have appeared in Tin House, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, and on NPR’s Selected Shorts.Here she shares some ideas about writer-director, soundtrack, and cast for an adaptation of her new novel, The Borrower: A small part of me hopes that if The Borrower is ever turned into a movie, Charlie Kaufman will write the script and turn it into a twisted meta-film wherein both he and I are characters getting kidnapped by my protagonist.Failing that, I’d hope for a Little Miss Sunshine ae

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Clare O'Donohue's "Missing Persons"

Clare O'Donohue worked on the HGTV show, Simply Quilts for four seasons, eventually becoming the Supervising Producer, and has written and produced for a lot of other shows as well. In the last twelve years, she worked on shows for The History Channel, truTV, Food Network, A&E, Discovery, TLC, and others.In 2008 she published The Lover’s Knot, the first in the Someday Quilts series, and followed the debut with A Drunkard’s Path and The Double Cross. The Devil’s Puzzle, the fourth novel in the series, arrives in the fall of 2011.Here she shares some suggestions for the lead characters

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Scott Sparling's "Wire to Wire"

Scott Sparling grew up near railroad tracks in Michigan. He now lives outside Portland, Oregon, with his wife and son.Here he shares some insights into adapting his new novel Wire to Wire for the big screen:Okay, I’m stumped. I have no idea who should play the main characters in Wire to Wire.Here’s what I do know:The big railroad ferry that carries freight trains across Lake Michigan – called the Chief Tecumseh in the book – should be played by the ship it is based on, the Arthur K. Atkinson. Unless it’s already been sunk or turned into scrap metal.The song over the credits should be Joe Ely’

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Robert Dugoni's "Murder One"

Robert Dugoni practiced as a civil litigator in San Francisco and Seattle for seventeen years. In 1999 he left the full-time practice of law to write, and is a two-time winner of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a degree in journalism and worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times before obtaining his doctorate of jurisprudence from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.Here he shares some ideas about casting the lead in an adaptation of his new novel, Murder One:I’ve had readers

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Jason Henderson's Alex Van Helsing series

Jason Henderson is from Dallas, Texas, and writes the Alex Van Helsing series. The first Alex Van Helsing book, Vampire Rising, comes out in paperback on July 26th, the same day as the hardback of the second adventure, Voice of the Undead.Here Henderson highlights the main considerations in casting the leads for adaptations of the series.I love the question of “how would you cast a movie?” of the Alex books because—well, this is how I think of these books while I write them. I see a movie in my head.Here’s the first five sentences of Alex Van Helsing: Voice of the Undead:Alex Van Helsing acce

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Diane Janes's "Why Didn't You Come for Me?"

Diane Janes is a full time author, who lives and writes in the English Lake District. Prior to be accepted for publication she was shortlisted twice for the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger and her first novel The Pull of the Moon was a finalist for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2010.Here she shares some ideas for casting a big screen adaptation of her latest novel, Why Didn't You Come for Me?:Why Didn’t You Come For Me? is set mainly in the English Lake District which contains some of Britain’s most beautiful scenery (remember Miss Potter?) so in theory it should be a movi

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Will Allison's "Long Drive Home"

Will Allison's debut novel, What You Have Left, was selected for Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers, Borders Original Voices, and Book Sense Picks, and was named one of 2007's notable books by the San Francisco Chronicle. His short stories have appeared in magazines such as Zoetrope: All-Story, Glimmer Train, and One Story and have received special mention in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Short Stories anthologies. He is the former executive editor of Story.Here he explains his choice for director and star of an adaptation of his new novel, Long Drive Home:I occa

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Adam Mitzner's "A Conflict of Interest"

Adam Mitzner graduated from Brandeis University with a B.A. and M.A. in politics, and from there went directly on to law school at the University of Virginia.After law school, he joined the litigation department of a large New York City law firm, and after a few more stops, is currently the head of the litigation department of Pavia & Harcourt LLP. Pavia & Harcourt recently received some fame because it is the law firm where Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor practiced before she was appointed to the bench.Here he shares some ideas about casting a big screen adaptat

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David Gullette's "Dreaming Nicaragua"

David Gullette is an English professor at Simmons College and the author of two books about revolutionary poetry in Nicaragua.Here he shares some suggestions for casting an adaptation of his new novel, Dreaming Nicaragua:The year is 2000: Jesse Pelletier is a Vietnam Vet who runs a small hotel in a little port on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. He’s 56. It’s been 10 years since he divorced his wife and got on his daughter’s shit-list. But the daughter, Suzy, has decided to come to Nicaragua to visit the old man and see if they can reconcile. Jesse’s love interest is a half-Nicaraguan Cal

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