When Movies Influence Writing

Flora and the Zephyrs

Remember in Sleepless in Seattle where they're watching An Affair to Remember? Art imitating art. And it isn't always movies imitating movies. While I was researching HEART FOR RENT, WITH AN OPTION, my art-loving character was inspired by a painting (Flora and the Zephyrs) I stumbled across. But I digress.

I was talking with a friend who'd recently started reading my books. As she put it, she "finally has time to read." She reminded me of a scene I wrote inspired by Breakfast at Tiffanys. "Cat!" (THE MIRROR).

I wrote a séance into EPITAPH, which prompted me to go back and find an old, old, made-for-tv movie I'd loved when I was a kid - The House That Would Not Die. That movie, incidentally, is how I found Barbara Michaels' books (Ammie, Come Home). She would later become one of my inspirations, that very subtle ghostly touch. 

While I was writing THE SCULPTOR, I thought about Wuthering Heights, which I recently re-read. In retrospect, Heathcliff might not have been a good model for a hero, although it was the romantic tragedy that the heroine projected onto him. 

And my Christmas book? WHILE WE WERE SHOPPING? Think every Hallmark movie - although there was one in particular where the plot was about a writer who was tasked with writing a "Hallmark" book and given plot points he had to incorporate... I don't remember the title, because... well, if you've watched more than one Hallmark movie, you'll understand. 

The reason for the post today is that I am again drawing inspiration from a movie for a book. Keep in mind I pick and choose a particular scene from the movie that inspires me. For my current work in progress (a new installment in the Hoffman Grove series), I have a heroine who originally wanted to show a former fiancé who she was "today," years after they'd broken up. The movie that came to mind? French Kiss. The scene was when she wore that little blue dress (which looked fabulous on her) and tells him, essentially, "the new me doesn't want the old you." (You go, girl!)

Oftentimes, you'll hear authors talk about how writing a book is transcribing the movie playing in their head. And sometimes, our movie is inspired by the other movies that have impacted us in one way or another. 

What movies stick with you? And why?