Once upon a time, books were books, only books. Then along came the motion picture, and books – for so long the foundation of culture – were the obvious source of inspiration for films. Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, Rip van Winkle, The Assommoir, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Oliver Twist, From The Earth To The Moon, Alice in Wonderland – by 1910 authors’ works were forming the basis for many stories played out on the big screen.Since then, some of the most popular, most well-remembered and most critically acclaimed movies have been book adaptations:

• Gone With the Wind
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Forrest Gump
• The Color Purple
• Out of Africa
• The Great Gatsby
• Harry Potter
• Water for Elephants
• The Time Traveller’s Wife

… I could go on, and on; there are so many!

More than one hundred years on from the first book adaptations and culture is revolutionarily different. Books and movies are so closely related that the unwitting audience can be forgiven for wondering which came first in the creative process. This year alone a host of new movie releases are adaptations of books, from The Fault in Our Stars and Mockingjay to Gone Girl and Where Rainbows End. How delighted the authors of these books-made-into-films must be, for this has become the very pinnacle of a book’s success: a movie of a book, after all, guarantees a big push in book sales.

I wonder, in today’s world of writing and publishing, how many authors write with the big screen in mind? I don’t necessarily mean that an author deliberately writes with the intention of their book being made into a film (although prolific romance novelist Nicholas Sparks, whose books are frequently bought by Hollywood, has admitted in interviews that he thinks ‘film’ as he writes fiction).  But in a world that is full of movies – on televisions, on computers, on phones; even on billboards these days – are we programmed to think of our stories on a screen?

I think we are. When I write, I see the story playing out in my mind – I feel I am describing what my inner eye sees. I deliberately do so, because to imagine the narrative as a film forces me to consider:

• The setting – what does it look like? What are the colours? Are the leaves on the trees dancing in the breeze? Is the reflection of the sun on the water dazzling the main character?
• The atmosphere – relaxed and serene, passionate and exciting, loaded and tense?
• The connection between characters – how do they relate to each other? Are they looking at each other? How far apart are their bodies?
• The rhythm – just like a film, are there times of quiet, and times of drama? Is the story building to a compelling climax?

Of course, the style and genre of the ‘mind movie’ matters. Reviewers of my books have talked of the ‘epic’ feel to them, and one newspaper called Burning Embers ‘romance like Hollywood used to make’. What’s coming through is my love for high romance, as played out in classic cinema.

I can dream of movies made of my books, but in a sense, that’s already a reality for me. My characters live and breathe beyond the pages of the book – I’ve watched their story unfold; I’ve written what I’ve seen.