The Top 10 Best Movie Novelists
These Movie Novelists Prove Print isn’t Dead, Even on the Big Screen.
For a number of insane individuals around the world (myself included), November is much more than a month to gorge on turkey. It also happens to be National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrMo), in which people race to write a 50K word novel in 30 days. Let me tell you, writing is not as easy as it seems and because of that, I wanted to honor the best movie novelists of all time. This list will acknowledge the characters who know what it means to pour their blood, sweat, and tears into their wordsmithing. This list goes out to those brave few who sat there for untold hours staring at the daunting void of the blank page preparing to birth an entire world onto it. Since this is a list of movie novelists, I’m going to be featuring only fictional writers who have appeared on the big screen and, in order to earn a spot, it has to be established that they are published authors in the movie (bonus points if they’re actively working on their next book). Since we don’t get a chance to read any of their work, I can’t speak to any of these movie novelists’ actual talent, and I’ll mostly be going by the supposed success of their work combined with how memorable the characters are. So, break out your thesaurus and be sure to brush up on your grammar, because this draft of movie novelists needs a fresh set of eyes!
10. Mike Enslin- 1408
Most movie novelists write fiction, which is why I wanted to kick this list off with a non-fiction author whose work I’d actually be interested in reading. Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a paranormal investigator who travels across the country visiting haunted locations in search of credible supernatural occurrences. So far, his search hasn’t yielded any credible cases, but his subsequent books have earned him a living as a professional writer. The downside is that he’s started becoming pretty cynical about finding any evidence of life after death. That doesn’t stop him from taking on the challenge of investigating The Dolphin Hotel and its infamous room 1408. Enslin is actually the brainchild of legendary author Stephen King from the short story of the same name. He also isn’t the only character created by King to appear on this list of movie novelists, which makes sense considering the old saying, “write what you know.”
9. Grady Tripp- Wonder Boys
Of course, Stephen King isn’t the only real-world author who tends to favor protagonists who are writers. Wonder Boys was adapted from the book by Michael Chabon and tells the tale of struggling novelist, Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas). Tripp is a creative writing teacher at a university in Pittsburgh, who is toiling to finish his follow-up book, which is well over two thousand pages already. The truth is that the novel has become an unwieldy behemoth that’s drained his inspiration, but he’s too invested in it to simply give up now. Instead, he procrastinates by indulging in self-destructive distractions such as smoking pot in his free time of having an affair with the school chancellor who is married to his boss in the English Department. Lots of writers in the real world face the same struggle with their work, which is why Grady Tripp deserves a spot on this list of movie novelists.
8. Mavis Gray- Young Adult
It should come as no surprise that most authors are hot messes. So, it makes sense that there are plenty of movie novelists that are walking dumpster fires as well. The one that springs to mind most readily is Mavis Gray (Charlize Theron). Mavis is a ghostwriter for a young adult series of books that she couldn’t care less about, meaning she does all the work and gets none of the credit. However, that doesn’t stop her from putting in the hours to earn that paycheck. One scene that sticks out in particular features Mavis stalking a group of high scholars through Target in order to write down what they’re saying and the expressions they are using. It might not sound like much, but it’s a perfect example of the kind of work that authors have to do on a daily basis to perfect their craft. The rest of her life might be a disaster, but at least Mavis is living the dream as a professional writer.
7. Melvin Udall- As Good As It Gets
The next character on this list of movie novelists is just as messed up as the last. Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is not a nice guy. In fact, he’s a mean old man who hates pretty much everyone and everything. Basically, he’s the kind of guy who sits on his porch all day yelling at kids to “get off my lawn!” This isn’t a list of the most popular movie novelists though, just the best, and Melvin is a very popular writer. He’s best known for “how well he writes women” even though his secret is pretty offensive (he claims that he “thinks of a man and takes away reason and accountability”). Luckily for Melvin, his days of success came before twitter and he never became a victim of cancel culture for his insensitive remarks. To be fair, he does eventually decide to put in the work to become less of an obtuse jerk. Either way, Melvin Udell is a prime example of why you should never meet your heroes.
6. Joan Wilder- Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile
People can stick up their noses all they want, but there’s money to be made in trashy airport romance paperbacks. That just so happens to be the specialty of the next character on this list of movie novelists. Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is a writer living in New York who dreams of going on a great adventure one day. In the meantime, she lives vicariously through her own characters who go off on globe-trotting adventures and always manage to find a ruggedly handsome man to fall in love with along the way. When Joan does get a chance at an adventure of her own in South America, she learns the hard way that life is seldom as kind as fiction. However, she also finds it to be much more rewarding in the end. So, why does she earn a spot on here? Because when she finds herself in a small village in the middle of nowhere, she’s rescued by fans of her books. How many other movie novelists can claim the same?