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Novelizations narrate—and sometimes expand on—TV episodes and movies, and most fall under the horror and SFF umbrella. Nowadays, they’re usually based on family-friendly TV series and films and written at middle grade and young adult reading levels. Novelizations are not scripts, although they often contain lots of verbatim dialogue from the scripts. Some are ghostwritten or written under a pseudonym, while others are by the stories’ original directors and screenwriters.
Since childhood, I’ve read novelizations for the same reasons I rewatch the movies or shows they’re based on. It’s relaxing to spend more time with familiar settings, themes, and characters—and less time following the plot. It’s a great way out of a reading slump.
Some readers think novelizations aren’t published anymore, or that they don’t “count” as real books. Like fellow Book Rioter Rey Rowland, I think both of those assumptions are false. New novelizations are still being published, though they were much more popular before fans could rewatch movies and TV shows on home media. Before VHS tapes were widely available, novelizations were souvenirs of films that audiences might never have a chance to watch again.
All Access members, read on for more about the rise and fall of TV and movie novelizations.
This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.For more novelizations and tie-in novels, try these books from the Whoniverse (Doctor Who universe) and these middle grade and YA comics novelizations.
And be sure to also check out Rey Rowland’s Are Novelizations Worth Reading? and Kelly Jensen’s The Movie Novelizations You’ve Forgotten About.
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