Fiction to Features / January 2024
Fiction to Features / January 2024
The first issue of 2024! Featuring a robotic spider, disturbing videos of a horror icon, and an engineer's love story
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Although we’re over a month into 2024 already, I’m still going to share that sentiment since this is the first issue of the year…so hopefully it’s not too belated. I hope everyone had restful holidays and has been sticking to their new year’s resolutions so far. I spent my holidays and much of my new year watching the Oscar nominations, many of which are adaptations! AMERICAN FICTION and SOCIETY OF THE SNOW were some of my favorite adaptations of 2023.
I also spent the past month reading amazing short stories, many of which are included in this newsletter below. A special thank you to the lovely returning author P.A. Cornell for sending me another fantastic story of hers, which has such strong feature potential. As always, the rights are available to all of these stories. Please reach out at fictiontofeatures@gmail.com if you would like to inquire further.
Happy reading!
THIS MONTH’S READS:
“Spider the Artist” by Nnedi Okorafor, found in Lightspeed Magazine
Logline: Set in a dystopian Nigeria where oil is guarded by destructive robots called "Zombies," an abused wife finds companionship when she begins playing music with a Zombie she calls Spider the Artist.
Why it would work as a feature: A beautiful story about finding friendship in the most unlikely of places, “Spider the Artist” is oozing with feature potential. The plot points here lend themselves well to three-act structure, and the end in particular stands out. Eme being the last survivor of the apocalypse in her community because she befriended Spider and was finally pregnant with a baby after struggling with infertility for so long! Unbelievably beautiful. The destruction of the pipeline could also work well as a climax and raises the stakes. We have good internal motivation here for Eme to escape her life; her abusive husband and her desire to teach music in a school push her to embark on something new. FINCH could be a good comp for this with the robot companionship. The political commentary on big oil and colonialism could also suit a feature well and make it feel unique. The best science fiction says something about the state of our world and the philosophy of being a human, and “Spider the Artist” is no exception.
“The Body Remembers” by P.A. Cornell, found on Pseudo Pod
Logline: A soldier is forced to deal with the phantom pain and trauma of a new medical technology that regenerates body parts, even if they have been virtually destroyed in battle.
Why it would work as a feature: As mentioned earlier, P.A. has appeared on Fiction to Features previously with her beautiful story “Once Upon a Time at the Oakmont,” featured in my November issue. I loved that story dearly, so I’m excited to share this piece of hers with you all as well. Haunting, gripping, and the body horror description, specifically, transported me to this world. Tonally similar to the BLACK MIRROR episode “Men Against Fire.” I especially adored the commentary on trauma and the intersection of physical and emotional pain. The use of the same first and last line of the piece also highlighted the cyclical nature of trauma in a powerful way. We could take the plot in different directions in an adaptation. Since we find out that all the soldiers have their tours constantly renewed until they die, it could be helpful to see Orlovschi create his own mission to put these to an end. Or, perhaps we see ways in which he must win the war against his enemy. I also particularly loved Orlovschi’s voice as our narrator — hardened, with an underlying bite of dark humor that could serve well for a feature film’s dialogue. Thank you to P.A. for sending me this wonderful story!
“Inkmorphia” by Julianna Baggott, found in Nightmare Magazine
Logline: After getting a tattoo to memorialize her missing brother, a young woman begins to process her grief and his disappearance when the tattoo begins to change and move to different parts of her body.
Why it would work as a feature: I love the way the tattoo acts as a metaphor for the cyclical nature of grief. Really strong and provides an interesting visual. I’d love to see this as a feature adaptation where we jump between the past storyline and the present to piece together what happened to Luke. This could be more commercial horror, or have a more eerie and philosophical tone depending on the filmmaker at the helm. The love story between Delia and our narrator was also impactful, as it helped our narrator come to terms with her own sorrow from missing Luke. The twist at the end would serve well in a feature, especially if we’re jumping between two storylines as we could piece everything together perhaps even before our main characters do.
“Doppelgänger” by Rhian Sasseen, found in 3:AM Magazine
Logline: An actress on a hit procedural leads a relatively normal life for someone in her position — she works, posts Instagram ads, and reunites with an old lover after many years…but she soon encounters her doppelgänger.
Why it would work as a feature: I loved the structure of this story — I initially read it from beginning to end, then reread it by reading each section in numerical order. It really changes your perception of everything! Oh how this brings me back to that era in high school when I watched Denis Villeneuve’s ENEMY then watched copious video essays on YouTube dissecting it. I especially would love to see a feature adaptation where the doppelgänger could somehow be added into our protagonist’s Instagram ads — could her account have ads she now swears she never posted? Her husband educating her about the definition of a doppelgänger and how it could lead to her death could provide a great inciting incident / moment of foreshadowing. A psychological thriller with discussions about aging and nostalgia that I really enjoyed. (Also…true Fiction to Features fans will recall Rhian Sasseen’s wonderful story “Stupid Girls” from my first issue ever. Such a treat to read her writing again!)
“Shouting Is At Least Talking” by Sumil Thakrar, found in American Short Fiction
Logline: After breaking up with her boyfriend of six years, a woman is invited on a spa trip by her friend who has fallen into the trap of multi-level marketing.
Why it would work as a feature: The tone throughout this story was what won me over. I loved our narrator’s voice and how she perceives the world. She acknowledges the quality of her combination skin and sees the world’s perception of her through that lens and reflects on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend with a sharp insight. Small lines truly paint a portrait of her: “I stood very still as she examined me. The shame was exhilarating.” I also think it’s fun to dive into an MLM scheme as revealed at the end of the story. Could our narrator fall into an MLM scheme like Alice and we see what this world becomes? Could she fall into a trap due to an insecurity with her skin, which somehow ties into why she and Ian broke up? This is a strong setup — very open as to where it could possibly go as a feature. Could see something tonally similar to INGRID GOES WEST.
“There Are Only Two Chairs, and the Skin Is Draped Over the Other” by Alexia Antoniou, found in Bourbon Penn
Logline: While playing by their backyard stream one day, two young girls come across a dead body and begin to play games with it.
Why it would work as a feature: This story feels like a mix of STAND BY ME and IT if either focused on the oddities of girlhood. Suffice it to say, I adored it! The writing style was distinctly unique and paints a portrait of this world that could suit a strong and intimate filmmaker, with the opening lines illustrating to us that the stream smells like hard-boiled eggs. There is a sense of vulnerability and heartache in this story and this relationship between these girls that would be meaningful on the screen. Additionally, I loved the shift in dynamic between Catherine and our narrator once they find the dead body (which they refer to as “the skin”). The character development in this is subtle yet moving and could act as a beautiful metaphor of how our friendships change as we grow older and lose our sense of innocence. Stunning and very different, read this!!!!!
“Scream Queen” by Julia Armfield, found on Granta
Logline: A woman attempts to uncover the truth behind viral videos depicting her partner, a famous horror actress, doing disturbing things across the world…even though they are living in the same space.
Why it would work as a feature: Eerie, disconcerting, and makes you question your own sense of sanity. The social media aspect of this reminds me of the Instagram videos in TÁR, as they share a disturbing ambiguity. I think it could be very fun to incorporate the social media posts into the visuals — seeing comments pop up or hearing Coral reading her fans’ comments or texts out loud from her agent could be riveting. The ambiguous ending was also thrilling and the mental unwinding of our narrator adds real stakes that could create good conflict in a feature. A more auteur filmmaker could do something really special with this, especially with the distrust between the two partners, and with the worldbuilding of Coral’s stardom and horror filmography.
"Miss Bulletproof Comes Out of Retirement” by Louis Evans, found on GigaNotoSaurus
Logline: A lesbian superhero retires to settle down and care for her wife and family, until she is offered one final job that goes awry…
Why it would work as a feature: Such a fun story! Loved the voice of Miss Bulletproof — snarky, loud, brash, and added a sharp sense of humor. Also, the story feels quite familiar — think THE INCREDIBLES if it became R-rated with its language, but still contained the same level of heart. The connection that Miss Bulletproof feels to her girls is so sweet! Also loved the twist that this was all a set up for her to face the god of treason that she conquered so long ago, and loved how her wife senses something is wrong and comes to her aid. The strong worldbuilding here and the sheer fact that this is a fun superhero story would make this an amazing feature! It could be a great animation, especially with the fun ways we could play with the visuals and appearances of the gods.
“Cult” by Marcus Ong Kah Ho, found on Granta
Logline: A man unhappy in his marriage seeks out the help of a psychic who begins inviting him to mysterious parties with the world’s elite.
Why it would work as a feature: So many elements of this story lend themselves to feature adaptation. Our narrator’s conflict with his wife at home, the confidence he develops while attending these parties and talking to the elite, and the mystery behind Raymond, the psychic, all prove intriguing. We could expand on all these things in a feature adaptation! I also love seeing our narrator excel while being an emotional consultant to the wealthy party guests despite struggling in his relationship…a sharp contrast that could culminate in an intriguing climax in a screenplay. Well-suited for fans of THE MENU if it were far less violent.
“Liminal Spaces” by Maureen McHugh, found in Reactor Mag
Logline: While traveling from airport to airport for her job, an engineer finds magical corridors that connect one airport to the other.
Why it would work as a feature: I really enjoyed the premise of the story and the inherent conflict — a pragmatic engineer is faced with something magical that she might otherwise be skeptical of. I also enjoyed Amelia’s relationship with Jerome at the center of this story. I wonder how we could rework the plot to have her use these corridors to improve her travel efficiency until it might backfire on her. We already see it backfire when she tries and can’t get back to her original airport after she lands in New York. Plenty of potential for fun montages! Loved the constant references to how she is constantly problem-solving as an engineer, as it gives us a peek into Amelia’s mind both at work and in her relationship. A sweet love story about an engineer who shakes her beliefs.
Thank you for reading the first issue of 2024! I have a feeling this is going to be a good year filled with more amazing short fiction, and I look forward to sharing it with all of you.
Will I try to incorporate more love stories to put my February issue in the Valentine’s spirit? Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter!
Until then,
Meghan xxxx