Curated playlist
Novels adapted into video games
- James BondJames Bond got his name from a field guide to Caribbean birds. Ian Fleming wanted the dullest name he could find.
- FrankensteinBoris Karloff's lightning-jolted monster is not what Mary Shelley wrote. That image came largely from a 1931 film.
- Harry PotterThe Harry Potter series began on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990. It sat still for four hours.
- The Great GatsbyFitzgerald considered The Great Gatsby a merely acceptable title and tried to change it a month before publication.
- The War of the WorldsIn The War of the Worlds, the Martians are beaten by germs. Earthly bacteria kill them, since they had no immunity.
- Alice's Adventures in WonderlandLewis Carroll improvised Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on a boat trip in 1862. He published it three years later.
- The HobbitA publisher let his 10-year-old son decide whether to print The Hobbit.
- The Three MusketeersIn The Three Musketeers, a broke young Gascon picks fights with three swordsmen and ends up fighting beside them.
- Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryDahl's early drafts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had nine golden tickets, not five.
- Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness grew from a river trip he really took.
- Les MisérablesLes Misérables spends 14 chapters on a bishop before Jean Valjean appears. The 1862 French novel starts with Myriel.
- Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeA dream gave Stevenson the idea for Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. His wife woke him mid-transformation.
- A Song of Ice and FireA Song of Ice and Fire began with one image: a boy watching a beheading.
- Cthulhu MythosThe name Cthulhu Mythos did not come from H. P. Lovecraft. His protege August Derleth named the shared horror world.
- The Mist (novella)This page is about The Mist, a novella.
- Water MarginIn the novel Water Margin, an official accidentally frees 108 demons. They are reborn as rebel outlaws.