A lot of his more dramatic undertakings didn’t exactly go over great, Far and Away comes to mind lol. Really bad accent. I remember the fans being up in arms about it too, and there was a story about her sitting outside theaters to ask fans their thoughts opening week. But she did ultimately love his performance, which must have been validating to him after such a stink.

It just dawned on me Exit to Eden was another book that was totally butchered for the big screen and it was one of her early erotica bdsm and it freaking stared Rosie O’Donald and Dan Aykroid and was made into a comedy ffs.

Maybe that why she became so protective of her characters…?

I knew about the rigidity with the fan fiction, and the popeyes chicken restaurant issue, but I didn’t realize she took it to such extremes.

The way this is written its like the deaths were close together. Not 30 years apart. She suffered from alcoholism and OCD. She also wrote erotica that makes the Vampire stuff seem tame. She, like many people was conflicted about religion and her writing reflected that. She had a resurgence of faith, and then another disconnect from the church but not God. That’s life. I don’t think having issues with fan fiction is a problem, I get that it is supposed to be flattering, and some writers do feel that way, but she didn’t. Those characters are her creations, and maybe she found it insulting.

She was no victim, she was a strong woman and stood up for herself and her work. I mean when they cast Tom Cruise in Interview with a Vampire as Lestat she was unhappy, and wasn’t shy about voicing it. Ultimately she loved his performance, but she in the beginning she couldn’t see it in him and thought it was the biggest mistake. She actually was quite vocal and hurt his feelings lol

But to answer your question,

I feel sorry for any Author who has to see their work butchered for the big or little screen.

For example:

Charlaine Harris - True Blood series absolutely destroyed her southern vampire series. (But she seemed a little complicit)

Dean Koontz - Watchers, In the book the main character is in his 30’s and in the movie he was played by teen heartthrob of the time, and the only thing close to the book was the names and the dog.