Wild Things Excerpt

I got this link in my inbox today, and I really wanted to share it with all of you. Dave Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, shared an 8 page excerpt with “The New Yorker” for his novelization of the film. It’s entitled “Max at Sea”, and if any of you have read Eggers you know how brilliant of a writer he is.

I’ll share with you a small part I enjoyed:

“Max, tired of thinking in his brain, decided to think on paper, and so retrieved his journal from under the bed. His father had given him the journal shortly after he left—how long ago now? Three years?—and had, in white-out, written the words “WANT JOURNAL” on the cover. In this book his father had written as inscription and directive, “Write what you want. Every day, or as often as you can, write what you want. That way, whenever you’re confused or rudderless, you can look to this book, and be reminded where you want to go and what you’re looking for.” His father had printed, by hand, three beginnings on every page.

Max found a pen and began:

I WANT Gary to fall into some kind of bottomless hole.

I WANT Claire to get her foot caught in a bear trap.

I WANT Claire’s friends to die by flesh-eating tapeworms.

I love Eggers humor, and can’t wait to see WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. If you want to read the whole excerpt, go here.