A challenge of relative ease and merriment 2017 discussion

Well, it is simply a book that is tied to another form of media - usually visual media. It could be a novel that just gives you an extra story for a movie or tv-show (Star Wars has an insane amount of novels for example. And yes, of course you can read Legends which isn’t canon anymore. That’s fine). But it can also be a book about how a show or movie was made. Or a collection of essays about it. Or, in some cases: a book “written” by someone in a tv show (Castle, How I Met Your Mother, and Parks & Recreation all did this for example) I have all four kinds on my bookshelf right now actually.

Music usually doesn’t have tie-in books. Then it’s more a case of a biography or something similar. But you might find the exception.
Podcasts though… well, that’s pretty new. But there’s always the Night Vale book! That would definitely count. And I’m sure there must be others.
Video games have some too, but it’s not as common. I know there are both Assassin’s Creed and Warcraft novels out there though.
The tricky bit is with comics/graphic novels. Because we count them as books as well, and I would probably count Buffy season 8 (which is graphic novels) for this media tie-in category. On the other hand, in some rare cases “regular” novels are written based on graphic novels… well I guess it’s up to you! I will personally go with a movie or tv tie-in. Probably Star Wars to be honest, but we’ll see.

I wouldn't really count a novelisation of a movie or tv show as a media tie in. For example, when I write this there is one week of 2016 left and I still haven't finished my 2016 challenge (wow I slacked off during fall), so I need to push myself to read my last two books and then I really want to read the novelisation of Rogue One - A Star Wars Story. As such it will probably be the first book I read in 2017, but I won't count it for this category. It doesn't really tie in to the Star Wars universe. The story is already there, plain to see. Whereas, to stick with the same example, Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel most definitely is a tie-in as it adds some interesting backstory to the movie.

And of course the reverse is obvious: a novel that is turned into a movie doesn't count. It actually has its own category. And remember for that one too: a novelisation of a movie that was first movie script does not count (i.e. I could not count Rogue One for that either. I could of course count it for fantastical fiction though)

How about a book about a fictionalized character (from a book by a different author)?

I think that we settled on a media tie-in being a book tied to another type of media (there's a long discussion in the wrong thread, Progress, instead of here). So like, all those Sherlock Holmes books floating around by different authors wouldn't count (but a book tied to the tv show Elementary would)

Ah here it is. I should have no trouble with this category. :-D

Jenny wrote: "Ah here it is. I should have no trouble with this category. :-D"

No you definitely should not! Anyone who loves Star Wars will find this particular category easy peasy.

How about a book written by a newspaper reporter??

Cee Cee: that just sounds like a normal book? Unless it's written by like... Clark Kent (first fictional reporter I could think of haha).

It should tie into something fictional that already exists, and isn't a book (ie tv, movie, game, podcast)

ok - fictional media tie-in...got it...

Because I've gotten questions if specific books counts I thought I'd write a list of what will absolutely count, absolutely not, and maybe (if you really can't find one of the others)

Absolutely YES:
- a novel or graphic novel that gives us a new story with people/the world from a movie (eg any Star Wars extended universe novel)
- a novel or graphic novelthat gives us new stories set in the world of a fictional tv series (eg any Star Trek novels, or the Veronica Mars novels to pick completely different genres, but there are many shows with basically new episodes in novel form. And yes also the Buffy the Vampire Slayer "eight season" comic book arc)
- a novel or graphic novel set in the universe of a computer game (eg Assassin's Creed or World of Warcraft)
- a novel or graphic novel based on a fictional podcast story (eg Welcome to Night Vale)
- a novel written by a fictional character from a movie or tv show (eg the Nikki Heat novels by "Richard Castle", Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America by "Leslie Knope", or The Bro Code by "Barney Stinson")
- an in-universe guide (eg The Wildlife of Star Wars or John Winchester's Journal)
- visual guides (eg the Star Wars Essential Guides)
- in-universe cookbooks
- Fake memoirs about/by characters from movie, tv, games etc

Some people might question but I will definitely allow:
- "Making of" a tv show, movie, game, podcast (remember: fictional worlds!)
- Collection of essays on a tv show, movie, game etc
- Academic style writing about aspects of a tv show, movie, specific game (not gaming in general) etc
- Episodic guides of a fictional tv shows
- Cookbooks inspired by tv or movies
- Language guides to a made up tv, movie, or game language

Absolutely NO:
- Completely original novels referencing a tv show or movie
- Novels that were adapted into movies
- Novelisations of movies
- New stories by new authors in a fictional literary world (eg Sherlock Holmes or the Lovecraftian mythos)
- Guides to literary worlds
- Making of a non-fictional thing (eg a newspaper)
- Real memoirs (even when mostly about events "on set")
- Fake memoirs by literary characters
- Scripts

Questionable but I'll allow if you can't make the others work for you:
- Novel written by a fictional character from another novel
- Novels based in a world originally created in graphic novels
- Crafting books related to tv shows, movies, games etc (eg Star Wars Origami)
- Cookbooks tied to literary works (eg Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: A Useful and Improving Almanack of Information Including Astonishing Recipes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld)


The superhero comic book world is just a big circular mess by now with comics based on movies based on comics, with visual guides thrown in for good measure. If you have something you wonder about specifically regarding that, just ask and we'll sort it out.

And the above is not an exhaustive list. I will add specifics when I think of them or if anyone asks about it. And by all means, keep asking!

can you give examples of some acceptable fake memoirs?

Cee Cee wrote: "can you give examples of some acceptable fake memoirs?"

Sadly no, can't think of any. I don't know if there actually are any. But if anyone finds one go right ahead!