After 50 books, 'Inkheart' author knows about success

LOS ANGELES

In the beginning there is the word, and the word, if you want to get rich as a writer, is for children. Ask Cornelia Funke, she knows.

With the movie version of her popular fantasy trilogy, "Inkheart," reaching local theaters this week, she continues to be compared to J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter creator.

"I'm flattered," she said, obviously prepared for the question when we met her in Los Angeles recently. "She is a great visual storyteller. We share that. She turns humor into a costume. She sees everything in visual images. I try to do that, too. That is the secret."

Funke, a German widow who lives in Los Angeles, is walking with the help of a cane - not, she quickly explains, for literary eccentricities but because she twisted her ankle recently. "It will pass," she says, waving her hand to dismiss it.

She is 50 and has published 50 books. After years of popularity in her native Germany, she made an American breakthrough in 2004 with "Dragon Rider," which was a No. 1 best- seller on The New York Times list and was adapted into a movie. An earlier hit in the U.S. was "The Thief Lord," published here in 2002, which she says she sent to her publisher only after trashing the first 100 pages and rewriting them.

"I usually let a manuscript go only after I've done at least five drafts. I am a merciless editor. I cut entire chapters. I cut entire characters. That's partially because in the first draft I write by instinct. It's best if you don't know what you're doing. Of course, you have to have a basic structure. I start with a place or a character, and it is best if I have no idea what is going to happen. I must allow the characters to have freedom. I must be patient. Very patient. I must allow them to grow."

With "Inkheart," she came up with the idea of a Silvertongue, a person who has the power, upon reading aloud, to make characters come alive from the written page. Her central adult character is Mortimer "Mo" Folchart who, upon reading aloud a book called "Inkheart" years ago, caused the villainous Capricorn and henchmen to come out of the book and into this, the "real" world. The only catch is that when you read someone out, someone from this world goes in. In this case, tragically, his wife (the mother of daughter Meggie) was read "in."

Years later, she is still trapped in the book and can't get out until he reads her out. The catch is that the only copy of "Inkheart," the novel within the novel, is missing. Mo and his 12-year-old daughter travel the world in search of the book to rescue his missing wife from book-land. A major threat is that Capricorn and his evil cohorts want to snare the Silvertongue for themselves - to read more of their cronies out and to be sure they aren't read back in. Capricorn likes the castle he lives in during his stay in our world.

Not a bad plot.

"Thank you," she said, flashing a big smile.

She is remarkably tolerant of the stage and movie adaptations that have been made of her books.

"There have been many, many changes. They've added things from 'The Wizard of Oz,' which the Germans particularly disliked. They've changed some of the characters. I don't mind. Each medium is different. There have been 12 stage versions of my books in which some characters have been played by puppets. That's fine. I love the stage. I love film, too, but I must be aware that it is a different medium. It would take 18 hours to read my works aloud. Stage and film must adapt. People who read the book get one experience, audiences get another."

It may help, too, that she is on the payroll. She is one of the producers of the movie "Inkheart." Director Iain Softley, who has had experience in adapting to film a more complex novel - Henry James' "The Wings of the Dove" - refers to her as "the Cornelia blessing," adding that "she's always on the Internet - sometimes on location - never in the way."

In the new film, Mo is played by Brendan Fraser, the only American in a cast of British actors. She chose him for the part. In fact, he inspired the character itself. It sounds like a publicity concoction, she said, but it's true.

In writing the character of Mo, she had Fraser, the star of "The Mummy" and the recent hit "Journey to the Center of the Earth," in mind. She sent him one of the first copies, personally inscribed - thanking him for inspiring the character.

In a separate interview, the extroverted actor said, "I was puzzled. How could this writer be inspired by me? When I heard they were making a movie, I knew I had the blessings of the author, but I went to the director and told him that I wanted to play the part, but only if he approved. He did."

Funke explained her reasoning. She had enjoyed his acting in various films, and one of her children particularly enjoyed him in "George of the Jungle" (1997). "He is very boyish and I could see him as the father as child, the way Mo should be. His daughter, Meggie, has to take care of him in many cases."

Helen Mirren (Academy Award winner for "The Queen") is, the writer admits, "totally different" from the character of Aunt Elinor in the novel.

"I had in mind someone like Kathy Bates. In the book, Aunt Elinor was stouter. Helen created her own version, which I love. It's a thrill to see actors reinterpret a character I've written. A thrill - not a threat."

It is mostly in Europe that Funke is called "the German J.K. Rowling," but the book sales of the "Inkheart" trilogy have also soared in this country - including the sequels "Inkspell" and "Inkdeath." The latter was published in the United States just last September.

The moviemakers are already planning movie sequels to "Inkheart" - depending on the box office reception. The movie is already a hit in Europe, but its American reception remains unsure. With a budget this big, the box office has to be more than just average.

Funke's first job, years ago, was as a social worker, focusing on children with deprived backgrounds. With a gift for drawing, she worked at illustrating books but soon wanted to write the stories herself. Her first hits, in Germany, were a series of "Ghosthunters" and "Wild Chicks" books.

She married printer Rolf Funke in 1981. They have two teenage children, Anna and Ben. For 24 years, they lived in Hamburg before they moved to Los Angeles in 2005, where she lives now.

Her husband died of colorectal cancer two years ago.

As for the writing schedule that has netted 50 books, she says, "There is discipline. Yes. I keep telling myself that I have to make a living. In addition to writing the novels, I'm now working on several stage adaptations of my books. I love the theater. Basically, I write from four to six hours a day. I write from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. That's when the children come home from school. Then, late at night, when they're in bed, sometimes I write. Now that my children are almost grown, I suppose I could write more. It is frightening to think about.

"The task is to put a story in visual terms. You don't think in terms of fantastic devices. You think in terms of making crazy things real. And you adapt. That's why I'm so open to movie versions. The thing is to be curious. If somebody says to you, 'Things are this way. You can't change it' - don't believe a word."

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com