But is it a movie?
I’m sure I’m far from unique among authors in imagining that my books might someday 
be bought by Hollywood and turned into movies or a TV series. I can definitely picture the Dream Doctor Mysteries on screen, but the more I think about it, the more I think they would be pretty challenging to adapt to film.
The first challenge is that the books are all written in first-person perspective. We see everything through Sara’s eyes, all through the entire series. Obviously you can make a movie that way – we can all cite examples – but it’s tricky. If you keep to the books, there’s no cutting away, no scenes from anybody else’s perspective. Which is pretty limiting on film.
A second challenge, especially for the first book I wrote, DREAM STUDENT, is that Sara sees the killer in her dreams, and we do, too. But for most of the book, she doesn’t connect what she’s seeing in the dreams with who the killer really is. It works on the page, because we’re in Sara’s head, and we can see why she’s not able to make that connection. On screen, she would come across as a pretty dim bulb, unless we cheated by having her never see the killer’s face in her dreams, or some other “cheat.”
There are a lot of other minor changes that would probably have to be made in order to turn DREAM STUDENT into a movie, and I’d hate all of them.
The official first book, DREAM DOCTOR, would be a lot more straightforward. The mystery in that book is more of an Agatha Christie-type of mystery – several suspects, and neither we as readers, nor Sara as the “psychic detective” know who it is until we and she follow the clues to the end of the story. So that could work as-is. But some of the subplots might have to be cut out, which I’d hate to do.
And then there’s the problem of how to cast the books, if multiple books were going to be made into movies. Each book skips ahead – Sara’s twenty-one years old in DREAM STUDENT, twenty-two in DREAM DOCTOR, twenty-seven in DREAM CHILD, and almost thirty in DREAM FAMILY. By the time we get to the end of the series, she’s in her forties. Hollywood can do magic with makeup, but it’s still a trick to find someone who can believably play the same character as a junior in college today, and a thirty-year-old mother of three next year.
All those things would make it really tough to turn the Dream Doctor Mysteries into movies, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll have the chance to help solve that problem someday!
J.J. DiBenedetto is author of the Dream Series and the Jane Barnaby Adventures and lives in Arlington, Virginia with the love of his life and a white cat who rules the roost.
His passions are photography, travel, the opera, the New York Giants, and of course writing.
Mr. DiBenedetto is devoted to writing books with a sense of mysticism to entertain and perhaps invite his readers to suspend belief in a way they might never have.
Since he was very young , he has always been intrigued with the supernatural and things that can’t be explained rationally.
By always asking way too many questions, it piqued his interest to the point of setting his writing off and running when he grew up! All the curiosity building up all those years were finally getting put into words to captivate readers. And it hasn’t ended. His main goal is to share all the stories he has inside, putting pen to paper. And that’s
how the Dream Series was born.
Dream Student
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Prequel
by J.J. DiBenedetto
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Sara Barnes has her life totally under control. All she has to worry about
is college exams, Christmas shopping, applying to medical school–and
what to do about the cute freshman who has a crush on her. And
everything is going according to plan, until the night she starts
dreaming other people’s dreams.
It’s bad enough that every night is a theater of her friends’ and
classmates’ secret fantasies. Worse yet are the other dreams, the
dark ones featuring a strange, terrifying man committing unspeakable
crimes.
As the nightmares increase, Sara’s life becomes a blur of waking and
sleeping, of terror and urgency. Because if she was given this
dream-sharing gift for a reason, it must be to stop the killer madman
she’s come to know all too well. But how can she stop him when she’s
just a student, and they’re only dreams?
Dream Student is
the thrilling prequel to the Dream Doctor Mysteries.
**Start the series FREE!!**
Dream Doctor
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 1
Between adjusting to life as a newlywed and trying to survive the first month
of medical school, Sara Alderson has a lot on her plate. She
definitely doesn’t need to start visiting other people’s dreams
again. Unfortunately for her, it’s happening anyway.
Every night, she sees a different person and a different dream. But every
dreamer has one thing in common: they all hate Dr. Morris, the least
popular professor in the medical school, and they’re all dreaming
about seeing him – or making him – dead.
Once again, Sara finds herself in the role of unwilling witness to a
murder before it happens. But this time, there are too many suspects
to count, and it doesn’t help matters that she hates Dr. Morris
every bit as much as any of his would-be murderers do.
**only .99 cents!**
Dream Child
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 2
Dr. Sara Alderson can deal with eighty-hour workweeks as a resident at
Children’s Hospital. Dealing with crises in the Emergency Room or
the OR is second nature to her. But now she faces a challenge that
all of her training and experience hasn’t prepared her for: Lizzie,
her four-year-old daughter, has inherited her ability to see other
people’s dreams.
After Lizzie befriends a young boy on a trip to Washington, DC, and then
wakes up in a panic that night because of a “bad funny dream,”
Sara knows exactly what it means: her daughter is visiting the boy’s
dreams. Complicating matters is the fact that the boy’s father is a
Congressman, and he’s dreaming about a “scary man in a big black
car” threatening his Daddy.
Unraveling a case of political corruption and blackmail would be hard
enough for Sara under the best of circumstances. But when she has to view
everything through the eyes of a toddler, it may be an impossible task.
Dream Family
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 3
Dr. Sara Alderson didn’t think she had a problem in the world, when she
walked into the office for her first day as a partner in her own
medical practice. And then the police showed up and arrested her for
a crime she couldn’t possibly have committed. Twenty four hours
later, after a horrifying day and night in jail, Sara comes home a
different – and completely broken – woman.
Clearing her name is her first challenge, but that’s nothing compared to the
task of rebuilding her shattered psyche. And the only way she can do
that is with the help of the supernatural dreams, the same dreams
that have nearly cost Sara her sanity – and almost got her killed –
in the past.
Waking Dream
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 4
After nearly a decade of visiting other people’s dreams, Sara Alderson
thought she had made peace with her supernatural gift. Until one
night, while watching her husband dream, she saw someone else
watching him, too: a mysterious woman in a red dress.
The woman in red keeps appearing in the dreams of Sara’s husband and
his co-workers. Sara doesn’t know if this mystery woman is trying
to steal her husband, drive him mad or something even worse. All she
does know is that now she has something she never imagined: a
nemesis. And the only thing more dangerous than a nemesis who shares
her ability to step into other people’s dreams, is one who knows
far more about that ability and how to control it than Sara does.
Dream Reunion
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 5
Dr. Sara Alderson is heading back to college for her ten-year class
reunion. Her husband and two of her children are coming with her –
and so are her supernatural dreams.
One of her old classmates is becoming more frantic with every passing
night. Sara can’t see his face, but she can see everything else in
his dreams, and he’s coming closer and closer to committing a
desperate act to try and save his business. Sara’s the only one who
can save him, and his family – if she can figure out who he is and
what he’s planning in time.
Dream Home
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 6
Dr. Sara Alderson thought she was securing her and her family’s future
when she moved them to a small town in New York and took a job as
Chief of Pediatrics at the local hospital. Unfortunately, things
aren’t going quite according to plan. For one thing, she has
enemies at work who resent her from the moment she sets foot in the
hospital.
For another, she’s visiting the dreams of an old man who’s seeing
nightly visions of a storm that will wipe out the entire town. He’s
convinced that the visions are true – and as winter closes in, Sara
is starting to think he might be right.
Dream Vacation
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 7
Thanks to her unique ability to step into other people’s dreams, Dr. Sara
Alderson has solved murders, unraveled conspiracies and saved lives.
But when a crisis hits close to home, even her supernatural gift
might not be enough to avert disaster.
On a family vacation to Paris, Sara’s fifteen-year-old daughter Grace
disappears without a trace. The only way to find her is through
Sara’s dreams. But her gift has taken an unwanted vacation, and
without it, Sara has no idea how to rescue Grace. In a foreign city,
with no clues, and her dreaming talent failing her for the first
time, Sara must figure out another way to find Grace before it’s too late.
Fever Dream
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 8
Dr. Sara Alderson isn’t used to her patients dying for no reason. When
a young boy succumbs to a mysterious illness that defies all her
efforts to treat it, she refuses to accept defeat.
After two months of questions, Sara has attracted the attention of powerful
people who don’t want their secrets uncovered, and will go to any
lengths to make sure they stay hidden.
Now, time is running out for Sara to unravel the mystery before anyone
else falls victim to the illness. And before her career, her family
and her freedom are taken from her by enemies she doesn’t even know
she has.
Dream Wedding
The Dream Doctor Mysteries Book 9
It ought to be a joyful time for Dr. Sara Alderson. Her daughter,
Lizzie, is about to graduate college, and marry her longtime
boyfriend. But the family’s happiness is shattered when a drunk
driver seriously injures her teenage son in a hit-and-run accident.
Now, instead of planning her daughter’s wedding, Sara must fight to save
her son’s life. And when she discovers who the drunk driver was –
someone she thought was a colleague and a friend – she has to fight
her desire for revenge. Because Sara knows she has the power to visit
the driver’s dreams, and in those dreams, she holds the power of
life and death.
Dream Fragments:
Stories From the Dream Doctor Mysteries
The novels don’t tell the whole story!
Readers of the Dream Doctor Mysteries know that Sara and her family have a
very busy life outside the pages of the ten Dream Doctor Mysteries,
and here’s your chance to peek into it.
Twelve stories are included in this collection, and you’ll discover what
happened on Sara’s final Spring Break of college; Lizzie’s first
day of school; Betty and Howard’s first trip out of the country;
and much more!
J.J. DiBenedetto is author of the Dream Series and the Jane Barnaby
Adventures and lives in Arlington, Virginia with the love of his life
and a white cat who rules the roost.
His passions are photography, travel, the opera,
the New York Giants, and of course writing.
Mr. DiBenedetto is devoted to writing books with a sense of mysticism to
entertain and perhaps invite his readers to suspend belief in a way
they might never have.
Since he was very young , he has always been intrigued with the
supernatural and things that can’t be explained rationally.
By always asking way too many questions, it piqued his interest to the
point of setting his writing off and running when he grew up! All the
curiosity building up all those years were finally getting put into
words to captivate readers. And it hasn’t ended. His main goal is to
share all the stories he has inside, putting pen to paper. And that’s
how the Dream Series was born.
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
Want to reconnect with an old friend? Social media. Want to anonymously spew hatred from the safety of your grandma’s basement? Social media. It’s so strange how one thing can be so wonderful and so awful at the same time.
