My opinion on Genre fiction

Genre fiction explores the human imagination.  It has no limit save what its authors but on it.  It is fun to read and also has some of the same themes and lessons in them that commercial fiction does.  Literary/ commercial fiction focuses on ideas and how to portray ideas in the images and instances that occur while writing and try to create a deeper meaning that has to be forced upon their readers.  More or less literary fiction should be considered a work of art than an actual book.  Genre fiction on the other hand is more of a game than an art project.  It’s made to be fun to read and the really good ones were fun to write as well.  Even though the stories in genre are fun to read they also have the same lessons that the literary fiction has. 

We should add more genre fiction into the school curriculum because they are more interesting and they have pretty much the same lessons in them as the books we read in class.  Reading genre fiction would actually make reading fun at school because there’d be more of a selection.  Since there would be more of a selection in the books we’d read more students would be able to read what they wished.  All of this would cut down on the “Readicide” that the books that schools are making students. 

I think swapping Mice and Men for Twilight is a bad idea.  I would certainly go for another Genre fiction book, just not Twilight.  I’m sorry but I had issues with it and yes, I read the whole series and it really wasn’t that good.

Kids should read books because books are a means to gain knowledge.  I like to think that every book has a lesson in it, you just have to be looking for it.

Adapting I Am Number Four

Challenges a filmmaker would face is that they would have no description for the Main character, John Smith or number four.  Also the character gives little in the way of precisely describing the characters.  He also does not describe important objects in much detail. 

Scenes that must be kept:

·         The fight with mark in the woods during the Halloween haunted forest maze thing.  This seen is important because it shows John’s willingness to save his friends Sam and most importantly Sarah.  If anything it shows how strong their bond is.

·         The scene where they have to go rescue Henri from the magazine writers.  This is an important scene because John gets his second Legacy and has to use it to get needed information from the magazine writers.

·         Also the house fire scene should be kept because it is the reason that Henri and John are discovered by the Mogadorians.  Also it is another example of how strong John’s bond with Sarah is.

Scenes that would have to be cut: 

·         John’s visions from the past could probably be cut because they are more confusing at first and might be frightening for younger viewers.  Besides that they don’t really play a major role in the story and could be replaced by Henri explaining how things worked on Lorien.

·         The training that John under goes can be left out also because it doesn’t really do anything for the story other than shows how John advances his skills in using his Legacies.

·         The scene where John thinks that he wasn’t in the paper.  Though this shows his relief it eventually proves to be false.

Ideas for expansion of fan base for the Hunger Games Series

Hunger Games Arena Scenario

Welcome, to the future of real life scenario games.  This would be like any other scenario game in that there is no risk of dying or being seriously injured and would only last a few hours to a day.  However, That is where the similarities end.  It would be just like the hunger games, each person getting to use their weapon of choice.  The arena would of course be more like a large sized paintball field.  There are no rules as to how you win, but you must remain “alive”.  There would be clever traps scattered around the field to eliminate unlucky/unwary players.

Everything revolves around Katniss having gone to the hunger games, from her state of mind to her relationship with Peeta and the public.  It changed her whole life, and continues to effect it after the games are over. 

“I have a problem, Miss Everdeen, ” says President Snow. “ A problem that began the moment you pulled out those poisonous berries in the arena.”

Would make people curious about the “real” hunger games and hopefully spur them to get the books.  Also it would create hype and a new fun thing to do.  Who knows perhaps people will buy the books to try to get an upper hand in the scenario arena.

Mockingjay logo

In order to have fans of the series show their pride and to raise awareness for the Hunger Games series it may be a good idea to print various logos and symbols of the Hunger Games book: Catching fire.  Have short quotes from the book to and images to catch the eyes of the passerby.

Ever wanted your own mockingjay symbol?  Now you can have them on your shirt, your shoes, and even some pins that are similar to katniss’s own mockingjay pin that she wore in both of her Hunger Games.  How you can, get shirts with the mockingjay symbol and quotes from your favorite characters.

Examples of quotes that could be on the shirts and other items:

“At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.”

“Winning the Games will make you famous, losing will mean death.”

“That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish.”

“It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.”

“May the Odds be ever in your favor.”  

Examples of Mockingjay Logo:

The idea will work because it will spread the name and awareness of the Hunger Games series and the curious will buy and read the books.

Hunger Games Video Game

Interact with the character’s from the hunger games series and at your choice attempt to bring down the capital or join the capital in its attempt to maintain its absolut control over the districts.  Survive the arena and make your own decisions playing as a few off the main characters from the book: Katniss, Peta, Gale, as well as some of the other tributes.

The game takes place throughout the book although it as alternative endings and such depending upon the choices.  If you’ve read the book then you know the decisions Katniss makes that lead her to the end.  You also know what choices the other tributes make.  However the game will attempt to go more in depth on the other tributes since Catching Fire since the entire story is from Katniss’s point of view.

The product’s target audience would be people who play adventure, multiple view point games.  Where they get to control more than one character in the situation and get to make the decisions about what that character does.  This would interest them in the book, to find out what actually happens from all of the potential endings.

What is a book?.........Why are you asking me?

A book is a book.  Doesn’t make much sense to you, does it?  Regardless of how you interpreted that first statement, a book is much more than just simple writing on a few pages.  It is a measure of the author’s creativity, as well as his/her ambition. 

An author’s ambition is measured by the length of his book.  The dedication of the author shows in the description of the events and book as well as the background or the area in which the events in the book take place. 

An author’s creativity is shown in the contents of his/her books.  In his characters and the challenges they face, as well as the plot of the book or series of books.  Following me so far?

Actually having a book is more important than having the text because without the book you cannot grasp the scope of the book.  You also can’t enjoy that feeling of accomplishment when you get to a certain point in the book and you look back to see how far you’ve actually traveled into the writer’s world.  You’ll grant that there’s a difference in clicking a button and having a new page show up on the on electronic device to read and actually taking the page and turning it to get to more of the story.

So even though you have the words on you electronic reading device (Kindle, nook, etc.) you don’t have the full representation of the author.  Essentially when you’re holding a book, you’re holding part of the author’s imagination.  Each book has a story, sometimes the story is meaningful to  the author, in which case you hold some of their essence, a piece of who they are.  Perhaps the author wrote the book for fun, or just to simply write a book.  Well you still hold a piece of the author when you hold the book.  There is a connection between author, book, and the reader, so something that is more difficult to get when the book is coming through an electronic medium because you don’t have the actually weight of the book with you.

This is why I read!!!

Why do I read, you ask. I could give you an easy answer, course that’s hardly what this blog is about isn’t it.  So I’ll try to go as in depth as I can and explain the reasons I read.

I read because it allows me to travel through time, space, even go to different dimensions.  It allows me to explore and go on adventures, even while I’m stuck somewhere.  It keeps me from being bored and is a fun way to spend my time.  I get to use it to travel to places that I wouldn’t ordinarily get to visit.  Even places that don’t exist in or realm of existence but still someone had to think them up. 

               

I usually read books with magic and good versus evil,

monsters and monster hunters because I find the books thrilling because of the suspense and action.  I can put my focus just on reading and conjuring pictures within my mind of my interpretation of what the author’s describing.  For me, reading was at one point more of an escape than anything else.  Allowing me to completely disconnect and immerse myself in the book’s world.  By doing this I gained the enjoyment and the ability to visualize what’s happening in the story and the character’s surroundings.  This knowledge allowed me to “draw” my own images upon the page and thus begin to write my own stories.

Suzanne Collins and Catching Fire

The Three most interesting things I learned about Suzanne Collins are: She was the Head writer for the children's book Clifford's puppy days, Her inspiration for the Underland Chronicles was Alice in Wonderland, She also writes for Children's television.

"Collins has done that rare thing. She has written a sequel that improves upon the first book."

--The New York Times, Gabrielle Zevin