I am Number Four Fan Trailer

This is trailer that was created for the Book two project. 

When Eragon met Rand Al'thor

Eragon from the Inheritance Cycle and Rand Al’thor from the Wheel of Time are at first glance are deceptively unique.  A closer look will reveal that they have many of the same ideals and even their starting points are similar, if not exactly the same.  Also adding to the similarities is the fact that both characters come from a series of books, granted one is longer than the other. 

In the first books of each series both characters start out living much of their life as humble farmers.  Being taught to care for the farm animals and plants and handling everything that farms do.  (Keep in mind that these are more medieval farms and not modern ones.  Both are also raised close to fairly small and secluded villages.  The similarities do not stop there however, oh no.  Once both characters are into their young adult years their towns are thrust into danger and the characters must flee to escape the evil that hunts them. 

Then at long last the stories begin to differ, while both end up as people of vast importance and eventually end up as heroes, Rand has a much longer and more difficult journey than Eragon, even turning almost dark over the course of several books.  Eragon’s battle is to simply unseat an evil king, powerful though he may be if put up against Rand’s adversaries he would pale in comparison. 

My thoughts on Non-fiction and Labeling

I believe that if you claim that your book is non-fiction then there should be no embellishments.  We have writing techniques to make things more interesting; people should not have to resort to telling lies or half-truths to make the story better.  You can zoom in on a moment or do any number of things to improve the story without lying in it.  While I admit that things can be difficult to remember you should always stay on track with events that actually happened instead of making things up or misrepresenting facts.

Half-truths in nonfiction tend to call into question the person’s motives when used in a supposed non-fiction book.  Since when people say non-fiction the automatic assumption is that the book will only be the truth and nothing but the truth.  The fact that they tried to over exaggerate events in the book would be understandable if the book was not considered an entirely non-fiction piece.  However since it is a non-fiction book then the exaggerations are unacceptable, because it was likely not necessary for the writer to do.  As I’ve said before there are other ways to make a book more interesting than to make up things or exaggerate facts.

I believe that the lines between fiction and non-fiction and the rest of the genres should remain intact because people know that they like certain things.  The book labels then help them find books that they know are to their liking.  While I believe that books should be labeled, I do not believe that authors should be labeled as writers for any particular type of fiction.  Once someone is labeled then the expectation is created that the author writes in a particular genre.  Once the expectation is there, if the author ends up writing something that doesn’t fit into his/her designated genre  there is a cry of outrage from their readers and other readers as well.

As for the notion that no idea is original I believe that to some extent this is true.  However this belief only applies to the absolute baseline.  Stories are unique not because of their base plot but because of the events that happen in each or the new angle that an author might bring to the field.

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.