Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Article Questions
1.) How can classifying books into genres be helpful to readers? How can it be problematic for writers?
Book genres can be helpful to readers when you know what genre you want to read, but not the exact book you want to read. Having a section in the library dedicated to a certain genre can help people pick out books they would like and not find otherwise. However, genres can be hard for writers because they might feel the need to fit into a certain mold. If they're writing a book for a certain genre they might have a good idea for the book but feel as if it won't fit the genre and discard the idea. Also Ursula LeGuin helps back up this idea in her article where she says genres are bad for authors because they might be put into the wrong genre category than what they wanted to be, like Nicholas Sparks feels.
2.) Are popular works able to "great", or does their popularity just show that they're less artistic?
Yes, they are able to be great. Just because something is popular doesn't mean it can't be artistically good. Popular works are popular for a reason, whether it's the plot or the language or a bit of everything. For example, John Green books. His books are very popular, but they do not lack artistic elements. He has a language different from most writers and his plots are relate-able and keep the reader intrigued. Therefore his great books led to his growing popularity which, of course, has no effect on the books themselves which are great no matter how many readers they have.
3.) Discuss Stephen King's opinion that "manfiction" and "chick lit" give their readers essentially the same thing, Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Book genres can be helpful to readers when you know what genre you want to read, but not the exact book you want to read. Having a section in the library dedicated to a certain genre can help people pick out books they would like and not find otherwise. However, genres can be hard for writers because they might feel the need to fit into a certain mold. If they're writing a book for a certain genre they might have a good idea for the book but feel as if it won't fit the genre and discard the idea. Also Ursula LeGuin helps back up this idea in her article where she says genres are bad for authors because they might be put into the wrong genre category than what they wanted to be, like Nicholas Sparks feels.
2.) Are popular works able to "great", or does their popularity just show that they're less artistic?
Yes, they are able to be great. Just because something is popular doesn't mean it can't be artistically good. Popular works are popular for a reason, whether it's the plot or the language or a bit of everything. For example, John Green books. His books are very popular, but they do not lack artistic elements. He has a language different from most writers and his plots are relate-able and keep the reader intrigued. Therefore his great books led to his growing popularity which, of course, has no effect on the books themselves which are great no matter how many readers they have.
3.) Discuss Stephen King's opinion that "manfiction" and "chick lit" give their readers essentially the same thing, Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
I agree with him, especially with the statement "escape and entertainment" which he described as the two things both
genres provide for their reader. I think the majority of people read for those two reasons, but they way they want to be escaped and entertained is generally different for men and women. I think the basic outline for want they want is the
same thing, just filled in according to gender. For example they both might want romance, but girls want more lovey-dovey slow romance and guys would want it more fast paced. The action in "manfiction" can be compared to the drama in "chick lit", they both keep the readers wanting to read more and keep them engaged in the book.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Book 2 Individual Post
Dear L.J. Smith,
In order to successfully translate your novel series into a TV program, there are three main, important things to keep in mind.
One of them is clearly a good choice in casting. In the book(s), the characters are so clear and well-developed that it could take weeks of casting in order to find the right actors to fulfill the roles. I also believe that they should match the same physical description they have in the book, I feel like each character's physical appearances plays a big role in their personality as well. Elena, a popular blonde that all the boys love, and Stefan, a dark and mysterious vampire should be kept exactly as they are or else it could possibly interfere with the overall story-line.
The second thing to keep in mind sort of goes along with character casting, and that's making sure that the emotions from the book translate onto the screen. In the book there is a lot of internal thoughts and monologues that could take a little bit of effort to portray in the TV series, but are very much needed for the plot of the story. All of the characters in the book also externally portray their emotions so well that you need to make sure the actors can do that. In the book, you can just feel Stefan's blank stares and Caroline's big smiles without you even needing to write them down and that kind of effortless passion needs to be conveyed by the actors.
The final thing to keep in mind while translating the book into a show is all of the special effects. In the book, the readers are able to use their imagination and create their own special effects in their head, thanks to your uses of imagery. So keeping this in mind, in the TV show we have to make sure that all of the special effects will meet the audience's expectations of excellence. It all needs to look super realistic, especially the death-by-vampire scenes and all of the cemetery fight scenes and they should really capture the audience and make them think that it's all real.
In order to successfully translate your novel series into a TV program, there are three main, important things to keep in mind.
One of them is clearly a good choice in casting. In the book(s), the characters are so clear and well-developed that it could take weeks of casting in order to find the right actors to fulfill the roles. I also believe that they should match the same physical description they have in the book, I feel like each character's physical appearances plays a big role in their personality as well. Elena, a popular blonde that all the boys love, and Stefan, a dark and mysterious vampire should be kept exactly as they are or else it could possibly interfere with the overall story-line.
The second thing to keep in mind sort of goes along with character casting, and that's making sure that the emotions from the book translate onto the screen. In the book there is a lot of internal thoughts and monologues that could take a little bit of effort to portray in the TV series, but are very much needed for the plot of the story. All of the characters in the book also externally portray their emotions so well that you need to make sure the actors can do that. In the book, you can just feel Stefan's blank stares and Caroline's big smiles without you even needing to write them down and that kind of effortless passion needs to be conveyed by the actors.
The final thing to keep in mind while translating the book into a show is all of the special effects. In the book, the readers are able to use their imagination and create their own special effects in their head, thanks to your uses of imagery. So keeping this in mind, in the TV show we have to make sure that all of the special effects will meet the audience's expectations of excellence. It all needs to look super realistic, especially the death-by-vampire scenes and all of the cemetery fight scenes and they should really capture the audience and make them think that it's all real.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Flipped Gender Cover
I thought the book was geared more towards girls with the braid on the cover so I flipped it to be more geared towards guys. I showed a man in an Army uniform deciding between two women which are two aspects of the book I figured would be more appealing to guys. The background I chose was white because I wanted the focus to be on the images, the Army uniform being the main one. I also thought the font was more of a guy type font so I chose it based on that.
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