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Monday 25 July 2011

Lost In Translation. When Books Are Made Into Films.

Last week I was excited to hear that the Author Sherrilyn Kenyon had signed with Amber Entertainment to develop and produce films,  TV shows and webisodes based on her books. They are starting with the Chronicles Of Nick. 



Sherrilyn Kenyon will act as producer. I was all excited for about two minutes then remembered that most novels are butchered before they are crammed into either a 90 minute film or 15 hour TV series. 
There are not many films or TV series that keep true to the original book. Just look at Anne Rices Vampire series for example. The 2002 film Queen of the Damned just makes you want to cringe. 
The novel The Lovely Bones. Well, they certainly murdered that one.
I do appreciate that they have to use some degree of artistic license to fit the story in a set time limit but when they change too much it just angers me.
I really enjoy the True Blood TV series but have noticed that they have merged some plot points from a number of books in one show. They have also made characters such as Russell more important.
The Vampire Diaries is only very loosely based on the books by L J Smith.
Watching a TV series or film before you read the book would probably be more beneficial because the novels would just enhance and more fully develop the characters and plot.
How well Kenyon's books translate to film will depend on how much time they take and how much money that will be available.
Other novels that would be interesting to see in film are Nalini Singh`s Psy-Changeling Series and Gena Showalters Lords Of The Underworld series.
I would really, really, really love to see Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series on the cinema screen if they had the millions of pounds necessary to spend on it.

Have a look at this list of 20 good books that were made into not so good films

Sunday 24 July 2011

Another Star dies at 27. RIP Amy Winehouse

I woke up to the sad news this morning that Amy Winehouse had died. She was an amazingly talented lady who became influenced by the wrong people. I always wondered who would go first Pete Doherty (above) or Amy. Now we Know .
She had a amazing voice and presence about her. There is nobody who can compare to her in music today. Her 2006 album Back To Black will forever stand as an stunning collection of songs. If you don`t have the album please buy it. Its very sad that due to her struggles she was never quite well enough to do a follow up. Even though she had a great family behind her she always seemed to be a fragile, lost girl.
I hope you now find peace Amy.




Wise words from Josh Groban, "Drugs took her gift, her soul, her light, long before they took her life".






                                          

Friday 22 July 2011

Destination Taiwan

Have a look at this 
http://maps.google.co.uk/


1- Open Google Maps (Directions)

2-Type China as your starting point

3-Type Taiwan as your destination

4-Read step #48

LOL   :)

Back To Reality

Why is it you come home from a holiday feeling like you need a holiday? Guess its because we tried to cram so much in.
My happy little family are now back from sunny Wales. My daughter now has a very large shell collection and my son fell in love with a cucumber. Bless him, my baby boy turned three years old last week and for some weird reason took a liking to a cucumber.He walked round cuddling it all day the last few days of our holiday. He even slept with it. But in the excitement of getting home he now seems to have forgotten about his green friend. Probably for the best. The love affair could not have lasted much longer.
I have now learnt never to go to bed leaving my husband up watching Top Gear ( a TV programme about the latest cars) with a bottle of wine. The morning after a bottle or two of wine my husband said he could vaguely remember speaking to someone on the phone in the early hours of the morning. Checking his mobile phone he found a message he had sent his friend at 2am saying that he had seen a new sports car on TV worth hundreds of thousands of pounds that he really liked so he had phoned Mclaren to order a red one and was put on a years waiting list!!!! I nearly killed him!! I was really worried that he had handed over our bank details and our account was going to be wiped out. But nothing has shown up so I don`t know who he phoned. He now thinks its funny.
I did not do any writing when I was away so I have lots of catching up to do. But I did have a bit of a eureka moment with what I want to do next with my story. So feeling more positive.
When I was a little girl and had family days out at the seaside ( usually Great Yarmouth) my brothers and I use to like looking at the traditional funny seaside postcards. While on holiday I noticed they are not about anymore. I guess too politically incorrect. But they are a traditional part of the british humour like the Carry On films or Monty Python.
So I have found a few to share with you









Friday 8 July 2011

Off for 10 days !




We are going away on our family holiday tomorrow. Yippeeeeeee....!!!!!!!
Hopefully I will be back with some fresh ideas.
See you soon

Thursday 7 July 2011

Naughty Pictures


This is a lovely drawing of Mummy & Daddy that my four year old daughter Caitlin brought home from Nursery today. Now take another look and notice that Daddy has a willie! Caitlin insisited that boys had willies so she had to draw one. Her teacher tried to explain to her that you can not see them because they are in trousers. Caitlin was having none of it and got her way.


Saturday 2 July 2011

A Writing Challenge To Give You A Kick Up The ****




If you are like me the beautiful sunny days, offers of barbecue`s and days out is making it hard to find the motivation to sit at a desk and write.
Writing challenges can give you the push and discipline you need to keep writing.
The first writing challenge I took part in was NaNoWriMo last November. If You are not familiar with it you can find out more information here http://www.nanowrimo.org/
I found my first NaNoWriMo experience to be both positive and negative.  The positive aspects were that I made new writing friends, had support when I felt like giving up, learnt a great deal about writing, and it inspired me to start a blog.But most of all it gave me the kick I desperately needed to commit to my writing. After years of  making excuses why it was not a good time to write I WAS AND STILL AM WRITING.
Negative aspects? Well, last November seemed to be the month that everyone in my house took turns to be ill. Its hard to think straight after being up all night with crying children.
I started the month writing well and keeping up with the daily word count target but after two weeks I was falling rapidly behind. Writing like a lunatic to catch up I found I was just writing rubbish. I did not feel I had the time to put great thought into my writing.
In the end I finished the month at 42,000 words. But after reading through what I had written and deleting the rubbish the word count stood at approx 12,000 words. Sounds like abit of a pointless month. But what I did not achieve in pages of excellent work I gained in knowledge, experience and determination. I do not regret taking part it just did not suit my life style. That is where A Round Of Words In 80 Days   
is different. It is an 80 day (NaNoWriMo is only 30 days) writing challenge where you set your own goals. Be it a new piece of work, a work in progress, or just editing. You set your daily targets. You set your goal for the finishing line. This is a writing challenge that can be adapted to suit your own needs and life style. I am going to use this challenge to finish my novel AWAKEN. It starts 4th July. Why don`t you join in too.

Friday 1 July 2011

Advice Wanted!!! Is AutoCrit Editing Wizard good?

Does anybody use  AutoCrit Editing Wizard    

Which package did you purchase?

I would really like to know if it is worth having before I buy it. 

Or does anyone know of something similar? 

Any advice would be really appreciated.