4: Adapting Your Book

                My book is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer so the filmmaker would probably have quite a few challenges with adapting this book. The first one being, the little boy has a very colorful vocabulary, so only of those parts would have to be changed unless you wanted the movie to be rated R. Also, he would have a challenge making people in the audience like Oskar, his mom, or his grandma, because they are just flat out weird.  And, they all act in ways that would make people not really enjoy them for two hours straight.

                One scene that is essential to keep would be the scene where Oskar’s dad is telling him the story of the sixth borough of New York. It really shows that Oskar fits with his dad in a way that nothing else really could. Another scene that is essential to keep is the scene where he meets Mr. Black. Mr. Black is cool and crazy, just like any old man and that would really take away from the movie if they didn’t have a crazy old war veteran in there. A third scene that is essential to keep would be the one where Oskar tells his mom that he wishes that she was the one who died in 9/11. This scene shows that they don’t get along, and that their relationship has become really rocky after his dad died.

                One thing that you would definitely have to change would be when Oskar thinks about things that he wishes he did. One of those things includes bashing in the head of one of his fellow classmates. This scene would be really graphic, and the audience would not respond well to a violent little child that cried for attention. Another scene that you would have to cut would be where his grandfather is sculpting his grandmother because it is really descriptive and once again, not really good for the audience to see in a book that is supposed to be about a little boy who lost his father.

                I haven’t seen the film version of this novel, but I really truly hope that they cut out those specific scenes. 

Book 1 Project

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown, is a really good book, but it hasn’t been advertised at all yet. I have three ideas on how you could sell more copies of this book and how the author could get more money.

Idea 1:

One way that other companies try to make money for Harry Potter is by selling wands that look like the ones they use in the movies. For The Lost Symbol, you could sell Masonic rings of the 33^rd degree.  In the book, this ring comes into play a lot since it is Peter’s ring that he always wears, and since it helps them identify who’s hand it is that they find-“His gaze moved instantly to the familiar golden ring on the fourth finger.” Also, this ring has the number “33” on it and it symbolizes the Masons, which is extremely important to the book and to how they describe things.

 If you sold these rings to the public you could make lots of money because everyone wants to be wearing a ring that only honorary Mason brother get to wear. Also, it is a pretty cool ring anyway so it would look good with lots of outfits and that would inspire people to wear it to set a fashion statement. This idea would help people stay involved with the author because every time they would look down at their hand they would think either that they had a really cool ring, or about the book itself. You might though, if you make the ring, slightly alter it so you don’t offend the actually Mason brothers that are of the 33^rd degree. Just keep things happy, you know.

Idea 2:

                Another thing that companies could sell would be tattoo sleeves. This may sound weird right now, but, think about it. Companies would set them out on display, and they would be sleeves with tattoos sewn onto them, so if you put them on it would look like you had tattoos curling up and down your arms.

                In the book, Mal’akh has tattoos covering his entire body, and even though he’s the bad guy, people still would think it would be cool to look like they had ink all over their arms-“Tonight, as Mal’akh descended the ramp, the tattooed sigils and signs on flesh seemed to come alive.” Mal’akh uses them to symbolize how God-like he is, and they come into play a lot towards the end when it starts to wrap up. This idea would be a good idea because then it would involve maybe motorcycle gangs who usually don’t read which would then allow the audience to widen even more. It would also sell extremely well during Halloween when some people are trying to be Goth or look cool. Or, you could also make the tattoos the ones that you have to wet a wash cloth and then press it on your skin and rub the water on it. This way it would be slightly more realistic looking, yet it would appeal even more to people, and it might appeal to some kids who want to look like they’re so big and bad and have tattoos around Halloween time.

Idea 3:

              One more thing that people could sell to help publicize the book could be to sell miniature models of the pyramid Katherine and Robert find.”When Katherine saw the engraved symbols, she gasped in bewilderment.” It would be solid black, not quite as large as the one in the book, but maybe one that’s 6 inches tall and then a more expensive one that is actually a foot tall. The pyramid would have the same symbols on it as the one in the book so people would feel like they actually found the Masonic pyramid. This would help the book grab people’s attention because it is a pretty large pyramid and because the symbols are really confusing and almost impossible to read unless you have read the book and you have found out that way.

              All of these things would help boost sales for The Lost Symbol especially since it isn’t really publicized now.