interview with a vampire

so...in the past few months, i've begun reading some vampire novels(dracula/anno dracula). and then my parents got me a copy of the novel interview with a vampire by anne rice. for those who don't know interview is the cult classic vampire novel from the 1970s and there's a movie of it with brad pitt, tom cruise, kirsten dunst and christian slater. i'm only around 50/60 pages into it, but it's totally amazing...dracula would have to be my favorite vampire novel, but interview is a close second. the characters are complex, engaging, flawed, but oddly likeable and the plot is interesting and hard to predict. i'd definitly suggest that anyone who likes vampires should read interview with a vampire. it's so rewarding and such a great novel.
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books and movies

as most of us sadly know, when a beloved book becomes made into a movie, it usually ends up being absolutely terrible(example: eragon) and it makes you feel depressed that such a great(or not so great in the case of the alex ryder books) book was totally ruined by the movie making industry. not all books are ruined, of course. personally, i think the movie versions of lord of the rings by peter jackson are better than the books b/c he cut out all the parts that didn't really fit with the rest of the story(the twenty page poems) and still had the movies be great. and the harry potter movies aren't too bad...i mean they could be worse.
but there are certain books that can never become movies. never ever.
1. catcher in the rye. if it was made into a movie, it would ruin everything the book is about(holden hates the movies). and also, it'd be impossible to find a person who could really be holden. i once read somewhere that only jd salinger could really play holden, but he's in his 80s and is a hermit in new jersey, so there goes that idea...honestly, the only movies that even come close is igby goes down(which i've never seen, but heard is really good) and dead poet's society(which i have seen and isn't really the same plot as catcher, but has a lot of the same themes). so, it'd be pretty much impossible for catcher to ever be a movie. and i hope it doesn't.
2. anno dracula. it's such a great book series and i'd hate to see it become another vampire chick-lit like van helsing(which is a great movie, even if it ruins dracula)
3. a tree grows in brooklyn. it might work as a mini-series on tv(bbc this is a hint) but i would never work as a movie. the story itself has too many characters and complex twists and cutting any of them out would be a crime. so a miniseries would be good. but not a movie.
um...that's all i can think of for now...my next post might be talking about what books would make good movies...
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i capture the castle/cold comfort farm

okay...so...finals are coming up...they're next week!!! i'm kind of worried about them, but then again, who isn't a little freaked out about them? but once they're done, it's winter break...and that means snowboarding and then going to los angeles! pretty excited for both of those things...
and besides, i've found a way to keep from getting to stressed out. so, there are these two books that i absolutely adore. they are called I Capture the Castle and Cold Comfort Farm and they are amazing. and over the weekend, i found out that there are movie versions of them and said movies are both on youtube. so, whenever i've finished my homework and have some extra time before i need to go to bed, i watch part of one.
both of them are really good and they both have actors/actresses i like. I Capture the Castle has Ramola Garai(i'm not sure how you spell her name) and Henry Cavill(he's in that show about the Tudors) in it. and Cold Comfort Farm has Rufus Sewell in it. Rufus Sewell, my friends. That is quite exciting. I love Rufus Sewell. Actually, it's a bit of full-on obsession. But it's not my fault that's he's such a good actor and has such pretty eyes.
anyways, better be getting to bed.
bye luvs!
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anno dracula

okay...so basically, i discovered on of the best books ever. it's called "anno dracula" and it's totally amazing...it's by kim newman and was written in 1992(the year it was written is kind of important) basically, it's premise is: what if dracula killed van helsing and became the ruler of the british empire? what would happen? and what if book characters we took for granted were actually alive?
the plot: someone has been killing new born vampire women in the whitechapel area under the name of "jack the ripper". gwen, a 400-year-old vampire who looks 16, and charles, a human with a failing engagement, work together to solve the mystery and find themselves falling in love(of course). with the help of people like dr. jekyll and oscar wilde, this unlikely duo find themselves trying to catch and murder and maybe even save england.
"anno dracula" is totally amazing...it's really well-written and the way the plot is set up(you know who the murderer is after the first chapter) is really good. i'd really suggest it to anyone who likes good mysteries, dracula or the movie "van helsing". check it out. it's pretty good.
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i did it!!!

omg....i did it!!! i made it to 50,000 words on my novel for nanowrimo. actually, i went a little above. i made it to 50,068 words. does this mean that the novel is done being written? of course not. i still have a lot of writing left to do before my roughest of rough drafts is even close to being done. but it doesn't matter. i did it. i beat nanowrimo. i am a "winner". i have collected my "winner's goodies"
i'm actually rather proud of myself. when i began, i was all "oh. 50,000 words. how hard can it be?" actually, it is hard. there were days when i wanted to give up because my characters just wouldn't do what they told me to or when i was frantically typing in an attempt to write 250 words in a minute so that i could meet the deadline. but in the end, i made. i reached 50,000 words. and i am proud of myself.
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10,000

o.m.g.
i am so close to finishing nanowrimo. i have just over 10,000 words left...that is almost nothing... i remember when i had over 30,000 words left and i thought i'd never finish the thing. but now i think i will finish it. and as much as i love it, i'm kind of getting sick of my attempted novel. why can't my characters do what i want them to? it's not that hard. sometimes, i'm tempted just to give up and let kayla and del and aaron and all the rest just run rampant in my imagination. and then i realize that by doing that, i will have given up. and i don't want to give up on something this amazing...i'm going to finish this novel, even if it kills me.
and the lovely thing is that i have until next sunday to finish it. and i can easily write the remaining 10,000 words by next saturday. now i'm getting all anxious...
cheers!
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thanks....but no thanks

a lot of you have asked me to maybe give my dream cast for my novel. sadly, i won't be doing that for two big reasons.
1. if it ever gets published and made into a movie, it won't be for a few years, so all my ideas as to who should play who will be too old.
2. all the main characters are teenagers. i have no wish to see my characters being corrupted and portrayed by the likes of disney channel stars, who would most likely play them.
sorry...i guess i won't be making up a cast for it anytime soon.
however, if you want me to cast other books into movies, give me suggestions.
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fine...

people have been asking about the novel i'm writing for nanowrimo, so i will explain a bit about the plot and post a small excerpt of it.
basically, the novel is about this girl named Kayla who's a sophmore in high school and about her life and stuff...pretty stereotypical and stuff. nothing that exciting. basically, 3/4s of it is told through Kayla's perspective. and the other 1/4...well, basically, Kayla's best friend Delilah wants to be an author so the other 1/4 is excerpts of the novel Delilah's trying to write...so it's kinda like i'm writing 2 novels. okay. here's the excerpt:
My cell phone rings.
"Hello? Might I ask who's-"
"Kayla? Where are you? I've been waiting for you for almost twenty minutes." It's Andrew. And he sounds pissed. That's rare. The last time he sounded so mad was when we found out who McCain's running mate is.
"Sorry. I had a track thing."
"And you couldn't have told me about it?" Andrew asks.
"I found out about it during lunch."
"And you couldn't have told me about it?" Andrew repeats. I can't help but wincing. He does have a point.
"I'm sorry. Look, I didn't mean to forget."
"Okay. It's fine." Andrew doesn't so much sound pissed as upset. In some ways, that's even worse. I hate it when I make Andrew upset. He gets all quiet and doesn't really talk much. It's awful.
"Do you want me to still come over? I should be home by half an hour."
"Um…"
"Come on, Andrew. You can't honestly expect me to let you watch Burn Gorham all on your own. What kind of friend would I be if I did that?" I wait to hear Andrew's laugh. Nothing. Crap.
"I'll ask my mom. Maybe you could come over after dinner."

i hope you like it! tell me what you think
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halfway done...

just a quick note. i have officially reached 25000 words and am halfway done with nanowrimo...i can't believe it. the novel is going quite well and is about 55 pages, single spaced. i've been having so much fun writing it. but now i should probably go to sleep b/c it's quite late.
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the novel

so. here is the plan regarding my nanowrimo novel.
1. i'm going to finish it. or attempt to get to 50,000 words and to an ending.
2. i'm going to get rid of the truly awful bits.
3. i'm going to give it to a few close family members/friends to read it.
4. i'm going to post it.
so yeah. don't expect to get to read it until december 2008/january 2009. and if you do get to read it, it'll be a very very rough draft. just so everyone knows the plan.
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the infamous novel pt. 2

okay guys...i might put up the thing i'm writing for nanowrimo. the problem is, i'm not quite sure of the logosistics of how i should do that...should i just copy and paste it straight into here or not? if you guys have suggestions, i'd love that.
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the infamous novel...

some of you have expressed interest in getting to read the novel i'm writing for nanowrimo. i might put it up.
but as a warning: it is BAD. the point of it is just to write it and not care about how it sounds. so if it sucks, don't be too harsh in your criticism.
and i know that the dialouge sounds really fake most of the time. i haven't had much practice talking to guys, so i don't know how to write guys talking...and i know bits of it are pretty unrealistic/cheesy. just deal. it's not like i'm a published author.
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nanowrimo and pumpkin spice lattes

so...i haven't really been writing that much lately...there's a fairly good reason for that...remember how i said it was weird that i had almost no homework lately??? well, it turns out i had a right to be worried...they are dumping the homework on us by the ton...i have an english essay, history essay, major art project, tons of math problems...and i'm sure a lot of you are in the same boat(never got that expression).
and there's another reason. it's nanowrimo right now. for those who don't know, nanowrimo stands for national novel writing month. basically, you try to write 50,000 words(which is obviously a novel...) by novemeber 30. i've written about 19500 words...it's pretty fun, but kind of stressful...
last little thing: has anyone had the pumpkin spice lattes from starbucks??? most amazing drink. ever. go drink one if you haven't yet.
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marcus zusak

the book thief is a good book. correction: it is one of the best books ever written. basically, it is about this girl named lisel who lives in a town outside of munich during world war two with her foster parents. her foster parents decided to take in a Jewish refugee named max. the whole book is all about growing up and losing things you love and falling in love. and to make it even more interesting, it's narrated by death.
when i first read the book thief, i skipped the long, slightly boring middle section and i had no idea what was going on in the ending. so i went back and reread it. and when i finished it, i was sobbing. i know that i cry at the end of a lot of books, but the book thief really really made me just want to curl up in a ball and bawl like a baby. the writing was so good and the ending was so bleak, but so uplifiting. i suggest that if you haven't read it, you should. and don't skip any of it.
so, yesterday, i was trying to find out what the author, marcus zusak, address is so i can write to him for advice on how to be good at writing and to see if he was going to be speaking near me soon. but it turns out he hasn't written anything since 2006, which is when he wrote the book thief. if any of you know a way to contact him, i'd love to know it, since i really do want to write to him
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