Nicholas Sparks Film Adaptations

As someone who loves literature, I try to give every book a chance. I don't like to write off an author as "lame" before I've read at least one of their books, even if it is about sparkly century-old vampires with crushes on susceptible young women. So when it comes to Nicholas Sparks, know that I've read a couple of his books - A Walk to Remember and The Notebook, to be exact - and still think he's one of the most repetitive authors out there. Probably the only one to top him would be Danielle Steele - my mom used to read her books, and after about a dozen she realized they're all the same plot but the characters have different names, hair colors and careers. Not my idea of a good read.

So I was at Target the other day, browsing through the book section while waiting for our prescriptions to be filled, and found an entire endcap devoted to Nicholas Sparks, specifically the novels that have been adapted into movies. After the initial eye-roll, I noticed something a little fishy.

 

The cover for Dear John based on the 2010 movie looks suspiciously like the cover of Message in a Bottle, from the film with Kevin Costner in 1999. Dark-haired guy snuggling with a blonde on the beach, centered in the shot? Sounds like a great idea... 

 But then I looked at the rest of the books on the shelf, and that's when it got really good. 

 

Really? Is that all the characters do in Sparks' novels, nearly kiss while touching their lover's face?  Didn't anyone realize that all of the covers look EXACTLY THE SAME? Or did they do it on purpose as part of some marketing strategy? I just don't get it. 

Thankfully, the one book/movie I actually did like - probably because it reminds me of fun times I had watching it at sleep overs during high school - doesn't look exactly like all of the rest of the film adaptation covers. 

 

It does still include the two main characters happily in each others arms, though. I guess that's the signature look for Nicholas Sparks movies. Word has it that his 2010 novel Save Haven is set to be adapted into a film by 2013. It's set in North Carolina, so maybe it's time for another snuggling on the beach cover? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

25 Days: Plastic Shovels

On the other end of the spectrum, the complete opposite of the awesome Barbie Dream Boat, is probably the lamest gift I ever got at Christmas: a snow shovel. More specifically, a child-sized plastic snow shovel with a special note from Santa telling us to use our new shovels to help out our father. It wasn't the only gift we got that year, thank goodness, but it was pretty ridiculous. I mean seriously, who gives a kid a present that they can only use when doing chores? Thanks, Santa.

My Apologies!

I've been working on writing posts for the 25 Days features, but genius that I am saved them on my laptop and left it at home when I headed to the city for work this week. So I may or may not be updating every day this week, but I will make sure to have a total of 25 posts by Christmas! Be sure to check back this weekend because I'll be retro-posting topics.

So much for coordination...

Theme Wanted. Inquire Within.

I really want to write a book. 

I've always wanted to, actually. Ever since I was a kid and learned how to read, I wanted to create my own book. If you're reading this, then you probably haven't read my first entry about this, since posts are displayed newest to oldest. If you have read it, I am sorry to repeat myself. 

 

It's just that lately, I have been having this nagging feeling that I need to be  writing. Not that I should write again, not that it would be kind of nice to be working on a story again, but that I MUST WRITE. I've been taking notes on things unnecessarily,  thinking of chapter titles, all sorts of ridiculous things that I have been using like rice cakes to curb my hunger to write. 

 

The only problem is, I have absolutely no idea what to write about. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but it's true. I have discovered that fiction is not my strong point (i.e., my characters all turn out the same and my plots are lame. No one wants to read that.) and have decided to try my hand at non-fiction. I googled 'writing non fiction' to see what kind of stuff I came up with. Most of it was How to Publish Your Nonfiction and articles like that, but I did run across a few helpful hints from seasoned authors. For example, write frequently. Even if you don't feel like writing or have nothing to say, write anyway. That's a good idea, I guess. Hence this blog of me rambling about writing. Another tip suggested that as a writer you should specialize in something and write about that. Think about the things that you are interested in or that you have experienced or a truth that you have discovered and write about that. Unfortunately, I don't think I have anything worth writing about. I'm only in my early twenties, I come from a stable home in a nice town, there's not a whole lot of exciting events in my life. I'm not even out of college yet, I can't say that I am an expert in anything. 

 

And yet, I feel as if my voice needs to be heard and my fingers itch to put words to paper. There has to be something about me that I can write about, something people could relate to and take inspiration from, something that needs to be heard. The hard part is going to be figuring out what that is.