Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Hunger Games as Inspiration

I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Wow, that book reads fast. I wanted to read The Hunger Games for a while now, and have already purchased the second book in the trilogy. I knew I wanted to read The Hunger Games right before I really threw myself behind my second Hazy Souls novel, because I've heard such good things about it and stand by the advice that you need to read something well-written right before you write.

One drawback for me is that The Hunger Games is written in first person. My book is written in third person. I love reading first person books, it's just a little more difficult to adapt my style and pacing alongside my inspiration. I definitely respect The Hunger Games' sense of action and the immediacy of what's going to happen next. It's a real page turner. I'm hoping that my next book will be a faster read, particularly in the beginning as that is a section I've struggled with in the first book. It was also nice to read about Peeta, a good-natured boy who I didn't find the least bit boring, because I want Jeremy's character to grow to be more compassionate.

I think The Hunger Games will help me with:
1.) creating haunting locations
2.) streamlining action sequences
3.) bringing out the best in Jeremy

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Random College Memories

I thought it would be fun to make a random picture / memory collage, just 'cause.

independent zombie film
At some point in college, I was in a zombie movie. Here I am running from a horde of zombies. Notice the unfortunate direction of our escape: right into the arms of two hungry zombies!

zombie attack
Yes, here we are, lifeless, after the inevitable zombie attack. These pictures were taken during the filming. How fun is it to reflect on college memories?! I was in a few college films, plus directed my own films and a play. Shoutout to SCRU (Screenwriters Community of Rutgers University), KTP (Knight Time Production), RUTV (Rutgers University Television + Hub City + Pass the Popcorn), and UBFS (University of Bristol Film Society).

decorating with boxes
Ah, my precious boxes! I love boxes. My box obsession got a little out of hand in college, and I started decorating my dorm room with boxes and bubble wrap. This is my dorm door. I also had boxes on the wall beside my bed and on the ceiling. Anyway, it all felt very important at the time.

World Trade Center and Wall Street After 9/11
And here's a historical time stamp: I did an internship at P.O.V. Documentary in New York, NY in 2006. I used to take the subway to the World Trade Center stop and I could see the charred building remains. I had to walk from the World Trade Center to my internship and go through various blockades. The blockades were set in place to prevent people from driving. There were always armed guards with rifles.

New York armed guards by the site of the World Trade Center
There was usually someone positioned on the stairs cradling a rifle.

Completely unrelated, but here goes:

girl playing the accordion
Ah, my accordion days! Here I am, serenading the masses with my amateur accordion skills. This accordion was my dad's when he was a child. My grandfather plays the accordion and he's really good. Someday, perhaps, I'll play the polka!