Favorite Books that Became Movies from A to Z

A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale
Deliverance by James Dickey
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Kiss the Girls by James Patterson
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
Needful Things by Stephen King
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Patriot Games by Tom Clancy
Couldn’t Think of a Book That Began With the Letter “Q”
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
Couldn’t Think of a Book That Began With the Letter “X”
Couldn’t Think of a Book That Began With the Letter “Y”
Zodiac by Robert Graysmith

To see a larger listing click link below
descriptive phrases.com Books-that-Became Movies

Writing of a Novel

     Many times I’ve fought the urge to start a new novel even though I haven’t finished my current project. Sometimes ideas pull with such force, but I have tried to ignore new ideas and concentrate on finishing one story before moving on to the next. I recently gave into a desire to start writing a second book. My first is only about sixty percent complete. Hope I can handle writing two completely different books at the same time!

English Writing Basics - Use of Nouns

This is part of a continuing series meant to improve and reteach some of the basics of writing properly in English. Other sections include:

1)  The 8 Parts of Speech
2)  The Use of Nouns



Nouns

* Are an essential component of most sentences.

* Being able to identify different types of nouns can help you improve in 3 areas:

1.       Capitalization becomes easier when you know how to spot proper nouns.

2.       Subject-verb agreement in a sentence depends on whether a noun is countable or non-countable.

3.       Being about to spot abstract nouns and replacing them with concrete nouns can help your writing become more clear a vivid.

* Common Noun – the generic name of one thing in a class of group. (May sometimes become a proper noun.)

* Proper Noun – the name of a person or the official name of a place or thing. All begin with a capital letter. (May sometimes be used figuratively and informally.)

* When the correct form of a verb matches with the subject in a sentence it is called subject-verb agreement.

1.       Count Nouns – Name things that can be counted (ie. books, pens). May be singular or plural. They take the appropriate singular or plural verb forms.

2.       Non-Count Nouns – Name things that can’t be counted (ie. advise, water). Also called collective or mass nouns. Usually takes a singular verb when it is the subject of a sentence. However when there is expressed a quantity of units before a non-countable noun, the verb must agree with the units.

* An article comes before a noun or noun phrase.

1.       The articles (a) or (an) indicates that the noun is indefinite. Use the indefinite article (a) or (an) before a singular count noun when you mention it for the first time. (A) and (an) are never used before a proper noun.

2.       The article (the) indicates that the noun identifies something definite. Plural count nouns are never preceded by (a) or (an). The definite article points to a definite object that is so well understood that it does not need description. A singular or a plural count noun may take the definite article.

3.       Non-count nouns don’t take an indefinite article, except when you’re referring to different types of something that’s not countable. Non-count nouns that represent a collection or a mass may be preceded by a phrase that indicates quantity, such as (a lot of, a little, some, much, any). Non-count nouns may also take the definite article.

* Singular Count Noun – Used in three situations:

1.       When noun was mentioned before.

2.       Identified immediately before or after it was stated.

3.       The noun is unique or the only one in existence. (ie. The Earth)

 

* Abstract Nouns – denote feelings, thoughts, concepts, or ideas. May be interpreted differently by different people.

* Concrete Nouns – name people, places, or things you can experience through at least one of you five senses. They can be clearly visualized and are less likely to cause confusion.

English Writing Basics - The 8 Parts of Speech

This is part of a continuing series meant to improve and reteach some of the basics of writing properly in English. Other sections include:
1)  The 8 Parts of Speech
2)  The Use of Nouns






The 8 Parts of Speech
 

The parts of speech tell you how words function in a sentence, rather than what words are or mean. (ie. the same word may be a noun in one sentence, but a verb in another.)

Words can also be altered to function as different parts of speech. 

The 8 Parts are:

1. Nouns

2. Pronouns

3. Verbs

4. Adverbs

5. Adjectives

6. Conjunctions

7. Interjections

8. Prepositions

Below each of these parts of speech is explained further.

1. Nouns

a)    Words that name things (ie. persons, places, things, ideas, or qualities)

  b)   Can be categorized into 5 groups:

  1. Common Noun - Names a generic type of person, place, or thing. They can be further divided up into Count, Abstract, and Collective Nouns.

            2. Proper Noun – Name unique people, places, or things, rather than identifying them based on the categories to which they belong. They always start with a capital letter.

            3. Count Noun – Occur in both singular and plural forms. They express enumerable things (ie. Book or books, pen or pens)

            4. Collective Noun – Also called mass nouns. Refer to things that are not normally countable, either because they are abstract or because they denote an indeterminate number of people or things (ie. Money or management)

            5. Abstract Noun – Name things that can’t be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched. They describe feelings, ideas, or concepts (ie. Honesty, justice)

2. Pronouns

a)    Replace nouns. (ie. He, hers, him, his, it, she, their, themselves, they, our, ourselves, we, you)

b)    Make sentences less cumbersome and repetitive.

c)     May have different forms or cases, depending on how they function in a sentence.

They can be:

1.     Subjective Pronoun – Replace nouns that act as the subjects (nouns describing who or what performs the action) in sentences. (ie. I, you, he, she, we, they, and it)

2.     Objective Pronoun – Act as the objects in sentences. They preplace nouns identifying who or what is the recipient of the action expressed by a verb.

3.     Possessive Pronoun – Indicate ownership, or possession. The possessive pronouns my, our, your, his, her, its, and their can be used as adjectives to qualify nouns. Each possessive pronoun also has a corresponding independent form that can stand alone, without a noun. (ie. Mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs) With the independent form, the thing possessed may be either an antecedent or something understood. The independent form can also be the subject or object of a verb.

d)    Some personal pronouns are compounds that use the suffix self or selves. These are: my-myself, our-ourselves, your-yourself, your-yourselves, him-himself, her-herself, it-itself and them-themselves. They are used for two main purposes, for emphasis (called intensive pronouns) or to refer to the subject of the verb (called reflexive pronouns). Although they look alike, a Reflexive Pronouns reflect the action that the verb describes by renaming the subject, whereas an Intensive pronoun adds emphasis and gives force to a sentence. (ie. Intensive: I myself wrote the story. Reflexive: I prepared myself.)

3. Verbs

a)    Commonly described as action words because they usually describe the performance or occurrence of actions. They can also indicate a state of being or condition. (ie. Is or imagine)

b)    Helping verbs, known as auxiliary verbs, combine with some verb forms. The combinations are known was verb phrases. They many indicate tense or obligation, or provide other additional meaning. Commonly used helping verbs are versions of the verb: to be.

Present tense (to be): am, is, and are

            Past tense (to be): was and were
            Future tense (to be): will

4. Adverbs

a)    Describe, qualify, limit, or modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

b)    Can be classified into three types

1.     Adverbs of time tell when something occurs

2.     Adverbs of manner describe how something is done.

3.     Adverbs of place tell you where something occurs.

c)     Commonly end in the letters: ly. (ie. Carefully, quickly, slowly, particularly, only)

d)    Do NOT modify a nouns or pronouns.

5. Adjectives

a)    Describe nouns or pronouns.

b)    They answer the questions: Which one? What kind? How many? Or How much?

6. Conjunctions

a)    Join words, phrases, or sentences.

b)    Two types of conjuctions:

1.     Coordinating – Join words or groups of words that are of equal importance. (ie. And, but, nor, or, for, so, yet)

2.     Subordinating – Introduces a clause that is dependent on the main clause of sentence. (ie. Until, because, although, as, since, if, so that, when)

       c)     It is now thought to be acceptable to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as (and, but, so) as long as the previous sentence makes it clear what the conjunction is referring to. Or begin with a conjunction such as (because, since) if the sentence begins with an introductory clause that modifies another clause that follows.

7. Interjections

a)    Words, phrases, or clauses that denote strong felling or emotion.

b)    Often followed by exclamation marks. (ie. Oh!, Goodness!, Oh dear!)

8. Prepositions

a)      A word or phrase that links an object to another word in a sentence to show the relationship between them.

b)      A preposition’s object is usually a noun or pronoun.

c)       Different prepositions indicate different types of relationships.

1.       Prepositions such as (on, above, under, and below) identify spatial relationships – they specify where something is in relation to something else

2.       Prepositions like (before, after, at, during, and until) indicate time relationships.

3.       Prepositions such as (by, to, for, and with) identify logical relationships.

d)      Usually placed before its object. However it may sometimes end a clause or sentence. (ie.  A preposition used with the relative pronoun (that) always comes after the object.

e)      Almost always follows the pronoun (which). (ie. Which opinion is your approach aligned with?)

English Writing Basics

Was Grade School Really That Long Ago?


I took a computer based course at work that was meant to improve writing in business. The main topic was an in depth discussion of the eight parts of speech. For those of you who have also forgotten, the eight parts are as follows: Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, Conjunctions, Interjections and Prepositions.

I am embarrassed to admit that I received a score of only 68% correct on the pre-course exam. (Struggled to answer any Simple, Perfect or Progressive verb tense questions correctly.) Although I took this course lightly, thinking that this was all taught back in grade school, I was shocked at how much I’d not retained. Plus there have been numerous changed in English grammar. For instance it is now proper to begin a sentence with a proposition, such as “but”. I thought that for as much as I read and write on a daily basis, an English grammar course would be a waste of time, it wasn’t. Well, hopefully my writing has not truly been God awful all this time!


In this series of posts I am going to share some of what I was retaught in this class.
1)  The 8 Parts of Speech
2)  The Use of Nouns

Best Selling Books Of All Time

1. A Tale of Two Cites  by Charles Dickens

2. The Lord of the Rings  by JRR Tolkien

3. The Little Prince  by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

4. The Hobbit  by JRR Tolkien

5. Dream of the Red Chamber  by Cao Xueqin

6. And Then There Were None  by Agatha Christie

7. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

8. She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard

9. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

10. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

11. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

12. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

13. Steps to Christ by Ellen G. White

14. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

15. Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning by Johanna Spyri

16. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock

17. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

18. Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions by Anna Sewell

19. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

20. The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins

21. Watership Down by Richard Adams

22. The Hite Report by Shere Hite

23. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

24. The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy

25. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

26. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

27. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

28. A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard

29. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

30. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

31. How the Steel Was Tempered by Nikolai Ostrovsky

32. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

33. The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

34. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

35. Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer

36. In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? By Charles M. Sheldon

37. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

38. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

39. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

40. The Diary of a Young Girl, The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

41. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

42. The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

43. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

44. The Revolt of Mamie Stover by William Bradford Huie

45. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

46. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

47. The Late, Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey

48. The Young Guard by Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeyev

49. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

50. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

51. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

52. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

53. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

54. Virgin Soil Upturned by Mikhail Sholokhov

55. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

56. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

57. Uncle Styopa by Sergey Mikhalkov

58. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

59. Love Story by Erich Segal

60. Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong

61. The Happy Hooker: My Own Story by Xaviera Hollander

62. Jaws by Peter Benchley

63. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

64. The Women's Room by Marilyn French

65. What to Expect When You're Expecting by Arlene Eisenberg and Heidi Murkoff

66. The Adventures of Huckleberry by Finn Mark Twain

67. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend

68. Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft by Thor Heyerdahl

69. The Good Soldier by Jaroslav Hašek

70. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

71. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

72. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong

73. The Shack by William P. Young

74. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

75. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

76. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

77. Shōgun by James Clavell

78. The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey

79. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

80. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

81. Perfume by Patrick Süskind

82. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

83. The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans

84. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

85. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

86. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

87. God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell

88. Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro

89. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

90. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

91. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

92. Life After Life by Raymond Moody

93. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

94. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

95. Dune by Frank Herbert

96. The Plague by Albert Camus

97. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

98. The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris

99. The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

100. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

101. Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

102. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

103. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

104. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

105. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

106. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

107. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

108. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

109. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

110. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

111. Wild Swans by Jung Chang

112. Santa Evita by Tomás Eloy Martínez

113. Night by Elie Wiesel

114. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

115. Confucius from the Heart by Yu Dan

116. The Total Woman by Marabel Morgan

117. Knowledge-value Revolution by Taichi Sakaiya

118. Problems in China's Socialist Economy by Xue Muqiao

119. What Color is Your Parachute? By Richard Nelson Bolles

120. The Dukan Diet by Pierre Dukan

121. The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort

122. The Gospel According to Peanuts by Robert L. Short

123. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

124. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Writing of a Novel, Half Way There!

Halfway There!

    The summer has been a drag upon my writing. Work, fun and adding content to this site have all but devoured my time needed finishing my novel. I have however been able to complete chapters 33 through 35. Halfway there! Good luck in your own writing in whatever form it may be.

Fearing “The Don Quixote Effect”

Can books and/or story reading and writing cause you to go o n a knight’s errand? Not to say that in the present day one might head out on a horse seeking the honor and adventures of a classical knight, but can the love of books, both reading and writing them, actually dominate someone’s life to the point that it replaces reality. Well I think to some degree it can.

In Miguel Cervantes’ book “Don Quixote of La Mancha”, Quixote is so attached to the stories that he reads, it causes him to seek these adventures in his real life. I myself may not be taping together a helmet to match my grandfather’s armor, but there are plenty of times that reality is set aside as I am more focused on a story that are being played out in my head. There are times that I am so into a book that I am currently reading. In my head I am thinking about the last chapter where I was forced to put it down. Other times I may be thinking about the next chapter of my own novel and am not focused on what is happening right in front of me. Is this a typical symptom of regular reading and writing of stories? I am calling this “The Don Quixote Effect”, of a great literary works. I strive to have my own writing cast this spell over others.

If you were Dr. Frankenstein would you have created a female companion for his monster?

In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic work Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818, the main character Dr. Frankenstein creates life from dead body parts. He builds his monster taller and stronger than any man. When the monster comes to life, Frankenstein is horrified by the disgusting grotesqueness of the beast and runs from it. This monster in turn leaves alone, constantly running from human contact. As the monster begins to learn and think he returns to Dr. Frankenstein and kills those around him. He asks that Dr. Frankenstein create a second monster, a female companion for himself, so that he doesn’t have to be alone. He promises that if this second beast is created, they will leave human civilizations for good and live atop a mountain where no man can sustain life. However, if he should refuse this one request of a companion then the monster vows to continue to kill everyone around Dr. Frankenstein.

Dr. Frankenstein is torn. He doesn’t what to see anyone else hurt by his creation, but having two creatures may result in more murder. Since he refuses the monster’s request to create this female companion, the monster kills Dr. Frankenstein’s new bride on their wedding day. With this constant fear for the lives of those around you, could you make the same decision as Dr. Frankenstein? Or would you create the second monster and hope he keeps his word to avoid all human contact?

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

     The riddle, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” is quoted from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The story was first published in 1865. It tells the tale of a young girl who follows a rabbit down

into a hole, which opens up into a world of fantasy. The story gained popularity from its nonsensical style. Many of the events, characters and dialog have led to much debate from differing interpretations. Little equals the depth of intrigue that has stemmed from the question posed to Alice, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

     As Alice roams through wonderland she seeks advice on where she should travel next. She decides to follow directions to the March Hare’s house. Upon arriving at the home she encounters a tea party which is attended by the March Hare, the Hatter and a Dormouse. Alice takes a seat at the table and begins conversing with the March Hare and the Hatter as the Dormouse drifts in and out of consciousness. The Hatter asks Alice his riddle of the raven and writing desk. Alice enjoys riddles so tries to think of an answer to this question. She is unable to solve the Hatter’s riddle so she then asks him for the answer. The Hatter admits that he also does not know what the answer could be. This riddle is left unanswered and never again addressed within the rest of the story. This riddle without an answer gave rise to speculation from readers.

     In a later edition to the book of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, the author Lewis Carroll tries to give readers an answer to the Hatter’s riddle. This came as a response to many questions asked by readers and

fans of his work. Carroll confirmed that there was never supposed to be an answer. The riddle itself, with no answer was purposeful to the direction of the story. The book questioned things that didn’t seem to make sense and couldn’t be answered in life or society. He did however concede to his audience by giving an answer that he felt most fitting with the story. Within the preface to the 1896 edition, Lewis Carroll wrote that a raven is like a writing desk, “because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front.” He intentionally spelled never with an “a” which became the word raven backwards, or with its wrong end in front.

     As many other have since tried to answer the Hatter’s riddle some to the most creative ideas include:

Because Poe wrote on both (Sam Loyd)

Because the notes for which they are noted are not for being musical notes (Sam Loyd)

Because they both slope with a flap (Cyril Pearson)

Both have quills dipped in ink (Unknown Author)

Writing of a Novel

Time Well Spend.

     I forced myself to push off my other projects and reserved time to write. I breezed through the formerly blocked chapter 31 of my novel. Even finished chapter 32 and began 33. So after a delay due to other obligations, I moved ahead in a short amount of time. My motivation to keep writing has never been a problem; it’s time that always seems in such short supply.

HardCovers Vs. EBooks?

The digital world seems to be taking over. Many love the power of today’s technology and what has become available to the common user. Modern cities are crowded with pedestrians walking with their total focus on their smart phones or seemingly conversing with themselves, oblivious to the world around them. Kindles and nooks are crowding the lunch tables where once we would have seen an actual paper newspaper or a newly released fiction. With technology surrounding us all I still prefer the feel of a hardcover to any ebook. Hardcovers Vs. EBooks, which do you prefer?

6 Tips On Becoming A Better Writer.

 

Search and you can find many suggestions for becoming a better writer. Through my own research on the web, in books and experience I have formed my own list which I have found to be the most essential in creating a better writer.

1. Read, Read, Read. The most important exercise to becoming a better writer is to read. Experiencing the styles and techniques of other writers is essential in evolving your own writing abilities. One cannot expect to write a successful story if they have limited experience reading other author's work.

2. Practice. As with most other things in life, writing improves with practice. Writers need to do just that, Write. By engaging in the craft of writing, abilities can and will improve. Without practice there can be no expectation of getting better.

3. Write What You Know. When writing, you should stick to what you know. It is usually obvious to readers when an author writes about a topic they have little or no experience in. If you are not knowledgeable on a specific topic, stay clear of it.     However, when well researched, a topic that was formally unknown can become a learning experience that may evolve into a well written piece. In fiction writing, researching specifics can add legitimacy to the story and create a fuller experience for the reader. Unless you are willing to devote the time to the research before writing, unknown topics should be avoided.

4. Watch Your Spelling and Grammar. Nothing is more distracting to a story than misspelled words and grammatical errors. At a minimum, spell check your work. Even this will not eliminate all writing errors but it should clean it up enough for a first draft.

5. Edit and Rewrite. No work should ever be complete on the first draft. The bulk of your labors should be done in the first draft but it doesn’t end there. No one is perfect, including even the best writers. When editing your work, not only are you looking for simple writing mistakes, but think about whether or not the story flows well and will make sense to the reader. You are the only one that knows what you mean, if your writing is unclear, no one else will ever know.

6. Open to Suggestions. Unless you are writing a personal journal or diary, where you are the intended audience, comments from others are important. It’s not easy hearing negative feedback about your work but sometimes it is essential to becoming a better writer. Writers need to be thick skinned and open to creative criticism.

These six activities I have found to be essential to gaining experience and improving a writer’s abilities. Do you have any particular technique that has helped to improve your own writing? If so please share.