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Nothing turns off a potential buyer faster than peeling paint, a
broken window, or a splintered front step. It’s wise to make
necessary repairs before you put your house on the market. A
house in good condition demonstrates pride of ownershipone of
your best sales tools. Start by covering these areas: Inside the
House Fix or replace damaged flooring, such as torn
linoleum or cracked tiles. If you can’t afford to replace
damaged or worn floors, consider offering the buyer an allowance
for renovation. Fix any drains, faucets, or plumbing
fixtures that aren’t operating. Fixes can range from replacing a
faucet washer to buying a new toilet. Paint the
interior. Fill and paint any cracks or holes in the walls. (You
may need to repaint entire walls to mask such repairs.)
Replace burned-out bulbs and broken electrical sockets.
Most agents will want you to turn on all the lights before a
showing. Replace or fix broken stairs. Fix any creaks as
well. Replace old locks and doorknobs. Make it easy for
a buyer to walk in. Fix any doors that don’t open
easily, including the garage door. If your garage door opener
doesn’t work, repair or replace it. Outside the House
Replace cracked windows and torn screens. Don’t let your
house be shown with the equivalent of a black eye. Fix
cracks in the driveway and entry walkway, and clean up stains.
If the driveway requires major repair, it may be preferable to
offer the buyer an allowance for the work. Paint the
exterior. Touch up peeling paint, window frames, porches, and
shutters. Repaint the entire exterior if it is drab or peeling.
Replace broken gutters or missing downspouts. Good
drainage is key to passing a home inspection. Replace or
fix broken stairs. It’s a matter of both safety and aesthetics.
Reseal the deck and repair broken boards. A new coat of
sealer can spruce up a fading deck. Repair the roof.
Replace shingles and tack down loose flashing. If the roof is
old, you may want to replace it and adjust your sales price
accordingly.

ADAPTATION 101

Brimming with confidence, you’ve just signed the check purchasing the rights to adapt John Doe’s fabulous, but little known novel, Lawrence of Monrovia, to screenplay form. Suddenly, panic sets in. “What was I thinking? How the devil am I going to convert this 400-page novel to a 110-page screenplay?”

The answer is: “The same way you transport six elephants in a Hyundai… three in the front seat and three in the back!”

Old and very bad jokes aside, how does one pour ten gallons of story into a one-gallon jug?

In this article, we’ll take a look at this challenge and a few others that a writer may encounter when adapting a novel to screenplay form.

CHALLENGE NUMBER ONE – LENGTH

Screenplays rarely run longer than 120 pages. Figuring one page of a screenplay equals one minute of film, a 120-page screenplay translates into a two-hour motion picture. Much longer than that and exhibitors lose a showing, which translates to fewer six-cent boxes of popcorn sold for $5.99 at the refreshment stand. It took the author of your source material 400 pages to tell the story. How can you possibly tell the same story in 110 pages, the ideal length for a screenplay by today’s industry standards?

And the answer to this question is no joke. “You can’t! Don’t even try!”

Instead, look to capture the essence and spirit of the story. Determine the through-line and major sub-plot of the story and viciously cut everything else.

By “through-line” I mean, WHO (protagonist) wants WHAT (goal), and WHO (antagonist) or WHAT (some other force) opposes him or her? It helps to pose the through-line as a question.

“Will Dorothy find her way back to Kansas despite the evil Wicked Witch of the West’s efforts to stop her?”

The same needs to be done for the major sub-plot.

“Will Dorothy’s allies achieve their goals despite the danger they face as a result of their alliance?”

One workable technique is to read the book, set it aside for a few weeks, and then see what you still remember of the story’s through-line. After all, your goal is to excerpt the most memorable parts of the novel, and what you remember best certainly meets that criterion.

In most cases, everything off the through-line or not essential to the major sub-plot has to go. Develop your outline, treatment or “beat sheet” accordingly.

CHALLENGE NUMBER TWO – VOICE

Many novels are written in the first person. The temptation to adapt such, using tons of voiceovers, should be resisted. While limited voiceovers can be effective when properly done, remember that audiences pay the price of admission to watch a MOTION (things moving about) PICTURE (stuff you can SEE). If they wanted to HEAR a story they’d visit their Uncle Elmer who drones on for hour upon hour about the adventures of slogging through the snow, uphill, both ways, to get to and from school when he was a kid, or perhaps they’d buy a book on tape.

The old screenwriting adage, “Show, don’t tell!” applies more than ever when writing an adaptation.

CHALLENGE NUMBER THREE – “LONG-THINKING”

Some tribes of American Indians had a word to describe those of their brethren who sat around thinking deep thoughts. Literally the word translated to, “THE DISEASE OF LONG-THINKING”. Quite often, lead characters in novels suffer from this disease.

“Mike knew in his heart that Judith was no good. Yet she caused such a stirring in his loins, he could think of nothing else. He feared someday he would give in to this temptation named Judith, and his surrender would surely bring about the end of his marriage!”

If adapted directly, how on Earth would a director film the above? All we would SEE is Mike sitting there, “long-thinking”. That is not very exciting to say the least. And as mentioned previously, voiceovers are rarely the best solution.

When essential plot information is presented only in a character’s thought or in the character’s internal world, one solution is to give this character a sounding board, another character, to which his thoughts can be voiced aloud. Either adapt an existing character from the novel or create a new one. Of course as always, you should avoid overly obvious exposition by cloaking such dialogue in conflict, or through some other technique. Even better, figure out a way to express the character’s dilemma or internal world through action in the external world.

CHALLENGE NUMBER FOUR – WHAT STORY?

Mark Twain is quoted as saying about Oakland, California, “There’s no there, there”. Similarly, some novels, even successful ones, are very shy on story and rely for the most part on style and character to create an effect. Some prose writers are so good at what they do, that their artful command of the language alone is enough to maintain reader interest. Such is never the case in screenwriting.

Successfully adapting a “no-story-there” novel to screenplay form is a daunting task. One approach is to move away from direct adaptation toward, “story based upon”. Use the brilliant background and characters created by the original author as a platform from which to launch a screen story. In fact, if for any reason a screenplay doesn’t lend itself to screenplay form, consider moving toward a “based upon” approach, rather than attempting a direct adaptation.

Congratulations! You’re now an expert on adapting novels to screenplay form! Well maybe not an expert, but hopefully you have a better understanding of how to approach the subject than you did ten minutes ago. And if the subject still seems too daunting, you can always get professional help as outlined on our web page http://www.coverscript.com/adaptation.html

Lynne Pembroke and Jim Kalergis
Coverscript.com
URL: http://www.coverscript.com

About the Authors:

Lynne Pembroke is a writer, poet, screenwriter and owner of Coverscript.com, with over 18 years of experience in screenwriting and screenplay analysis helping individual writers, screenwriting competitions, agents, studios, producers and script consulting companies. Services include screenplay, TV script and treatment analysis, ghostwriting, rewriting and adaptation of novel to screenplay. Jim Kalergis is a working screenwriter experienced in the art of adaptation. Visit http://www.coverscript.com for details.

Why Amber?

Amber contains joy and happiness. It contains life-giving energy. The life that started more than 30 million years ago survived the massive moving of earth plates, masses of heavy grounds falling on them, being washed away miles away and miles deep to the ocean bed … and the traces of them still stayed to amazing details inside the tree resin we now call Amber! The treasures of life forms proved its existence through this long and really earth moving experience. Amber is therefore symbolic of life-giving energy.

Amber is popular for thoughtful gift giving to the beloved ones. Amber has a meaningful message about life and survival.

What is Amber?

Commonly referred to as tree sap, however amber is anything but sap! Read below to know more.

This is how it all started millions of years ago…Large number of trees in some parts of the world began to seep its sticky and aromatic resin down their sides and onto the land while filling internal fissures, trapping debris, such as seeds, leaves, feathers and insects on the way. These seeped globes of tree resin collected life forms in the process. As geologic time progressed through the millions of years afterwards, these forests were buried under the ocean or the resin was washed out of the forest floor by large rivers and transported south towards the sea. In the course of time, the globes of resin progressively hardened into a golden gem with a warm and soft glow from within! .

This process of fossilizing tree resin of ancient trees is called “natural polymerization and oxidization of original organic compounds”. In other words, amber is fossilized resin that is million of years old. Most of the world’s amber is in the range of 30-90 million years old.

Therefore contrary to common belief, Amber is not produced from tree sap, but rather from plant resin

Amber and Baltic Amber

Since the ancient times, the word amber meant only one thing – the Baltic Amber! However, the process of how amber is formed traced more amber varieties in different parts of the world. Although more than 125 types of fossil resins are known in the world, these resins are not amber but its relatives. They are mostly found in Europe and America and each of them has its own name. But the Baltic amber is uniquely known for its quality and is most sought after.

Baltic amber is fossil resin produced by pine trees, which grew in Northern Europe – from southern regions of the present-day Scandinavia and nearby regions of the bed of the Baltic Sea. The climate became warmer and conifer trees started to exude big amounts of resin. Scientists say that amber (or succinite) is a fossil pine resin from this region that has achieved a stable state through oxidation.

Our amber comes from the Palvininkai deposit in the Yantamy, Kaliningrad Province of Russia. The Palvininkai deposit contains 90% of the world’s amber. Even now 500-700 tons of this mineral per year are excavated in an open mine using modern mining equipment. Over 90% percent of all extracted amber is of poorer quality and can be used only as an ingredient in other products.

http://www.pippinbass.com

Sneakers are probably the most important items in a sports wardrobe. As interesting as it may be, you can’t jog in the same shoes you go to the office.

It’s important to have at least one pair of sneakers handy each time you go out. Whether you plan going to the woods with friend or family, or simply you go to the local shop to buy something for the house, they are the first choice since they are light and very easy to put on.

How to decide which ones are for you?

That’s a simple task. Look for models that you really believe would look good on you. Once you have several pairs that you like, take a closer look at each of them. See if they are of quality, what material are they made of, the way the sole is glued.

Will they endure the kind of stress you are planning to make them have? If not, take them off the list. There’s no point in buying a pair of sneakers that will break after two weeks of use.

Next, consider if they will fit with the other clothes in your wardrobe. Usually, sneakers go well with most jeans and other casual pants. However, if you think you can wear sneakers with your business meeting suit, stop doing that! Drop it off your mind! There is no way you can wear sneakers with official clothes. Unless you deliberately want to shock people.

Once you’ve taken care of the above steps, all you need to do now is to know the best size. For that, it’s best to go to a local shop and try a couple of sneakers and see what the size in which you feel comfortable is. You can also look at your current shoes, but if you feel a bit discomfort, it’s ok to get a bigger size. Also, note that the sneakers you already own have passed trough the stretching phase, so their size might be a bit different.

Now that you know what to look for, it’s time to get yourself a good pair of sneakers.

Thailand is one of the world’s most devout Buddhist countries. If you’re looking to do some soul searching while you’re away from work, then a vacation in Thailand would be the perfect option. This country has some of the most beautiful and old monasteries of the world. The Grand Palace in Rattanakosin houses the famous Wat Phra Kaew Buddhist temple which has the statue of the Emerald Buddha. This place is also considered as one of the most sacred sites in the country. There are many other beautiful temples that are dedicated to Buddha all across Thailand such as Wat Yai Chai Mongkon in Phitsanulo, Wat Mahathat in Nakhon Si Thammara and Wat Ko Keo Suttharam in Phetchaburi.

There are many flights that travel regularly to this busy country of Asia. You can easily get yourself a reservation on any of the budget flights that cater to the budget traveler. The best way to get a good deal for your money is to travel by a discount flight since you can get some good bargains on your flight fare. The best time to travel to Bangkok is during the off season that is during the rainy season as this is when the prices for the hotels and flights are much cheaper compared to the rates throughout the year.

There are many places that of interest in Thailand such as the beautiful beaches of Phuket which has about 39 islands in the Andaman Sea. This is a very famous spot with the tourists, who are looking to enjoy a relaxed lazy vacation. When in Phuket one can pamper themselves with Thai massages and the fantastic spa treatments. There are so many beaches in this region that are a perfect place to enjoy some beautiful sunsets with your loved one.