Makin’ Movies
I can’t keep up with Marshal Zeringue at the Campaign for the American Reader.
First, he started asking authors to apply Marshall McLuhan’s Page 69 Test to their most recent novel. That exercise proved so fruitful and successful -- with almost 200 authors having taken part thus far -- it launched a whole new blog.
Not satisfied, Zeringue went back to the tested authors and asked them what they were reading. The results have been delightful. But, for the tireless Zeringue, it just wasn’t enough and last Saturday he announced a new blog: My Book the Movie. “No,” he quips, “I couldn't come up with a better title; Variety was already taken.”
The premise of the new blog is just as simple as it sounds. Writes Zeringue, “I’ll be asking authors to tackle a simple thesis: If Hollywood makes my book into a film, here’s who I'd like to play the lead role(s).”
As I said, the blog is brand new and, as I write this, there are only two entries: Anya Ulinich talks about her most recent novel, Petropolis and Allison Burnett talks about Christopher. (“The hero of both my novels, Christopher and The House Beautiful, and of my upcoming one, Death By Sunshine, is named B.K. Troop. B.K. is a tall, bald, middle-aged, potbellied, spindly legged, bearded, grey-toothed, dandruff-flaked, chemically imbalanced, erudite, witty, gay alcoholic. Sadly, Bea Arthur is past her prime. I am left with slim pickings.”)
On his other blogs, Zeringue has worked astonishingly quickly. I fully expect to see My Book the Movie on its way to being fat and sassy by the end of next month.
First, he started asking authors to apply Marshall McLuhan’s Page 69 Test to their most recent novel. That exercise proved so fruitful and successful -- with almost 200 authors having taken part thus far -- it launched a whole new blog.
Not satisfied, Zeringue went back to the tested authors and asked them what they were reading. The results have been delightful. But, for the tireless Zeringue, it just wasn’t enough and last Saturday he announced a new blog: My Book the Movie. “No,” he quips, “I couldn't come up with a better title; Variety was already taken.”
The premise of the new blog is just as simple as it sounds. Writes Zeringue, “I’ll be asking authors to tackle a simple thesis: If Hollywood makes my book into a film, here’s who I'd like to play the lead role(s).”
As I said, the blog is brand new and, as I write this, there are only two entries: Anya Ulinich talks about her most recent novel, Petropolis and Allison Burnett talks about Christopher. (“The hero of both my novels, Christopher and The House Beautiful, and of my upcoming one, Death By Sunshine, is named B.K. Troop. B.K. is a tall, bald, middle-aged, potbellied, spindly legged, bearded, grey-toothed, dandruff-flaked, chemically imbalanced, erudite, witty, gay alcoholic. Sadly, Bea Arthur is past her prime. I am left with slim pickings.”)
On his other blogs, Zeringue has worked astonishingly quickly. I fully expect to see My Book the Movie on its way to being fat and sassy by the end of next month.
Labels: Page 69 Test
posted by Linda L. Richards at 10:05 AM
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