Nogle ENGL 102 1of 1

Weeks Six through Eight: Adaptation, Experimentation, and Revision

Adaptation due 10/19

At several points in the film Adaptation, the character Charlie Kaufman (Nicholas Cage) expresses how much he wants to be true to Susan Orlean’s vision. The resulting film is and is not true to the book. At some points, as you’ll see, it is astonishingly close to the book and even supplements the book—showing us the orchid varieties, for example. At other points, it is quite fictionalized and has a tone far different from that of the book. In addition, in a move at odds with what we expect from a fiction “based on a true story,” the screenwriter has added himself as a character in his own work. Susan Orlean was happy with the movie even though (or perhaps because) it is not a faithful rendering.

Now that you have a rough draft of your Researched True Story, I ask you to do two things with it: 1) relinquish it for a classmate to adapt into something else, and 2) continue working on it. My hope is that by working closely with another writer, you will see different possibilities, different ways to revise your own story. I also hope this project will give you the opportunity to give sustained, meaningful feedback to a partner. As you can imagine, this will be similar to a collaborative project except that you will be able to work independently when you need to do so.

Your Adaptation Project needs to be

· respectful to the original Researched True Story, the writer, and the people and ideas presented in the original. This is open to interpretation, and I encourage you to work with your partner to determine what is acceptable. Try to be equitable. If your partner offers to give you notes and other records in addition to the draft, you should be willing to do the same.

· creative: it should surprise the writer or show the writer a new angle on his or her story. It should be different from the original, not in the same genre.

· equivalent to 5 or more pages of writing. This is also open to interpretation; discuss with your partner and me.

· researched. You will need to find at least three new, excellent sources the original writer did not find.

Your Adaptation Project can be

· visual or multimedia: you are allowed to use photography, drawing, video, audio, PowerPoint, etc. If you plan to include the Adaptation or part of it in the Portfolio, it needs to be a primarily written document (perhaps with photos or drawings of your own), but to fulfill this draft assignment you are free to work in any medium.

· fictionalized: while the Researched True Story was a work of nonfiction, the Adaptation can be “based on a true story.”

· metafictional. Just as you were allowed to include the story of your research process in the RTS, in this project you are allowed to write about storytelling or adaptation itself, emphasize writing or research problems, etc. (see Adaptation as an example if you are unfamiliar with the term).