This is a post in progress. I think it is a little risky to post something before it's final, but I'm curious about any comments you might have on the topic. Note, this post is largely my ruminations about the process of adapting stories between multiple story forms, which is the topic of my Stonecoast research paper. Although I won't use any of your comments in my work (without your ok), I would still like to hear them because I'm a curious cat.

These are just a few of the questions that made me want to tackle the subject of adaptation:

• What are some of the best adaptations?
  
• What is it about adaptations that draw us in as a reader/viewer?
  
• Why do writers want to adapt another person's work?
  
• How does reading or viewing an adapted work enhance or detract from your connection with the original story?

------- ( Erin's Ruminations on the Art of Adaptation )

Avocadopx mentioned to me yesterday that I don't write as many updates as I used to write. So, I figured I should post a quick update while I'm still on my Boskone high.

Stonecoast is going well. I am currently working with Nancy Holder who is the nicest person ever! Her experience with multiple story forms is a perfect match for my project goals for this semester. In addition, Nancy is a wonderful instructor who knows just the right thing to say, even when what she's saying means I have a big rewrite ahead of me!

Since I'll be attending the Stonecoast residency in Ireland in July, I'm working on two stories that both have Irish roots. I've recently finished the first short story, which is an Irish fairy tale about the poet Thomas Moore. The second story is a legend that has been giving me trouble. I think my problem stems from not knowing who the main character was supposed to be in this piece. I have ideas on how to fix it; we'll see how they work.

Right now, I have two shorts in circulation and I should get these others revised and sent out. If only I had more time in the day! I see no way to get them rewritten and sent out in the next few weeks, so they will continue to linger while I do a quick revise of my 10K word Stonecoast packet for Nancy.

I'm about 25% through the first draft of my novel, Eighth Day. I still haven't perfected the dreaded elevator pitch. However, here's the basic idea behind the novel. Eighth Day is a science fiction thriller set in our distant future, during a time when the world governments have been replaced by corporate states with the ability to do limited pastward time travel. After learning about secret resource retrieval missions into the past, temporal Investigator Matt Osgood is forced to make choices that will endanger his relationship with the Chairman's daughter, the continued stability of the protected zones, and the world outside the protected zones - a world that is being destroyed by the temporal backwashes caused by stealing the resources of the past.

I'm also 20% finished with my screenplay adaptation, which I am doing as the practical experience component of my 3rd semester research project at Stonecoast. The title of my project is "The Art of Adaptation Between Multiple Story Forms". This project will focus on the craft of writing adaptations in any story form - not just screenplays. What I plan to show is how to break a story down into its essential elements, and how to use those elements when planting them into a different story form.

Since I will be adapting a poem into a screenplay, I will be writing a research paper on how the poem Beowulf has been adapted into the 2007 film and how that screenplay has been adapted into a novel and into a graphic novel. In addition to Beowulf, my research will include a variety of other stories that have been adapted from fable to short story, poem to novel, novel to screenplay, etc. My research will include books, articles, published interviews, and new personal interviews. My end goal (outside of Stonecoast) is to produce a series of publishable articles or a book on the art of adaptation.

I have also been building The Online Stonecoast Community Journal, which has taken a lot of my LJ alloted time. In addition, I've spent some time extra making YouTube fan videos of Doctor Who and other Sci-Fi TV shows.

I think that's pretty much it for now. I'll try to post more updates so that I don't have to write any more monster updates like this one!