News Bits, In Brief

The New York Times reports that the Harry Potter phenomenon has had little long term effect on kids' reading habits. (Surprise.) To try and keep the wee ones interested in literature, the BBC hath commissioned an animated advertisement for Charles Dickens. (WTF?) You want to know what I think would hook teens into the totally radical world of x-treme bookin'? Some Bret Easton Ellis videogame adaptations from the folks who created the Grand Theft Auto series. (Holla-lujah!)

For those of you looking for a second reason to emigrate to Canada: their books prices are about to drop.
Update: Unpack your bags. While regular book prices in Canada will go down, comic book prices have gone up.
Updated update: Re-pack. Turns out, it's only Marvel Comics' prices that have gone up. The last great book that they put out was canceled in 2004.

Somewhere in her 247 recently discovered letters, Flannery O'Connor offers this tip to writers: "You would probably do just as well to get that plot business out of your head and start simply with a character or anything that you can make come alive. Wouldn't it be better for you to discover a meaning in what you write rather than to impose one? Nothing you write will lack meaning because the meaning is in you."
Yeah, but I went to Syd Field's seminar, and he says that writers need a three act outline and a strict adherence to the 27 minute rule. And he's rich! (Proving once again the old adage that 'Flannery will get you nowhere.' Ba-dump-bumb.)