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<\/a>My favorite class at LMU was senior year, where we each wrote our own feature length screenplay or television pilot.<\/p><\/div>\n
Now, I am more focused on taking what I\u2019ve learned from college to create insightful stories, as well as complex and compelling characters. Most of that inspiration comes from reading a lot of literature and philosophy, and in particular, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The first time I read Dostoyevsky was in my senior year English class in high school. We read Crime and Punishment<\/em>.<\/p>\n I was immediately drawn into the suspense of the story, as well as the existential journey and internal conflict of the main character, Raskolnikov. From that point on, I wanted to read more 19th century Russian literature and more philosophical fiction.<\/p>\n For my book to movie adaptation, I wanted to stay true to the time and place of the story and the quixotic nature of the main character. The most important aspect for me was to accentuate the absurdity of an unruly world where the only supposed source of light and empathy was the Prince. He is often described as “perfection” because of how he treats people with kindness and compassion, even though he is not treated the same way.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most challenging\u00a0part of this book to movie adaptation project was figuring out how to solve the problem of taking\u00a0a 600 plus page story and turning it into a 120 minute movie. Obviously, the project was\u00a0to write ACT one of the actual script, but I did\u00a0write an outline to help me with the structure and beats of the story. All and all, I think it turned out well. It was a fun experience to be able to share my ideas with the class, and it was great to make improvements based on everyone’s feedback.<\/p>\n In my next blog, I will guide you through several places in St. Petersburg that are based on the locations described in the text of\u00a0The Idiot<\/em>.<\/p>\n In the meantime follow us through our social media on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Google+<\/a>,\u00a0Pinterest<\/a>,\u00a0Tumblr<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and Goodreads<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a>As a former student\u00a0who is interested in both film and\u00a0literature, I have wondered what it would be like to\u00a0see an adaptation of a\u00a0novel that is considered great. Particularly, I have always wondered what it\u00a0would be like to see a book to movie adaptation of Dostoevsky, especially to learn about what goes on behind-the-scenes. That is why it is so great to be a part of Vitaly Sumin<\/a>‘s team<\/a> to help promote\u00a0Dostoyevsky Reimagined: The Making of Notes from the New World<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>Because of my interest in Dostoevsky, I felt compelled to write a book to movie adaptation of one of his novels. In my adaptation class (Spring, 2014) at Loyola Marymount University, our final project was to write an ACT one adaptation of any public domain novel of our choosing. I chose The Idiot <\/i>because it has a special place in my heart. It is perhaps my favorite novel because of the extraordinary characteristics of the protagonist, Prince Myshkin.<\/p>\n