Tag Archives: Nick Hornby

01.11.14
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Welcome to Torg Stories

We at Torg Stories are excited to announce that our film On the French Broad River has been accepted to the Queens World Film Festival in New York City.

The film will screen on Sunday morning March 19th, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. in the Zukor Theater at Astoria Kaufman Studios. Click here for more information about the festival.

trailer features music from Jeremy Vogt and Erika and Shawn Wellman

The seventy-five minute documentary On the French Broad River follows the journey of we four Torgs as we raft 147 miles from Rosman, North Carolina, through class III and IV whitewater rapids, all the way to Douglass Lake in Tennessee. With environmental themes related to water quality and best management practices within watersheds, this film is about the river, the people who use it, and the social and political issues that surround it. Utilizing interviews with those connected to the environmental organizations RiverLink and MountainTrue as well as with experts in the fields of biology, wildlife conservation, and geology, this is an educational and heartwarming film for the whole family.

On the French Broad River Torgerson French Broad River Paddle Trail Asheville Rosman MountainTrue RiverLink

Charlotte, Bill, Izzy and Megan Torgerson on their Star Inflatables raft

Seven years ago I made the switch from high school English teacher and basketball coach to writer and professor.  Since that time, I’ve been blessed to have been hired to teach First Year Writing courses at St. John’s University in New York. I write novels, scripts, publish a podcast, and have just sent out my first documentary film for consideration at several film festivals.

Cherokee McGhee Press has published two of my novels. The first, Love on the Big Screen, tells the story of a college freshman whose understanding of love has been shaped by late-eighties romantic comedies. In writing that book, I drew upon my early dating experiences, my time riding the bench of a small-college basketball team, and my devotion to 80s films such as Say Anything and Sixteen Candles.   My adaptation of that novel won the Grand Prize of the Rhode Island International Screenplay Competition.

80s Movies music John Cusack John Hughes Say Anything Olivet Nazarene lovea scene from the novel by artist Keegan Laycock

Horseshoe is my most recent novel and is set in a fictionalized version of my hometown, Winamac, Indiana. It’s a place where everyone knows everybody else’s business.  Writer Bryan Fuhurness endorsed the novel by writing, “What Sherwood Anderson would have written if he had a sense of humor.”

William Torgerson 80s romantic comedy Winamac Indiana Say Anything Cusack High Fidelity faith God healing service

I ask my students to write a hybrid research paper we call a Scholarly Personal Narrative. I think of Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man and Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking as examples of this sort of text that combines a personal story with scholarly research.  The students also create short documentary films, follow Tweets in their area of interest, and compose ePortfolios as their final writing project.

In order to consider my professional life, I use a metaphor gifted to me by a former professor: Writing Floats on a Sea of Conversation. Given that, I invite you to respond to anything you find here as the first lines of what could be a rewarding conversation.  You can get in touch with me via Twitter @BillTorg or write me an email at William.Torgerson@gmail.com

08.24.12
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Friday Reads Giveaway

Get entered for a chance to win one of these books. Read over the descriptions and by way of comment to the post, let me know which one you’d choose if you win.  Comments must be left by Sunday 8/26/2012 / 3:00 PM.  That time gives my daughters and I time to make a video to announce the winner.



Horseshoe


Southern Gothic steeped with Midwestern sensibility stirs the waters of the Tippecanoe River that embraces the town of Horseshoe and its inhabitants. A novel-in-stories, Horseshoe intertwines revenge, regret, murder, adultery, and insanity through the lives of the outwardly ordinary citizenry. Although the ideas for the stories have come from all sorts of places real and imaginary, the setting is grounded in my hometown of Winamac, Indiana.




Horseshoe fag faith God sanctuary healing service Winamac Indiana guilt 




Love on the Big Screen


In Love on the Big Screen, you’ll meet Zuke. He’s a college freshman whose understanding of love has been shaped by late-eighties romantic comedies. The story is set at a fictionalized version of Olivet Nazarene University and while creating the story, I reflected on my own romantic life and special obsession for films such as Say Anything and Sixteen Candles. My adaptation of this novel won the Grand Prize of the Rhode Island International Film Festival Screenplay Competition.


80's music movies say anything john cusack sixteen candles William Bill Torgerson


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        	08.21.12
        

        

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My Top 5 Movies, Ben’s, and a Request for You to Vote

	


		

		
Changing your life, going to grad school, entrepreneurism, and all-time favorite movies are the topics this week. I’ve got a new partner, Ben Atkinson, a former student of mine from over ten years ago. After a stint as a molecular biologist, Ben went back to school for an MBA in Marketing & Entrepreneurship from Indiana University. He also started his own web company, Night Phoenix Enterprises, which hosts this site.




Ben and I discuss the movies briefly and arrived on a list of four for you to vote on.  Vote on the movie you’d like to hear us discuss.  We’ll let you know the results of the poll just in case you want to watch and weigh in with your thoughts too. The poll is in the right sidebar–>







Ben and I each choose our Top 5 Favorite Movies:




Ben:


    

  1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
    2. 

  2. Jurassic Park
    3. 

  3. Back to the Future
    4. 

  4. The Life Aquatic
    5. 

  5. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
    6. 



great book, 80s, Love on the Big Screen, hilarious, William Torgerson




photo from mashable.com


Torg:




    

  1. Say Anything
    2. 

  2. Wonderbodys
    3. 

  3. American Beauty
    4. 

  4. Secret Window
    5. 

  5. High Fidelity
    6. 





Johnny Depp suspense story Heaven Forbid novel gripping William Torgerson




“You Stole My Story!”


from rottentomatoes .com










 


To close the show, Ben and I each gave some shout outs to culture we have been enjoying.



Ben and I hope you’ll comment/criticize our movie choices and tell us about your own All-Time Top 5 Movies.  I feel like revising my choices already.


Until then, in the words of Bill and Ted…


“Be Excellent to Each Other”


 


 


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        	08.08.12
        

        

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Podcast:  How Did I Learn to Write (a film script)?

	


		

		
http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/2030253/height/325/width/325/autoplay/no/autonext/no/direction/forward/thumbnail/yes


Working from notes I’m going to use for a panel at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, during this podcast I talk about how I learned to write, how I try to teach writing, and how a person might be able to get something going when it comes to the business of writing, screenplays, and film.


In the podcast, I expand on the following notes.


First, how did I learn to write?


    

  • I learned to read like a writer in an MFA program focusing on fiction.  Texts can be your best teachers.
    • 

  • I read and write a lot.
    • 

  • I finish stuff and I send it out.
    • 

  • The lessons in the stack. For example, I’ve read a lot of literary journal submissions,  lit agency submissions, and stacks of student writing.  The stacks show me what’s being done and what I might do that’s interesting with those stacks of ideas.  The opening films of the festival are another kind of stack.
    • 



 How do I try to help students write?


    

  • by creating writing territories
    • 

  • through experiencing an audience of each other
    • 

  • by providing examples of many writers have a different process for how they finish their work
    • 



Some Favorite scripts:


    

  • Diablo Cody’s Juno: her transitions
    • 

  • Tarantino’s InGlorious Basterds:  there is the fact that he is writing for himself, but I could see that you can just do it like you want.  I can envision something on the screen and just write it so that it makes sense to the reader. Doesn’t matter if it’s unconventional. That, in fact, might be a strength.
    • 



What was the result of winning the festival prize?


    

  • a bit of credibility at the festival, lots of little bits can add up to something substantial
    • 

  • the lesson of the films I wouldn’t have seen (back to the lessons of the stack)
    • 

  • the impulse to make my own short film which then accidentally became a feature documentary that will screen at the Phenom Film Festival in Louisiana
    • 

  • Good talks with Elfar Adalsteins who did the short film Sailcloth
    • 

  • That I won the film festival and was trying to make a film meant that I met more “like” minded people who may eventually be a part of future projects that we do together.
    • 

  • Last week I met William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg from Moonbot. Their Lessmore won an Academy Award. Their company is in Shreveport.  I first became acquainted with their film because I was in Rhode Island connected to the prize.  So my script Love on the Big Screen isn’t a film, but a lot else has happened that’s been fun and intellectually stimulating.
    • 



Some Books that helped me write or think about filmmaking:


    

  • Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434 (practical how to that got me started)
    • 

  • How Not to Make a Short Film: Secrets of a Sundance Programmer by Roberta Munroe
    • 

  • The Hollywood Economist by Edward Epstein
    • 

  • The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide: A Down & Dirty DV Production, by Anthony Artis
    • 

  • Stephen King’s On Writing
    • 

  • Donald Murray’s Write to Learn
    • 



Two Podcasts I like:


    

  • KCRW, The Business. Filmmakers are common guests and they explain how they get their work done.
    • 

  • “Here’s the Thing” with Alec Baldwin. Guests include Lorne Michaels, Michael Douglass, and Jon Luvitz
    • 

  • The Creative Penn: just got turned on to this one. Some interesting stories from writers and how they’ve marketed their books.
    • 



Torgerson film festival cusack hornby say anything john hughes sixteen candles


 

			

	
	



			
				

		

    	

        	11.17.10
        

        

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My Notes On Juliet, Naked:  One Way to Do A Book Group

	


		

		
Music and Movies Book Club:  Nick Hornby’s Juliet, Naked


Barnes and Noble, Fresh Meadows


The following guidelines are meant to stimulate a guided conversation.  Following each prompt, we’ll all get a chance to respond.  Feel free to “pass” if you find yourself uncomfortable or with nothing to say at the moment, and please do not dominate conversation by talking too much.  After each person shares, let’s see if we want to pick up on somebody’s observation or question before we go on to the next prompt.


    

  1. Would you introduce yourself and say if you’ve come hoping to talk about one particular aspect of Juliet, Naked?
    2. 

  2. Take a minute to try and come up with an observation or a question that we all might chat about.  This question could be connected to plot, a character, or anything else that comes to mind.
    3. 

  3. Is there a particular section of the book that you want to point us to?  Find a spot that you found particularly interesting and maybe share a little bit about why.
    4. 

  4. If we’re having trouble finding something to talk about, here’s some questions or themes we might consider:

      

    1. What was pleasurable about your reading?  And not so pleasurable?
      2. 

    2. The issue of “fandom.”  Duncan is obsessed with Tucker Crowe.  Surely, Hornby experiences readers who look to him as Duncan looked to Crowe.  Conversely, Hornby is a well-known soccer obsessive and passionate fan of music.  Do you consider yourself fans of someone or something?  How are you like/unlike what we read here?
      3. 

    

    5. 



    

  • P. 165  crazy guy with no friends who’d been to see you three times this week
    • 



    

  1. There are lots of relationships:  Annie/Duncan, Annie/Tucker, Tucker/Jackson, Tucker and his ex wives and other children, Annie and her therapist, and many friendships such as Tucker and Fake Tucker, or Annie and Ros.  What did you find interesting about the relationships?  What, if anything, does the book seem to be saying about how relationships work?
    2. 

  2. What do we notice in this story about art?  How is art created?  Tucker creates music that he thinks is phony.  Suddenly, he stops producing art and then he is able to create something new at the end?  As we read, we experience Hornby’s creation of the novel.
    3. 



    

  • P. 39  The creation of art from rage.; P. 46  What great art does; P. 65  Art also as the writing of an internet essay; P. 257 an artist makes extravagant emotional gestures to help people feel
    • 



    

  1. How would you characterize Hornby’s style?  How do you know you’re reading Hornby and not some other writer?
    2. 

  2. An activity to try from page 99.  What have you done with your life?
    3. 

  3. What do you make of the ending?
    4. 



    

  • What’s Annie doing?  How do you know?
    • 

  • What did Tucker do?  How will it be received?
    • 



    

  1. Care to share other books you’ve read and liked?  Of Hornby’s?  Connected to music and movies?  I was thinking of trying something from Rob Sheffield next.  He’s done Love is a Mix Tape and Talking to Girls about Duran Duran.
    2. 



Handout prepared by William Torgerson


Assistant Professor, St. John’s University


Author of forthcoming novel, Love on the Big Screen