How do you photograph an imaginary author?

Novelist James Frey and Jobie Hughes co-wrote I Am Number Four under the pseudonym of “Pittacus Lore.” The author photo for the imaginary author of the YA book is pictured above (via Howard Huang)–click to enlarge. What do you think of Frey’s first offering from his fiction factory?

Here’s more from the official site: “I am Pittacus Lore. I am from the Planet Lorien, three hundred million miles away. I am one of ten Elders who lived on our planet. I am ten thousand years old. Everyone on Lorien was gifted. We are incredibly strong, incredibly fast, and we are born with powers called legacies. Despite our powers, the Elders, responsible for the defense of our planet, failed.”

What literary adaptations are you looking forward to this winter? Here is a round-up of five upcoming literary movies.

In the video embedded above, you can watch the trailer for an upcoming adaptation of Mordecai Richler‘s novel, Barney’s Version. Set for January 14th release, the film stars Paul Giamatti.

On January 15th, comedian Seth Rogen and Asian pop star Jay Chou team-up for the comic book adaptation, The Green Hornet.

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Writer James Frey has launched  Full Fathom Five, a company focused on producing commercial young adult novels co-written with a team of aspiring writers. A New York magazine feature explored the fiction factory, and one writer declared:  “It’s a crappy deal but a great opportunity.”

Frey introduced Full Fathom Five at a Columbia University MFA seminar. Suzanne Mozes, one of the nine Columbia students present at Frey’s talk, wrote about the experience for the magazine. In an interview, Frey once compared the operation to Andy Warhol’s Factory.

Here’s more about the company’s contract: “In exchange for delivering a finished book within a set number of months, the writer would receive $250 (some contracts allowed for another $250 upon completion), along with a percentage of all revenue generated by the project, including television, film, and merchandise rights—30 percent if the idea was originally Frey’s, 40 percent if it was originally the writer’s.”

Frey has already achieved successes with writer Jobie Hughes, another Columbia MFA student. The pair co-wrote the science fiction book, I Am Number Four, under the Pittacus Lore pseudonym. The book trailer is embedded above.

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