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Screenwriter’s Bookclub is a series of posts about great books for aspiring writers.

I don’t know about you, but reading is my number one favourite method of procrastination. After years of practice, I’ve found that if I read books ABOUT writing, I can relieve some of the guilt I feel about not doing any writing myself. Call it research, and poof! I’m still working toward improving my craft. That’s why I’ve decided to start this little series called Screenwriter’s Book Club.

But First, Scripts

Before I list some of my go-to books I want to stress that the very best way to learn about and elevate your screenwriting is to read screenplays. Read good ones, read bad ones… they all have valuable lessons to impart.

Here are few places to find screenplays online:

• IMSDB – Internet Movie Script Database – This site has a deep catalogue organized by genre
• Simply Scripts – This library includes classics and non-English scripts and is updated regularly.

Now, Books for Screenwriters

These are in no particular order, and not all of them are guides to screenwriting. Instead, I’m offering a short list of books related to writing, storytelling and the life of filmmakers that I personally enjoy and think you might too.

The Science Of Storytelling – Will Storr

This is a book that will blow your mind. And you don’t need to be a writer for it to seriously mess you up.

Written by Will Storr an award-winning writer and creative writing teacher, this book explains the truly wild neuroscience and psychology of how stories shape our experience of the world. He uses rich examples, everything from ancient myth to Breaking Bad, to illuminate his ideas, and instruct how to create stories that satisfy our uniquely human need for narrative.

Designed for writers of all stripes, this guide is the first I’ve ever read that provides hard science for how our brains understand plot, character and theme and create meaning out of the stories we tell. Fascinating stuff, folks. A thrilling page-turner for story nerds like me.

I Feel Bad About My Neck – Nora Ephron

Not much in this book about screenwriting, but Nora Ephron is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter who wrote When Harry Met Sally and directed Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. She basically invented the modern romantic comedy, she’s a freaking legend and no-one has come close to matching her in this genre for several decades. For that, she makes the list.

This book is a collection of essays about Ephron’s daily life, annoyances, concerns and insights. She’s witty and self-deprecating and her trademark voice carries the book. While some of her observations seem a bit insensitive, trivial or even dated, we should remember that the book was published in 2006 which is basically 400 years ago.

I especially enjoyed a story titled Moving On, a love letter to her Upper West Side apartment in the Apthorp that captures late 80-90’s New York in all its newsstand, coffeeshop and movie matinee glory. I’m charmed by it. If you are at all interested in writing romantic comedies, it’s worth a read.

The War of Art – Steven Pressfield

Not so much a writer’s guide as a 190-page pep talk, this book came to my attention via Poog Podcast, not too long ago. I’ve since read it twice. Turns out I need pep. Lots of it.

The book is written by Steven Pressfield, who has several novels and screenplays including the Legend of Bagger Vance, to his name. Now, I haven’t read that book, nor seen the movie (Matt Damon? Will Smith? Golf? No thanks) but Pressfield’s manifesto for the struggling artist speaks to me.

The premise: approach artistic practice like war. Procrastination, Distraction, Self Doubt – all of which Pressfield terms Resistance, is the enemy to be conquered. How? By showing up every day. It’s deceptively simple, like all the best self-help. Essentially, he’s selling us work ethic. But damn, if he doesn’t sell it well.

There are a few too many labour and birth-giving analogies for my liking, especially coming from someone who does not to my knowledge possess a uterus or a child. And there is a certain old white dude hard-ass attitude that I bristle at. But there is something about drawing the quiet daily mental struggle of any artist in larger-than-life mythological terms that makes the fight nobler somehow. When he asks, is your art worth fighting for? You’re compelled to bellow, YES.

Where to find these books?

All three of these books are available at the once online bookstore, now mega online retailer/media conglomerate that shall remain unnamed. But I have linked here to Bookshop.org a site that supports thousands of local bookshops through their online profit-sharing platform.

ALSO: You can find these titles at most local libraries. I LOVE LIBRARIES. Free books!

Finally, I believe all three titles listed here are available in audiobook format, wherever you get your audiobooks.

Please leave a comment if you’ve read any of these and have opinions. I’d love to hear ’em. And stay tuned for Part 2 f Screenwriter’s Book Club!