Screenwriter’s Bookclub is a series of posts about great books for aspiring writers.
Welcome to the second edition of Screenwriter’s Book Club. Because procrastinating is okay as long as you read about writing.
As always, I encourage you to read screenplays as a primary source of learning. You can find screenplays here:
- IMSDB – Internet Movie Script Database – A deep catalogue organized by genre
- Simply Scripts – Classics and non-English scripts. This site is updated regularly.
And now… THE BOOKS:
Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder
This is a classic structural guide to screenwriting. Of all the writing guides I’ve read this is by far the most readable, accessible and fun. Blake Snyder has broken all film stories into 12 “types” and he encourages you to watch films in your story type to understand and recognize the beats. Watching movies as “research” is probably my second favourite way to procrastinate. FUN!
He provides a “beat sheet” and you can follow along, pausing at the minute mark to see the turning points arriving just on cue. All this is in service of convincing you that his structural map is infallible. Is it though?
There is much debate about structure maps. Does this framework produce inside-the-box bullshitty films? Is it to blame for the undeniable sameness we feel in our cinema these days? Is following a recipe really art?
I don’t know. But I do know that sometimes it helps to have a framework within which to work. Guideposts to follow along the way. Especially for emerging screenwriters who haven’t got a “feel” for structure just yet. And I definetly believe in plotting and outlining before a draft. It helps to have a prompt available when the inevitable “what happens next?” arises.
Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley
This is a book of essays by Academy Award winner and Canadian national treasure Sarah Polley. While none of the essays are strictly about Screenwriting or even Filmmaking, I think this book provides so many fascinating insights into the life, mind and soul of an artist who has been working in the industry since she was a kid.
Polley began her career as a child actor in film, television and theatre. She lived firsthand the kinds of abuse that we are only now beginning to reckon with as a culture. As a child, she was a victim of Terry Gilliam’s “genius” when he had her dodging live explosives and sharing a water tank with a live horse at the age of 8. As a teen, she fell prey to legendary Canadian creep Jian Gohmeshi.
She suffered a variety of medical issues, injuries and complicated childbirths.
And she made movies all the while. In fact, some of our nations the most beautiful films have been touched by her unique genius.
Read this book, you won’t regret it.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
This is a complicated one. Another book not strictly about screenwriting. The Artsist Way is a “guide to unlocking or unblocking your inner creative.”
It has a cult following not just among writers, but among actors, musicians, painters and artists of all stripes.
I’ve avoided reading it for over a decade, assuming (not wrongly) that it leaned a little woo-woo for my pragmatic personality. I could smell the patchouli on it, if you know what I mean.
But I’ve softened in my old age. I’m becoming more witchy by the hour and am more open now to this kind of psychic healing. This year I picked it up.
The book is a guide for a 12-week program of artist “rediscovery.” It promises to unblock and liberate your inner creative potential. The program’s two major pillars are The Morning Pages – 3 handwritten, stream-of-consciousness pages scribbled daily upon waking, and The Artists Date two hours weekly of prescribed fun for your inner child. I back these two tactics 100%.
A daily practice of writing (or journaling) is essential to the writer’s life. Whether it’s the discipline of just doing it every damn day or the flushing/venting of mental and emotional debris or just the acceptance of writing stuff that’s straight-up not good, this trick works.
A weekly “date” is also a super solid way to keep interesting ideas flowing. But it’s also important to build a habit of indulging yourself and making time for non-work activities that exist for pure pleasure’s sake. It’s about following your whims. So yeah, maybe one week it’s visiting a museum, but the next it could be baking cinnamon rolls or taking a walk in a strange neighbourhood. Maybe it’s going for a swim or hosting a dinner party. Begin by mining that long list of things you wish you had time for and then actively start blocking some time for them.
I want to be clear, I am terrible at this and one of my problems with this book is the impossibility of some of its ideas for anyone with children, but particularly for mothers whose time and energy are non-existent in a system that refuses to support them. But I digress…
The rest of the book is a bunch of essays and exercises designed to probe the roots of your blockages and create a vision for your future as an artist. You’re asked to time travel and find the people who discouraged you, to make mood boards and create a small altar to your muses.
This is the stuff I don’t much go in for, personally. And if I’m honest there is way too much God talk for my atheist preferences. Like everything in this life, take what works for you, and ditch the rest.
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 3 of Screenwriter’s Book Club!