Saturday 12 April 2008

Textual events

And now for some BOOKS (remember them?). THREE of them.

One. Or, rather, one hundred and one: "101 Screenwriting Tips". I met Alexis Nikki through an on-line writer's group. We were the only two scriptwriters, and quickly realised that feedback from prose writers was actually not that helpful. They got hung up on commenting on irrelevant things (objecting to the use of the present tense, the lack of description, the apparent lack of internal life of the characters, the lack of their thoughts, the lack of shading on how to deliver dialogue) or suggested adding things like camera movements, character's thoughts or various other no-nos. Nor did they help with aspects that really needed their input. So the two of us ended up playing script ping-pong.

Meeting up on London's South Bank would have been great, but she'd brought along some third person, so we couldn't get down to as much of the shop talk, writer's discussion and gossip that we wanted to. And then we lost touch when the writer's group folded. As you do.

Now she's surfaced again (to my attention, I'm sure she was around all along) with a new book, 1o1 Screenwriting Tips and screenwriting and film review blog The Third Draft. She describes her approach thusaway:

"The merit of my book comes from the very fact that I'm a relative beginner in the business. I'm the rookie whose struggles are still fresh in her mind and whose enthusiasm remains undimmed. These pages don't contain a complete philosophy or method, but practical tips that you can consume. If you're a beginner, this book provides encouragement, motivation, and a wealth of information. If you're more advanced, you'll discover some new angles amongst the usual advice."

Which is refreshingly honest or a great spin, depending on your level of cynicism. It looks interesting and I'm sure I'll return to it to do more of a review. The timing seemed apt - just as I was going to do a screenwriting workshop for my local IOV meeting. So I bought it forthwith. (Well, clicked a button, forgot about it, then it arrived weeks too late to be useful. Thanks Amazon.)

Two. Me mum! My copy of Alison Wilson Smith's book Nature's Playthings arrived today and it's fantastic - the company have done a really good job with it! I was 'proud son' material anyway - but here's yet more reason to be so. It's a hard book to define adequately. On the one hand a manual for the games children can play with things they find in nature. It's also a memory of three or four generations of bringing up or being around children. On another level it's an oblique commentary on the 'thing'-obsessed, sedentary, overly-protected, TV and computer-focussed childhoods we provide our children. I'm not sure the cover conveys all that, but the inside certainly does.

I have to declare an interest (apart from the obvious filial one), there's some lovely pictures of my son Tom, and I took a few of the photos in the book, including this portrait of her on her boat on the Cam. Given that I only had a point and shoot camera, I'm quite surprised at how well they have printed. Meanwhile Tom (at four years old) is completely unfazed at his 'Nanny-on-the-boat' writing a book - after all she writes him lovely letters so why not a book? And it's not as if it's the first book his picture has been in - he also appears in Colin Barratt's Digital Video for Beginners with his other nan.

Three. My dad! (Yes, this is getting silly.) James Bruges first brought out The Little Earth Book so the obvious sequel The Big Earth Book is a sumptuous coffee-table update and revision of the little one. A former architect, he's been a green activist for a while now, and both books are highly recommended for direct, positive, big-picture solutions to our current ecological crises. And more power to his elbow: let's hope they make a difference.

So, as former writer's group colleague, son and son all I can say is, "BUY! BUY! BUY!"