Friday, September 5, 2008
Books!
I've been trying to learn how to write a screenplay. Books are my best option so I got some from the library. The Complete Idiot's Guide To Screenwriting was not what I wanted. I want to learn how to write a screenplay not how difficult Hollywood is. Finally, I decided half way through the book to stop and start the next one. It looks promising. Oh, and I redid my bookshelf. Now instead of tripping over piles of library books I can look at my full book case and smile. If I could only read all of those books I would be even happier. My friend reads really fast and is smart but I slowed down when I started to write. I have realized that reading fast isn't that great. To be a writer you need to pay full attention to the plot, characters, and how the author ties it all together. My friend still writes really well. I don't know how she has time to do all the things she does.
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I don't know about reading slow to think about the overall structure, but I definitely slow down and savor certain sentences. I will read one over and over just loving the sound of the words, not necessarily even thinking about the meaning. I also love the rhythm of varied sentences, like here:
The dead mountain range of tailings on the lip of the mine had sat for decades, washed by rain, and still was barren as the Sahara. From a distance you might guess these piles of dirt to be fragile, like a sandcastle, but up close you'd see the pinkish soil corrugated with vertical ridges and eroded to a sheen, like rock. It would take a pickaxe to dent it.
(That's Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors. Just a random sample I grabbed for your entertainment.)
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