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Books > Language & Literature > Literary & linguistic reference works > Creative writing & creative writing guides
"The Psychology of Screenwriting "is more than an interesting book
on the theory and practice of screenwriting. It is also a
philosophical analysis of predetermination and freewill in the
context of writing and human life in our mediated world of
technology. Drawing on humanism, existentialism, Buddhism,
postmodernism and transhumanism, and diverse thinkers from Meister
Eckhart to Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor Adorno, Jacques Derrida,
Jean Baudrillard and Gilles Deleuze, "The Psychology of
Screenwriting" will be of use to screenwriters, film students,
philosophers and all those interested in contemporary theory. This
book combines in-depth critical and cultural analysis with an
elaboration on practice in an innovative fashion. It explores how
people, such as those in the Dogme 95 movement, have tried to
overcome traditional screenwriting, looking in detail at the
psychology of writing and the practicalities of how to write well
for the screen. This is the first book to include high-theory with
screenwriting practice whilst incorporating the Enneagram for
character development. Numerous filmmakers and writers, including
David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, David Cronenberg, Pedro Almodovar,
Darren Aronofsky, Sally Potter and Charlie Kaufman are explored.
"The Psychology of Screenwriting "is invaluable for those who want
to delve deeper into writingfor the screen.
An exploration of the burgeoning field of Anglophone Asian diaspora
poetry, this book draws on the thematic concerns of Hong Kong,
Asian-American and British Asian poets from the wider Chinese or
East Asian diasporic culture to offer a transnational understanding
of the complex notions of home, displacement and race in a
globalised world. Located within current discourse surrounding
Asian poetry, postcolonial and migrant writing, and bridging the
fields of literary and cultural criticism with author interviews,
this book provides close readings on established and emerging
Chinese diasporic poets' work by incorporating the writers' own
reflections on their craft through interviews with some of those
featured. In doing so, Jennifer Wong explores the usefulness and
limitations of existing labels and categories in reading the works
of selected poets from specific racial, socio-cultural, linguistic
environments and gender backgrounds, including Bei Dao, Li-Young
Lee, Marilyn Chin, Hannah Lowe and Sarah Howe, Nina Mingya Powles
and Mary Jean Chan. Incorporating scholarship from both the East
and the West, Wong demonstrates how these poets' experimentation
with poetic language and forms serve to challenge the changing
notions of homeland, family, history and identity, offering new
evaluations of contemporary diasporic voices.
Andre and Madeleine have been in love for over fifty years. This
weekend, as their daughters visit, something feels unusual. A bunch
of flowers arrive, but who sent them? A woman from the past turns
up, but who is she? And why does Andre feel like he isn't there at
all? Christopher Hampton's translation of Florian Zeller's The
Height of the Storm was first performed at Richmond Theatre,
London, and opened in the West End at Wyndham's Theatre in October
2018.
"The Pleasures of Structure "starts from the premise that the
ability to develop a well understood and articulated story
structure is the most important skill a screenwriter can develop.
For example, good structure requires a great premise and rigorous
character development. Without clear character motivations and
goals--which are themselves indicative of key structural
beats--your story is going exactly nowhere. Using the simple and
flexible 'W' model of screenplay structure developed in the prequel
"Write What You Don't Know," Hoxter sets this out as its starting
point. This model is tested against a range of examples which are
chosen to explore the flexibility not only of that model but of
movie storytelling more generally. Writers and students often worry
that they are asked to work 'to formula'. This book will test that
formula to breaking point. For example, the first case study will
offer the example of a well written, professional, mainstream movie
against which our later and more adventurous examples can be
compared. So the lessons we learn examining the animated family
adventure movie "How To Train Your Dragon "lead us directly to ask
questions of our second case study, the acclaimed Swedish vampire
movie "Lat den Ratte Komma In "("Let The Right One In"). Both
movies have protagonists with the same basic problem, the same
goal, and they use the same basic structure to tell their stories.
Of course they are very different films and they work on their
audiences in very different ways. Our linked case studies will
expose how simple choices, like reversing the order of elements of
the protagonist's transformational arc and shifting ownership of
key story beats, has an enormous impact on how we respond to a
structural model that is otherwise functionally identical.
What we intend to do in this book is to explain, and exemplify, in
a nuts-and-bolts way, what we are calling Scholarly Personal
Narrative (SPN) writing. This is a genre created over 15 years ago
by Robert, one of the co-authors of this book. The other co-author,
DeMethra, has actually written a thesis and dissertation using this
genre, so she brings an author's direct SPN experience to the
table. Both of us co-teach a course that we call "Scholarly
Personal Narrative Writing for Pre-Professionals and
Professionals." In the chapters that follow, we will present a
step-by-step approach for composing an SPN manuscript. The book
will be comprised of four general parts, consisting of several
short, practical chapters, written in non-technical language. We
will write each of the chapters as a way of responding to the most
common questions that our students have raised about SPN writing
through the years. We will attempt to write as we teach, with no
frills and with clarity, empathy, and understanding. We will also
provide several SPN writing examples, as well as authorial toolbox
tips, throughout the book. In addition, we will conclude with a
bibliography of the most relevant personal narrative writing guides
we have been able to muster. Our desire is to minimize the number
of in-text citations and references in order to maximize the space
for us to present a useful, nuts-and-bolts guide to writing, as
well as a realistic, down-to-earth rationale for scholarly personal
narrative writing in the academy. After reading the book, and
practicing the writing exercises, undergraduate and graduate
students will be able to author research papers, theses, and
dissertations using the Scholarly Personal Narrative research
genre. Hundreds of students have done this already throughout the
country.
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