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lokipokey75's review
3.0
In a series of interviews with a variety of creative writers, Justin Sloan (and colleagues) discuss different aspects of the writing process, the structure of a good story, conferences to attend, and plenty of other tips for aspiring writers. Some of the information is a bit sobering. I'm still not convinced you don't need to live in L.A., or at the very least, California in order to be a successful screenwriter. Still, it's not brutal; it's just honest.
The screenwriting interviews are certainly the most disheartening as they follow the advice I hear all the time -- you need to be in L.A., you should get an MA, you have to attend conferences, and you should be wary of entering screenwriting contests because they give you visibility, but little else for your money. The problem is, IT ALL COSTS MONEY! And for struggling screenwriters, who in the world can afford all this?
Also, while many of the screenwriters have successful careers, hardly any of them have a feature film to their name, or one that I've heard of. More likely, they have a ton of projects in development that don't end up going anywhere. This is remarkably common for many screenwriters, by the way.
As for the video game writers, they recommend not only playing games but knowing design and creating your own games. Talk about hard work.
Finally the novelists were more encouraging about their craft, but there's still the knowledge that you're unlikely to have a break-out hit and will probably have to juggle a day job with writing for a long time. Ah, the life of a writer!
I was expecting a lot of this information, so hardly anything was that surprising to me, nor was it that enlightening or compelling. It was a fine read, with some useful writing tips outside of the interviews, but I'm partial more to craft books than a book of interviews anyways. Next time, I'd recommend a broader range of interviews because the perspectives seemed a bit limited in scope.
The screenwriting interviews are certainly the most disheartening as they follow the advice I hear all the time -- you need to be in L.A., you should get an MA, you have to attend conferences, and you should be wary of entering screenwriting contests because they give you visibility, but little else for your money. The problem is, IT ALL COSTS MONEY! And for struggling screenwriters, who in the world can afford all this?
Also, while many of the screenwriters have successful careers, hardly any of them have a feature film to their name, or one that I've heard of. More likely, they have a ton of projects in development that don't end up going anywhere. This is remarkably common for many screenwriters, by the way.
As for the video game writers, they recommend not only playing games but knowing design and creating your own games. Talk about hard work.
Finally the novelists were more encouraging about their craft, but there's still the knowledge that you're unlikely to have a break-out hit and will probably have to juggle a day job with writing for a long time. Ah, the life of a writer!
I was expecting a lot of this information, so hardly anything was that surprising to me, nor was it that enlightening or compelling. It was a fine read, with some useful writing tips outside of the interviews, but I'm partial more to craft books than a book of interviews anyways. Next time, I'd recommend a broader range of interviews because the perspectives seemed a bit limited in scope.
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