Paula Cappa's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-subtext"
Book Review: Writing Subtext by Linda Seger
Book Review: Writing Subtext by Dr. Linda Seger
While there is quite a lot in this book in helping writers to understand the mechanics of subtext (not just the meanings beneath the words but what informs the text i.e. the implicit meaning), most of this book focuses on subtext from films: Double Indemnity, The Big Short, Cheers, Ordinary People, etc. So if you are a screen writer or playwright, I think you’ll be happy to learn about the uses and methods on how subtext motivates, communicates, and can present scene conflict and tension. I’m a writer of novels and short stories so I was disappointed, expecting this book to also address novel writing. It doesn’t. But there is a lot here to get you thinking and examining about character motivation and plot driven stories. Seger says, “subtext makes us ask why.” I did like how she explains the psychology beneath subtext, what’s true, what’s evasive, certainty vs. uncertainty, conscious and subconscious subtext. Very helpful.
Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath
While there is quite a lot in this book in helping writers to understand the mechanics of subtext (not just the meanings beneath the words but what informs the text i.e. the implicit meaning), most of this book focuses on subtext from films: Double Indemnity, The Big Short, Cheers, Ordinary People, etc. So if you are a screen writer or playwright, I think you’ll be happy to learn about the uses and methods on how subtext motivates, communicates, and can present scene conflict and tension. I’m a writer of novels and short stories so I was disappointed, expecting this book to also address novel writing. It doesn’t. But there is a lot here to get you thinking and examining about character motivation and plot driven stories. Seger says, “subtext makes us ask why.” I did like how she explains the psychology beneath subtext, what’s true, what’s evasive, certainty vs. uncertainty, conscious and subconscious subtext. Very helpful.
Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath
