Share The Wealth: Recommended Reading

[JasonM]

I was looking at my bookshelf recently, and I noticed a few books that I've found informative or inspiring when it comes to creating stories. I thought this would be a good thread to share some of the books we've each found helpful, and discuss what made them useful.

They're not all comic-related, but a lot of the ideas translate...

In no particular order:

On Directing Film, by David Mamet. Mamet is a big fan of keeping it simple, telling the story, and using the best tool for the job. Most of the book is taken up with a workshop discussion he had with a bunch of film students, and the processes he goes through to consider building a shot are not dissimilar to how we might choose what to put into a panel, and why. At the least, it makes you think...

The Empty Space, by Peter Brook. A fascinating read, this book takes you through the reasons we create theatre, and the traps it must avoid to remain legitimate as an art form. In the art form of comics, where the industry is being slowly, lovingly strangled by a subject matter and business plan that presupposes that it's readers will simply buy it because it's printed, (keeping in mind I'm painting a very broad brush there) it's still instructive when I write comics because it helps remind me the kind of comics I do, and also don't, want to create.

Writers on Comics Scriptwriting, by various. Published by Titan Books. I find some of my most instructive lessons in writing have come from simply listening to other writers talk about their craft. This is a pair of books that I still refer to, simply because there are so many nuggets of gold in the interviews found within. Even writers I don't totally enjoy or support will mention something about their work process that gives me something to take to my own keyboard.


(That's it for me so far, hopefully we'll get the ball rolling and a few others will post their own favourites, and what makes them worth the time...)

[JasonM]

Just giving this a threadbump...

Give a little love here for some of the books and sources on writing, art, or any other creative form. Sources that inspired or continue to inspire you.

[James]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - I'm a big fan of learning by being exposed to good works. Diaz has won the Pulitzer in a modern but archtypal fable about a comic geek who's fairly bleek life gets further complicated when he falls in love with a prostitute. Diaz begins his story with a quote from Galactus and ends it with a rumination on the Watchman's Dr. Manhattan. Another Pulitzer winning novel that is very comics inspired is The Adventures of Cavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon. It is a very well researched fictional exploration of the early days of comics.

The great thing about reading authors that incorporate comic lore into prose works of literature is they give us a sense of how far-reaching the ideas and stories of comic-dom can be. I find it helps me in my approach to graphic storytelling - to strive for narratives that speak to the soul.

[James]

Oh and I've been enjoying reading Grant Morrison's recent interviews on newsarama.com about All-Star Superman and Final Crisis. It's a peak behind the curtain of a writer whose work always excites me, makes me think and slightly believe that reality is about to morph into something strangely new at any moment.

[JasonM]

Do you have any links for those interviews?

[James]

On Final Crisis # 1

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080609-MorrisonFC01.html

Part 4 of his All Star Superman interview

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/100824-Morrison4-Superman.html

I couldn't find the first three parts of the All-Star interview but I'll keep looking.

[James]

Grant Morrison on Final Crisis # 2

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080721-MorrisonFC02.html

And they just released part 5 of the All Star Superman interview which has links to parts 1-4

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/100827-Morrison-Superman-05.html