Writing Subtext What Lies Beneath edition by Linda Seger Humor Entertainment eBooks
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“What lurks in the shadows, just below waking consciousness?” Subtext can be the most important element in text and in a performance. It’s an unseen force that speaks directly to the reader’s unconscious, deepening meaning and understanding. Great subtext reveals more than simple dialogue and action and is at the heart of the best books and films. It is what glues us to the screen. This book goes far beyond dialogue, action, gestures, genre, and images. Written by one of the foremost script consultants in the world and the most prolific writer on screenwriting, this new edition adds new examples with chapters on analogy and love, and provides deeper explanations of how subtext works beneath the text. This edition has been expanded to be relevant to all fiction writers.
Writing Subtext What Lies Beneath edition by Linda Seger Humor Entertainment eBooks
So here's the thing: even though the shelves of libraries - and indeed my own shelves too - groan under the weight of writing books, there are precious few books dealing with Subtext as an exclusive subject. A few other books provide a chapter's worth of material to the matter, but if you're looking for a book on Subtext, you'll have to choose between this one and Charles Baxter's The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot. And, in my opinion, you'd be better served by getting Baxter's book.Now, to be fair, Baxter deals with subtext in literature, and Seger deals with subtext in film, so this emphasis may color your appreciation of the books, and certainly colored mine. Seger's book came off as excessively chatty, too-prone to digression, and simply not "How To" enough to make up for those weaknesses. Baxter's book came off as fascinating, literate, and insightful.
That said, for the price of a book, Seger provides some instructive examples and a useful enough taxonomy of ways to communicate subtext. So I'd recommend buying it. Remember, there are really only two books on the subject, and this is still a useful volume. If you consider yourself a professional writer, buying two paperbacks on a topic is a pretty easy expense to justify. But I wouldn't be deceived by the lavish praised heaped upon this volume, as it really aint all that. And when judged against other writing books out there, it's not one I'd classify as first rate.
****Update as of 21 AUG 2012 -- New book to recommend as an addition or substitute for this one: Catherine Brady's Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction. Probably one of the best writing books I've come across, and an even better book on Subtext than Baxter's, in my opinion.***
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Writing Subtext What Lies Beneath edition by Linda Seger Humor Entertainment eBooks Reviews
I really liked how it fit into my discussion of indirect communication in my dissertation. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for clarity on the idea of subtext. It is well-written and very interesting.
Maybe I'm not a fair reviewer of this book. Because it seems whatever Linda Seger writes, I like. Usually, a lot.
She never fails to write in elucidating prose what writers need to hear about the writing craft. I learned more about subtext in the first forty or fifty pages than I did in a writing class.
I bought this as a gift for my film school daughter. She is finishing other books on screenwriting that I purchased through right now so has not read Mr. Brady's book yet. I, however, have started to read it and really enjoy it! I am a retired professional and enjoy learning the techniques to writing subtext. I will enjoy shows and movies more now by better understanding the process and ultimate product of a GOOD story on the small or large screen.
I highly recommend this book since it is one of the few that specifically deal with subtext. The book is well built up on what subtext is, and how it can be used in different ways. It is full of examples, from both film and literature. I found this very useful as an addition in my literature and notes on the craft of writing. With this book, you can become more aware of the power of subtext and how to use it effectively to give your story more depth. It is a great read too for anyone who is not an aspiring writer but simply interested in the subject.
as a writer this book was a good read to start thinking of ways to introduce subtext in my stories, powerful stuff. IF I remember correctly, it gives you more of a game plan to think for yourself, what you want to say, and how to use context in your subtext in an intelligent way with many examples thoughout the book, in fact, since it's been a while i need to find this book and read it again.
This is a book, like Will Dunne's "The Dramatic Writer's Companion", that is inexplicably directed (marketed) at screenwriters and playwrights. The exercises in Dunne's book are fantastic, and powerful because he has you directing them at your own writing, rather than abstract situations provided by the author.
I feel very much the same way about this book, "Writing Subtext What Lies Beneath". I also read Charles Baxter's "The Art of Subtext," which is directed at fiction writers. It was interesting, but I don't recall much of it. In this book, Linda Seger has delved so deeply into the psychology of subtext, pulling as many examples from real life as from screenplays, that anyone who creates fictional worlds will benefit from reading it.
I suppose one could say that the fact I find these books more useful means I am probably more of an aspiring screenwriter than a novelist, but I am not. The novel I am currently working on is far too quiet and internal to be of interest to any producer, and that's just fine with me. This book has brought me to a place where I am now listening for subtext in my everyday life, my own as well as that of others.
Congratulations to Ms. Seger for producing a clearly stated text on the not-clearly stated.
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.
So here's the thing even though the shelves of libraries - and indeed my own shelves too - groan under the weight of writing books, there are precious few books dealing with Subtext as an exclusive subject. A few other books provide a chapter's worth of material to the matter, but if you're looking for a book on Subtext, you'll have to choose between this one and Charles Baxter's The Art of Subtext Beyond Plot. And, in my opinion, you'd be better served by getting Baxter's book.
Now, to be fair, Baxter deals with subtext in literature, and Seger deals with subtext in film, so this emphasis may color your appreciation of the books, and certainly colored mine. Seger's book came off as excessively chatty, too-prone to digression, and simply not "How To" enough to make up for those weaknesses. Baxter's book came off as fascinating, literate, and insightful.
That said, for the price of a book, Seger provides some instructive examples and a useful enough taxonomy of ways to communicate subtext. So I'd recommend buying it. Remember, there are really only two books on the subject, and this is still a useful volume. If you consider yourself a professional writer, buying two paperbacks on a topic is a pretty easy expense to justify. But I wouldn't be deceived by the lavish praised heaped upon this volume, as it really aint all that. And when judged against other writing books out there, it's not one I'd classify as first rate.
****Update as of 21 AUG 2012 -- New book to recommend as an addition or substitute for this one Catherine Brady's Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction. Probably one of the best writing books I've come across, and an even better book on Subtext than Baxter's, in my opinion.***
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