There will still be posts dedicated to books about writing and storytelling, but I’m broadening the conversation to include other media.
So, in a couple of weeks, there’s talk of a newer volume in Graywolf’s writing series and, later, talk of a documentary film about storytelling in another medium and an interview via podcast.
Why? I’m already discussing the books I read on BuriedInPrint, but there are so many outstanding films and TV series, podcasts and broadcasts, that go unmentioned. Often they employ the very techniques that I most enjoy on-the-page and I’m itching to say so.
I suspect that many of the storytelling techniques that I consider favourites were introduced to me as a young viewer, like shifting perspectives. (My So-Called Life’s shifting povs, for instance: with the initial episodes revolving about the main character but, in time, episodes devoted to the perspectives of “secondary” characters, who are the main characters in their own specific arcs.)
Often my favourite writers draw readers’ attention and focus to what’s left unsaid, or to events that unfold out-of-sight. Something which the recent film The Zone of Interest explores brilliantly, for instance.
There’s always a book about craft in my stacks (right now, it’s Jami Attenberg’s 1000 Words), but I hope there’s room for the conversation to expand beyond books too.