ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

18 hours ago - George Wright

Hi all –

I keep seeing the same screenwriting books recommended time and time again (Save the Cat, Story, Screenplay, etc.) and honestly? Most of them don’t do much for me beyond regrounding me in the basics I already know. Sometimes it feels more like they’re selling a formula than sparking ideas.

The ones that have really stayed with me are the odd ones out, books like William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade or reading plays and essays on storytelling outside of film. They’re not “practical” in the step-by-step sense, but they genuinely did make me think differently about how and why I write.

Has anyone else found books like that? Ones that don’t tell you where to put your act breaks, but actually feel alive and useful? The kind that set the cogs whirring and help you generate your own ideas, rather than handing them straight to you. I’d love to hear what’s resonated with people.