Screenwriting Archives - SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

What I’m Reading 9th May

It’s been almost a month since I posted what I’ve been reading. Sixty plus hours a week down the word mines made it challenging to find time to read. But now that I’m heading for a holiday in T minus two hours, I thought I’d line up my next read.

What I’m Reading 15th April

Woohoo! I managed to carve out some time to read last week–a nice change to previous weeks where I’d had little to no time set aside.

This week, I’ve decided to go with just one book as I’ve upped my writing output, and it’s turning my brain to sausage.

What I’m Reading 8th April

It’s been another week of little reading time, but I did manage to squeeze some time in! I finished reading A Spy’s Guide to Taking Risks by John Braddock, and it was a fascinating read.

Spread over the chapters is the tale of Braddock’s first time travelling to a meet in alias. At first, it seems pretty benign but quickly plunges into a “worst day ever” scenario. We follow him as he does risk analysis on the fly, ditching border guards and a possible tail.

In each chapter, Braddock steps away from the story to explain a spy’s decision making in risky situations. The thought process, the AND-OR components that go into their decision making, the factoring in of every possible eventuality–and assigning probability percentages.

As I read, I saw ways of utilising what I’d learnt in my everyday decision making. But, mostly, I couldn’t stop seeing how I could use it in fiction.

And now, onto this week’s reads.

[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]

What I’m Reading 1st April

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I shared my latest reads. But, to be honest, all of my reading plans went out the window. Well, not out the window; they just went so slow that I had to re-read chapters to remember what happened in the days since I’d last read.

I go through the odd month of barely getting any reading done, but I’d thought that wouldn’t be an issue given that I was reading two of my favourite authors. But, I know why I’ve struggled to get much reading done.

Okay, that last statement sounds like I did some deep thinking about the issue and came up with some startling revelation… nope. As I was reading my Fun read–a book I know I love because I’ve read it multiple times–I suddenly remembered that I don’t read fiction when I’m writing fiction.

It probably sounds insane. Wouldn’t reading fiction, especially a well-written novel in my genre, be helpful? For me, no.

While I was writing my scenes, I noticed a different tone slipping in. It was present in the narrative, the dialogue, and the characters. It wasn’t a crappy tone. It was just a bit darker than mine and with less humour. Basically, it wasn’t suitable for my story. (H. R. D’Costa calls it tone tampering.)

So, with my lesson learnt, I’ve decided to give fiction a by while I’m in writing mode.

[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]

The Work Read

What I’m Reading 11th March

Welcome to another round of Susan loves her work read, and slightly dodgy things in her romance reads.

[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]

The Work Read

What I’m Reading 4th March

I have a dreaded Did Not Finish (DNF) on one of the books I was reading over the last fortnight. I’ve been trying to avoid doing this with the books in this post series, but it was unavoidable this time.

[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]

The Work Read

What I’m Reading 18th February

It’s Friday, and I have a couple of new books to share! Even though I’m on holiday–sort of, it keeps getting moved to later in the week *sobs*–I’m sticking with just two books this time.

[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]

The Work Read

What I’m Reading 28th January

Woohoo, it’s book day! Also, it’s book hangover time. 😩 It’s okay; give me a couple of days, and I’ll be sucked into the next one. I mentioned book hangover to my better half, Jez, the other week, and he had no clue what it meant. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a romance reader thing.

If you don’t know what it is, this meme explains it succinctly.

What I’m Reading 21st January

It’s Friday, and this week’s reads are old ones found on my Kindle or Kobo ‘To be read’ pile or are re-reads. Again, I’ve got three great reads on the go: a work read, a fun read, and a me-time read. The me-time one…? Yeah, it’s a bit different.

[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]

What I’m Reading 14th January

It’s Friday, and that can only mean a new reading post! Like last week, I’ve got three reads on the go: a work read, a fun read, and a me-time read.

[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]

The Work Read

I finished last week’s work read: 7 Figure Fiction: How to Use Universal Fantasy to SELL your Books to ANYONE by T. Taylor. I have to say, it was a great read full of new ways to look at stories and how to make your’s connect with readers.

Reading that book made me think of one of my old screenwriting instructors at UCLA Extension, Karl Iglesias. I bought his Writing for Emotional Impact while taking his class that semester. But it was so long ago that I can’t quite remember most of it… it was well over a decade ago 😳

I’ve only just started to read the introduction, but if the book’s anything like the class, I’m going to have one hell of a refresher–and probably pick up a lot of what I missed in those early days–on eliciting emotions from my readers.

Writing for Emotional Impact on Kindle (£4.99 )

The Fun Read

Nightfall by Anne Stuart

I did warn you all about my love for Anne Stuart. Well, I finished Rocky Road. It was a fun read, though lacking in my need for suspense, but I guessed there was little to none going in.

Now, this book has suspense in spades–going by the description. This is a re-release of a 1995 book, but Anne does a pretty good job updating her older books. Anything too dated is brought up to date so that you don’t really notice it.

The basics: Richard Tiernan, a man accused of killing his wife and two kids, is bailed out of prison by Cassidy Roarke’s writer father, a man so ambitious he’s willing to sacrifice his own daughter in the pursuit of his final Pulitzer-winning story. (👈 This is my quick wee description. Check out the preview above to get a real hint at the darkness of this novel. I’m getting giddy now!)

Nightfall on Kobo (£4.59 on Kobo)

Nightfall on Kindle (£4.59 on Kindle)

The Me-Time Read

Ahead of the Curve by Jenny Rushmore

I’m still working my way through this book. (So many diagrams, measurements, and not enough time!) if I finish it before the end of the month, I’ll be impressed.

Ahead of the Curve on Kindle (£8.96)