Writing/Screenwriting Books on Your Desk

[soonergirll]

What do you keep at your fingertips?

Me -

Dictionary/thesaurus
Dictionary of quotations
Dictionary of Allusions
The Art of Dramatic Writing
English Usage
e.e. Cummings - selected poems
Bullfinches Mythology
HCD Agents and Mythology
A Stone, A Leaf, A Door - poems of Thomas Wolfe
The Great Gatsby
Back issues of Creative Screenwriting

Some of these don't make sense, I'm just attached to them

Anybody else?

Sooner

[JavaJiver]

My desk is a complete mess. I found from a very early age that the more order was around me the less I could think. I'm not sure what that is about but it alway shocks my friends. The best quote is, "Okay so you make me use coasters but you have a room like this? Okay how many of you are in there and where are the bodies?"

[ybanon]

On my desk:
High-speed internet connection
Google search engine
Whatever spell checker and thesaurus are bundled with my software.

One step futher away are copies of Syd Field's "Screenplay" and "The Complete Book of Scriptwriting" by Straczynski and a 30-year-old American Heritage Dictionary.

[Mompboken]

Dictionary
Thesaurus
Gray's Anatomy
Anagram Dictionary
Air Traveler's Handbook
The Book Of Execution
New Bar Guide
European Customs and Manners
Dictionary of Yiddish Slang and Idioms
German Dictionary
Spanish Dictionary
Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
A Field Guide To Demons
Satan: The Early Christian Traditions
Bible
Total Baseball IV
Do's and Dont's Around The World
Complete Set of Audubon Field Guides

Plus books specific to projects I am working on.

[ybanon]

Momp,

I went to Amazon right away to get a copy of Simpson's Contemporary Quotations. Boy, was I dissapointed to find out that it wasn't edited by Bart or Homer.

[JavaJiver]

I hope you are happy Ybanon, you almost made me wet myself. I don't know why I thought it was that funny but I just couldn't stop laughing.

[Gilliatt]

I keep one copy of the following books on my desk.

Cloudburst
Thunder One
October's Ghost
Top Ten
Simple Simon

and

Capital Punishment



Momp,
can I stand up now, because my knees are starting to hurt.

[ybanon]

Java,

Thanks for the compliment.

Truth be known, I really was expecting a Bart/Homer book. A collection of famous lines from the Simpsons would fit perfectly in Momp's set (The New Bar Guide, The Book of Executions, "Lisa, it's not that I don't understand, it's that I don't care.")

[TwoBrad Bradley]

None on my desk. I do have quite a few on the shelf, but I have to slide my chair over two feet to reach them.
On my computer I have Microsoft Encarta, the 2001 edition because that was the last one to have both a Style Guide and Quotations.
I'm considering the electronic version of Word Menu.
One book I have and recommend is "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Do you ever get so involved in writing that three hours pass in what only seems ten minutes? This book explains why.

[Mompboken]

It's <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Capitol Punishment<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, with an 'o', so you may not stand up yet.

[klnscribe]

Of the dozens of dictionaries, writing guides and other references texts I like to keep close, the coolest is called Writer's Dreaming by Naomi Epel.

Its a book filled with interviews by top writer's about their dreams, and how their nocturnal musings inform their work. It's interesting, inspirational, and great for procrastinating without getting too far off point.

[Cyfress]

I own one book, McKee's Story and it's in the bathroom.

On my desk I have the scripts of Panic Room and American Beauty and also about 50 pages of notes I've taken on the characters and plot of my current script.

[GroundlingCom]

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> I own one book, McKee's Story and it's in the bathroom.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

High praise, indeed. :)

I have a copy of "Southern Comfort" by Scott Tissue.

[Bad Elvis]

Dictionary
Thesaurus
Writer's Digest How-Dunit Series
The Writer's Journey
Myth and the Movies
The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase & Fable
The Ultimate Visual Dictionary
The Fiction Writer's Silent Partner
Building Believable Characters
The Writer's Complete Crime Reference Book
The Order of Things
NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
Thesaurus of American Slang
The Slang of Sin
A Dictionary of American Idioms

[taurbabe]

A Field Guide To Demons?..... somebody hold me http://shanons.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sofa.gif

I have a whole crime library on my desk....

A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers
Mafia Encyclopedia
Druglord Encyclopedia
FBI Profiler books from John Douglas: Mind Hunter, The Anatomy of Motive, and The Cases That Haunt Us.

I just finished an article on Napoleon and now I'm working on a big story about Charles Manson.

[storyb]

Okay, YOU ASKED! ;)

I had to go into my livingroom for my list. I have all of mine in another room because I'll read instead of write if I've got a book in my hand.

Directing the Film
Creative Drama in the Classroom
CenterStage
Acting for the Camera
Acting, the Creative Process
Acting is Believing: A Basic Method
Directors on Directing
All You Need To Know About The Movie and TV Business
Hollywood 101: The Film Industry
Selling a Screenplay: The Screenwriter's Guide to Hollywood
Writing the Romantic Comedy
Screenplay
The Screenwriter's Notebook
The Screenwriter's Bible
The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters
Screenwriters on Screenwriting
Writing the Action-Adventure Film
Making Independent Films
Dead Reckoning
A Copyright Guide for Authors
Opening the Doors to Hollywood
On Writing
Guide for the Film Fanatic
The Complete Film Dictionary
Halliwell's Film Guide
The Complete Guide to Primetime Network and Cable TV Shows
1946--Present
Writing for the Reader
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway (not a screenwriting or
reference book, but appropriate anyway, no?)
Digital Filmmaking 101
Plus a HUGE assortment of Dictionaries, Thesauri (?), quote
books, etc. Plus all of my Theatre, Music,
and Television Production books from
college. The Complete Works of Shakespeare
Lots of poetry, literature books....on and on..

I seem to be a collector. I have read one and all of these and probably have some lurking in closets, boxes, and elsewhere that I'm not mentioning. I find little gems in all of them. And I'm sure, I'll probably add to this list ad nauseum for the rest of my life.

:rolleyes

storyb

[JaneaDahl]

Stephen King On Writing (really good)
Creating Unforgettable Characters
Story
Good Scripts/Bad Scripts (not very good)
Heroes & Heriones (VERY good)
Roget's Thesaurus (not finished with it yet, but I'll let you know)
Screenplay--Sid Field
How NOT to Write a Screenplay
Screenwriter's Problem Solver
Talking Dirty (sex slang)
Quentin Taratino's-The Cinema of Cool
High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby
Making a Good Script Great
Slang & Euphemisms
The Writer's Journey
A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller
An old HCD

Now, if you want to know what's on my BOOKSHELF...

[echo2218]

dictionary
thesaurus
Stickman--John Trudell -- not screenwriting related, but he was in a few movies. THe most inspirational book I own.
Screenplay--Field
Fully Empowered -- Neruda

Actually, all my writing books are within an arm's length of me when I'm writing. Those are the books that I keep on my desk.

[Deus Ex Machine]

Beside it, dictionary, thsaurus, thematic dictionary, crime reference, atlas, two binders full of my own notes and comments made by others I know and/or have seen online that cover just about every aspect of the art and business of writing.

Above my desk, dozens and dozens of scripts, copies of magazines, HCD, Complete works of Shakespeare, bible, Transcripts from McKee's seminar, transcripts from Vogler seminar, and an assortment of books on writing from Henry James to our own Bill Martell.

A cork board on the wall is covered in notes I've made for the script I am currently working on. The desk has a thick pile of notes from other people about my current script.

Jay

[alipali]

I don't have a desk, honest. I have my laptop on my lap, my feet up, cup of tea, pack of @#%$.

Books are too distracting to have lying about willy-nilly.

[Wolfy262]

On my desk I have an OED - it has every book ever written in it - a bible and a gun. If God don't get 'em, the other one will.

[dwickstrom]

A thesaurus I never use... well, rarely...
A dictionary because spell check sucks and even when it works it won't tell you the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'... and which is what...

And a computer... If I want to read anything on screenwriting I sure as hell ain't going to do it at my desk. I'm getting comfy on the couch, or my chair... or in bed.

Clean desk, clear thoughts... Dirty desk, dirty... well, Momp gets it...

[Rear Admiral Stufflebottom]

On my desk:

english-hebrew dictionary
"Twin Peaks" the complete scripts
"The Dog and the Gramaphone: A Complete History of RCA"
a 1952 version of a Rand-McNally road atlas
"Quilting Patterns of the Deep South"
"Aunt Bee's Recipes from Matberry"
Issues 11, 12, and 13 of the comic book "Dreadstar"

it is all for the screenplay i just finished outlining and starting to write.

[qparrish]

The Writer's Journey
Screenwriting from the Soul
(something about beating the Hollywood Script Reader that's really good, but I can't find right now)
Screenplay
How to Write a Screenplay in 21 Days (not as cheesy as it seems)
an orange Format book by someone famous--downstairs right now...
101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters
Eyewitness Travel Guides SPAIN
Arabic phrase book
and lots of pictures to get me inspired and make it visual

Can anyone recommend a REWRITING book??

[ScriptKat]

qparrish,

A good rewriting book is:
Making a Good Script Great, by Linda Seger.

[kcshc]

Many of those mentioned and many more besides.