A comprehensive resource for writing dramatic narratives about real people.
O’Neill explores the ins and outs of writing biographical drama in this writing manual.
Biopics and their theatrical equivalent, biodramas, have always been a popular art form. Audiences love movies and stage shows that portray the lives of famous athletes, politicians, musicians, and others who’ve experienced remarkable events in their lives. Writing these plays and screenplays can be a bit more complex than creating purely fictional fare, however, as the biodramatist walks a fine line between fidelity to the facts and a commitment to telling a compelling, narratively satisfying story. As O’Neill explains in her introduction, the biodramatist must “transform the facts into dramatic visual scenes for the audience and reader to experience.” This book, which is aimed at novice and seasoned writers alike, is intended to provide a map for those embarking on a biographical project. It covers everything from essential writing and researching tips to strategies for selecting a fruitful subject to the ethics and legalities of portraying real people. The author offers a list of questions every would-be biodramatist should ask themselves, such as how timely a person’s story is and what new perspective a writer might bring to it. O’Neill also discusses biodrama as a genre—she uses the term to refer to both film and theatrical productions—examining its enduring popularity and examining some prominent examples, such as the award-winning films Amadeusand Bohemian Rhapsody. In addition, O’Neill includes a number of writing exercises in order to get her readers into the biodramatic mindset.
Over the course of this guide, O’Neill’s prose is straightforward and workmanlike. She’s often quite frank with her advice, as when she explains what sort of person is a suitable subject for a biodrama, and details why an unnamedfriend of hers simply doesn’t fit the bill: “No addictions, no steamy affairs with famous stars, no nasty divorces, no criminal activity, no theft of his great ideas, no exciting obstacles to overcome. He had a stable social life, which fed his success.” She uses her own play Barassi, about the celebrated Australian rules football player Ron Barassi, as a model for the adaptation process, which is useful in how it shows how a biodramatist may negotiate specific problems. She also helpfully includes advice gleaned from other successful practitioners of the art form, including José Rivera (who adapted the life story of Che Guevara for the screen as The Motorcycle Diaries), Kenneth Lin (who worked on a staged story about Russian billionaire Mikhail Khordokovsky), Robert Reid (who wrote a play about comedian Bill Hicks), and Polly Teale (who wrote a play about the Brontë sisters). Perhaps the most valuable information that O’Neill offers, however, is her thoughts on research—some of which aren’t always obvious, such as the value of learning more about the lives of your subject’s contemporaries. Much of her advice will be relevant for would-be novelists, as well, as she outlines considerations that are important for all writers to consider.
A comprehensive resource for writing dramatic narratives about real people.Pub Date: July 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0648890607
Page Count: 196
Publisher: Endeavor Literary Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A cheeky, gossipy dual biography.
A study of two writers uncomfortably entwined.
After Eve Babitz (1943-2021) died, her biographer Anolik came upon a letter from Babitz to Joan Didion (1934-2021) that startled her. Filled with “rage, despair, impatience, contempt,” it read like a “lovers’ quarrel.” “Eve was talking to Joan the way you talk to someone who’s burrowed deep under your skin, whose skin you’re trying to burrow deep under.” That surprise discovery suggested a “complicated alliance” between the two. In sometimes breathless prose, with sly asides to the “Reader,” Anolik draws on more than 100 interviews with Babitz and many other sources to follow both women’s lives, tumultuous loves, and aspirations before and after they met in Los Angeles in 1967, sometimes straining to prove their significance to one another. “Joan and Eve weren’t each other’s opposite selves so much as each other’s shadow selves,” she asserts. “Eve was what Joan both feared becoming and longed to become: an inspired amateur.” At the same time, “Joan was what Eve feared becoming and desired to become: a fierce professional.” Didion had just won acclaim for Slouching Towards Bethlehem when Babitz, newly arrived from New York, began socializing with her and her husband, John Gregory Dunne. The reticent Didion and the sensual, energetic Babitz could not have been more different, and Anolik clearly prefers Babitz. “I’m crazy for Eve,” she admits, “love her with a fan’s unreasoning abandon. Besides, Joan is somebody I naturally root against: I respect her work rather than like it; find her persona—part princess, part wet blanket—tough going.” Their relationship—hardly a friendship—fell apart in 1974 when Didion and Dunne were assigned to edit Babitz’s autobiographical novel, Eve’s Hollywood. Babitz, resentful of Didion’s attitude and intrusion, “fired” her, pursuing her writing career on her own. Didion soared to literary fame; not, alas, Babitz.
A cheeky, gossipy dual biography.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781668065488
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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