Have just finished watching the DVD of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and rewatched it with the director's commentary. What a revelation! It was how I imagine it would be to hear an author talking about the choices made for his/her story in the background as you were reading it.

Fascinating. I have a huge amount to learn about writing but hadn't thought of directors' commentaries as a useful source but it felt like a masterclass.

Maybe this is a feature that will end up in books, when we all go all multimedia - we'll be providing a running commentary (ulp).

hadn't thought of directors' commentaries as a useful source but it felt like a masterclass.

How fascinating! I haven't watched many of those, but I do always listen avidly when directors start talking on Front Row or wherever - completely fascinating stuff.

(I did have to write a 30k word commentary on the writing of my second novel, though, for my PhD. The thinking I did for that has been amazingly enriching for my thinking about writing in general and hist fic in particular. I didn't expect that.)

I did have to write a 30k word commentary on the writing of my second novel, though, for my PhD. The thinking I did for that has been amazingly enriching for my thinking about writing in general and hist fic in particular. I didn't expect that.

Wow - that sounds like an interesting experience!

I was reading about a writer preparing his notes, early drafts etc. for his local university archive and thinking that, as an ordinary (non-academic) reader, I wouldn't be interested in that but I would be interested in his commentary.

I'm sure it would be extremely interesting. I keep coming back to Hitchcock when I talk to students about point of view. Need to work out how to handle the technology in the Writers' Room so I can do a workshop based around it!

Absolutely agree about director's commentaries. I used to work an overnight shift which allowed for a lot of tv time. I was working my way through The Sopranos and because I had all that time on my hands I started to watch the extra material, including the director's commentaries. What a revelation! Made me understand the stories in a whole new way. And you're right, fiction writers can get so much out of studying other disciplines. Sometimes almost more than by studying books themselves.

There's a great book called How to Read a Film, by James Monaco,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Read-Film-Multimedia-Language/dp/0195321057

I think it's probably still a standard text in Film Studies.

Excellent work on how to interpret the language of film and incredibly useful in terms of learning how to structure and create meaning in narratives across all media and genres.

That looks a fascinating book, Toast.

I feel very illiterate in film, because I didn't live with a TV till I was in my twenties, and haven't seen most of the classics - let alone the good, ordinary stuff that's decently built and made. I know what I like, as it were, but don't feel at all capable of knowing why. (Though that's quite handy, since it reminds me how most readers read...)

Having said that, I do see students' work which is clearly conceived in terms of film and therefore passes up all the things available to us in prose fiction which film can't do.

that's a very good tip, Toast. It's always fascinating to hear what went on in the head of the storymaker (whether it's film or book), and it informs us better in our own work.