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I recently saw a TV interview with America's newest poet laureate, Ted Kooser. The first from America's Great Plains, Kooser was asked the most important piece of advice he offers his University of Nebraska students. His response: "Read. I tell them that for every one poem they write, they should read at least twenty." After a pause, he commented: "Of course, I don't think they listen to me."
No matter what our medium, it's good advice. Screenwriters should be reading and analyzing scripts. We must watch dozens and dozens of films for every script we write. And we should view motion pictures especially relevant to our aesthetic sensibilities or pertinent to our projects several times-analyzing what makes them tick.
Equally important, I believe, is that we should be voracious readers of all types of fiction and non-fiction. It exposes us to different voices; varied modes of storytelling and communicating.
Over time, such analysis seeps into our own writing, consciously or unconsciously. It informs the choices we make. We become better craftsmen and women.
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