18 Comments
Feb 9, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

This was a very interesting read. It has me thinking about the ways good books start. And it will have me going to the shelves to open a bunch to the first page and check.

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

So useful in writing my final clinical paper to train as a psychoanalyst!

Thank you

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

Wrote a giant comment (I pay nothing x) in praise of good characters in books films tv drama the lot paused to celebrate the remarkable Burt Bacharach who has died (94 so did ok) and returned to this and it disappeared as I prodded it about. Basically thank you for insights / think I veer from saying too much to saying not enough. Thanks for posting always enjoy these writings from Hanif & family x

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Thank you for your helpful advice on screenwriting and dialogue. Your ideas on natural conversation, motivations in dialogue, and establishing the theme in the first scene are particularly helpful. I also like your analogy of story tension being like blowing up a balloon. It's a unique way of visualizing the progression of conflict and intrigue in a story.

Your dispatches are extremely valuable and contain a wealth of information for aspiring screenwriters such as myself.

Best wishes,

Firdavs Azam

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

Thank you for your insightful writing tips Carlo. It's wonderful to find contributions from you, your brother and your father in this shared space of The Kureishi Chronicles. I can imagine the amazing conversations you must have amongst yourselves about fiction, movies, writing and art !

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As a Substack writer as well as developmental book editor: This is dead right. Tension is what holds a reader’s interest, keeps them reading. I have a post coming out about this in a few days, actually. Sexual tension is the best, in my opinion. It’s so realistic and relatable; we absolutely have to know what’ll happen next. Funny you mention There Will be Blood. I’m currently rereading No Country for Old Men. Talk about tension!!

Michael Mohr

‘Sincere American Writing’

https://michaelmohr.substack.com/

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Feb 10, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

Super advice Carlo! And of course massive thanks to you for helping you dad these days. Our paths crossed back in the 80s when we worked together on a script called Dance Marathon shortly before he made Launderette, (long and funny story there!) and we’ve occasionally seen/touched base with each other since. I was very upset to hear about what happened on Boxing Day but knowing his family is there for him has made all the difference. Please send him my best love, I reached out on messenger but didn’t expect a response.

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Feb 9, 2023·edited Feb 9, 2023Liked by Hanif Kureishi

I am assuredly guilty of treating dialogue as an easy option, where I can lift my feet off the pedals. In the past, as long as the words sounded like they were issuing from the mouths of different people, that was enough. It may be the reason why some of the characters I have created haven't worked. Though they possessed the superficial appearance of personalities, in reality they were word clouds in the shape of human beings.

The next time that I write something creative, I will be paying mind to the dialogue tips and seeing if I can work in a bit more humanity.

Building tension is something that I am getting better at. It's good fun and panders to one's inner sadist. I recently halted work on a novel and went back to re-plotting the second act which was most definitely a deflated balloon. Instinctively I knew that it wasn't right. I ignored my doubts because I had already been plotting for several months and I wanted to get down to writing. I think I am improving the story. I've pulled the rug out from under the antagonist which has sent the book in an interesting direction, and towards what I think will be a better ending.

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Fantastic tips, thank you

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Thankyou Carlo, this is so wonderful

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Found this extremely helpful and clear, thank you. Very appreciative of Kureishi & Sons for the writing insights!

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just catching up, and this is interesting and helpful. I'm not a writer, but this seems to apply beyond the "craft" of writing to the letter to a relative or how I tell a story in conversation. thanks!

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Hello Carlo,

I read your tips and think they provide guidance as well as limit the scope of writing. Kafka's pals laughed out loud when he read the opening pages of The Trial. Why don't we?

I think of the page as a place of overspill than containment, so that we might go into the margins, look for clues in the crumbs and work inwards - if we want to - not a wanton act but for language and style to break free from the expectations of the agent-editor-marketeer-reader complex, who are not as samey as they sound but sometimes slurp on both ends of the noodle until meshed.

Let's walk the line up and down the dance floor and climb the walls if needs be. Rave on without anticipation, conjecture or thrill. Rushdie, Duras, Kafka, Saramago and more thrill not because of plot...

There Will Be Blood: that opening scene could be the beginning of a body coming out of another. In solidarity, Kamal.

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Me pasa seguido expreso una cosa y en mi mente hay otra. Es muy importante para nuestra vida diaria saber expresarnos

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Thank you, Carlo. Well said. I have sometimes been too kind to my characters, and ruined the tension by resolving things too soon.

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