#111 Taking The Boat Out
adamwestbrook.substack.com
#111 Taking The Boat Out
The unexpected benefits of writing and drawing short stories and some advice from the masters.
I am back from my week locked in a hotel room, with lots to say!
Today’s letter is the beginning of a short series I’m sending you over the next few weeks. Each one will be about something different, but together they’ll build to reveal a new project I’m really excited to share with you.
(In case you missed it in the last letter, I’ve moved The Third Something to my personal website. From now on, these emails will contain a link; you can still reply to this email or leave a comment, or contact me through my website!)
"You are not paid by the word, you are paying by the word" - I love that. I feel the same way about short films. I always wanted to start with a punch, in the middle of the '3rd' act, no time wasted. The best thing about short films/stories might be their constraints.
Sadly, I don’t remember encountering a short story that was exactly what I was looking for.
The ones that come to mind now are
- ‘Sun - 40 tales of the afterlife’ by David Eagleman for the bitesize thought experiments
- Ted Chiang’s ‘Story of Your Life’, ‘The truth of fact, the truth of feeling’ and ‘The Great Silence’
- Arthur C Clarke’s ‘Dog Star’
- the illustrated short stories of Jon Klassen, like ’We found a hat’ and his trilogy collab with Mac Barnett: Triangle, Square, Circle
- Shaun Tan’s work, both illustration and writing - so simple and profound, like nostalgia for something you never knew or a half remembered dream. I especially liked his ‘Tales from the Inner City’ and ‘Rules of summer’, which is only illustration.
I’d love to hear a list of recommendations from your readers.