Research: Stranger than Fiction

I started reading Stranger than Fiction tonight. Brilliant. It's just so good. Clever and meta. Witty and whimsical. Dramatic and tragic. It literally had me laughing out loud.

So much to learn here.

Today's quick takeaway: Immediate hook when the narrator mentions this a story about Harold, and his wristwatch. All within the first page of script.

More to come...

Research: Meta and the Velveteen Rabbit

A few more pages of Eternal...

Takeaway: I love the use of a story or reference within the story that points to or reveals some larger meaning. For example, in one of Joel's memories, Clementine talks about the book the Velveteen Rabbit. Her reference is about the rabbit, but she is really describing the whole point about the film, the main message about relationships:

"It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Brilliant, isn't it?