Ask Lemmy

26909 readers

1979 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

is there a genre of written work specifically concerned with the conception and procedure of literary works, or is it all random interviews or annotated guides? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

i like watching "making-of" or "behind-the-scenes" featurettes and documentaries about the behind the scenes machinations of movie making, but in terms of literature, I'm not sure what to look for if i want to learn about the process Martha wells went through to conceive the murderbot diaries, for example.

i can search for making-of The Matrix and find documentaries, but not making-of project hail Mary and find similar literary results.

is there a section of literature like this?

should i be reading annotated editions?

thanks

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

thanks, I appreciate it.

I read hero of a thousand faces, which of course is a great book, I'll have to look into "write for your life".

Yes, not specifically for tolkien.

in the same way someone might make a documentary of se7en and explain from the filmmakers point of view why spacey was chosen for John doe or why wrath was chosen as the final sin, I'm wondering if there is a genre of books focused on the real-life reasons behind the creation and production of a particular litrary work, why was the abbe named faria in count of monte Cristo, or why was edmund so deliberately flashy instead of becoming a secret assassin?

there are so many documentaries and behind the scenes features for cinematic work that explain why a scene looks a particular way, either by the position of the camera or the number of people on set, or how they came up with the very specific look for the xenomorph in alien, I just wondered if there was an analogue pool of behind-the-scenes looks at the creation of literary works.