Stones By William Bell Essay





The “Battle of the Beaks.” Meet VanniO’Riada (Quicktime audio)
William Bell reads from Act Two, page 35.
  • SUMMARY OF THE EXCERPT FROM “STONES” By William Bell. The homework was to just read the excerpt from “Stones” and then get ready to have a class discussion we may be having a editing skills “test” and also an in-class writing assignment based on the short story “Stones”.
  • Rare & Collectible Books. Explore a vast selection of first editions, signed copies, and rare & antiquarian books from independent booksellers around the world.

Stones

Internet Archive BookReader The episcopate in America: sketches, biographical and bibliographical, of the bishops of the American church, with a preliminary essay on the historic episcopate and documentary annals of the introduction of the Anglican line of succession into America. Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. I also have some essay outlines and planners in the classroom, they are located in the black drawer in the back of the room. Stones by William Bell Monster.

FAQ about Only in the Movies


IS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUTTHIS NOVEL?
Bell
For me, yes. Although I try to put some humour into almost all mystories,Only in theMoviesis my firstfull-out comedy. The greatest novelty to be found in this book isprobably Jake’s little screenplays. Jake wants to write for themovies, and sometimes, when he’s thinking about something--likefalling in love with Alba, or asking one of the great romanticactors of the past, Humphrey Bogart, for advice--he’ll imagine orwrite a screenplay on that topic. These vignettes were a bit risky:I was pretty sure the reader would follow them, but there’s alwaysthe danger that the reader will find the screenplays interrupt thestory line. I think they work, but you’ll have to decide foryourself.
Another departure for me was using the work of other writers--afterchanging it around a lot--in my story. I made sure I used only deadwriters so they wouldn’t complain. To me it seemed appropriate in alove story (albeit a comic one) to use pieces of others’ greatromantic works as building blocks in my narrative--not just copyingthem, but playing off them in what I hope is a humorous way. Forexample,Romeo andJulietis a tragedy, butJake makes fun of it in his little screenplay.Cyrano de Bergeracgets all twisted around and stood on its head.And so on. I didn’t fool around with “Araby” though.
DID ANY OF THE BOOK’SEVENTS HAPPEN TO YOU? ARE THE CHARACTERS BASED ON PEOPLE YOUKNOW?

None of the events happened to me as described, although I confessto falling in love when I was a teenager and stumbling through thewhole dating thing like an elephant in a ballet. The characters,not including the ones from books written by others (like WilliamShakespeare) are all invented. If questioned closely I might admitthat Mr. Locheed is similar to a teacher I once had.
The York School of the Arts is fictional, too.
WHAT WAS YOURGREATEST CHALLENGE IN WRITING THISNOVEL?

I admit that I abandoned this project half a dozen times--or Ithought I did. I would get frustrated trying to fit all the bits ofplot together and tell myself that the story line was not worthpursuing and that the scenes just weren’t working out. But it keptcalling me back. Finally I had enough faith in the tale to see itthrough to the end.
Losing confidence in the story, or in oneself, is not unusual amongwriters. It’s something we struggle with continually.
IS WRITING A COMEDYEASIER THAN WRITING A SERIOUS BOOK?

It’s probably not productive to compare books in these terms. Eachnovel has it challenges and difficulties when it comes to thewriting. But there is a widespread attitude that, because humorousbooks are funny, they’re basically trivial and easy to write. Infact, the opposite is the case. Creating a funny scene is veryhard. There’s a very good essay about this topic, written by afamous Canadian humourist from long ago. Stephen Leacock wrote“Humour as I See It” in response to comments that writing funnystories must be easy. It’s a very entertaining essay which can befound here:www.online-literature.com/stephen-leacock/further-foolishness/17/But be careful, Leacock is being ironic in the opening of theessay. Irony is a great source of humour.
The essay contains a great deal of truth, and Leacock said it allmuch better than I ever could.
WHAT ROMANTICCOMEDIES OR OTHER WORKS INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING OF THISBOOK?

Casablanca, one of the great (old) romantic movies of alltime--a tear-jerker, not a comedy. It’s still available on DVD, andif you’re really interested, you can download the screenplay atwww.vincasa.com/indexscreenplay.html
Rostand’s Cyrano deBergeracWilliam, a play whichcombines tragedy with comedy.
Shakespeare’s Romeo andJuliet, a tragedy--or sothey say. I’ve always thought of it as acomedy.
Shakespeare’sThe Taming of the Shrew,a comedy.
Joyce’s “Araby,” a non-comic short story.
IS IT HARD TO WRITE ASCREENPLAY?

Stones By William Bell Essays


I’m no expert in this area, but I’d say it’s no harder than writingshort stories, plays, poetry, or novels. Like all forms of writing,screenplays are developed according to conventions. The screenplaysinOnly in theMoviesfollow the formatfor screenplay writing very closely, so you could use them as amodel if you want to try your hand at creating your own. Or youcould downloadCasablanca

Stones By William Bell Essay Graphic Organizer

Stones by william bell essay graphic organizerfrom the website noted above. A good book tostart with is Syd Field’sScreenplay: The Foundations ofScreenwriting.
Other William Bell books that have been nominated for the Forest ofReading Program in the past:

Zack

Stones By William Bell Essay Outline

Red Maple,1999
StonesRedMaple, 2002
The Blue HelmetWhite Pine, 2008

Stones By William Bell Essay Summary