I read
I don’t generally keep a running tally of the books I read in any given year — if only there were a Letterboxd equivalent for books, someplace that I could chart all these “good reads” I am constantly thumbing my way through! — and overall I suspect my reading interests are too mundane to be worth many column-inches. Nonetheless, the 2023 A.G.M. did net out at least a rough tally of what I consumed this year, pagewise; here are some notable points:
Star Wars books: it would surprise the reader, no doubt, to learn that I do not generally read an enormous number of Star Wars books. This year was a real outlier in that respect, as I dabbled across the gamut: I re-read the Heir to the Empire trilogy, which warrants an essay in itself, given what I find to be the marked difference between “fan favourite Expanded Universe” Star Wars storytelling, and (what I consider) actual good Star Wars storytelling. I read Master and Apprentice from the new canon and Convergence from the High Republic franchise; I went all the way back to the beginning, with Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. Regrettably, I can still count the number of Star Wars novels I’d call actually solid, enjoyable reads on one hand.
The Cromwell trilogy: I read Hilary Mantel’s trio of novels about the life of Thomas Cromwell, fictionalized, and they were probably the standout experience of my entire year. They temporarily turned me into a Boleyn-head, but it’s the absorbing inner life of Thomas himself — along with an encyclopaedic plethora of side-characters — that made this one of the most rewarding visits to the human past I’ve ever had.
The MCU book: Every major entertainment narrative needs something like MCU: The Rise of Marvel Studios, an exhaustively researched tracking of over thirty years of the creation of what is now the de facto leading film franchise of the 21st century. (Seriously: where is the parallel book about Disney Lucasfilm, with two or three lusty chapters on the Rise of Skywalker clusterfuck? I know, I know. Lawyers.) A close second in this category: Kyle Buchanan’s book about the making of Mad Max: Fury Road. Yes, I admit, I was heartily reluctant to read this when it came out, for obvious reasons. But I got over it, and it was grand.
And: The sequel to The Exorcist, called Legion, which I found in paperback in a neighbourhood lending library a week before Hallowe’en. (Epic!) Project Hail Mary, which is not “good” in the classical sense of, say, good writing, but is such a page-turner. Children of Dune, which (my Dune advisors tell me) is the second-last Dune book I should be reading. Sherlock Holmes, story by story, in between other reads, all year; and I’ve still got dozens to go.
I wrote
The hardest thing about being a writer is the near-pathological second-guessing, self-deprecation, and diminution of achievement; off the top of my head I’d have said I had a fairly normal year, output-wise, except that in reviewing the actual work, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a more creatively fruitful time in my life, ever. This year, I wrote:
A novel: and I promise to come up with a way to pitch it / explain it to you guys, very, very soon. (This is a great example of the self-gaslighting, btw: I told myself all year that this was merely a “novella,” or perhaps even a very long short story; the first draft is in fact 84,000 words. Come on, brain.)
Three-ish feature specs: I got about halfway through a true-crime-inspired feature screenplay; I think I have enough to write the rest of it, but its ethical purpose needs a bit of considered thought before I proceed. I had no problem flying through the first draft of a 101-page zombie movie, though, or the revised draft of (you guessed it) a 130-page spec Star Wars script. On top of this, I dug out, exhumed, finished, or at least continued, three short spec screenplays as well, at least one of which I’m taking forward into a different format.
The YA trilogy: I’ve had an idea for something I wanted to do in the YA space since I was literally a teenager; I started properly outlining it this year. That’s as far as I’ve gotten — outline of the first book; rough notes on books 2 and 3 — but I’ll pick it up (again) eventually.
Television projects: This has been the bread and butter of my creative intentions lately; I’ve had a project going with Daniel for some time now and we hit major milestones this quarter with a pilot teleplay and proposal outline. I also drafted specs for two half-hour pilots, mostly for portfolio-building purposes; one of them is (I think) pretty good, and the other needs more fleshing out. On we go.
On the blog: Blogging the Next Generation: Picard weighed in at 43,000 words; “The Crimes of Skywalker” was an unintentional 7,500. Shit, I should sell this stuff.
For shits and giggles: I outlined the “what would I pitch to Marvel Studios if I got to pitch to Marvel Studios” plan, and it rules. And shortly thereafter, with no intention of it leading to anything other than more fun, I ended up outlining the next novel. Whoops! Happy new year!