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On Writing: Subtext (and how to use it)! [ Tarantino | Thrones | Gatsby ]

A long-form essay on subtext that works by comparison, reading the same underlying technique across very different writers. The Tarantino material is the strongest section — it is the clearest available demonstration of tension built entirely from what is not said.

Hello Future Me · 26 min · Intermediate · SCR · Screenwriting · 2022

What you take away

Subtext only works when the audience has been given enough to fill the gap themselves; withholding without seeding is just confusion.

Watch it

Filed under

The films of Quentin Tarantino

Oscar winners for screenplay

Books on screenwriting

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