About the Book:

"What lurks in the shadows, just below waking consciousness?"

Subtext can be the most important element in text and in a performance. It's an unseen force that speaks directly to the reader's unconscious, deepening meaning and understanding. Great subtext reveals more than simple dialogue and action and is at the heart of the best books and films. It is what glues us to the screen.

Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath goes far beyond dialogue, action, gestures, genre, and images. Written by veteran script consultant Linda Seger, this revised edition has been expanded to be relevant to all screenwriters and fiction writers alike. It adds new examples with chapters on analogy and love and provides deeper explanations of how rich subtext will make your writing leap off the page.

What people say:

"Linda Seger explores the previously unexplored landscape of subtext in screenwriting in a masterful, intriguing, and insightful way." — Syd Field, teacher and author of best-selling book, Screenplay

"Didn t even know I was subtexting so often until I read [this] book... Should be required reading." — Alvin Sargent, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Ordinary People; screenwriter Paper Moon, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3

"Dr. Linda Seger... shows the innumerable ways that carefully chosen dialogue, description, gestures, and images can convey untold layers of meaning and emotion." — Michael Hauge, script consultant and author

About the Author:

Linda Seger is an American author and retired screenwriting consultant. With a doctorate in drama, she created and defined the job of script consultant when she began her business in 1981, based on a method for analyzing scripts she developed for her dissertation project about the elements needed to make a script work. Since then, she has consulted on over 2000 scripts, including over 100 produced films. Her background in the entertainment business and development makes her an excellent resource.