A Brief Book Review of “The Wall Will Tell You” by Hampton Fancher
I picked up this book on a whim. I was at a bookstore and mainly attracted to it because I was curious what the screenwriter for Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) had to say about writing. It’s so thin I almost didn’t notice it on the shelf, it disappearing in the slim darkness in-between bigger books next to it. I’m glad I found it. It didn’t disappoint. Hampton Fancher has written a brief, punchy, encouraging, vivid book. It’s less a series of essays on writing and more hundreds of fortune cookie-length philosophies and strongly-worded scriptures on how to create compelling narratives, build sympathetic characters, and engage an audience. I might mine this for quotes, such as:
“Try to make a life of trying. You want to be smart and successful, but what you are is not so smart and you fail, and if you’re afraid of being a failure and you don’t try not to be, a failure is what you’ll be. When you’re failing is when you’re learning. Learning how you failed teaches you how to succeed.”