Pauline Kiernan

26th August 2020/in Screenplay /by James Grace

Pauline Kiernan – Editor

Dr Pauline Frederica Kiernan is an award-winning playwright, commissioned screenwriter and prize-winning short story writer.

She has been a literary consultant for 12 years and has taught Creative Writing on Oxford University’s Creative Writing Undergraduate and MA programmes.

Pauline is a former lecturer at the University of Oxford and a Shakespeare scholar, and was appointed Leverhulme Fellowship at Shakespeare’s Globe to work with Mark Rylance and the directors and actors in its first six years as dramaturg and research resource.

She is the author of the snappily-entitled Screenwriting They Can’t Resist: How to Create Screenplays of Originality and Cinematic Power. Break The Rules and is a theatre and film consultant. Her monographs, Shakespeare’s Theory of Drama, and Staging Shakespeare at the New Globe were published to worldwide acclaim, and her best-selling Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Most Outrageous Sexual Puns was an Observer Book of the Year. She is currently writing the first of a series of crime novels set in Italy, and a book about Keats.

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Why we love Pauline

A Shakespeare scholar and award-winning playwright, Pauline is your go-to editor if you need feedback on a play or a screen script.

What Pauline says about editing

Working with writers to help them create work of originality that’s worthy of publication or performance is a passion that never seems to diminish for me. I loved being a teacher at Oxford which showed me how crucial it is to focus on how to develop the individual’s strengths and to gain self confidence in their work. That’s why, above, all, it is important to help writers realise their potential by finding their unique voice. This has been my goal in all my creative writing classes and workshops, and in my literary consultancy work. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a writer, or aspiring writer, create work that is the best it can be.

Quite often, I see work that has potential but requires some rethinking – a ‘re-framing the.picture’ to enable the writer to see where things have gone a little awry. Also, some manuscripts fall down on style and grammatical errors. I enjoy line-editing as well, for this reason.
It’s all about supporting the writer’s individual vision.

What Pauline works on

Editorial Assessment

Line-Editing

Copy-Editing

Proof-Reading

Genres Pauline specialises in

Fiction:

Short stories & novellas
Plays and screen scripts

Non-Fiction:

Memoir/Autobiography
Other narrative non-fiction

Pauline’s published books

Screenwriting They Can’t Resist

Screenwriting They Can’t Resist

At a time when mainstream and independent film producers are despairing at their slush piles of tent-pole scripts that are derivative, formulaic and forgettable, desperately searching for bold and original work, screenwriter and Shakespeare scholar Pauline Kiernan offers a radically new and provocative approach to screenwriting for writers who want to discover how to create screenplays that are daring, inventive and wholly original- and have a real chance of getting developed…

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Shakespeare’s Theory of Drama

Shakespeare’s Theory of Drama

Why did Shakespeare write drama? Did he have specific reasons for his choice of this art form? Did he have clearly defined aesthetic aims in what he wanted drama to do – and why? Pauline Kiernan opens up a new area of debate for Shakespearean criticism in showing that a radical, complex defence of drama which challenged the Renaissance orthodox view of poetry, history and art can be traced in Shakespeare’s plays and poems. This study, first published in 1996, examines different stages in the canon to show that far from being restricted by the ‘limitations’ of drama, Shakespeare consciously exploits its capacity to accommodate temporality and change, and its reliance on the physical presence of the actor. This lively, readable book offers an original and scholarly insight into what Shakespeare wanted his drama to do and why.

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Staging Shakespeare at the New Globe

Staging Shakespeare at the New Globe

What have we learned from the first experiments at the reconstructed Globe on Bankside? Written by the Leverhulme scholar appointed to study actor use of the space, this is the first analytical account of the discoveries that have been made in its important first years. Kiernan relates her findings to what we know of original staging practices in Shakespeare’s time to show how actors, directors and playgoers have responded to the demands of ‘historical’ constraints – and unexpected freedoms – to offer valuable insights into the dynamics of Elizabethan theatre.

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Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Most Outrageous Sexual Puns

Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Most Outrageous Sexual Puns

The works of William Shakespeare contain at least 400 puns on male and female genitals. Despite the richness and breathtaking scope of his sexual language, too little attention has been paid to the sheer salacious inventiveness of his indecent puns – until now. His plays and poems pulsate with puns on body parts and what they do. Filthy Shakespeare presents over 70 sizzling examples of the Bard at his raciest, arranged under different categories from Balls to Buggery, from Cunnilingus to the Clap, from Homosexual to Transvestite.

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Testimonials

“Dr Pauline Kiernan’s mentoring and script reports are like taking a masterclass in screenwriting. She infused a confidence and belief into my writing when I felt like I had hit a dead end. I really felt Pauline heard my voice in the writing and encouraged me to tell my own unique story. Her support and advice has been an inspiration.”

S. Lachlan Benwell

“Having your work evaluated as a complete novice is a daunting prospect, however, Pauline offered encouragement and praise while giving sound advice on how to improve and move forward with my work. The improvements made and encouragement given, gave me the confidence to pursue the avenue of writing as a potential career and as a result I have know been accepted on a full time University MA course in Creative Writing.”

F.B.

“I am grateful to you for taking the time and trouble to respond to my concerns. I feel greatly heartened and will now rework the book in the light of your suggestions.”

S.R.

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Elizabeth Garner

21st July 2020/in Fiction, Screenplay /by James Grace

Elizabeth Garner – Editor

Elizabeth is an award-winning author with 20+ years of editorial experience, in both fiction and feature film. She is a development editor for the award-winning crowdfunding publishers Unbound.

She also teaches Creative Writing at Oxford University and is the arts Trustee at the inter-disciplinary creative and academic charity, The Blackden Trust.

Elizabeth’s debut novel Nightdancing won a Society of Authors’ Betty Trask award and was shortlisted for the Pendleton May First novel award. Her second novel, The Ingenious Edgar Jones, a historical fiction/ fantasy based in Victorian Oxford, was published in both the UK and USA to critical acclaim. She is currently developing a collection of rewritten Folk Tales – Lost & Found – in collaboration with the Young Wood Engraver Of The Year, Phoebe Connolly.

A student of Elizabeth’s Advanced Creative Online class at Oxford, Georgia Fancett, went on to win the Daily Mail First Novel award 2018.

In her role at Unbound, Elizabeth worked with Rose Cartwright on the development and editing of her award-winning memoir PURE, which was adapted into a Channel 4 TV drama.

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Why we love Elizabeth

Not only is Elizabeth an award-winning novelist and script editor, she also has an extremely useful eye for characterisation.

What Elizabeth says about editing

I am passionate about demystifying the writing process and building authors’ confidence along the way. As both a writer and an editor, I understand that the completion of a first draft is a huge achievement. I believe that every writer has their own individual voice that deserves to be nurtured.

My experience across both the film and publishing industry has given me a strong understanding of genre, character development and structure. As such, I work closely with my clients offering them specific, practical guidance that they can apply directly to their manuscript to enable them bring out the full potential of their ideas.

I work across a broad range of genres: literary fiction, thrillers, women’s fiction and memoir. I am also interested in projects that cross these boundaries and play with the readers’ expectations.