I’ve read a lot of screenwriting books and taken a class or two and have found that all of them have at least something of use to say. Now comes Animation Writing and Development by Jean Ann Wright, who has a background in writing and animating for Hanna-Barbera, writing for Filmation and DIC Ent. and developing a curriculum on animation for Women in Animation.

The 21-chapter book begins with a brief, but surprisingly thorough introduction and history of animation from a global perspective. For animation students, the history chapter alone is worth the price of the book. I mean the book gives info on animation from Iran and Israel. One thing the book sets up early is a realistic tone about how the animation industry really works in a globalized economy.

In Chapter 3 “Finding Ideas,” Wright gives a good look at where we get our ideas and why. She lays out some helpful suggestions on researching and brainstorming. What impressed me about the book right from the beginning is that Wright never presents one certain way as the right way of doing things, even when it comes to well established rules. In addition, the almost stream of consciousness tone to her writing is encouraging and inspiring even when it seems like information overload. But that’s not a criticism — very few screenwriting books have made me want to re-read them. This one did. It has so much good advice in it that the reader just can’t absorb it all upon one reading.

Moving into Chapter 4 “Human Development,” we get the most unique and probably most valuable chapter in the entire book. Through research in child development, Wright chronicles the developmental changes that people go through from the time they are born into old age. It serves as a quick reference for any writer — live-action or animation — who is thinking about their intended audience as well as developing characters of a certain age.

Chapter 5 “Developing Character” gives a good focus on where any good script must come from — the characters. I’ve read a couple of screenwriting books that emphasize too much on plot construction. Wright gives tons of original and fun ways to think about your characters and make them as fleshed out as they can be. Like many of the ideas in previous chapters, the advice is universal, reaching beyond just animation.

Like Chapter 4, Chapter 6 “Development and the Animation Bible” is another invaluable reference tool. Wright presents what is expected and accepted from studios in a show bible. Another area that this book succeeds, where others have failed, is in its examples. Chapter 6 actual includes the bible for How to Care for Your Monster.

Chapter 7 “Basic Animation Writing Structure” is a pretty straightforward look at the Three Act structure that is a given in any screenwriting book. Chapters 8 and 9 move into the differences between writing a premise and outline. These chapters are another example of the book’s practical approach to the modern animation industry. The advice on the variations from studio to studio will be invaluable to the novice looking to break into animation writing or development. And, again the chapters have full examples of both a premise and an outline from Jackie Chan Adventures.