The Best Writer Quote Marilyn Horowitz Author of The Book of Zev has Ever Heard
“A masterpiece is a work that is both timeless and completely of its time.”
I am not sure who said it, but this quote defines my aesthetic in both my own work and the way I have taught screenwriting at New York University for the last fifteen years. This quote also defines how I judge stories and create them. In The Book of Zev, I was very deliberate in my use of contemporary cultural references. I allowed myself to use the things that I felt could be understood if I were fortunate to write a book that would be read by future generations. This awareness forced me to summarize the story of any book or movie I referenced, and to limit current slang to the dialogue.
The other question that this quote always raises for me is why do we remember one author and forget another? What is the ineluctable something that makes a story immortal? I believe that the answer is that we read to learn something about ourselves. A masterpiece such as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has a timeless message that teaches us an important lesson and also evokes the Jazz Age so vividly that we feel we have gone back in time. A true masterpiece!
Whenever I write, I try to imagine what someone reading my book in fifty or one hundred years will need to know in order to be able to easily connect with the story and relate to the message and still learn something about themselves.
The Book of Zev – A Sneak Peak into a Psychological Thriller
Can a New York City cab driver and a beautiful private chef prevent a fanatical Middle Eastern dignitary from blowing up the United Nations and launching a nuclear attack on Israel in less time than it took God to create the world?
“Sometimes a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do. A Sharp psychological thriller of high intellect about a woman making some hard choices for the right reasons to stop an international catastrophe.”
–Omar Tyree, New York Times Bestselling author of The Traveler: Welcome to Dubai
The Book of Zev Synopsis
The Book of Zev is a psychological thriller that tells the story of two gentle people who change the course of history. Zev Bronfman, a strapping 32-year old-virgin, angry atheist, refugee from a religious Jewish life, and former engineer for the U.S. Patent Office in Alexandria, Virginia, drives a cab and sleeps around in New York City. After a bitter divorce, Sarah Hirshbaum, a beautiful, redheaded, depressed, God-hating kosher chef, seesaws between yoga and too much red wine. Independently, the two consult the same psychic who inadvertently sends Sarah Zev’s session tape. When Sarah contacts Zev to pick up the recording, a series of events forces them to connect with a powerful terrorist in order to thwart his plans to destroy the UN and Israel.
Click here to read an Excerpt of The Book of Zev
Pre-order from Amazon
About the Book
· Paperback: 298 pages
· Publisher: Koehler Books (December 1, 2014)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 1940192781
· ISBN-13: 978-1940192789
· Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
About Marilyn Horowitz
Marilyn Ida Horowitz is a producer, writing coach, and award-winning professor of screenwriting at New York University. From her books on her trademarked writing system—now standard reading at NYU—to her appearances at Screenwriters World and The Great American Screenwriting Conference & PitchFest, Marilyn has guided the careers of literally hundreds of writers. She is currently featured in the Now Write! Screenwriting Anthology (Tarcher/Penguin) and in the upcoming The Expert Success Solution (Morgan James). Her production credits include And Then Came Love (2007), starring Vanessa Williams.
Follow Marilyn at her website, www.marilynhorowitz.com
@marilynhorowitz
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2 Comments
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Always looking for a new read–thanks for sharing this one–it sounds good
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Psychological Thrillers are one of my favorite genres. Nothing better than a good book. One about a nuclear attack is especially terrifying. I will have to check this one out.
