SARAH HIRSH -- The Flat Hat John Gilstrap, Author, Class of '79

Author alum shares novel

By Nicole Mathieu
The Flat Hat

Author John Gilstrap, '79, narrated his fictional novel, "Scott Free," and depicted Hollywood from an author and screenplay writer's perspective for students and staff in McGlothlin-Street Hall Wednesday night.

The English department sponsored Gilstrap's appearance and professor Nancy Schoenberger from the department introduced him.

Reading from his novel, Gilstrap dramatized the story of Scott, a young teenager, whose plane crashes into the Utah wilderness. While attempting to survive the wilderness, Scott reaches an isolated cabin only to discover it houses a murderer. The novel also portrays Scott's divorced parents and their relationship with their son.

"Although the subject matter didn't interest me, it was good to see an author perform his book," Emily Gulick, a senior who attended the reading, said.

Gilstrap also described his involvement with literature and Hollywood. He recounted his first attempt to find a literary agent who would promote his first novel, "Nathan's Run."

Although the agent primarily rejected the transcript because the original title was unacceptable to him, the agent's assistant noticed that Gilstrap had graduated from the College. Having graduated from the College herself, she insisted that the agent read Gilstrap's synopsis, which led the agent to adopt the work.

Gilstrap wrote his first screenplay when he became frustrated with Hollywood's attempts to adapt his novel, "Nathan's Run."

"It is Oliver Twist-ish," Gilstrap said. "But not too sweet that [it] gives you cavities."

He felt the screenplay writers dismissed his story entirely and did not replace it with interesting plots, and, thus, he began writing his own screenplays.

Depicting how those who wrote scripts for films in the 1970s also wrote novels and short stories, in contrast to more modern screen play writers, Gilstrap argued that the quality of films in terms of literary merit has deteriorated. He represented to the audience how screenplay writing has morphed from being a literary endeavor to strictly forming pieces for the silver screen.

"You can really see the difference in the movies," Schoenberger said in response.

Gilstrap has published four novels, written a screenplay and sold the film rights of his novel. After graduating from the College, Gilstrap served as a firefighter for 15 years and has worked with toxic wastes.

His written works mostly depict the treatment and lives of youth.

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