A-Z Challenge: Z (!)

Z! Everybody Z! I have spent a month blogging about TV, and what it has taught me about writing. 

Z is for: 

Zat’s all folks. 

It’s been fun. A month of blogging later and I have learned:

• I watch a lot of TV.
• I missed out a lot of well written TV Shows.
• Following A-Z was constraining in some ways (I had a lot of shows I could do for S, not many for I) but helpful because of that very constraint.
• I have picked up more than you’d think from watching TV.
• I probably haven't included all of my own 'lessons' in my writing, but I will.

What TV Show did I miss that I absolutely should have featured? Are you disappointed Z isn’t about Zoe Duncan Jack and Jane? J

If you’ve read any of these: thank you. Thank you to all of the organisers and administrators and visitors to this blog and everybody for helping make it the fun it is.

A-Z Challenge: Y: Young Americans

AH NEARLY THERE!

I have been writing about TV all month which has been really fun!

I have been trying to write about what TV has taught me about writing.

For Y: YOUNG AMERICANS

I am probably the only person who watched this show, but people: Ian Somerhalder. Cary off The Good Wife. It is worth seeking out (if it’s on DVD anywhere. I taped it off Channel 5 here years ago).

I am not sure what I’ll pick out about the writing. It has some ridiculous plots, assuming that a girl could hide out in a boys school and nobody would notice. NOBODY. But somehow it got away with it.

I am going to put that down to: Ian Somerhalder.

Which teaches me a hot male love interest and you can get away with a lot. ;) Kidding. Kinda.

Of course, there is a separate debate about a love interest covering up for a poor main plot (avoid this) and do YA novels in particular always need a love interest? But in the meantime I struggled for what else to say about this other than: Ian Somerhalder.

Quotes: "What, you need directions? Oh, the way to Rawley, right? Let's see. It's right up the road. Just follow your nose. It smells just like money." 

A-Z Challenge: X: X Files

What I learned about writing from watching TV has been my theme. I have to say it has been really fun thinking of some shows I have loved and picking a main part of them to talk about.

X only has one contender: X FILES.

A will they won’t they relationship? Tick. Aliens? Tick. Overall mystery? Tick. Main Characters whose outlook is different? Tick.

What I love about X Files – among many things – are the episodes which take an idea and run with it. The bank which explodes over and over. The bodyswap episode. The man who has good luck but causes bad. The genie who grants wishes.

The X Files took an idea which would be the whole premise of another series, and ran with it in 44 minutes. And you know what? They always did it a lot better than those shows. They thought through the premise for each episode. They weren’t lazy with the get out clause to fix things.

Excellent show.

Quotes:I’m Dana Scully. I’ve been assigned to work with you.

AHHH and so it begins!

A-Z Challenge: W: West Wing + Celebrate the Small Things: April 26

Two aims again today:

First the A-Z then Celebrate The Small Things:

A-Z: What I Learned About Writing from Watching TV: W

Ah West Wing. The obvious choice for W. 

Also: Rob Lowe. Which would make up for a lot of bad writing but in this instance, he doesn’t have to. 

West Wing is an intelligent show which doesn’t try not to be. It doesn’t assume the audience are idiots. I live in the UK and I don’t know the ins and outs of American politics like somebody who lives in America, but the show never felt the need to overly explain it to me. The dialogue was fast. The politics were argued, but not so much it overwhelmed the plot. We saw people with important jobs as people. It was witty. It assumed we could follow, and we did.

Don’t assume you have to write down and explain everything. Sometimes, people will get it.

Now to Celebrate The Small Things! 26 April Edition.

I do this every week and an awesome bunch of people join in with me. We celebrate a few small things from that week. The 'I finally lost that final 2 pounds' 'I went to the gym' 'I wrote a chapter of a new idea' type celebrations. See here  for more info.

My celebrations is reaching W in the A-Z OF COURSE. YAY!

How about you?

Here's the linky: do hop around and celebrate with other people ;)

A-Z Challenge: V: Veronica Mars

What I Learned About Writing from Watching TV aka Justifying my TV Habit.

Veronica Mars has to be V. Has to be. Especially due to the recent exciting news about a movie.

Ah Veronica Mars One of the best YA shows of recent times.

I could praise the superb setting in Neptune. The strong ballsy heroine. The fact she has a male best friend and it never turns romantic.

What I do think is strong is the overall mystery, especially in season one. She is trying to solve her best friends murder. Not some girl in school who she’s never met. Her best friend. It’s personal to Veronica. The aim of the main character should be personal to them, and it’s easy to forget that in writing. To have them solve a mystery just because.

Ah who am I kidding? Veronica Mars is just all round GREAT. Watch it, if you haven't already. You won't regret it.

Quotes: I've got a secret, a good one. 

Could have gone for VAMPIRE DIARIES. Special mention to Damon Salvatore.

A-Z Challenge: U: Ugly Betty

What I Learned About Writing from Watching TV aka Justifying my TV Habit.

U. Starting to get hard now isn't it?

U is a tricky one. Ugly Betty is my natural choice here. It ticks a lot of the boxes I have already covered. It has a great ensemble cast. It has heart. We care about the main character. We know her aim is to be a journalist from the off. It has a good set of villains.

The villains are what I’ll focus on here. The bad guy is ostensibly Wilhelmina throughout. We get to know her, see what drives her. She’s a great foil for the ‘good guys’.

She’s not the only thing standing in Betty’s way, but she is there throughout with her schemes and machinations.

A good villain is important.

Quote: “What’s the matter? People still view me as a drop dead gorgeous fashion Nazi.”

A-Z Challenge: T: The Big Bang Theory

What I Learned About Writing from Watching TV aka Justifying my TV Habit.

T I have to go for The Big Bang Theory.

Sheldon. 

Sheldon is the main reason I have chosen The Big Bang Theory for T. Which might really be a B. But anyway. Sheldon isn’t always likeable. Or even realistic (again, sitcom pushes things to the edge). He’s a good example of a character taken to an extreme. He’s intelligent and arrogant with it. He’s snotty about people who aren’t intelligent. He makes us laugh because of how he is.

He makes me think about what different sorts of characters I could put in my writing. Could I feature a Sheldon? What would he do? What situations would I put him in?

Could have gone for: The Good Wife. Taken. That 70s Show. Torchwood.