rules on watching telivision for writers

[pcpoet]

this week I made the rule in my house that the television only is allowed on after 7pm during the week because I found having it as an option was making it hard to sit down an write I was wondering if other authors or wanabes like me have special rules about television in there home.

[LizW65]

No rules per se, but I need solitude and silence to write; no TV, music, or other media in the room. If need be, I put in earplugs.

[Paynesgrey]

I do a lot of writing with the telly on.  I'll pause it if I'm really busting stuff out, but it doesn't "keep me from writing."  Of course, I'm usually running something like a documentary that somehow applies to the WiP.

When I don't feel like writing, sick, tired, general meh... I'll watch heaps of stuff.  With my laptop on, and the WiP open.  Often as not, I'll start typing during a commercial... and keep going.

In any case, I've found myself incapable of watching anything without examining the storytelling on the screen.  Playing "Oh, I see what you did there, Mr. Whedon.  You magnificent bastard, you."  Studying what works for me in a show, and figuring out why a scene resonated with me.  And looking for mistakes NOT to make.  "Oh, that was just tooooo convenient... cheap and lazy writing... you should have given the knife to the monkey...."

[Griffyn612]

I prefer to have the television on when I'm writing, but on mute.  That way I can distract myself every once and a while, and allow my thoughts to reset.

If my wife is home and watching, she turns the volume down a bit, since she's got great hearing and I don't.  As long as she isn't watching anything I'm interested in, it's fine.

[Farmerbob1]

I haven't had a TV of my own that has been used as a TV since 1989, so I don't need writer's tools for TV.  While I do have a small digital TV that is used as a monitor, it's never been tuned into any input but the video card of the computer.  I do watch TV when I'm outside the house at times, and every now and then I will Hulu something like Numb3rs or Dresden Files, but I lost patience with TV as a whole in 1989, and reality TV finished killing any interest I had in watching TV regularly.  With the exception of a couple educational channels, everything on TV is crap (IMHO).

That being said, I do have to be careful about MMO's and Youtube.  I spent about two hours the other day researching differences between friction-carved stone and knapped flint tools.  I had no idea so much time had passed until the alarm I had set to make sure I wouldn't be late to work went off.

Oh, and forums.  I spend too much time on forums if I'm not careful.  Err.  I have to go.

[meg_evonne]

I write every morning from 6 until 8. Some of that might be head time, but usually it's butt in chair. I listen to Direct TV's 856 channel which is what my grown kids call elevator music. It works for me. On Sunday mornings, I often write much longer. Then I'll relent and listen to AM news shows while I work. Generally that means I listen to the stories I'm interested in and the others I use as background sound.

When I'm deep in creating, it doesn't matter what's playing because I sink deep into the routine, but if I'm revising (which seems all the time now) I have to be much firmer about that background noise.

Frankly, it's all getting jumbled up now and I'm having to really hone those concentration skills and squeeze in more hours. There's a lot of other 'busines' stuff you need to do like the website, twitter, emails, Facebook, communication with potential endorsements, communication with friends who read the revisions, and all your bios and the synopsis you wrote doesn't work for on a cover--so you have to redo all that. Add in some love time on the press' site and requests for blogging etc. It's frustrating. Not complaining, because hey--at last, but still I'm jealous of how free I was previously.

That means the 'business' stuff happens during the evening while the tv runs to keep me company. i've been seeing a guy since last Feb and that adds in time pressure.

It's something I'm desperately trying to manage.

I meandered off topic. It's nice to voice out my worries though... Thanks for the question.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I don't have a television, and my writing computer has no internet connection.

I'll second Paynesgrey on watching TV shows for insight into story structure, they do interestingly different things from prose fiction but you can still learn from them.

[Paynesgrey]

Yup.  We can learn from both good and bad (lazy) storytellers... TV has a surplus of the latter; understandable given the Suit Desk Things who do things by focus groups or "what's always worked before... or who want the writing dimmed down to the lowest common denominator of the audience.

Examine what felt cheap and predictable; where you felt let down and unimpressed by some predictable "big reveal."  Then compare that to those shows where you where either completely blindsided by something which you didn't expect, yet happened to be well within the bounds of plausibility.  Where you're surprised as Hell, but find yourself saying "Huh.  That made perfect sense."  In particular, look for stuff that you saw a possible outcome coming, but felt rewarded for getting it right, like you accomplished something.

Tropes, how to avoid them, how to tickle and twist them into something useful.

Also, compare storylines where the writers knew where they were going (Babylon 5, Legend of Korra, Fringe) to those shows that had a great concept, great characters... but floundered and meandered aimlessly (X-Files.)

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Also, compare storylines where the writers knew where they were going (Babylon 5, Legend of Korra, Fringe) to those shows that had a great concept, great characters... but floundered and meandered aimlessly (X-Files.)

Heh.  B5 is kind of depressing as an example of someone who knows where they are going storywise getting to do enough of it that its visible and then being messed about by forces beyond their control in ways that seriously bugger up their ability to deliver the rest; I think the take home message there is "there are reassuringly fewer other people involved in the process of making novels."

I couldn't stand Fringe, didn't even make it through the first season, and haven't got to Legend of Korra yet.  But in the interests of positivity, the example that comes to my mind of a current show that's written to a defined structure, and that is doing some awesomely tight and clever story things, is Gravity Falls.  I am in awe of some of what that's done, and really hope that Alex Hirsch manages to keep doing it; I gather depressingly much of what he does these days is fighting with Disney's internal standards people to get them to let him do the things he wants.

[Paynesgrey]

Heh.  B5 is kind of depressing as an example of someone who knows where they are going storywise getting to do enough of it that its visible and then being messed about by forces beyond their control in ways that seriously bugger up their ability to deliver the rest; I think the take home message there is "there are reassuringly fewer other people involved in the process of making novels."

I couldn't stand Fringe, didn't even make it through the first season, and haven't got to Legend of Korra yet.  But in the interests of positivity, the example that comes to my mind of a current show that's written to a defined structure, and that is doing some awesomely tight and clever story things, is Gravity Falls.  I am in awe of some of what that's done, and really hope that Alex Hirsch manages to keep doing it; I gather depressingly much of what he does these days is fighting with Disney's internal standards people to get them to let him do the things he wants.

Agreed on B5, and Crusade in spades...

Fringe's first season was largely "Creature of the Week," which doesn't do much for me... but when they started weaving threads together, it turned out that there were some interesting story arcs to be had.  Seems like networks insist now that the first half season be stand-alone, creature/caper/crook of the week for fear that Joe Audience will tune in on the 4th episode, and not know what's going on.  I've seen a number of shows that started annoyingly simplistic turn into something worthwhile after that initial warm-up.

[Quantus]

Agreed on B5, and Crusade in spades...

Fringe's first season was largely "Creature of the Week," which doesn't do much for me... but when they started weaving threads together, it turned out that there were some interesting story arcs to be had.  Seems like networks insist now that the first half season be stand-alone, creature/caper/crook of the week for fear that Joe Audience will tune in on the 4th episode, and not know what's going on.  I've seen a number of shows that started annoyingly simplistic turn into something worthwhile after that initial warm-up.

Interesting, I hadnt even heard of Gravity Falls.  At first I though you were talking about Defying Gravity, the short-lived astronaut TV show from a while back.  That had fantastic potential and I really wish it hadnt been cancelled.  I thought Fringe was fantastic, but mostly after they got past the first half of Monsters and Question Raising that PG mentioned.  It's definately worth the watch, even if only for a critical look at the storytelling.  One thing I liked was that each season took a bit of a right turn from the last one, so it was a pretty dynimac story.  If you are up to it if might be worth just starting at the beginning of season 2.  The last season was god-aweful imo, mostly because they took the most interesting characters in the setting and turned them into low-rent gangsters with superpowers.  In their defence they had a much different and better plan, but it centered around Leonard Nemoy's character, and he decided he was too old for that sort of thing and bailed at the last minute. 

[Farmerbob1]

I'd like to offer up some pretty good examples of short, hard hitting TV episodes.

Twilight Zone

Some of them were amazing.  Most of them were good.

[Paynesgrey]

The Outer Limits had some good, tight writing too.  And both shows had some delightfully subversive writers, slipping things past the Standards & Practices folks regularly.  Now I need to rewatch "Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand."

[moon]

don't watch TV while writing but do listen to music