#story writing – @lawstudentreads on Tumblr

11.11.2024 | monday

This year I'm not planning on buying tons of other Christmas decor besides our tree, but I saw these two things and I had to have them. It's still too early to use them and have them out (despite the fact that the city is already decorated everywhere), but I'm super excited for when that time comes. I'm already feeling some of the Christmas cheer, and it's lovely.

Today I started writing the first chapter of my dissertation. I didn't write too much, but it's something, and I'm on track -- according to the timeline I gave myself. I also continued my research into the historical context of my chosen research question.

I definitely haven't been feeling too motivated to work, but I'm trying my best. This week I'll be experimenting with a new routine, so hopefully that works out for me.

I've also been writing the first draft of my first novel. I have no publishing aspirations, at least as of now, but I love writing and I had an idea floating in my mind. Why not put it on paper? It's been a fun journey so far.

lawstudentreads

I still need to sit down with my thoughts on this, but I've been thinking a lot about how character motivation is a key element for you to feel invested in a character, particularly a protagonist. You don't want the reason your main character is setting out on their journey to be shallow, or the reader will be able to see the author puppeteering everything from behind the curtain. The character will seem one-note, unrealistic and uninteresting.

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lawstudentreads reblogged

inthefallofasparrow

People are up in arms about 'The Acolyte' season 2 being cancelled and I can't help but feel that, with this current trend of the TV industry immediately cutting their perceived losses and deleting every show that doesn't become top viewing within its first season, the only positive step forward that writers and showrunners can take is to kill the franchise mindset in its sleep. No more end-of-season cliffhangers, no more loose threads to be tied up, no more slow burn multi-season planned setups for the narrative. We tell enclosed self-contained one-season stories now. Beginning, middle and end with a satisfying conclusion for all the characters within one season. There's no confidence that you'll ever get a chance to tell any more. So, find a way to tell it all now. Similar story with 'Andor' being originally supposed to go for five seasons, but when the writers realised that wasn't going to work, rather than blowing up the budget and pushing forward until it fell apart, they actively decided to just tell the story in two seasons and then end it on their own terms.

When a show is based on a book series, you'll sometimes see these benefits too, if 'one book' equals 'one season', given those individual books have there own self-contained conclusion that carries over. This is also why anthology shows have been so effective. You get the nostalgia of coming back to an old show, alongside the intrigue and excitement of starting a new story. The best of both worlds. And if an individual season is more poorly received than others, it doesn't matter as much when you start again from zero next season.

One season stories. That's the only answer. Then, if a show does well and gets green-lit for a second season, you get to tell a whole new story that follows on the natural progression of the same characters, but again, it ends with all the new questions answered and everything wrapped up at the end of the season. That's how you make this blunt corporate oversight, at least function in a somewhat fulfilling way for the audiences and fandoms.

lawstudentreads

I would be okay with this.

I quite dislike the way in which the United States tends to create TV shows. This idea that writers start a story without having a clue where it ends, just to see for how long it will get renewed, ultimately making it decrease in quality as the years go by is sad.

I would venture to guess the amount of shows that have been ruined by this model is immense.

The answer is to only greenlight shows which possess a clear vision from the beginning, and to end them as soon as there’s nothing else to tell. No stretching the story just to make it to the tenth season. Just a tight story with a proper beginning, middle and end.

#storytelling #story writing #writing #on writing #creative writing #tv shows #television #the acolyte #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writers community