A Writer’s Use of Television

I don’t watch much television.  At least I didn't think I watched a lot of it.  But I've discovered I watch a lot of television.  I can write through the noise.  Growing up with a lot of sisters and one brother, the television, record player (we had records then), and radio could all be going at once, not to mention conversations (aka arguments).  I learned to either tune it out or work with it.

I thought working with television began when CSI-Crime Scene Investigation debuted on the small screen.  They would show what happened inside the body when an event occurred, like a bullet penetrating a lung.  I thought of it as research, giving myself permission to watch it for writing purposes.  But then I remembered back when I was in high school, I used to used Walt Disney Presents (Sunday nights at 8:00) to write my book reports.  It wasn't until later that I discovered books and movies were different, sometimes markedly different.  Luckily, I stuck with the legends, so I was all right.  After that, I only used the stories to give me a jumping off point (compositions and book reports for class).  I wrote my own (and got better grades).

Going to the movies was something a friend and I did often when I lived in D.C.  When the movie ended and everyone else was leaving the theater, my friend and I were still sitting there after the credits rolled, discussing the film, its meaning, what was true, possible, or impossible.  It wasn't just what Hollywood had sent us.  We’d dissect it every part of it.  And this was long before I began writing and dissecting what made a good book.  I didn't know it at the time, but sitting in that theater, analyzing what happened, was training for becoming a writer.

Movies also sent me to books.  If a story was intriguing, I often wanted to know more about the characters portrayed or I wanted to know what was in the book that didn't translate to the screen.  By now, I'd learned that what I saw was only a fraction of what a book could tell me.  These were often biographies.  I wanted to separate the truth from fiction.  Amadeus was one of the first ones I watched and went almost immediately to the library to check out several books on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Mozart isn't my favorite classical pianist.  That would be Chopin, but the story behind Amadeus was so intriguing that despite the wonderful music, I wanted to know more about the man and his relationship with his wife, his absent mother and his stern father.

Audio Cover

Books also send me to learn more about other people’s lives.  The book Emily’s Secret by Jill Jones led me to learn more about the Bronte’s.  Emily’s Secret, a work of fiction, was recommended by the publisher through a teaser booklet.  I read the teaser and then haunted bookstores until the book was released.  After reading it, I discovered it was one of those books that you tell everyone, they have got to read.  And of course, I did.

Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyner

But let’s go back to television.  I’m not a reality fan, but I watch some shows for the science or the technology.  McGyver and his ingenious use of whatever was available was one of my favorites. I still have the entire series on DVD’s.  I was a chemistry major in college, and still wonder if some of the improvised concoctions he used would work.  Years after it went off the air, there was another program where they tried the physics and chemistry of McGyver. Most of it didn’t work. However, the takeaway from this is that there are things my characters can do with only what is available.  And before you ask, no, I never used anything I saw McGyver do on television in my books.  But he was certainly good to look at. And still is.

Today I watch Scandal with Kerry Washington.  She’s a fixer.  Until I saw Michael Clayton with George Clooney, I’d never heard of a fixer.  I thought they’d have a sexier name.  I can’t think what, just that they would.  The problems they have and the solutions they come up with are amazing.  As a writer, it’s a not to be missed program.  And of course, NCIS is on my list program that I watch over and over again.

So, when readers ask me where did the idea for a book came from, sometimes it came from something I saw on television.  Of course, it’s not exactly the same, but the germ of the plot can spark an entire book.  Sometimes only one line in a movie gives me an idea for a story.  I have to quickly write it down, or I'll forget it.  Once I got the idea for a book from a bumper sticker on the back of a truck.  All it said was Summer Thunder.  I thought of writing a book about the permanent residents of a summer resort.  They referred to the influx of hard bodies during the season as Summer Thunder.  It’s still in the idea file, waiting for me to write it.

The idea for my latest book, His 1-800 WIFE, did not consciously come from any television program.  However, I use television to give me ideas.  The abundance of 800 numbers splashed across the screen, combined with some real-life friends always asking about my love life, sparked the idea of a book about someone who quells those questions by conforming, but in an unusual way.  Yet, like the cliché says, the best laid plans often go astray, and for Catherine and Jarrod, the adage is true.  (Note: Cover image is tentative.  The final cover has not been determined yet.)

Tentative Cover

When I think about the programs I've watch in the past, I could give some credit to Doris Day and Rock Hudson and the plot of Pillow Talk (a movie, but I saw it on television).  Their relationship started because of a party line (something that hasn't been around since mid-century modern furniture was contemporary).  Catherine and Jarrod already knew each other, but their relationship began over a telephone.

His 1-800 Wife will be released January 31, 2015.

I hope you enjoy it.