Writing Tips from TV: 3 Reasons Why ABC's V Doesn't Work
Have you seen V on ABC (see above preview)? Basically it's about what happens when an alien race makes first contact with earth. I think the show is meant to appeal to Battlestar Galactica (aka BSG) fans as well as fans of Lost and the 4400.
Writer/Blogger Anna Staniszewski was impressed by this show and it's writing, but it has actually had the opposite effect on me. I find the shows twists and turn to be…well..boring.
Why is that? I've come up with 3 main reasons V doesn't work for me(spoiler alert! If you haven't seen the show I might ruin something for you!) and how you can avoid them in your own writing --
1) Reintroducing ideas from recent popular shows: One of the more intriguing ideas from BSG is that the cylons (who are basically complex robots) "look like us". Thus, figuring out the colons among us is difficult because they look and act the same. In V, guess what? The aliens (called "V's" look like us. Except under their skin they have reptile skin. And figuring out which characters are V's is going to be a major part of the show. How…original? Also, the female main character is an FBI agent investigating the V's who finds out that her partner of 7 years is actually a V. Which means--you guessed it--now she can't trust anyone! Giant eye roll. This has been done in every spy movie ever (as well as BSG and Lost) and I don't feel like this is done in a new way here.
Writing Tip: Be original. If it occurs to you that your book is the next Harry Potter/Twilight/Da Vinci Code, make sure that you have put enough of your own spin on it that you won't bore your readers.
2) Too much action, not enough character development: We've seen two episodes of this show so far and there has been plot twist after twist and action scene after action scene, but for some reason, we still don't know very much about our characters. Unlike Lost and BSG where we see flashbacks or conversation referring to pre-first episode happenings, we have almost no idea who our characters are at this point. I know the main female character has a son who is mad at her for some reason having to do with her husband having left them and the main "V" character used to be involved more with the "V" resistance, but that's about it. Yes, it's only the second episode, but I feel like I need a little bit more to keep caring about what happens to them.
Writing Tip: Don't skimp on character development. Yes, it is good for exciting things to happen to your characters. But dive deeper. Show us how things affect them emotionally. Show us why they react the way they do. Character development is essential for reader interest.
3) (connected to #2) Pacing is all wrong: As I said before, the two episodes I've seen so far consist of one action scene after another. There are a few quiet moments here and there, but they don't last longer than a few seconds (ex: waking up in bed scene with two characters who are in love--they smile and then immediately start looking at the main "V" character's nasty wound which he has to lie about). Instead, the characters are always so stressed out about something all the time to the point where the urgency being created in the show just feels forced.
In contrast, remember when I mentioned the BSG shaving scenes? An example from Lost--usually they center their episodes around two or three of their characters, and one of the story lines is a usually a bit slower or funnier than other other ones (unless it is a season finale or something). They don't have a comparable device going for this show. Every POV character has major drama all the time. I'm pretty sure I haven't laughed or felt a tug of my heart strings or anything like that for the characters because there just hasn't been time.
Writing Tip: Pacing is all about balance and timing. Even books that are action-packed page turners (like the ever-popular and ever-maligned Da Vinci Code) give us a few minutes here and there to catch our breath. It may turn out later that plot-wise we were lulled into a false sense of security with the slow pacing, but that just makes the next few scenes even that much more exciting. And there is a reason the climax of a story is called the climax. If your book is heart-pumping exciting the whole way through, how can you build up to anything? (Don't snicker, i heard that.)
But all things aside, I've only seen 2 episodes so far. Who knows, maybe the show will improve? Maybe in the next episode we'll get to take a breather? I sure hope so. If not I won't be watching this show much longer.
Check out my other blog posts about writing tips from TV shows:
3 Writing Lessons from Battlestar Galactica
Writing Lessons from Gossip Girl (Guest Posted to my friend Livia's awesome blog)