Writing 101 - Unrealistic As Hell
One of my favorite shows on television is NBC's Parenthood, which makes one of only two programs I watch on that network, the other being the criminally underrated and as my wife pointed out, my favorite show on TV, Friday Night Lights. I like Parenthood because I dug the movie it was based on, the plots run fairly realistically and it also has the deliciously dishy Lauren Graham... which is what makes this such a pain to type out.
Miss Graham's character is a somewhat frustrated artist type who, in a moment of inspiration in the newest episode, sits down and writes a story. Well, at least we are told she does so; we never see any actual writing taking place, but that's okay. Not every artistic endeavor shown on the boob tube has to feature a plucky piano-driven song accompanying its creation montage, right? She hasn't written a novel, because she never says so and so we assume it is either a short story (likely) or a novella (not so likely) that she is holding in her manila envelope. At one point she goes to the guy who she used to date, who is an English teacher by trade, and slips it under his door so he can take a look at it. At this point, what happens next is completely unimportant because I know one thing is surely not going to take place:
No matter what other kind of hijinks takes place, he is not going to tell her that the piece of produced material sucks in any way.
Because that never happens.
No, seriously. Think about it for a second. Go back into your memory banks and dredge up every television show, movie or what-have-you that you have borne witness to where something was produced... and we're not just talking about writing here. Let's throw music and acting into the magic hat as well, or dancing, or whatever you personally like as an artistic endeavor. When the character in question unleashes their muse upon the unsuspecting world, how many times has somebody took the character in question aside and says to them in a firm but sad tone of voice, "You know, I sure hope you didn't quit your day job in pursuit of this goal"?
It doesn't happen. The person who is nursing their long-held dream to be a tap dancer never stumbles over their own feet, landing them in the front row of the audience. With the exception of certain examples held up for public ridicule on very mean-spirited episodes of American Idol, singers do not royally crap the bed and sound like they are throttling their kitty. And while Miss Graham's former paramour advises her that what she has really written is a play and not a short story because the story is all being told through dialogue, he hastens to add that it is great dialogue and that it would be a crime if she didn't keep going.
This, of course, is all a bunch of well-meaning bullshit. The problem that exists with the portrayals of artistic endeavors in television and movies (and to be brutally honest, in much more than its fair share of books as well) is that they are horrifically inaccurate when it comes to showing just how much of a struggle it is to become even mildly competent in any artistic field. Oh yes, I know that there's examples of people simply picking something up and proving to be naturally inclined... but those examples are much fewer and far between in reality than entertainment would have us believe.
To a person like myself, who has spilled a whole lot of blood in pursuit of this goal, it's downright offensive. Sorry, Lauren. You'll not win me over with that cute dimple chin on this one.
seferin recently wrote a post asking the writers on his list if realism is a necessary element when it comes to writing, or if this should be tossed over the side of the boat if it gets in the way of a good story. Hard to tell that, considering how simplistic they can make even the hardest things look.
Miss Graham's character is a somewhat frustrated artist type who, in a moment of inspiration in the newest episode, sits down and writes a story. Well, at least we are told she does so; we never see any actual writing taking place, but that's okay. Not every artistic endeavor shown on the boob tube has to feature a plucky piano-driven song accompanying its creation montage, right? She hasn't written a novel, because she never says so and so we assume it is either a short story (likely) or a novella (not so likely) that she is holding in her manila envelope. At one point she goes to the guy who she used to date, who is an English teacher by trade, and slips it under his door so he can take a look at it. At this point, what happens next is completely unimportant because I know one thing is surely not going to take place:
No matter what other kind of hijinks takes place, he is not going to tell her that the piece of produced material sucks in any way.
Because that never happens.
No, seriously. Think about it for a second. Go back into your memory banks and dredge up every television show, movie or what-have-you that you have borne witness to where something was produced... and we're not just talking about writing here. Let's throw music and acting into the magic hat as well, or dancing, or whatever you personally like as an artistic endeavor. When the character in question unleashes their muse upon the unsuspecting world, how many times has somebody took the character in question aside and says to them in a firm but sad tone of voice, "You know, I sure hope you didn't quit your day job in pursuit of this goal"?
It doesn't happen. The person who is nursing their long-held dream to be a tap dancer never stumbles over their own feet, landing them in the front row of the audience. With the exception of certain examples held up for public ridicule on very mean-spirited episodes of American Idol, singers do not royally crap the bed and sound like they are throttling their kitty. And while Miss Graham's former paramour advises her that what she has really written is a play and not a short story because the story is all being told through dialogue, he hastens to add that it is great dialogue and that it would be a crime if she didn't keep going.
This, of course, is all a bunch of well-meaning bullshit. The problem that exists with the portrayals of artistic endeavors in television and movies (and to be brutally honest, in much more than its fair share of books as well) is that they are horrifically inaccurate when it comes to showing just how much of a struggle it is to become even mildly competent in any artistic field. Oh yes, I know that there's examples of people simply picking something up and proving to be naturally inclined... but those examples are much fewer and far between in reality than entertainment would have us believe.
To a person like myself, who has spilled a whole lot of blood in pursuit of this goal, it's downright offensive. Sorry, Lauren. You'll not win me over with that cute dimple chin on this one.
seferin recently wrote a post asking the writers on his list if realism is a necessary element when it comes to writing, or if this should be tossed over the side of the boat if it gets in the way of a good story. Hard to tell that, considering how simplistic they can make even the hardest things look.