 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| All site contents are owned and copyrighted under Crystal Bright. Use of any content on this site without express permission of the owner is prohibited. But go ahead and test me. I don't spend enough time in court now as it is. © 2002-2015 |
:: "What TV Can REALLY Teach You About Writing Romances"
::
::
What TV Can Really Teach You About Writing Romances
When I’d seen an article in the May 2002 edition of the Romance Writers Report from one of my favorite
romance writers, Jennifer Crusie, I couldn’t wait to devour it. Her article, ‘The Five Things I’ve Learned
About Writing Romance From TV,’ encompassed two things I love: writing romances and watching
television.
As much as I hate to say that Ms. Crusie missed the mark about some of her points, she did neglect to
bring up some important issues regarding the sacred art of television viewing, and believe me, it is an art
no matter what your parents, kids, or significant other may say.
So with only my gut feeling, raw emotions and chutzpah, I bring you my list of five things I’ve learned about
writing romance from watching TV.
Lesson #1: The couple must be likeable.
Seems like a basic idea. Put two people together that the audience will like and may actually connect with
in some strange or cosmic way. (I’m talking to you Trekkies out there for that cosmic connection.) But
more often than not, the powers at be in the network world fail to do this time and time again. Great
example: Anything But Love. Anyone else remember this TV show? What? You don’t? But it was
critically acclaimed!
The short-lived show starred two stars I like and enjoy watching: comedian Richard Lewis and actress
Jamie Lee Curtis. Separately, and with other actors and actresses, these performers shine. However
together, they shared absolutely no chemistry. The romance felt forced and, therefore, the audience,
including myself, only wanted to see these two apart. The network must have realized its error as they
pulled the show after four years.
Notice that I said that the couple has to be likeable and not attractive. The easiest aspect to attract a TV
viewing audience is to put two great looking people together and let the sparks fly. But even that won’t
guarantee chemistry.
Another great example is with NYPD Blue. Sipowicz, Dennis Franz’s character, a balding, heavy-set, gruff
man, once had a hot and heavy romance with Sharon Lawrence, a beautiful woman who, I’m sure,
audiences were commenting on show night how she could have done much better than him.
What I was amazed to hear from co-workers and friends the mornings after each weekly shows was how
great Sipowicz was and how troubled and sensitive he was. People talked about how they felt sorry for
him and were glad when he and Sharon’s character had gotten together.
That brings me to point of Lesson One. You, as a writer, must work on the character. Does it matter that
your hero has a broad chest, a flat stomach or other admirable attributes? Not necessarily. Cyrano de
Bergerac certainly didn’t win any beauty contests, not by a nose. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) But you felt for
him. You pulled for him to get the girl just like viewers root for Sipowicz.
Is your character the type of person you would invite over for dinner? If you can get them to your table,
then your readers will want to keep reading.
Lesson #2: Conflict, Conflict, Conflict!
What viewers like myself want in a sitcom or drama is to see what it is that keeps the couple apart. You
have to do the same in your writing. If it’s easy for the couple to fall in love and get together, your book is
over by the end of the first chapter. Great example is with the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
How could an astronaut get involved with a genie he found in a bottle? He couldn’t explain where she
came from to his friends or co-workers. Jeannie couldn’t come home with a mortal. Her parents and family
wouldn’t find it acceptable. And didn’t we all find it annoying that he tried to control her powers? But that’s
another subject.
Or how about The Nanny? Fran’s boss, Mr. Sheffield, couldn’t get in a relationship with her because she
was his employee and he didn’t know how his children would feel if he dated someone so soon after his
wife had passed. I won’t even get into how he could get beyond her voice and laugh.
That said you have to remember to keep the tension high in your writing. To do that, you have to make
sure your conflict, both internal and external, are strong enough to keep your lovers apart and to keep the
readers wanting to bring them together.
I know what you couch potatoes out there are saying, “But Crystal, in both examples you mentioned the
couples end up getting married. So they resolved the conflict.” And that brings me to my next point.
Lesson #3: Stop watching after the fifth season…or until they have sex!
Sounds like a harsh lesson especially if you become a devotee to a certain show. But as it relates to
writing romances, what you need from these shows is done best, at the max, the first three to five
seasons. An excellent example, and one that Crusie cites but for almost the same reason, is the show
Moonlighting.
In the first season of any show, the show’s writers are trying to get you viewers convinced that there is
chemistry between the couple. For Moonlighting, they established the background of the two lead
characters, David Addison (Bruce Willis) and Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shephard) while peppering their playful
banter with some innuendos. So by the end of the first season, viewers liked both characters (see my
Lesson #1) and they understood that Maddie had lost all of her money, thanks to her unscrupulous
investment banker, and David had no other employment options so they both needed to work together.
She doesn’t trust men and he chases anything with a skirt and a pulse. And there’s the conflict (That’s
Lesson #2 for those keeping track).
By season two and three, the couple is in full flirtation mode, probably coming close to kissing, definitely
has seen one another naked…by accident of course, but still no consummation. And that’s fine! We
viewers like the tension. We like the not knowing whether this couple who should be together will get
together. It keeps us tuned in week to week and keeping high tension, sexual or otherwise, will keep your
readers turning the pages to find out what happens next.
You want to do the same in your book. Have readers screaming for your hero and heroine to, as LL Cool
J would say, do the damn thing! Get readers to that edge where they either want to keep going to see
where it leads or dump it. Hopefully, they won’t choose the latter option. They won’t by season four where
writers take a gamble and do the one thing that makes viewers cringe…introduce a new love.
Let’s take Friends. How many of us hated that Ross married Emily so quickly instead of Rachel? But then
again, how many of us cheered when he said Rachel’s name at his wedding instead of his new wife’s?
Or in the sitcom A Different World. Viewers all knew that Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert belonged
together, as odd as they were as a duo. And it crushed us, okay it crushed me, when Dwayne went to
Japan and came home with a new, serious girlfriend. But I leapt from my couch when Dwayne crashed
Whitley’s wedding right when she was at the altar and asked her to marry him and she accepted.
Currently the hit TV show Girlfriends is testing out the sexual tension waters. Colleagues Joan and William
have been friends for years. But he’s recently professed his romantic love for her and has asked that
they start a relationship. The fourth season ended with Joan outside of his hotel room door, wanting to
pursue a relationship. But William has his old flame inside doing who knows what, which is how the fifth
and most important season starts.
This is the pivotal season. As an industry standard, normally one hundred episodes or the first five
seasons guarantees syndication rights. This is why writers keep the tension going until this point.
By now flirtation is in full swing. Love is in the air. Perhaps the couple has almost said or outright said
those three magic words to each other. And once the tension gets to be too much that the characters and
the viewers are about to burst, the writers let them loose on one another.
Viewers are sated that the tension they’ve dealt with for years has finally come to a head. They watch the
couple make love or get married or make a commitment to one another. Once you get to that point, stop
watching it.
Sounds like a strange piece of advice but it isn’t. Sex makes for a great climax (excuse the pun) for the
couple’s mounting sexual tension. But then after that, it becomes that awkward morning after thing where
you want to crawl away and die. Or, worse yet, it becomes “real”. Now the TV couple is talking about
married problems or relationship problems that viewers don’t want to hear. Viewers watch TV for an
escape. They don’t want real life smacking them in the face. The same when they pick up your book.
Viewers liked that David Addison flirted with women openly in front of Maddie Hayes and that deep down
she was jealous when they weren’t a couple, when they didn’t have sex. As soon as they had sex, viewers
hated that David would be so disrespectful of her feelings. But that’s his character. He always flirted,
viewers loved it and he always got the girl. Archie Bunker from All In The Family was always a bigot and
will always be one on the show. If he had changed, no one would want to watch it. The same should go
for a TV show with great sexual tension where the couple finally has sex or makes a commitment. But
even if they don’t have sex by season five, stop watching the show.
Jennifer Crusie called characters who either never picked up that the person they are close to every day
has feelings for them or take advantage of the proximity and tell this person how they feel TDTL, or Too
Dumb To Love. She cited a perfect example: Mulder and Scully on The X-Files. How many of us screamed
at the TV screen from week to week for Fox to plant those kissable lips onto Dana’s and say, “I love you.
But it’s still out there.” When they didn’t season after season after season, I got disenchanted with them
as a couple as I’m sure many loyal viewers had. These characters hung on a lot longer than some should
so if they can’t voice their feelings or simply walk away, then you should.
Lesson #4: The basics count.
TV has the distinct luxury of being a visual media, presenting the setting for the show. They also have
actors give tone and inflection to their dialogue, and using reaction shots to describe something. We, as
writers, have to fill every scene with descriptive words and meaningful dialogue.
Here’s a test. Describe Rachel and Monica’s living room from the TV show Friends. How would you
describe the purple walls or the couch or the window overlooking the city (and into the Naked Guy’s
apartment)?
Use the intricate way you used to describe that setting to detail the setting in your manuscript. Instead of
just saying the character has a couch, talk about the color. Talk about the stain on the arm and how it got
there. Talk about the burn hole in the carpet that your character covers up with the leg on the coffee
table. How many windows are there? Be detailed. Let the reader sit in the character’s home.
Aside from setting, TV has a leg up on dialogue. As I mentioned above, actors can use their bodies, vocal
tones and inflections to bring life into the writer’s words.
“I got off the plane.” Sounds like a simple line. Without dialogue tags or a frame of reference it may not
do anything for a reader. How about if it was written like this: With a quiver in her voice and her wide eyes
full of hope, fear, love and a cresting tear, she said from the doorway, “I got off the plane.” Better. Now for
those of you who watched the series finale of Friends will remember that Rachel said that to Ross from the
doorway of their apartment when she got off the plane headed to Paris to be with him. As TV viewers, we
all heard the audience’s collective gasp when she returned. That’s what you want readers to do when
they read your work. Pull emotion from every scene and make your dialogue count.
And you want some reaction shots? Watch any soap opera. The reactions some of those actors give are
classic. Okay, so they’re over-the-top and classic but you can still learn from them. Take their
expressions and tone them down to something real. I normally will pay close attention to a kissing scene. I’
ll take note of body positions, hand movements, type of kiss and the expressions afterward.
Lesson #5: Use those secondary characters!
Hopefully you all have noticed that I mentioned the term ‘couple’ instead of hero and heroine or leads.
That’s because usually on TV shows there is a lead romance and a secondary, usually nerdy, romance.
On Friends, the primary romance involved Ross and Rachel then the secondary romance was Phoebe
and anyone she dated. On Girlfriends, the main romance is between Joan and the man she’s into at the
time then the secondary romance is between Lynn and her flavor of the month…or day. Even on The
Andy Griffith Show, if there was a romance, Andy got the girl and the secondary romance was between
Barney Fife and his main squeeze. So why have a secondary romance at all?
The main reason, and one of the reasons you have a subplot and/or secondary characters in your
manuscript (besides that your editor or agent or even critique partner asks you to add one), is as a mirror
to the main characters or leads. Whatever happens to the secondary characters will make the viewer or
your readers question the outcome of your hero and heroine.
In the TV world, sometimes the secondary characters can have a more exciting love life than the leads.
Case in point, Joanie Loves Chachi. There was never a Ritchie Loves Lori Beth or Fonzie Loves
Everyone. Or especially in the case of the show Frasier, a successful spin-off of the show Cheers. The
show centered on the lead character’s love life.
Of course as a writer unless done properly, you never want your secondary characters to take over your
story. But that’s another topic.
There’s so much more we can learn from TV to help us write romances. I didn’t touch on the research
value. From documentaries to cooking shows, from PBS to The Discovery Channel, there’s so much more
we could learn from just watching the boob tube. So what are you reading this article for? Pick up the
remote and do some much-needed research!
When I’d seen an article in the May 2002 edition of the Romance Writers Report from one of my favorite
romance writers, Jennifer Crusie, I couldn’t wait to devour it. Her article, ‘The Five Things I’ve Learned
About Writing Romance From TV,’ encompassed two things I love: writing romances and watching
television.
As much as I hate to say that Ms. Crusie missed the mark about some of her points, she did neglect to
bring up some important issues regarding the sacred art of television viewing, and believe me, it is an art
no matter what your parents, kids, or significant other may say.
So with only my gut feeling, raw emotions and chutzpah, I bring you my list of five things I’ve learned about
writing romance from watching TV.
Lesson #1: The couple must be likeable.
Seems like a basic idea. Put two people together that the audience will like and may actually connect with
in some strange or cosmic way. (I’m talking to you Trekkies out there for that cosmic connection.) But
more often than not, the powers at be in the network world fail to do this time and time again. Great
example: Anything But Love. Anyone else remember this TV show? What? You don’t? But it was
critically acclaimed!
The short-lived show starred two stars I like and enjoy watching: comedian Richard Lewis and actress
Jamie Lee Curtis. Separately, and with other actors and actresses, these performers shine. However
together, they shared absolutely no chemistry. The romance felt forced and, therefore, the audience,
including myself, only wanted to see these two apart. The network must have realized its error as they
pulled the show after four years.
Notice that I said that the couple has to be likeable and not attractive. The easiest aspect to attract a TV
viewing audience is to put two great looking people together and let the sparks fly. But even that won’t
guarantee chemistry.
Another great example is with NYPD Blue. Sipowicz, Dennis Franz’s character, a balding, heavy-set, gruff
man, once had a hot and heavy romance with Sharon Lawrence, a beautiful woman who, I’m sure,
audiences were commenting on show night how she could have done much better than him.
What I was amazed to hear from co-workers and friends the mornings after each weekly shows was how
great Sipowicz was and how troubled and sensitive he was. People talked about how they felt sorry for
him and were glad when he and Sharon’s character had gotten together.
That brings me to point of Lesson One. You, as a writer, must work on the character. Does it matter that
your hero has a broad chest, a flat stomach or other admirable attributes? Not necessarily. Cyrano de
Bergerac certainly didn’t win any beauty contests, not by a nose. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) But you felt for
him. You pulled for him to get the girl just like viewers root for Sipowicz.
Is your character the type of person you would invite over for dinner? If you can get them to your table,
then your readers will want to keep reading.
Lesson #2: Conflict, Conflict, Conflict!
What viewers like myself want in a sitcom or drama is to see what it is that keeps the couple apart. You
have to do the same in your writing. If it’s easy for the couple to fall in love and get together, your book is
over by the end of the first chapter. Great example is with the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
How could an astronaut get involved with a genie he found in a bottle? He couldn’t explain where she
came from to his friends or co-workers. Jeannie couldn’t come home with a mortal. Her parents and family
wouldn’t find it acceptable. And didn’t we all find it annoying that he tried to control her powers? But that’s
another subject.
Or how about The Nanny? Fran’s boss, Mr. Sheffield, couldn’t get in a relationship with her because she
was his employee and he didn’t know how his children would feel if he dated someone so soon after his
wife had passed. I won’t even get into how he could get beyond her voice and laugh.
That said you have to remember to keep the tension high in your writing. To do that, you have to make
sure your conflict, both internal and external, are strong enough to keep your lovers apart and to keep the
readers wanting to bring them together.
I know what you couch potatoes out there are saying, “But Crystal, in both examples you mentioned the
couples end up getting married. So they resolved the conflict.” And that brings me to my next point.
Lesson #3: Stop watching after the fifth season…or until they have sex!
Sounds like a harsh lesson especially if you become a devotee to a certain show. But as it relates to
writing romances, what you need from these shows is done best, at the max, the first three to five
seasons. An excellent example, and one that Crusie cites but for almost the same reason, is the show
Moonlighting.
In the first season of any show, the show’s writers are trying to get you viewers convinced that there is
chemistry between the couple. For Moonlighting, they established the background of the two lead
characters, David Addison (Bruce Willis) and Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shephard) while peppering their playful
banter with some innuendos. So by the end of the first season, viewers liked both characters (see my
Lesson #1) and they understood that Maddie had lost all of her money, thanks to her unscrupulous
investment banker, and David had no other employment options so they both needed to work together.
She doesn’t trust men and he chases anything with a skirt and a pulse. And there’s the conflict (That’s
Lesson #2 for those keeping track).
By season two and three, the couple is in full flirtation mode, probably coming close to kissing, definitely
has seen one another naked…by accident of course, but still no consummation. And that’s fine! We
viewers like the tension. We like the not knowing whether this couple who should be together will get
together. It keeps us tuned in week to week and keeping high tension, sexual or otherwise, will keep your
readers turning the pages to find out what happens next.
You want to do the same in your book. Have readers screaming for your hero and heroine to, as LL Cool
J would say, do the damn thing! Get readers to that edge where they either want to keep going to see
where it leads or dump it. Hopefully, they won’t choose the latter option. They won’t by season four where
writers take a gamble and do the one thing that makes viewers cringe…introduce a new love.
Let’s take Friends. How many of us hated that Ross married Emily so quickly instead of Rachel? But then
again, how many of us cheered when he said Rachel’s name at his wedding instead of his new wife’s?
Or in the sitcom A Different World. Viewers all knew that Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert belonged
together, as odd as they were as a duo. And it crushed us, okay it crushed me, when Dwayne went to
Japan and came home with a new, serious girlfriend. But I leapt from my couch when Dwayne crashed
Whitley’s wedding right when she was at the altar and asked her to marry him and she accepted.
Currently the hit TV show Girlfriends is testing out the sexual tension waters. Colleagues Joan and William
have been friends for years. But he’s recently professed his romantic love for her and has asked that
they start a relationship. The fourth season ended with Joan outside of his hotel room door, wanting to
pursue a relationship. But William has his old flame inside doing who knows what, which is how the fifth
and most important season starts.
This is the pivotal season. As an industry standard, normally one hundred episodes or the first five
seasons guarantees syndication rights. This is why writers keep the tension going until this point.
By now flirtation is in full swing. Love is in the air. Perhaps the couple has almost said or outright said
those three magic words to each other. And once the tension gets to be too much that the characters and
the viewers are about to burst, the writers let them loose on one another.
Viewers are sated that the tension they’ve dealt with for years has finally come to a head. They watch the
couple make love or get married or make a commitment to one another. Once you get to that point, stop
watching it.
Sounds like a strange piece of advice but it isn’t. Sex makes for a great climax (excuse the pun) for the
couple’s mounting sexual tension. But then after that, it becomes that awkward morning after thing where
you want to crawl away and die. Or, worse yet, it becomes “real”. Now the TV couple is talking about
married problems or relationship problems that viewers don’t want to hear. Viewers watch TV for an
escape. They don’t want real life smacking them in the face. The same when they pick up your book.
Viewers liked that David Addison flirted with women openly in front of Maddie Hayes and that deep down
she was jealous when they weren’t a couple, when they didn’t have sex. As soon as they had sex, viewers
hated that David would be so disrespectful of her feelings. But that’s his character. He always flirted,
viewers loved it and he always got the girl. Archie Bunker from All In The Family was always a bigot and
will always be one on the show. If he had changed, no one would want to watch it. The same should go
for a TV show with great sexual tension where the couple finally has sex or makes a commitment. But
even if they don’t have sex by season five, stop watching the show.
Jennifer Crusie called characters who either never picked up that the person they are close to every day
has feelings for them or take advantage of the proximity and tell this person how they feel TDTL, or Too
Dumb To Love. She cited a perfect example: Mulder and Scully on The X-Files. How many of us screamed
at the TV screen from week to week for Fox to plant those kissable lips onto Dana’s and say, “I love you.
But it’s still out there.” When they didn’t season after season after season, I got disenchanted with them
as a couple as I’m sure many loyal viewers had. These characters hung on a lot longer than some should
so if they can’t voice their feelings or simply walk away, then you should.
Lesson #4: The basics count.
TV has the distinct luxury of being a visual media, presenting the setting for the show. They also have
actors give tone and inflection to their dialogue, and using reaction shots to describe something. We, as
writers, have to fill every scene with descriptive words and meaningful dialogue.
Here’s a test. Describe Rachel and Monica’s living room from the TV show Friends. How would you
describe the purple walls or the couch or the window overlooking the city (and into the Naked Guy’s
apartment)?
Use the intricate way you used to describe that setting to detail the setting in your manuscript. Instead of
just saying the character has a couch, talk about the color. Talk about the stain on the arm and how it got
there. Talk about the burn hole in the carpet that your character covers up with the leg on the coffee
table. How many windows are there? Be detailed. Let the reader sit in the character’s home.
Aside from setting, TV has a leg up on dialogue. As I mentioned above, actors can use their bodies, vocal
tones and inflections to bring life into the writer’s words.
“I got off the plane.” Sounds like a simple line. Without dialogue tags or a frame of reference it may not
do anything for a reader. How about if it was written like this: With a quiver in her voice and her wide eyes
full of hope, fear, love and a cresting tear, she said from the doorway, “I got off the plane.” Better. Now for
those of you who watched the series finale of Friends will remember that Rachel said that to Ross from the
doorway of their apartment when she got off the plane headed to Paris to be with him. As TV viewers, we
all heard the audience’s collective gasp when she returned. That’s what you want readers to do when
they read your work. Pull emotion from every scene and make your dialogue count.
And you want some reaction shots? Watch any soap opera. The reactions some of those actors give are
classic. Okay, so they’re over-the-top and classic but you can still learn from them. Take their
expressions and tone them down to something real. I normally will pay close attention to a kissing scene. I’
ll take note of body positions, hand movements, type of kiss and the expressions afterward.
Lesson #5: Use those secondary characters!
Hopefully you all have noticed that I mentioned the term ‘couple’ instead of hero and heroine or leads.
That’s because usually on TV shows there is a lead romance and a secondary, usually nerdy, romance.
On Friends, the primary romance involved Ross and Rachel then the secondary romance was Phoebe
and anyone she dated. On Girlfriends, the main romance is between Joan and the man she’s into at the
time then the secondary romance is between Lynn and her flavor of the month…or day. Even on The
Andy Griffith Show, if there was a romance, Andy got the girl and the secondary romance was between
Barney Fife and his main squeeze. So why have a secondary romance at all?
The main reason, and one of the reasons you have a subplot and/or secondary characters in your
manuscript (besides that your editor or agent or even critique partner asks you to add one), is as a mirror
to the main characters or leads. Whatever happens to the secondary characters will make the viewer or
your readers question the outcome of your hero and heroine.
In the TV world, sometimes the secondary characters can have a more exciting love life than the leads.
Case in point, Joanie Loves Chachi. There was never a Ritchie Loves Lori Beth or Fonzie Loves
Everyone. Or especially in the case of the show Frasier, a successful spin-off of the show Cheers. The
show centered on the lead character’s love life.
Of course as a writer unless done properly, you never want your secondary characters to take over your
story. But that’s another topic.
There’s so much more we can learn from TV to help us write romances. I didn’t touch on the research
value. From documentaries to cooking shows, from PBS to The Discovery Channel, there’s so much more
we could learn from just watching the boob tube. So what are you reading this article for? Pick up the
remote and do some much-needed research!