I know, I know. TV is supposed to be one of the top killers for writing creatively. But for me... well...
As a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s with a stay-at-home mom, soap operas were part of life. She (and so I) watched four of them - Young and the Restless, Bold and the Beautiful (when it came out in the late 80s), One Life to Live, and General Hospital.
As you can see, it was a full line-up.
They were captivating, grown-up, and there were so many stories being told all at the same time - it was kinda cool for my kid, pre-teen, and teen self.
But if I had to point to any of them as a learning tool for my writing, i would have to say I learned the most from Young and the Restless.
And now I can see you scratching your head, but I promise, I'm 100% serious here.
Because what are soaps famous for? That hook at the end of every episode, especially come Friday when you have to wait an entire weekend to find if someone is dead, going to fall in love, going to keep their company ... and of course, the list goes on.
Because what are soaps famous for? That hook at the end of every episode, especially come Friday when you have to wait an entire weekend to find if someone is dead, going to fall in love, going to keep their company ... and of course, the list goes on.
As a kid, I didn't see ANYONE do that better than the writers at The Young and the Restless. They could be brutal about it, keep you on the hook for your favorite characters for days or weeks on end. But regardless of how long I waited, I always HAD to know what was going to happen.
Which kept me turning on that TV.
When I started writing, I realized pretty quickly that I had to do the same thing in my books, regardless of the genre. If my readers weren't left, even at the end of the chapter, wondering what was going to happen next, they most certainly weren't going to stay with the book. They could put it down and never pick it back up again.
No good.
And not so much because I want to sell, sell, sell (although, hey, full disclosure, my writing pays the bills), but because I LOVE story-telling. I love characters that make me fall in love with them, drama that makes me want to turn that page or tune in for another day, suspense that gets my heart pounding while I fight the urge to jump to the last page and see how it's going to end.
That's why the soaps were such an inspiration to me. Even when I wasn't reading a book that achieved that goal, I could turn on the TV and watch it play out, day after day after day. I absorbed it. Even wanted to write it.
And forced myself to figure out how to apply it in my books.
So there it is, inspiration number two.
As you can see, inspiration can come from some unexpected places.