Fun Friday with Heather Snow ~ Confessions of a TV Binge Watcher

Happy Friday, GLIAS’ers! I’m really looking forward to our new Friday posts and all of the fun and interesting things we’ll be learning about my fabulous blog mates and what we’re working on over the coming months.

We’ve had great fun over the past three years introducing you to our favorite authors and we can’t wait to bring you more! More authors aren’t the only things we’ll be sharing with you in the coming year, but more of US, too!

In September, Jill hosted our very first “First Fridays With the Crew” post, where we get to do a quick catch up with everyone, a new tradition we plan to carry on in the months to come. On other Fridays, Crew members will be posting individual blogs about themselves or things they find interesting! We hope you enjoy this opportunity to get to know your GLIAS hosts more intimately J.

-------------------

CONFESSIONS OF A BINGE TV WATCHER by Heather Snow

Anyone remember the show QUANTUM LEAP? Sexy, smart Dr. Sam Beckett travels back in time to put right things that once went wrong. It ran from 1989-1993…97 episodes of awesomeness that I watched faithfully every week back in the days before DVR.

 

That was the last show on network television that I watched. I know, I know but life…it just got busy, I guess! I missed SEINFELD and FRIENDS and LOST and GLEE and a thousand other shows in between. (Don’t tell anyone, but I even missed DOWNTON ABBEY. I know…I should have my historical romance author card revoked. What can I say? I was on deadline with 2 small children!)

But lately, thanks to Netflix, I’ve been on a TV watching binge and I wanted to watch things completely different than what I write to give my mind a rest. It started with FRINGE…iffy at first, but it developed into an interesting plot line with characters I came to care for. Then I moved on to SCANDAL, which was a total guilty pleasure. Then I tried ONCE UPON A TIME and GRIMM on for size…similar premises based on fairy tale lore, but completely different takes and approaches on it. There were things that I liked and things that annoyed me about each of those shows, but I continue to be amazed at the sheer creativity (and great writing!) that goes into them.

I’ve learned a few things in my months of viewing. One? Apparently I am easily addicted. Two? I am willing to forgive a lot of plot holes and slow pacing and myriad other issues for characters that I love. Three? I noticed that with most of the series, it took me awhile to attach to those characters. The pilots and early first seasons seemed a bit clunky as the actors and writers tried their characters on for size. But once they grabbed me, I was sacrificing sleep, writing time, reading time, TOO much time just to spend a few hours with them.

Which really made me think a lot about my writing. Since I write historical romance with mysteries in them, I focus a lot on making sure my plots hang together. Of course, I focus a lot on character, too…I dig quite deeply into my characters’ personalities, backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, etc., before I even type the first word. But what my current unhealthy television habits have shown me is that I need to focus on them even more. It’s ALL about character and making viewers/readers love them or love to hate them.

Currently, I am watching SUPERNATURAL. It was another series that took a little for me to get into, but now I’m hooked. I can’t wait to squeeze in an episode every chance I get! Overall, the writing has been smart and the overarching storyline that the characters have suffered through (at least Seasons 1-5…which is probably where the show should have ended, given the story arc was tied up then) has been nothing short of brilliant. But most importantly? I LOVE a character for the first time since Dr. Sam Beckett.

Dean Winchester… I’ve never been one who liked bad boys (figured they were too much trouble), but Dean…oh my… Talk about a tortured soul even I would be standing in line to heal. Not too hard on the eyes, either!

 

Yes, I understand it’s a combination of factors that have me so enamored…the writers wrote him well (he’s hilariously snarky, insanely loyal and beautifully broken), the actor is not only good looking but plays his part perfectly, and the way he interacts with his brother in their crazy, troubled relationship really lets me see into his fictionally fabulous heart.

As an author, I don’t have the luxury of having a hot guy portray character traits that endear him to my intended audience. Nor do I have a whole season for you to hang on and see if it gets better. I have to find a way to do that through my words and the situations I put my hero/heroine in, and I have to do it from page one. But all of this binge TV watching is making me really think of better ways to do that, and will hopefully help me create even better characters for YOU to enjoy.

At least, that’s how I’m justifying all of my recent tube time. Speaking of, I hear JUSTIFIED is a good series to watch to learn character development… Hmm… ;)

Which fictional television characters have captured your heart and stuck with you? Any shows I need to make sure I don’t miss…you know, for research, of course…?

 

Heather Snow writes smart historical romance featuring women who put the blue in bluestockings, the men who love them, and the mysteries they have to solve. Her Award Winning debut series, including SWEET ENEMY, SWEET DECEPTION and SWEET MADNESS is currently on sale for $5.99 each on Kindle and $6.78 for paperback.