Wednesday Writing Snack #2: Watch What You Write

I'm embarrassed to say I put off watching Mare of Easttown because I didn't like the title. Looked like a boring show about a woman who ran a town and wore scarves (yea, I know it was spelled "Mare," not "mayor," but it stuck in my head that way and I couldn't shake it; told you I was embarrassed).

I finally watched it out of desperation a couple weeks ago. I had to write 60K words to meet my first draft deadline for The Pretender, and I had only one month to do it. Insanity. I'm a fast writer but have never written that fast before, even a first draft. But my plot was a goopy mess, I didn't feel any of the characters, and so why not pour a bourbon, watch TV, and pray for divine intervention?

When it came, it wasn't divine. It was just watching really good writing delivered by phenomenal actors. As I binged episodes 1-4 (all that was out at the time), I was soothed by the rhythm of a story well-told, reminded that mystery is always about character and not plot, and then (in episode 2) handed the exact linchpin my novel-in-progress was missing. I've since been writing 3000 words a day like I was born to it (I don't recommend writing this many words a day--see writing snack #1 about the importance of play--but I did this to myself).

When I'm writing my novels set in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, I always immerse myself in the visual media of the time to pick up the slang, the fashion, the culture. I'd forgotten how well that same trick works for simply internalizing good writing. So there's your second writing snack: watch movies and TV shows set in the genre or period that you're writing about, and take notes as you watch, jotting down what works and what doesn't.