Cliffhangers

Cliffhangers: a devilish device used by any fiction creator to keep an audience on the edge of seat or stay tuned in. Cliffhangers are very popular in television, especially at the end of an episode leading up to a break or hiatus in episodes. Writers lover them and audiences love to hate them. Many shows have figured out clever ways to keep audience members dialed in, even when they are on the verge of quitting. We all have that one show we keep watching because at the very last minute a major plot point is revealed, story flipped flopped, secret spilled, or story arch you've been waiting for finally makes a break through. A good show will space out their cliffhangers strategically with a nice blend of closure. In my humble opinion cliffhangers can be good, but there are definitely spots were they do not belong.....such as at the end of a movie, book, or any other place where it is supposed to be a finale. When cliffhangers are used in movies and books they appear to be there only to hook the audience in to want more so they will come back for the inevitable sequal.....which was only made as a money trap.

Listen up media world: use cliffhangers wisely. I want to be amazed when the screen goes blank and the credits roll, not annoyed.

Subtle Is Good

I'm not going to torture you with a Doctor Who reference this week. Instead, let's take a moment to discuss writing.

The current climate of movies is based around a society with the attention span of a fruit fly. I'm guilty of lacking focus. I can't spend five minutes on a project without thinking about books or eating or when I'm next going to see my family or friends. I should join the club.

To accomodate humanity's shrinking attention span, some movies and television shows have resorted to frantic stories, loud voices, and exciting characters. But More Isn't Always Better. Sometimes the subtle details of a character matter more than the overarching story, even if the story is this grand adventure that takes the audience through time and space.

This doesn't mean that Boring Is Better. A boring story means that there is nothing notable at all. The characters are one-dimensional, the setting is bland, and the story might as well have been written by a twelve-year-old. If a story is intriguing with small details and characters with enjoyable (or disagreeable) quirks, you don't have to include any explosions or sweeping CGI scenes to get people to like your film.

Just remember that it's the little things that count. Sometimes, they count more than the big picture. A writing tip to keep in mind.

~Will

Big Bang, Big Characters

For the longest time I protested watching the show The Big Bang Theory. In 2010 when Jim Parsons won best lead actor at the Emmy Awards for his portrayal the annal scientist, Sheldon Cooper, I was confused at how such a show could win. Finally this summer my friends convinced me to watch the show and I found to my surprise the show was not only hysterical, but it's characters were relatable on some level (despite large involvement in science and science fiction). I thought since I do not like science and I'm very into science fiction I would not get most of the jokes, but I found out that the writes realize that it is uncommon for most people to understand most of the dork/nerdy jokes, in fact they depend on it and the lack of understand leads to most of the hilarity.

The humor is not the whole thing that keeps the audience coming back, like it most other comedies, the jokes aren't always the key part of the show and eventually you start to shape a outline of an on going plot with developing characters. For me well developed characters that an audience can relate to is a major key to success. Though for the most part the characters on Big Bang are caricatures, they are relatable on some level and you come to love their quirks. A lot of people relate to Penny the new girl who moves across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon. Penny is not very smart so when she befriends Leonard and Sheldon as well as their two friends Raj and Howard, she tends to get lost among the guys geek/nerd talk. Leonard is another character a lot of people relate to because even though he is very nerdy, he tries the hardest to blend in with the rest of society and wants to be excepted by others. As they grow closer Penny and Leonard teach each other about their culture and they both start to understand their world. In a way the audience is taken on the journey of socialization through these characters.

Now that I am done watching the show I am very much looking forward to what the writers have in store for the upcoming season of The Big Bang Theory. The characters have greatly developed over the the last four seasons and has turned the series from comedy show with funny characters to a show with interesting characters with a growing plot that happens to be funny. It is the diversity of the characters and intrigue of what funny situation they will get into next that keeps the audience coming back.