G-Lexington
Lex. Icon. Devil.
Color me misunderstood
But I won't go Hollywood - Bleu
Something happened to me several years back.
I was never much of a TV or movie junkie. Yeah, I had my favorite shows. Most of them were cartoons. I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Talespin, Gargoyles (duh), and so on. But even then, I wasn't watching as much TV as most people. When I finally broke in to my chosen field, I moved to a tiny town in the Southwest US, and my TV watching shrunk even more. I had this tiny B&W TV, and could only get two or three channels. By this point, the only show I was still watching was Gargoyles, which I'd watch when I first got up in the morning. I distinctly remember watching one episode, and getting more and more unhappy at it. I finally did something drastic.
I stood up and turned the television off. Before the episode finished.
I then drew a hot bath, got in, and while soaking, I started the episode again in my brain. But this time, I ran it as I thought it should've been. Changing the plot, getting rid of the superfluous character, and what not. And of course, to me, my "episode" was superior. It was the way it should've been.
I wasn't aware of it at the time, but this was a major turning point. My relationship with TV would never be the same.
Before this happened, TV would entertain me with stories. But now, TV shows merely provided me with a "jumping-off" point. I went from tweaking existing episodes to actually writing new ones in my head. Happy ones, tragic ones, comedic ones, sexual ones, whatever I felt like at the time. TV ceased being a form of entertainment, and instead, became a source of fuel for my entertainment. My "mind TV" could start and stop at will, could run the same episode many times with minor tweakings (or none at all), and could be entirely inconsistent with itself - if I wanted to kill off a main character just to see what happened, I could. And then bring him back immediately.
It's gotten to the point where I prefer the entertainment of my mind. So despite being a fan of the aforementioned Ninja Turtles, I don't watch the new cartoon. And I didn't go see the recent movie. Why should I? The cartoon and movie were written with a particular demographic in mind. The ones in my mind were written solely for ME. Which ones do you think I'll enjoy more?
This isn't to say I've given up on TV completely. I still watch non-fictional things like The Daily Show and The Soup. Maybe an occasional game show or documentary. But I'm finding it hard to watch fictional TV at all. Because once I get an idea of the characters, that's all I need to start writing my own stories. And yes, I do need a dose of "fuel" once in awhile. That's why movie trailers are so perfect. They condense the plot and all the "good parts" into a sixty-second chunk, and it sometimes gets the creative juices flowing. For me, anyway, it IS true - I don't need to see the movie once I've seen the trailer.
To forestall the inevitable question, yes, I've tried writing these stories out. Both my versions of other shows (fanfiction) and my own creations (original fiction). And yes, some are posted online. But honestly, I didn't really write them for anyone other than myself. If other people like them, fantastic. If nobody else does, I don't care - they weren't the target audience. I was.
Lex
But I won't go Hollywood - Bleu
Something happened to me several years back.
I was never much of a TV or movie junkie. Yeah, I had my favorite shows. Most of them were cartoons. I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Talespin, Gargoyles (duh), and so on. But even then, I wasn't watching as much TV as most people. When I finally broke in to my chosen field, I moved to a tiny town in the Southwest US, and my TV watching shrunk even more. I had this tiny B&W TV, and could only get two or three channels. By this point, the only show I was still watching was Gargoyles, which I'd watch when I first got up in the morning. I distinctly remember watching one episode, and getting more and more unhappy at it. I finally did something drastic.
I stood up and turned the television off. Before the episode finished.
I then drew a hot bath, got in, and while soaking, I started the episode again in my brain. But this time, I ran it as I thought it should've been. Changing the plot, getting rid of the superfluous character, and what not. And of course, to me, my "episode" was superior. It was the way it should've been.
I wasn't aware of it at the time, but this was a major turning point. My relationship with TV would never be the same.
Before this happened, TV would entertain me with stories. But now, TV shows merely provided me with a "jumping-off" point. I went from tweaking existing episodes to actually writing new ones in my head. Happy ones, tragic ones, comedic ones, sexual ones, whatever I felt like at the time. TV ceased being a form of entertainment, and instead, became a source of fuel for my entertainment. My "mind TV" could start and stop at will, could run the same episode many times with minor tweakings (or none at all), and could be entirely inconsistent with itself - if I wanted to kill off a main character just to see what happened, I could. And then bring him back immediately.
It's gotten to the point where I prefer the entertainment of my mind. So despite being a fan of the aforementioned Ninja Turtles, I don't watch the new cartoon. And I didn't go see the recent movie. Why should I? The cartoon and movie were written with a particular demographic in mind. The ones in my mind were written solely for ME. Which ones do you think I'll enjoy more?
This isn't to say I've given up on TV completely. I still watch non-fictional things like The Daily Show and The Soup. Maybe an occasional game show or documentary. But I'm finding it hard to watch fictional TV at all. Because once I get an idea of the characters, that's all I need to start writing my own stories. And yes, I do need a dose of "fuel" once in awhile. That's why movie trailers are so perfect. They condense the plot and all the "good parts" into a sixty-second chunk, and it sometimes gets the creative juices flowing. For me, anyway, it IS true - I don't need to see the movie once I've seen the trailer.
To forestall the inevitable question, yes, I've tried writing these stories out. Both my versions of other shows (fanfiction) and my own creations (original fiction). And yes, some are posted online. But honestly, I didn't really write them for anyone other than myself. If other people like them, fantastic. If nobody else does, I don't care - they weren't the target audience. I was.
Lex