Servicing your characters

What I’m watching: Servicing your characters

I write a lot, considering dozens of articles I’ve written this year, as well as short stories and books. Somewhere along the line I’ve fallen into the habit of trying to write only when I’ll get paid.

So this blog, which dates to the early 2010s, when i was getting a regular paycheck for writing, has been neglected in recent years.

But with the former twitter disappearing up its own asshole and no other social media really coming on strong, I’m trying to make myself maintain an online presence somewhere besides social media.

So I’m here again, like some kind of drunken traveling salesman, returning home to the family he’s neglected over the years and promising to try to be better about just being here.

One easy way to do this is to write about what I’ve been reading or watching lately. So a quick checklist:

Yes, I’m watching “Yellowstone.” Again. I’m introducing my wife to it but I’m enjoying watching it again, despite how preposterous it gets as the series goes on, with the Dutton family killing man and beast with seeming impunity.

What I’ve always liked best about “Yellowstone,” though, is its servicing of its characters. The show juggles a lot of characters as the series goes on and a lot of writers who are inclined to turn up their noses at the show and its writer/creator would do well to take a few lessons.

If you’re writing a big, complicated story involving a lot of characters, you need to remember to make those characters consistent – not like shows dating back to “Melrose Place,” which would have characters completely change up their character to hook up with someone who had literally just tried to kill them – so that viewers and readers almost – almost – consider they’re watching and reading about real people they might know. Yes, in the case of “Yellowstone,” they’re awful real people but they seem true-to-themselves.

What I’m also watching:

I’m trying to watch some horror/thriller/suspense films during the month leading up to Halloween. Slow going so far, but I’ve enjoyed “Them,” the 1954 thriller about giant ants, and “Dressed to Kill,” the unhinged 1980 sexual thriller. The latter is a lot to take, 43 years after it came out.

I’m also watching “The Crown” for the first time and so far I’ve enjoyed the Clair Foy seasons best. And I’m rewatching “For All Mankind,” which does almost as good a job of world building as “Yellowstone.” The latter does best with its building out of its world by introducing more stories about Yellowstone ranch hands.