How "Pretty Little Liars" is Making Me a Better Novelist
Posted by amybou on:
Okay, so I'm not really certain if "Pretty Little Liars" is making me a better novelist, but my immersive/obsessive experience of watching the first two seasons of the show (which a poet friend describes as "Twin Peaks" meets "The OC") has coincided with a very productive period of novel revision, so it's possible that there is some kind of a cause and effect relationship, and surely there is much to be learned about pace, foreshadowing, withholding information from the viewer which could be applied to fiction writing--although, in truth, I am too obsessed with figuring out who "A" is to spend too much time thinking about that. Watching the show does make me realize just how much I crave plot as a reader/viewer--as gauche as that might have sounded to me back in my plot-eschewing MFA days. Now I find myself defacing twenty-five-dollar hardcover novels with my edits when I find books to be too meandering for my taste (although that may be the subject of another as-yet-to-be-written post entirely).
Now, may I ask, is anyone else obsessed with "PLL" (as it's come to be known in the texts I send one of my friends as I'm getting caught up on the first two season)?
Two of the smartest people I know in Santa Barbara got me into the show (in my defense)--and I am looking forward to taking advantage of their on-demand cable to get caught up on Season 3 later this week!
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2 Comments
Comment by Paulrivas on
Never heard of it! I'll have to check with my Network TV Slut wife and sister-in-law on this and get back to you.
Comment by Tracey on
Oh yeah, I just started re-watching. I messed up the timing by cutting the cable cord and am now catching up on Netflix. Twin Peaks meets The OC is a good description. Pretty people doing weird things makes good TV.