Can Soap Operas Help Us With Our Writing?

The soap opera medium, and how helpful is it to writing ebook fiction, is a question which has always been on my mind. Can soap operas actually help writers with the mechanics of writing, or, is it a form which is of little assistance to writers?

While soap operas and book fiction are two different forms, with alternative rules, and ways of doing things, they do have much in common. The soap opera is a form that has a beginning, middle, and no end, unlike books, which have a start and finish point. The only similarity may be book series which have several instalments. As soap operas are daily serials, broadcast five days a week, all through the year, a book, on the other hand, can be picked up, and finished whenever the reader wishes, and does not require the same level of commitment. Apart from these, there are some other differences to books that are easily discerned.

With the soap opera, the viewer is presented with the characters and story location onscreen, with little need for them to imagine what the characters look like, where they live, and what they do. In a book, the author creates for the reader the story world, either as a light sketch, or, as a full-blown depiction of the characters and their narrative world.

Another striking difference between the two mediums is the use of repetition. The necessity of this in soap operas is of paramount importance, serving, in a practical manner, to inform viewers of events they may have missed if they have not viewed several episodes. The same does not largely apply for books. If there is too much rehashing of events in a book, it may hamper the book’s appeal to readers, and, also, slow down the action. While there may be much to separate the two forms, I believe that they converge in one main way, which would be very helpful to writers.

As an example of this, I will utilize a vintage clip from the soap opera ANOTHER WORLD to illustrate this. The older clips of soap operas, in my opinion, while longer in time frame than newer episodes, displayed a great attention to characters, their emotions, and their psychological worlds, which is fascinating the watch. Exposure to these scenes would be extremely useful to writers who wish to write intense, full-blooded emotional scenes which explore a theme in great detail. I have attached one such scene from ANOTHER WORLD from 1973 between Jacqueline Courtney and George Reinholt as the on-again, off-again lovers Alice and Steve Frame, which I hope you find both interesting, and helpful.

And, as always, I will end my post with a question in which I would be interested in learning of your opinion; can soap operas help us with our writing?

Are Your Characters Reacting To Each Other, and Plot Events, For Maximum Impact In Your Stories?

There are many times when we are writing our stories that we have a big scene where a major event takes place between the characters. Does the scene shine in its execution, or fall flat? I myself find when I am rewriting a draft this can occur, and that a scene which should be prominent, adding to the action, and opening up other story possibilities, does not deliver this, but, this can be remedied very easily. The reactions of characters to an event in the story, or to each other, can add depth, and reveal more about the characters than we originally envisioned.

This is something, though, that should be picked up in subsequent edits after the first draft, when we are perusing the story cafefully for any inconsistencies or deficiencies. I believe the main key is that we put ourselves in the position of our characters, and think what they would do in these situations. Sometimes having a character not react to a situation immediately, or having this delayed for plot purposes, is also useful, but, in any which way, if it is true to the character and story, then all the better. What are your thoughts on this?