Few TV shows really make a big impression on me. In the last 20 years, only 30 Rock, Mad Men, Mare of Easttown….and Fleabag have really made me sit up and take notice.
Fleabag
And now that I find myself struggling with the characterizations of my characters in my first novel, I realize I probably need to study what Phoebe Waller-Bridge does with her characters in Fleabag.
So. I’m probably going to watch Fleabag again just to TRY to get some inspiration about character. The only issue is, of course, that Fleabag wallows in one thing I hate — awkward comedy.
But I’m a grown man, it shouldn’t be such a big deal
But it is.
I have a real problem the type of comedy-drama that Fleabag seems to enjoy getting into. But character, plot and conflict are very much connected. I need to put on my big boy pants and confront what makes me uncomfortable.
I really need to watch Fleabag again. I’m now completely consumed with how to improve the characterizations of my characters. I say this in the context of having a very stable first three chapters of the novel.
They’re not perfect, I’m still going to futz with them some, but they’re good enough to move forward. The issue I have now is I’m edging towards 50 scenes in the first act and that’s just way too many. And, yet, if I play my cards right, it won’t be THAT bad because some of those scenes won’t be 1,000 words.
The reason for so many scenes is very, very dumb — I have very dumb, arbitrary rules for my chapter structure when it comes to POVs and, as such, I find myself feeling repeatedly compelled to add a scene here or there to fit to the conventions I have in my head.
The average reader won’t notice — but *I* will notice and I’m the fucking person writing the novel. And I’m willing to write more to fit the conventions I have in my head, so there you go.
My goal is to write a heroine as interesting as Lisbeth Salander.
More scenes.
It is becoming clear that this novel is probably going to be in the general 140,000 word count area. I’m a complete nobody loser and, as such, I risk writing a really good novel that I can’t sell because, lulz, it’s just too fucking long.
But because I’m doing all of this in a vacuum, I just don’t know. I have no idea if what I feel on a visceral level is the right thing to do or not. And because it’s really, really tough for me to do something as basic consume someone else’s media….things can get tricky.
And, yet, I do plan on watching Fleabag again. There are such great characters in that show that I believe I can glean some sense of how to construct good characters by watching it. I also need to watch some more of House of Cards.
It’s embarrassing how much obsessed I’ve been on plot over the years to the disservice of character. But, now, I’m playing catch up. I’m going through this rough version of the third draft and trying to beef up characterizations in the novel.
Fleabag is a very well developed character.
While my heroine is pretty well thought out, the other main characters in then novel too often are pretty piss-poor. I’m beginning to get a better sense of them, however, even if it’s going to take time to turn them from just “moods” into real people you want to spend time with.
My heroine sports a sleeve tattoo similar to the one that Meghan Fox now has, even though I thought of the idea first.
I’m really pleased with my heroine, though. She is very different than Lisbeth Salander, but she’s just about as intriguing, I think, if I do say so myself. I have done a good job thinking up a really, really interesting person. I could totally see her being someone people want to hang out with for a few novels, maybe even seven! (I hope.) I still am uneasy, however, about how there are members of the “woke cancel culture mob” who will be mad at me for being a smelly CIS white male writing from a female POV at times in the novel.
Lisbeth Salander is such a great character.
Ugh. I can’t help who I am.
My fear is that I’m going to get so sucked into trying to improve character that I will get really slowed down and miss sight of the fact that I need A Draft Done by April 19th so I can hand a few physical copies to people at an event I have. I like having a deadline so, lulz, I’m probably just going to buckle down and try to do everything in very short amount of time.
My heroine has the same phenotype as Corrie Yee.
The draft doesn’t have to be PERFECT, just EXIST in a form that isn’t too embarrassing. I really hope to zoom through this rough draft. One real problem I have is I continue to get impatient at the end of the novel and don’t put my all into making the copy as good as possible.
Ugh. I need to figure out a way to be in the right headspace when I work on the later scenes in the novel. I need to be a lot more serious and professional on that front.
Not sense I was working on the original ROKon Magazine with the late Annie Shapiro back in the day has something so consumed my mental faculties as this novel has. It’s warped my perception of the world to the point that it is very, very difficult for me to consume anyone else’s media.
I have become a storytelling snob in the extreme and only very few stories are “good enough” for my time. I can’t help but pick apart the editorial choices made in any content I consume. In fact, I know I may get hooked with some TV or movie if that is NOT act the forefront of my mind.
Most of the time, I just roll my eyes at how dumb a story is — even if everyone else thinks it’s great.
The last time I saw a TV show that I really liked was Fleabag. It’s perfect when it comes to character creation. All the characters — especially Fleabag — are very, very well crafted and understood by their creator, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. (Whom I still think should play in a series of movies about Dr. Susan Calvin, robot psychologist.)
Anyway. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out going forward. I hope to be a professional — and successful — creative type the rest of my life, starting with selling my first novel in the next few years.
Because of the dramatic restructuring of my first novel, I now have a lot — A LOT — more space to go into character. This is both good and bad. It’s good because the novel is now more character driven, but bad because, well, it takes time to think up characters and their motivations.
The heroine of my novel looks like Morena Baccarin.
And as my storytelling ability gets better and better, I will occasionally pause and mull how hard it will be to make the novel both a page turner and have really well-though-out characters.
In my quest to think through my characters, I may watch Fleabag again in an effort to figure out how Phoebe Waller-Bridge did what she did. I think I can learn a lot from her that respect. What makes a good character? What makes one compelling enough that people get upset or emotional when something happens to them?
My heroine has a sleeve tattoo similar to the one Megan Fox now sports.
I have a long ways to go and short time to get there. The thing is — for a number of years, I’m been so busy working on just establishing some stability with the story of this novel that I’ve totally been oblivious to the importance of character.
Now, like waking up from a dream, I find myself realizing how important character is to this novel and how I need to start fleshing out my characters ASAP.
I have very, very high standards for myself when it comes to storytelling. To the point that it’s very, very difficult for me to consume anyone else’s storytelling if it doesn’t meet what I believe is the quality worth my consumption. I’ve just started watching House of Cards and it is one of the few TV shows that actually DOES meet what I think is the “right way” to tell a story.
My heroine looks like Nathalie Emmanuel as I write her.
It joins TV shows like Mad Men, 30 Rock, Mare of Easttown and Fleabag as TV shows that linger in my mind as I struggle to write my novel.
Having said all that, I’ve finally reached a point in the development and writing of the third draft of this novel where I feel I’m coming into my own. This novel is really fast paced and accessible. While there are some obvious issues — it’s still not dark enough and there’s probably too much sex in the first act — the actual characters and what their motivations are really strong, interesting and intriguing.
Now, for me to sprint to the end of the first act, beginning of the second act which was the first act of the second draft of the novel. I’ve been re-writing a lot of the novel as I’ve transition from the second to third drafts and that has slowed me down.
But I’ve gamed out the entirety of the fourth chapter of the third draft and I think I’m going to cool it for about a day so I can throw myself into writing it all as quickly as I can with fresh eyes. I don’t want to “run hot” and overheat and over extend myself.
In general, however, this novel is beginning to shape up in a way that I feel I won’t embarrass myself when I try to query it later this year.
A lot is going to depend on luck now, I think. Given my vision for the total of six novels in this project if ding-dong Trump becomes POTUS again and we turn into an autocracy, then, lulz, I think this is going to be a very successful series of novels.
I find myself a bit startled by how good Fleabag is now that I’m watching all the way through instead of just watching clips on YouTube. The specific issue is I realize I really need to make my characters more real and sharp as I work on the second draft of the novel.
Fleabag is helping me write better characters.
Remember, I’m doing all of this in a fucking vacuum. I have nearly no one to talk to as I do all of this, so I have to stumble into new ways of looking at things on my way. And that’s exactly what has happened because of Fleabag. The first draft of the novel had an excess of plot while the characters were more just placeholders or moods that were made up of a collection of different traits that I liked or needed.
Now, however, with the second draft — because of Fleabag — I’m really giving my characters some thought. And that, in turn, is really changing the flow of the plot. I have long known, in general terms, the nature of the story, but the specifics have been changing and developing for years now.
And lot of what’s going on is I’m thinking a lot more about not only cause and effect, but also really giving a lot more thought about every possible twist or turn I can squeeze out of each character in a way that helps fuse the plot with character.
Anyway, it’s one of those things where I just won’t really know how successful I’m being until Beta Readers take a gander at it.
Believe the hype about Fleabag is all I gotta say. It really is as good as you’re led to believe. I’ve seen a lot of clips on YouTube, but only by watching the show all the way through do you get some sense of its pathos.
Phoebe “Fleabag” Waller-Bridge
Not since Mare of Easttown have of I watched a TV show that made me realize I need to really work hard as possible to make the character in my first novel as interesting as possible. If the audience has been exposed to Fleabag, then I really need to do my best to make my novel’s characters — especially the female characters — as thought provoking as possible.
I totally get how some people watch the first season of Fleabag and are totally destroyed by it. The only reason why I didn’t burst into tears after watching the first season of Fleabag is I’m an Old and I’m so jaded that I am able to distance myself from the whole thing.
The only thing I can compare Fleabag to is The Wolf of Wall Street. The two have a very similar vibe to them — they challenge the audience in various ways. They’re both very thought provoking in their own way.
Now, I have to start watching season two of Fleabag.
Because of some dubious business practices by Amazon, I find myself with an Amazon Prime subscription AGAIN and, as such, I’m finally actually watching Fleabag instead of just YouTube clips.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “Fleabag”
Even from just watching clips, I’ve long loved the show and to actually watch it end to end proves that it really does live up its reputation. It’s really, really good. It’s probably in my top 5 TV shows of the last 20 or so years. And this is coming from someone who hates most TV with a passion.
I have repeatedly noted how interesting is to me that the British press focused on how feminist the show is, while the American press just sees it for what it is — a great TV show.
In the back of my mind, I find myself thinking about how I might crib from Fleabag as I continue to develop the female characters of my first novel. The thing about Fleabag is how thought-provoking and honest it is — sometimes to a fault.
The appear of Fleabag is a lot of people — both men and women — see themselves as a Fleabag character, even when we aren’t. It’s too bad there won’t be a third season of it.
It would be interesting to see the character in NYC or LA.
I’m trying to populate this first novel with as many provocative characters as I can. I really want the main characters to be well thought out. And, to do so, I’m doing some fancy footwork. I’m really, really leaning into what I remember about the kooky characters associated with ROKon Magazine in Seoul way back when. Including me!
The protagonist of the first three novels is meant to be something akin to a journalistic equivalent to Mare of Easttown. At least, that’s kind of bar I’m setting for myself. I want my protagonist to be as rich and well developed as Mare of Easttown. That’s the dream.
I’ve also recently figured out the dynamic between two characters — just going to use what happened between Annie Shapiro and me back in the bad old days of ROKon Magazine — and this sets up something of a conundrum. I’m well aware that for many within the “woke cancel culture mob” by definition, a CIS white male writing from a female point of view is a mortal sin, never to be forgiven. Ok, I get it. But, what’s worse, is I really want to make this particular character problematic. She, in a sense, is the person to prompts a six novel series and, as such, she really needs to be interesting.
I fucking hate the woke cancel culture mob…when it tells me what I can’t write as a man.
But my definition of “interesting” could be another person’s definition of, “you’re a CIS white male, just shut the fuck up.” I mean, if Fleabag had been written by a man, would the reaction have been the same? If Mare of Easttown is who I’m striving to be like with my protagonist, then it’s Fleabag that I’m striving for in this very important other character.
I want her to be endearing, and yet so be so problematic that you, the reader, are ambivalent about her and you care about her, but when Something Bad happens to her, you don’t quite know what to make of it. Of course, I’m not nearly the write I need to be to pull off such a feat. But if you for the moon, you just might fall into the stars, as the hackney saying goes.
My greatest fear is I’m going to write from a female POV and write something so absurd that all the female members of the audience throw the book across the room in disgust. I’m trying to be as conservative as possible when it comes to elements of the female experience that I can’t reverse engineer (which is most of it) but the more I push into making my would-be Fleabag character as problematic, the more I have to touch on sex, etc. The very things that CIS white middle age authors like me aren’t supposed to broach when writing from a female POV. (Which we’re not supposed to do in the first place.)
The late Annie Shapiro was my personal Fleabag.
But no one ever got anywhere in this world without taking a risk, as my father says. So, lulz, once more into the breach. I’m going to write what I can — even thought I don’t have a wife or a girlfriend to be my “reader” — and hopefully, I won’t embarrass myself too much.
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