writing

There is little doubt in my mind that television shows have as much power of story-telling as books.

And yet there is such a black hole of difference in how they are treated.

When does an author get dropped before finishing the story? Not often.

When does a television show get dropped before finishing the story? All the time.

Sure, there’s the makeup. A handful of people (the Author, Editors and others) versus a small army (Writers, Producers, Directors, Show-Runners, and many more).

There is cost. While making a run of books is expensive, I would imagine it pales when stacked up against the money required for the ensemble of humanoids needed to put together a television show. Happy to be wrong though.

Given that I’ve not done either (written books or created a television series), I’m only fishing around in what I _think_ might be the differences. There’d have to be lots more.

There’s one difference which seems to matter more than anything (or before anything) else.

Advertising.

It clouds the vision. It creates imbalance. It sullies the story.

Stories told through the medium of television would be a lot better off without advertising.

Course, without advertising they wouldn’t get told.

So what’s left? Do the best with what you have. Here’s the linkage between my thoughts and experience. That’s what Castle taught me tonight. We watched an episode where Castle’s book went on sale. His pulp fiction book. And this is what I got out of it. Whatever the medium,

You can write good pulp.

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