*Insert Literary Blog Name Here* (noun): a small corner of the blagosphere dedicated to books, writing, and kidlit. Come for the book lists. Stay for the coffee.
I have a 14 week old baby who’s just discovered t.v. When he’s feeling cranky (he’s teething), we snuggle down in the comfy chair and watch The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. His face lights up within seconds of hearing the theme song.
Now, since I’m a worrier–I worry that t.v. is bad, stunts growth, etc. etc., I chat to him all the way through. We discuss Tigger’s bounces (oh, look how high he jumps!) and Rabbit’s garden (mmm, carrots!), Piglet’s fears (poor little baby), Pooh’s appetite (aww, Pooh feels a rumbly in his tumbly) and, of course Eeyore’s gloominess (Eeyore needs a hug, doesn’t he, Baby? Would you like a hug?). Somewhere along the way, I realized that not only was Baby learning–I was too.
1. Focus. Almost every episode of Winnie the Pooh begins with a shot of the story’s focal character.
E.g. In Donkey for a Day, in which the Hundred Acre crew tries to cheer up Eeyore, the opening shot is of Eeyore on a hill. This is a great way–especially in picture books–to help set the scene and tone of the story.
2. Voice. Each character has a very specific voice. Even written, character dialogue is very individual. I don’t need to see a dialogue tag to know who’s speaking. It’s immediately apparent.
E.g. From The Magic Earmuffs: Piglet “The ice seems particularly cold today. Perhaps if I waited ’til it got warmer.” Gopher: Hmmph, touriststh.” Tigger: “Eh-eh, one point for Pigleth’s team! Eh, whichever that is.” Granted, this dialogue does require you to be a little looser with grammar rules, but the point remains the same–each character is uniquely himself. (Has anyone else every noticed the only female in Winnie the Pooh is Kanga?)
3. Characters think within their boundaries. I know this sounds a little counter-intuitive–after all, we grow up learning to push our limits and expand our horizons. But in the context of writing, it’s a very useful technique.
E.g. In Find Her Keep Her, there is a storm–and the first thing Rabbit thinks of is his garden. Similarly, whenever Pooh tries to explain something, he puts it in terms of “hunny”.
4. No-one is ever out of character. Have you ever read a book, been enjoying it, then hit a point where the character suddenly does something that makes no sense? It’s a common pitfall, resorting to uncharacteristic behavior to make a reveal or get some backstory in.
E.g Winnie the Pooh, is always himself–hungry. In The Piglet who would be King, Piglet, Rabbit, and Tigger go in search of the Land of Milk and Honey to bring back a present for Pooh. While they are gone, Pooh goes from house to house looking for them–and their “hunny”. He grows more distraught with each visit–and gets hungrier with each one, too.
5. Continuity. Though the show is comprised of self-contained episodes, there’s a certain continuity to it.
E.g. When Pooh is on guard in The Great Hunny Robbery, he has his pop cap gun and marches about saying “guard, guard, guard”. Later (or earlier, I’m not really sure), in The Piglet who would be King, he thinks Piglet, Tigger, and Rabbit’s hunny has been stolen, and resorts to the same thing–guarding his home with a popcap gun and saying “guard, guard, guard”.
Have you ever seen The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh? How do you find t.v. affects your writing? Have you ever learned anything from a t.v. show?
5 Things I Learned From “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”: http://bit.ly/2vGgxp #writing #tvReply – Quote
Cute! I haven’t seen Winnie the Pooh in a long long time. I used to watch both a live-action version and a cartoon one as a kid. (Is this the same series or a new one?). Have you read the new book yet?
As far as whether I’ve learned anything from TV–this is going to sound really dorky, but when my husband and I watched Battlestar Galactica last year, we usually watched the director’s commentary versions as well. I found it helpful to listen to the director talk about the character’s motivations in a scene or which scenes they decided to cut/keep for character development even when no action occurred (such as Adama’s numerous shaving scenes). They also talked about when they switch scenes or which episodes they thought were problematic. Most of these discussions I thought were useful not only in script-writing but in novel writing too (and not just dialogue scenes).
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Amitha S. J. Knight, Peta Andersen. Peta Andersen said: 5 Things I Learned From “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”: http://bit.ly/2vGgxp #writing #tv [...]
@Amitha – There were two cartoon series when I was a child “The Adventures” and “The New Adventures”. The one we’re watching right now is the second one. The theme song is a lot catchier (I’ve gotta get up, I’ve gotta get going, going to see a friend of mine…), and the animation slightly better.
I have the new book, but haven’t read much yet. We read it together, but Baby gets tired easily.
Watching the director’s commentary is an excellent idea! Character development scenes are so important, but sometimes hard to justify (well, is there anything happening here? Do I really want a scene with no action?). Seeing how the pros handle it must be useful. Have you applied any of it yet?
Re: Pooh–I think “New adventures” is the cartoon one I used to watch because the theme sounds sounds really familiar.
Re: Battlestar commentary — I actually have found it really useful in terms of eliminating scenes and also as far as seeing what can go wrong if you don’t have the overall story arc planned out ahead of time :) (Did anyone like their ending?) There were a lot of things they came up with that they just didn’t know how to explain as they went a long (like Baltar’s visions which they ended up explaining as “angels” :P)
At least with novels you have the luxury of going back and changing things, but with TV shows across seasons, you can’t go back and change what you wrote in season 1. For example, part of their world-building was that their paper wasn’t rectangular, instead they had all the corners cut off. This ended up being a nightmare for them as the series went along since it affected every single book or diagram and even their TV screens (I think?) were like this. In writing this is easily fixed, but it does speak a lot towards being aware of the ramifications of world building rules.
@Peta – My blog post inspired by yours: 3 Writing Lessons from Battlestar Galactica
@Amitha – On my way to read it now!
RT @PetaAndersen: 5 Things I Learned From “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”: http://bit.ly/2vGgxpReply – Quote