(another writing assignment – this time based on my reading of Stephen King’s book “On Writing” in which, on pages 34-35 he says: “…I’m glad. I am, when you stop to think of it, a member of a fairly select group: the final handful of American novelists who learned to read and write before they learned to eat a daily helping of video b.s. This might not be important. On the other hand, if you’re just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television’s electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows and how far.”)
Dear Mr. Stephen King,
While I admire your writing and your success (as twisted as your stories themselves may be) and couldn’t imagine anyone denying your claims to fame, I do feel it necessary to balk at your suggestion that writers should not watch television (though, I will again admit how funny the twisted suggestion was).
It is also true that I spent a good deal of my early years attached to the TV (though my adoration was severely limited by my parents’ insistence that it be regulated to an hour a day). In fact, my parents enjoy regaling audiences (made up of whomever is listening) with stories of how they could never get my attention whilst the television was on. It was only when they stepped between myself and the TV that they could, in fact, break the seeming mystical hold the glowing box had.
And yet, I can not tell you the untold wonders that awaited me in television. True, it was not TV alone that inspired me to be a writer. I read almost as veraciously as I watched TV (emptying out the local library and having to move on to the college town’s library). And my family and friends also encouraged the budding imagination I had to such lengths that I never thought of “not writing”. But it was in television that my voice grew bold. It was because of television I found an audience. And it was because of TV that I realized that being a writer wasn’t as fruitless as some naysayers would have lead me to believe.
I remember the first TV shows I fell horribly in love with – Sesame Street, Sledge Hammer, MacGuyver and others. They shaped some of my favorite things in the world (mainly humor and smarts). It was in the clever, subtle writing that I learned the difference between “Near” and “Far” (thanks again Grover). I was inspired to sing, to laugh and to play. From Sledge Hammer I learned a love of the absurd. From MacGuyver that superheroes should be as smart as they are strong (or even more so).
Then came my favorite shows of the 90s – Darkwing Duck (again absurd, witty comedy), Anamaniacs (so smart and funny it’s a surprise someone hasn’t brought it back), and then Due South, Pretender and Homicide. My own writing had become serious. After winning a couple of awards and prizes for my writing I decided to get serious (or as serious as a 12 year old can get). By the time I entered college I had finished a full-length novel, been published more times than I can remember and started my own Sherlock Holmes fan email newsletter (that I edited) and sent out to 200 folks from around the world (which was unheard of in the late 90s).
When I hit college and my TV watching took a nose dive, but as soon as I was home I caught up on all my favorite shows (my parents would record them for me). Movies were also a favorite. Both of them only fueled my imagination – not squished it.
Then came work, which was creative but more in the graphic design area than writing. I decided to find some outlet (professionally) for my writing and became an “intern” in social media. Soon I was writing again and my desire for great TV increased.
Finding my current TV demigod (Joss Whedon) in my 20s only fueled the fire. Whedon’s stories were complex but incredibly simple. With the backdrop of vampires, space ships and singing super villains Whedon is able to tell the simplest of stories about the human soul. Yet they are utterly and intensely profound. Whedon’s writing (and that of the other TV writers) sparked my re-entry into the world of fiction (even though I never really left). From watching his shows I started into the world of podcasting, I launched a successful audio drama group and I scaled the heights and depth of my own human experience. I wrote fanfic, poems, letters, articles, audio drama scripts, essays and so mcuh more — all because of TV.
Perhaps you are discussing more of the mindless, time-suck that TV can become. Since I never have been one to just sit and watch TV I am probably not the general reader you pictured reading your novel. In fact, I’ve written this entire “letter” to you while watching TV. My laptop is always close at hand and I can always find myself able to complete some kind of task or writing even in the midst of a great drama.
In short Mr. King, don’t think of me as being too upset with your suggestion of ripping out the TV. Rather, this is a contrary viewpoint that can extol the great virtues of programs. When paired with an imagination that thrives on stories with heart, humor and beauty – they can be the catalyst for greatness, not the soul-crushing opiate that you may assume.
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