Kathy Fuller: More On That Annoying Creativity

by Kathy Fuller

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If you’re a creative person, yes you are. At least to some people.

I just finished reading the article posted last weekend on TVWriter.com about how we creatives are unappreciated. Since I’ve been doing a little personality checking and soul searching as of late, I found the article to be interesting, but missing a key reason why people get irritated with creative people–they often don’t follow through.

While some “idea people” also have that special combination of goal setting and discipline, many don’t. It’s not for lack of trying (okay, maybe it is) but many, many, MANY times a creative person with a brilliant idea will jump to the next brilliant idea as soon as the next brilliant idea pops into their heads. It’s how we’re wired.

Ideas bounce around our brains like pinballs, hitting the bumpers of excitement and fueling the lights in our eyes until we’re bursting with enthusiasm to tell someone, anyone, who will listen about our latest world changing idea. But once we’re tasked with executing that idea, we’re at a loss. We have to make a plan? We have to set a goal? We have to see this idea through to the end? Are you freaking kidding me? read article

Kathy Sees Thor 2: The Dark World

by Kathy Fuller

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I’m only here for one thing, and it ain’t plane Jane.

If you didn’t get a chance to read Frank Darabont’s interview posted here on TVWriter™, stop now and go read it.

No, no, it’s fine. Really

I’ll wait. read article

Kathy Fuller: Weird Things Writers Do

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Feel free to try this at home.

 by Kathy Fuller

I didn’t come up with this awesome .gif fest over at Buzz Feed, but I wish I did. Here are a few they forgot:

How we act when our work is rejected:

Joey-Tribianni-Shrug-Friends read article

Kathy Fuller: In Defense of Binge Viewing

by Kathy Fuller

Or as I like to say, Ken Levine doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

This may or may not have been me this past week.
This may or may not have been me this past week.

Totes kidding–Ken makes some valid points in his post about binge viewing, especially about the shared TV viewing experience that comes with everyone in the country watching the same cliffhanger and discussing it at work/school/with a friend on a rotary phone…

Yeah, I said rotary. And perhaps many of you are wondering WTH is that? Because if you’re going to talk about your favorite show, it’s not going to be around a cliched water cooler, but on the internet. Twitter, a message board, a TV community–this is where people talk about the shows they obsess about love, and time is fluid on the web. So what if I didn’t watch the Breaking Bad finale until four days after it aired? I can find a message board where they are still talking about it. Dissecting every detail. Establishing conspiracy theories about the actors and writers. Stating how they would rewrite the episode. And that’s way more fun than chit chatting about The Walking Dead five minutes before your fourth class of the day. read article

Kathy Fuller: What Writers Can Learn From BABY DADDY

No, this is not a joke. But it is a beautifully photoshopped promo pic.
No, this is not a joke. But it is a beautifully photoshopped promo pic.

by Kathy Fuller

I know what you’re thinking. How can writers (or people in general) learn anything of import from an ABC Family sitcom? A sitcom that’s a total rip-off of the classic (and over-rated) Three Men and a Baby? A sitcom with a premise so thin it makes a spiderweb look indestructible?

Writing instructors will tell you to study the classics. Learn from the greats. Absorb the wisdom of genius. But I’m of the mind that the mediocre and downright bad can teach you just as much, if not more, about how to write…or rather how not to write.

One caveat–personally I think this show isn’t that bad. It’s fluff entertainment, and sometimes people need that. Not every show can be Boardwalk Empire or Breaking Bad or even The Big Bang Theory. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that Baby Daddy fails on several levels including plot, conflict, and characterization. Since there’s not enough blog space to go into all its foibles, I’ll focus on characterization. read article