You know what drives me crazy? Lazy writers. Writers who don't think they need to take the time to develop a character. Or a relationship.
Writers who think it is beneath them to close plot holes so large you fly a damn TARDIS through them(yes, I am talking about you, Mr. Moffat.) But not just him, though he is probably my whipping boy of choice at the moment I am talking about all writers who have LOST THEIR WAY.
It's time for an intervention.
Now I am the last person who wants you all to go bagging on
writers. Alright? Don’t throw stones and all that. (though if you want a shot, my selected works are at the top right hand corner of your screen....no, your other right.)
Stop looking at Jensen now.
Anytime now.
Come ON, people. You have a blog to read!
So, to continue, have you ever noticed
the more success a writer gets(some writers anyway) the lazier they get? Or more egomaniacal in some cases.
Particularly, IMO anyway, screenwriters.
It’s like when your fave garage band
who was totally brilliant makes a few hundred million and suddenly their edge,
that thing that made them so amazing, just vanishes. Gone with the wind.
Is success a double–edged sword, or do some people just let it be? Or is it a matter of a little of one and some of the other?
For instance, Steven Moffat, who I mentioned above and who you have probably heard me take pot shots at before if you're been around here any length of time. For those who do not not, this is Steven Moffat:
He's the fuzzy-headed one on the middle. He's been at the helm of Doctor Who for the last 5 years or so and he's also the co-creator of the insanely brilliant Sherlock. He also produced Jekyll for those who loved that one.
He's a very talented man and one hell of a writer. So why the snark? Because he deserves it! Honestly, if the plot holes in Doctor Who get any bigger, I am gonna be concerned for the actors' safety. One day we'll all look round and Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi will have just vanished, without a trace. (though I am fine with Jenna leaving, but that is a whole 'nother story)
He's ruining one of the best shows of all time with purely sloppy writing. Moffat seems to think he's just too good to have to do what us mere peasents have to do, that being:
MAKE SENSE.
For instance, on Sherlock, Season 2, he had one of the BEST cliffhangers, bar none. Okay? The problem, when the show came back for Season 3, he never explained it.
Oh, he had this willy-nilly, damn silly scene where some of the minor characters made up their own ideas about what could have happened, each of them more ludicrous than the last, but he NEVER explained it.
That's not brilliance, folks. It's LAZY and just plain annoying.
Sorry, Moffat, but even you need rules.
All writers do. Great ones can break and bend them, but they had better really be great and even then, they don't break so many there's a pile of wreakage behind them several countries wide.
If you're not Tony Stark, don't try this at home. Or with two of my favorite damn TV shows!!
Is Moffat alone? Nope.
Check out another brilliant writer and another show that (IMO, again) took a severe nose dive.
Kurt Sutter who not only wrote, but also starred as a major character in the recently wrapped
3 years ago I would have never believed Sutter could make a misstep, I thought he was pretty close to the God of screenwriters.
SOA was a violent, gorgeous hot mess of a show. A modern-day MC version of Hamlet, the first few seasons of this show were incredible. Breathtaking even. One thing you have to say about Sutter, the man is fucking fearless.
But...then we hit Season 6?
WTH happened? Admittedly I haven't finished, and honestly, I don't think I will. I am not someone easily shaken by violence. But I wasn't shaken by the first three episodes, I was disgusted.
Violence purely for the shock value, with absolutely no point in the story. (I won't go into all the details, but we have torture porn, a school shooting, a guy being drowned in a vat of urine....and yeah, that's enough. And it was just the beginning.)
Not cool. And not fearless. Just gross.
I was not impressed. Even Quentin Tartintino had to be like, "Dude, maybe rein it in a little??"
So, is there a point to all this criticism when just last week I was telling you to to be tolerant?
Yes.
Knowing other writers' excesses is a damn good way to keep our own in check. They are the reason I write and re-write and try to close all those holes, and fill up others. I don't always get it right, but I try harder because I see the frustration and disappointment it causes me when my favorites take short cuts.
The above men may have their fallacies, but they're still brilliant and talented up the proverbial wazoo.
Print writers have all the same issues, of course.
Stephen King, forgive me, but even the man himself had some books that were frankly....
And there are a host of others, all making far more money that you or I ever will.
Is it all pride at fault? Is success a double-edged sword? Too much of it and your talent suffers?
Maybe. As a very wise man, who seems pretty good at keeping it real, once said:
“I know it’s everybody’s sin
You got to lose to know how to win”
Stephen Tyler, Dream On
Maybe all those writers should go on a quadragesimal 40 days in the wilderness journey to give them back a little humility.
No. Kanye.
Just. NO.
But the point is, we can learn from them, the good and the bad. Because...
Stay sharp, peeps.
