Connecting Readers and Writers discussion

This isn't a rant as such, I'm just curious if anyone else has encountered this situation.

I've spent the last ten months (or so) writing and editing my book, so TV has been a non-entity in my life. Over that time, colleagues and acquaintances keep asking me my opinion on the latest reality TV shows, "What did you think of the dish so-and-so cooked on Master Chef?", or "Do you think X and Y will get together on Big Brother?". I wouldn't watch these shows anyway, but when I remind them I'm writing a book, and politely apologize for not knowing what they're talking about, they look at me like I have three heads.

Am I surrounded by an inordinate number of couch-potatoes, or has society really succumbed to trash-TV?

And even weirder is the fact that they'll sit in the lunchroom at work and flick through the same gossip magazine they've read every lunchtime, for several weeks.

These are supposedly intelligent people. But none of them ever think to bring a book to read during their breaks.

I don't watch much TV, so I get the same reaction whether I've been buried in my writing or doing something else. But then, they also look at me as if I were an alien when I say I spent a whole evening building some tower in Minecraft. I guess "author" is just part of "the geek factor".

When I was growing up, video games were not cool. But now, gamers are as cool as jocks.

Is this because the games are visually more appealing, or has so much money been pumped into advertising that people just believe whatever they're told to believe.

Vicki wrote: "Geeks are cool. Authors? Not so much."

Nah, in France, it's cool and trendy, and it means you live in Paris, drink champagne wine in your bathtub, and go to celeb parties. Of course, that's until you 'fess up and say you write SF or fantasy. Then you're the next uncouth idiot who doesn't deserve a second glance because you don't know what True Literature is. *elitist country o' doom*

(Seriously, soon we're going to have some TV-reality show about "20 authors competing to write a book in 10 days". If authors don't become the next best thing after that, I don't know what gives. Of course, writing SFF, I'll still be the uncouth idiot.)

Vicki wrote: "I don't think people quite understand how soul destroying writing a book can be. Especially when the subject matter is disturbing".

Even when you're not actually writing; psychologically, you're still in the book.

I find the less I watch TV, the less of it I WANT to watch. Long advert breaks, dull programmes. Ugh. I used to buy a TV guide. Not anymore. I watch it for the news and weather, that's about it.

Whenever someone learns I'm an author they are always in awe. Or they pretend to be awed, which is fine by me.

As to television, Dutch television has more variety in the sense that we have great documentaries and films, and rarely will people admit to being a fan of Idols and other 'reality' shows.

Vicki wrote: "I don't think people quite understand how soul destroying writing a book can be. Especially when the subject matter is disturbing."

You assume we all have souls that will be destroyed by disturbing subject matter. Whatever pretends to be my soul is clad in asbestos armor. What I fear more than the dragon of doom is the beast of boredom and the avatar of apathy.

Not just you. I rarely watch television. Seems like a huge waste of time.

Vicki wrote: "I hope I have a soul. I'd hate to know what I'd write if I didn't.
As to boredom - check out my book titles, then have a good laugh, Martyn."

:) How apt! :)

Now check mine and wonder if I have a soul...

Vicki wrote: "Those frigging adds!!!!"

I used to work shifts, so I never could watch anything 'live', so I taped what I wanted to see, which allowed me to fast-forward through commercials.

Vicki wrote: "A dark soul?"

Well, considering Katla the remorseless freelance assassin sprung from the same mind that created Bram the blind jazz musician, I'm kind of 'on the fence' about the darkness of my soul.

Although some readers think that I must be pretty twisted to think up the scenarios of my books.

Vicki wrote: "Aren't authors suppose to be a bit twisted? I certainly am."

I don't know how they are 'supposed' to be. I'm just me, and sometimes I scare myself. When you're writing suspense fiction, scaring yourself is probably a good thing.

:)

Vicki wrote: "Wait till you make yourself cry - then you'll know you're twisted."

Doesn't that depend on what you cry about?

"Vicki wrote: "Wait till you make yourself cry - then you'll know you're twisted."

Or, if what you just wrote made you feel a little ill.

always cry when I'm doing the terrible to my character's! I watch some documenteries find many ideas there - hate reality and other humiliation games - bit like the romans and their antics - less blood of course - some quizzes and a few which make me laugh - I like to laugh - I guess I watch about 2-3 hours a week but can go weeks without turning it on - I prefer my mind and all that live within - yup we are all mad mad mad:)

Reading for entertainment, learning, or temporary escapism is healthy and rewarding.

Writing for entertainment, self-expression, or sharing ideas is healthy and rewarding.

That said; an excess of anything is seldom good for you.

The negative impact of any activity that prevents one from active participation and interaction in the real world for extremely long periods of time outweighs any benefit.

I write with the TV on in the background. I hate silence.

I'm very disturbed by this phenomenon, lately being called 'binge watching'. I don't trust people who live in the 'flatland' of television flat-screens. Its entirely one-dimensional and sensationalistic and vicarious. I'm not comfortable around people who have so little going on in their own inner lives that they allow these programmed spectacles to completely saturate them, hours and hours every day. What can you expect of such people? Can you trust them to do the right thing in a crisis? Do they have any empathy left for real, 3-dimensional human beings? Aren't they basically as distracted from real life as a drug user?

Beau wrote: "Am I surrounded by an inordinate number of couch-potatoes, or has society really succumbed to trash-TV?"

Sadly, this is true. People have become more obsessed with these reality TV shows than they have real educational things that actually make them think.

For example: Men in Tights versus Scary Movie (or any of the other dull "movie" titles)

The worst thing is, is that these people are actually allowed into public, where they are free to spread their unintelligent-like plague among their peers, who in turn become unintelligent-plague carriers. Usually, these people are drama-filled and can't think for themselves without being shown how to do so, and what the "society" around them expects out of them. If they do not conform, they will be ridiculed and left behind--and these people are afraid of being alone.

As a writer, we do not mind being alone. We have more time to spend on our stories, in our worlds, honing our craft to perfection--which will take time since perfection is nearly impossible.

I have a 55" LED and I never turn it on unless to watch movies, or the occasional episode of Bones. My husband is the person in the house who needs it on all the time, but he watches HGTV, Food Network, Foxnews, or the occasional MMA fight show--never anything else.

Round them up into camps.

The movie Idiocracy was a comedy, but it's rapidly turning into a documentary.

Beau wrote: "The movie Idiocracy was a comedy, but it's rapidly turning into a documentary."

LoL. Now I'm interested in finding out what it is.

Kitty wrote: "LoL. Now I'm interested in finding out what it is."

It is a great movie, well worth watching.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/?...

Yes, they are. The increased capacity of DVR's is proof that we watch way too much TV.

I watch TV only if there is nothing better to do. Therefore, the TV is seldom turned on.

Jim wrote: "I watch TV only if there is nothing better to do. Therefore, the TV is seldom turned on."

*nods* I'm actually debating about losing my worries in a good book, or gritting it out by watching a bunch of stupid teenagers get slaughtered in a horror flick.

I applaud the last two comments. 'Being human' means participating in life; not sitting on a couch like a lump of putty. Godamn these zombies.

If there is a zombie apocalypse, will life be that much different for a large percentage of the population?

The Simpsons summed it up best. (Yes, I enjoy watching the Simpsons, it is my guilty pleasure). The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror III (the annual Halloween episode).

Marge: Well I'm sure glad we didn't turn into mindless zombies.
Bart: Shhhh! TV.

Automatons, then. Myrmidons, Drones. Flatliners. I want no part of that lifestyle. Who wants to get to the end of their life and only be able to say that they merely watched a lot of tv?

I actually had a TV-addicted friend tell me I needed to write less and watch more TV so we could talk about all these inane shows she's addicted to! AS IF! My roommate and I are both annoyed by TV and spend more evenings chatting and enjoying each other's company than we do watching anything on a screen. My boyfriend and I like to watch a couple of old shows (Peter Gunn, The Saint) on DVD, at our leisure.