Monday, January 05, 2009

Writing to Demand

I was as shocked as anyone by the low standard of Caroline Aherne's Royal Family as anyone, but I shouldn't have been, and it doesn't in the end stop me considering her a comic genius.

I think what this disappointment shows is that a culture in which writers are expected to perform to order is thoroughly detrimental to those writers and their art. Creativity has its own rhythm; writers write best when they are ready, and not when the rhythms of the TV and publishing schedules require (which I'm pretty sure is what happened here).

9 comments:

Fat Roland said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one that was dismayed by The Royle Family.

I don't totally agree with you. I don't think all writers wait for that rhythm to kick in. I think the deadlines of the 'outside world' can create demands that concentrate their mind and improve their writing.

And yes, I'm probably just talking about myself... but it must be true for others.

Elizabeth Baines said...

Yes, you're right: I overstated my case, I think. It's absolutely true that deadlines can produce great results. It's just that sometimes they don't, yet the world is going more and more that way...

Charles Lambert said...

My only experience of the Royle Family before this Christmas was the Christmas special, I think two years ago, in which the Liz Smith character died, which I loved. There certainly seemed to be a great falling off, and coarsening, this year, and I'm pleased to see it wasn't just me. I must admit though that the tropical fruit punch gag tickled me pink...

I'm in two minds about deadlines. They've produced some of my best work. On the other hand, I've just missed one and I'm kicking myself.

Anne Brooke said...

That's very true. I think the demands on writers - or at least those under contract - are simply too great. We have our own internal deadlines which are far more demanding after all!

==:O

Axxx

Elizabeth Baines said...

I think a deadline works brilliantly if you've already mulled over an idea and you're ready to write it, and fortunately that's always been the case for me, since I never proposed a radio idea which I wasn't ready to write. But I can imagine a situation where you're asked to write something and you simply don't have time for the mulling period - or even to engage with it on the most fundamental lever, and the whole thing comes a-cropper.

mythusmage said...

For many people knowing their paycheck may be late can focus the mind wonderfully.

What it comes down to is, is this really what you want to be doing? If it is you will find the time for it. If it isn't, you're better off finding something else to do.

Elizabeth Baines said...

True, Alan, but I think it's complicated. I'll be talking about this at one point on Barbara's Bleeugh next Wed, on the first leg of my virtual book tour. I describe how difficult I found writing one of the stories in the book, because at the time I was writing it I was so very busy with work, and my mind was so scattered I simply couldn't focus on the story. The story only came together after I was able to give up the other, money-paying things and was able to live off savings. And I have other, abandoned stories from that time. It was a time when I kept my family afloat but it certainly wasn't a productive time for writing short stories - which I would also say about the time I was a full-time secondary school teacher, before I ever had space enough in my head even to begin writing.

Jane said...

Hello Elizabeth

I've just discovered your blog. I've written for radio and telly and have to say that there were bits of The Royle Family I loved - but it was a little patchy overall. But I liked the fact it wasn't about much, just a family sitting around watching telly. And also - with drama, even if there are bits that are a bit flat, it can be seen to have 'worked' overall as a piece. If comedy doesn't work it seems to make people terribly angry. They come to it with high expectations especially if the writers are well known or have produced something successful before, and if it doesn't quite gel, it's deemed to be a failure.

The IT Crowd was greeted with confusion and some hostility when it first appeared, partly perhaps because it was so different to Graham Lineham's former co written Father Ted. And Blackadder took a whole series to bed in. Now with the dreaded ratings, it would probably have been dropped after the first series.

As for deadlines - when I write journalism, they seem to focus my mind but with comedy - terrible deadlines can cause brain freeze.

Elizabeth Baines said...

Hello, Jane, nice to meet you. You're right about it taking time sometimes for people to get used to a comic mode. I realize that my original post here doesn't make clear that I'm talking about this year's Royle Family Christmas special which so disappointed those of us who basically love the Royle Family.