Fiction Scribe

I was wandering around the vast and still growing 451press network looking for some inspiration for a post, and I came across a site I, admittedly, don’t often visit.

As you know, inspiration comes in many ways from many places. I found my way over to Reality on Bravo, run by a lovely woman named Allison, and got a double dose of inspiration.

I was pleased to immediately see pictures. (And a lot of them.) As you may or may not know, using pictures regularly in your posts can help increase traffic to your blog. Allison’s use of them certainly didn’t fail on me; I scrolled right down.

(I highly recommend the picture-filled posts of hers; they’re very entertaining.)

Anyway, I was looking at her posts and got to thinking about when the reality shows (that we know today - there were others before) first started coming up. Whether it was a love or hate relationship, everyone has something to say about reality television.

Before you get ahead of me, no, I’m not suggesting you think of the next reality show (but by all means do if you’re so inspired). I’m suggesting that instead of sitting tucked away in your writing room/space, get out and listen to what people talk about.

I can guarantee you that 100% of the people who read this could write something about reality television. Love, hate, apathy… It doesn’t matter; everyone could write about.

I also suggest you watch an episode of any reality show you choose. (Or can bear to watch, if that is the case.) Casting directors tend to like to cast people who will bounce off each other, either in love ways or conflict ways. This will give you a view into some extreme personality traits which will be good training for creating characters. (You may also notice certain characters are what people often talk about too - even on major news stations.)

Try it out. If a lot of people are talking about it, then it’s likely worth sniffing around for some inspiration.

Oh, if you caught the mention of a double dose of inspiration, I found something in this post that inspired an idea for a Pet Peeve. See if you can spot what she said that got me thinking…