I watch a lot of television, and I don’t feel a bit guilty about it. Some of the best character writing being done anywhere is on a screen, and ignoring it because it isn’t a book is snobbery.
What Does Television Teach Writers About Craft?
Studying how television writers accomplish this compression is one of the fastest ways to improve your own dialogue.Share on X
Television is written. A writer or a room full of writers crafted every line of dialogue, every scene transition, every character introduction, solving the same problems you solve when you sit down to write. The difference is that television makes those decisions visible in a way that reading doesn’t always reveal.
I get impatient with writers who look down on television. The best writers’ rooms are full of people who’ve spent years learning to open a scene late and leave it early, and a novelist who won’t study them is turning down free lessons out of pride.
Some of the best character writing being done anywhere is on a screen, and ignoring it because it isn’t a book is snobbery.
Watch how a show introduces a character. The best shows establish who someone is within seconds through dialogue, behavior, and reaction instead of exposition. A character walks into a room and the way other characters respond tells you everything about the power dynamics before a word of backstory is delivered. That technique works on the page exactly the same way. For more, see stop these 76 bad writing habits to improve your skills.
The best antihero I’ve ever seen written in fiction is Vic Mackey in The Shield. The show ran seven seasons on FX, and it has one scene I won’t watch again. A serial killer tells Detective Dutch Wagenbach that the look in the eye when you’re killing them is why he kills, and later Dutch strangles a cat himself to understand it. A lot of viewers found that scene hard to take.
Pay attention to how a show handles pacing. Television episodes have strict time constraints. That forces writers to cut anything that doesn’t serve the story. Every scene must advance the plot, reveal character, or both. If a scene does neither, it gets cut. If your pacing drags, study one tight TV episode. You’ll learn more than from most craft books, and you’ll enjoy it a great deal more.
Study the way a show uses dialogue. Television dialogue has to sound natural while carrying information, revealing character, and moving the story forward at the same time. It can’t rely on internal monologue or description to fill in what the dialogue misses. Studying how television writers accomplish this compression is one of the fastest ways to improve your own dialogue.
Watch: What Writers Really Need To Know About Writing For Television by Lee Jessup, Film Courage
What can writers learn from TV adaptations?
Television adaptations of books are especially useful for writers because you can compare the source material to its visual translation. What did the screenwriter keep? What did they cut? What did they change, and why?
The cuts are often the most instructive. When a 400-page novel becomes a six-episode series, enormous amounts of material have to go. Studying what the adapter deemed essential and what they considered expendable tells you something about what drives a story versus what felt important during the writing but doesn’t hold up under pressure.
I think every novelist should watch at least one adaptation of a book they love with the novel open beside them. It stings to see how much the screenwriter threw away without losing anything, and that sting is what makes the next draft leaner. If you’re familiar with the source material, watch how the adaptation handles character development, plot structure, and dialogue. Notice where the screen version improves on the book and where it loses something. Both observations sharpen your understanding of what makes storytelling work across formats.
Period Dramas and Descriptive Writing
Period dramas are a resource for writers who struggle with descriptive detail. Costumes, architecture, language patterns, social customs, and physical environments are all on display in a way that research alone doesn’t always capture. Watching how people move through a historical setting, how they speak to each other, and how their environment shapes their behavior can give your own historical or period writing detail that research documents miss.
This applies to any genre where setting matters. Science fiction shows visualize future environments. Crime dramas show how investigators work a scene. Medical dramas depict hospital dynamics. None of these are documentaries, but they provide a visual and behavioral reference that can supplement your research and add specificity to your writing.
When Does Watching TV Become Procrastination?
The danger of television for writers is obvious. It’s easier to watch a show than to write. Every writer has sat down to work, decided to watch one episode for research and emerged four hours later with nothing written. I’ve done it more times than I’d like to admit.
If you’re watching with a notebook and taking notes on craft, structure, dialogue, or detail, you’re working. If you’re watching because you don’t want to face the blank page, you’re procrastinating. The distinction is honest and most writers know which one they’re doing at any given moment.
Set boundaries. Watch one episode and take notes, then write. If television research keeps replacing writing time, the avoidance is the problem, and the TV’s just the easiest place to hide. I’m hard on myself about this one, because the only person who loses when the manuscript sits untouched is the writer.
The principle is simple: the more time you spend watching, the less time you spend writing. Occasional relaxation is fine. Letting ideas simmer while you step away from the manuscript is fine. But if the proportion of time spent watching greatly outweighs the time spent writing, drafting, editing, and revising, something needs to shift.
My take
Television is fair game for writers, as long as there’s a notebook in your lap. Study how a show handles dialogue, structure and detail, and you’re working. Watch to avoid the blank page and you’re hiding. Most writers know which one they’re doing. Watch one episode, take notes, then go write. If the episodes keep winning, the avoidance is your problem and the TV is where you hide.
How can writers use television intentionally?
Choose shows that match what you’re working on. If you’re writing a thriller, study how thriller series build tension across episodes.
If you’re writing dialogue-heavy fiction, watch shows known for sharp dialogue and analyze how the writers accomplish it. If you’re working on a memoir with a nonlinear timeline, watch shows that use flashback structures and note how they orient the viewer without confusion.
Nobody’s asking you to copy television. The goal is to observe professional storytellers solving problems and to bring those solutions back to your own work. Television writers face the same challenges every writer faces: how to open a scene, how to make a character interesting, how to deliver exposition without boring the audience, how to end a chapter or episode in a way that makes people want to continue. Their solutions are on screen for you to study.
I’d rather see a writer watch one great episode with a notebook open than ten mediocre ones on autopilot. The quality of attention outweighs the hours, and a single episode studied properly will teach more than a whole season streamed in the background.
Schedule a free consultation if you’re working on a book and want to discuss storytelling craft.
Watch like a writer. Notice how fast a good show tells you who somebody is and where it cuts a scene, then take every trick that works back to the page. The writers who do this end up with tighter pacing, and it shows.
