5 Netflix Shows That Will Make You A Better Writer

5 Netflix Shows That Will Make You A Better Writer

Why don’t you watch these Netflix shows that will make you a better writer?

While we’re all trying, or saying we’re trying, to have less screen time, whether that be your computer, tablet, phone, or television, watching well-crafted shows can make you a better writer. Netflix and other streaming services compete to have the best series available. If you watch these with a critical eye and focus on premise, plot development, dialogue, cliffhangers, character development, foreshadowing, etc., you can learn possibly more than if you attend a writers’ conference.

The writers of Netflix shows and authors of books both have the same goal – keep your audience coming back for more. The only difference is that authors usually work alone, whereas writers on TV shows, more often than not, work in a team. 

Reader beware there are spoilers ahead.

5 Netflix Shows That Will Make You A Better Writer

The Hook — Better Call Saul & LOST

Hooks in both TV series and books matter. If you can’t hook your audience in the opening scene, it’ll be tough to keep them interested. One way to do this is with prologues.

Book publishers say they are not fans of prologues. It’s usually ‘stuff the reader needs to know that the author can’t be bothered to write properly’. It’s back story. Stuff that if the reader needs to know it should be revealed throughout the book. That being said, prologues are still found occasionally in novels. It’s how they are written that matters.

They don’t need to be information about the past. Take as an example, Better Call Saul. There is one thing to note about Better Call Saul – it’s a spin-off of Breaking Bad. If you watched Breaking Bad, you already know a lot about Saul, so it feels a bit like cheating. But now, we see him, in black and white, looking the exact opposite of the lawyer we know. He’s obviously older and way down the employment ladder than he was before. The hook is how did he get like this? What happened? And that keeps us watching.

Another series with a great hook is LOST. The opening scene isn’t a prologue. It’s the immediate aftermath of a plane crash. It throws the viewer right into the action and trauma. The desperate need to get people away from the still spinning engines grips the viewer. The hook is what happened to cause the plane to crash, will they survive, who are these people? In fact, viewers kept asking, ‘What the hell?’ at least twice in every episode for it’s entire run.

It’s vital to start your novel in such a way that completely captures your audience. There are many ways to do that. Better Call Saul and LOST are just two. 

You And Me Both – Downton Abbey

Your characters should be relatable, authentic and believable. They should be ‘like them’. Your readers will sympathise more with your characters if they can say to that character, ‘You and me both’, whether it’s about an action or a thought.

While underdogs are great characters for readers to relate to, great writing can make even the more privileged relatable. Take the family of Downton Abbey, for example. Wealthy they may be, with all the trappings that go with it, but it was their family relationships and dynamics, as well as those of the staff that made the series so relatable. Most of the characters had their own hero’s journey to travel, they all changed, they all experienced loss and joy, heartache, and forgiveness. While not relating to the life of luxury the family enjoyed, we can relate to sibling tension, disappointment in love, loss of a loved one, marrying the ‘wrong’ person, rejection, fear of love, fear of discovery, regretting choices made, etc.

Character Development Is Hell – The Good Place

The hero’s journey requires characters to change. It can be through trauma as in Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, or challenges to our preconceived ideas, as in Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen. Whatever causes the change, change must happen. There is nothing more dull than a character who doesn’t grow or decay in some way.

No one changes immediately though, and how you create that change in your novel matters. It can’t be waving a magic wand and turning Donkey into a stallion. Plausible change has to happen gradually, and relate to the theme of the book.

In the Netflix series, The Good Place, the viewer’s realisation of where Eleanor and the rest of the guys really are only happens when it occurs to Eleanor. We are as blindsided as they are. But because we believe them to be in the ‘good’ place, we have been rooting for Eleanor to become ‘worthy’ of her place there. She changed from being a completely selfish person with little interest in being good, to being what we wanted her to be in the end. The same journey was taken by the demon Michael. His, it could be said, was more dramatic. He turned from being a demon whose sole enjoyment was torturing the humans, to becoming their friend as well as human. 

The Bridge Of Suspense – The OA

Agatha Christie, the queen of the cosy mystery genre, was an expert at dripping in the clues throughout the book. Sometimes in incredibly subtle ways. Blink and you could miss them. Suspense is not only ‘who dun it’, but the creation of atmosphere. A sense that there is more hiding away, more lies, more revelations to come. Building suspense requires that you not tell your reader everything up front.

Prairie’s arrival in The OA, begins with questions. Who kidnapped her? Where has she been all this time? How did she escape? Why can she now see when she was blind before? Is she lying? Is she crazy?

A carefully crafted mystery replete with red herrings, unanswered questions, and mis-direction will keep your readers hooked, invested, and staying up well beyond ‘just one more chapter’.

The Last Word

Kicking back and chilling while watching your favourite show is a great way to unwind. But if you want to grow your skill as a writer, it would be wise to pay attention to what makes the show so great. If you’d like an excellent foundation in how to write a book, sign up for a course with Writers Write. It’s the perfect place to learn.

Elaine Dodge

by Elaine Dodge. Author of The Harcourts of Canada series and The Device HunterElaine trained as a graphic designer, then worked in design, advertising, and broadcast television. She now creates content, mostly in written form, including ghost writing business books, for clients across the globe, but would much rather be drafting her books and short stories.

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Posted on: 26th January 2025
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