You either love them, or you hate them. I’m talking about soaps of course. ¬One thing is for sure though. Those soaps, which have the highest viewings (think of Days of Our Lives, Coronation Street, or Pavitra Rishta) are massively popular for a major reason – they entertain and get people away from their daily lives.
If you’re wondering how to write a killer story, that readers just can’t put down, then you might want to watch some episodes of the top soaps. Below are reasons why doing so can help your writing:
Relatable characters
Soaps usually have numerous characters in them and a lot more than you might contemplate including in your novel. However, more characters mean more for you to observe and learn from. Script writers are expert at creating characters with key personality characteristics that viewers can relate to. Indeed, watch a particular soap for an extended period of time, and you’ll most likely wonder why you can really relate to a particular character – probably because what he or she is like is also what you are consider yourself to be.
Creating characters that readers can relate to in your stories is a powerful way of ensuring they remain glued and keep turning pages!
Outrageous characters
All soaps have antagonists, whose role is just to create havoc for their families, friends and associates. Some of them even display ounces of human kindness for just a short period, only to frustrate viewers as they go back their sneaky, angry or sleazy ways.
Such characters can strongly keeping viewers stuck to the screen. Viewers have learnt over time what they are like at their worst, and in their minds, they wonder when a particular character will go back to his or her dark ways.
The protagonist(s) in your stories can also be like those in the soaps, which again readers can relate to, because they demonstrate all the impurities of the human experience.
Unbelievable storylines
Only in the world of soaps can storylines involve characters dying and then years later coming back alive! Another storyline could be the dreaded womaniser who has multiple affairs with the major female characters in the show, over what seems like a very short period of time. Although viewers know these scenarios are not realistic, they still accept them as possible in soaps and continue to watch.
In a similar way, you can make the plots in your stories close to the unbelievable, which all contributes to keeping your readers excitedly engaged.
Constant Cliff-hangers
When it comes to cliff-hangers, soaps usually come into their own. Producers want to leave soap audiences wanting more at the end of an episode, and they do this by ending with a cliff-hanger. For instance, a cliff-hanger could be two characters discussing a secret about third character, which is overheard by this particular person. The last scene of the episode, most likely would show the complete shock and disbelief on the face of the third character.
If you’re stories contain multiple plots, you can end one plot on a cliff-hanger, so that you can introduce another plot. Doing so, will ensure your readers are eagerly waiting to see what happens when you re-introduce the initial plot later on in your story.
Image credit: Andrea_44 on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]