Monday, December 27, 2010

Guest Post: negativespace: Trojan Wedding Shower Commercial - Triphoria Gift ...

Sometimes, inspiration comes from the weirdest places...

negativespace: Trojan Wedding Shower Commercial - Triphoria Gift ...: "I was gathered with my husband and daughters on Christmas day. We were celebrating Christmas in our pajamas, watching the original Star Wars trilogy on the Sci Fi Channel. Can you imagine? This was the first commercial to play! On the Sci Fi Channel! "



What blows your hair back?  Literally or figuratively?  If you see or hear something that's absolutely ridiculous, do you use it in your writing?  If not, why not?  It can be a great way to set up conflict - one character thinks something like this is hysterically funny, and another is mortally offended by it.

You can use TV or radio commercials to give a time clue as to what era your piece is set in.  Not a single ad for Erectile Dysfunction during a major sporting event?  Gotta be more than ten years ago then.  If Virginia Slims are telling you we've come a long way, baby, or she's wearing Charlie, it's got to be in the 1970's.  If it's modern day and the network news are on, you know there will be ads for pharmaceutical products.

Use the little everyday things - like ads on TV - or like TV, for that matter - that we normally take for granted, to give your piece color, and to help the reader or viewer know when you are, in time.

Have you ever gotten 'lost in time'?  Let a character make a call on a cellphone ten years
before they were in common use?  Tell me about it in the comments, below.
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