My Latest Netflix Obsession and Character Development

Two weeks ago, I had gum surgery. Not fun. My second this year. 

I planned ahead and cleared the decks for the week. 

Luckily, this go-round was much easier than the first and my second day in, I felt confident I could return to some projects I had set aside for this recovery week. You know, those brainstorming kind of things that need to not just be shoe-horned in between projects? 

What is it they say about the best laid plans? 🙄

That night, I spiked a fever. 

While infection was a concern, the fact that I also had a sore throat and suddenly couldn’t breathe through my nose had me reaching for a COVID test. Sure enough. Positive. 

My first time with it and let’s just say it made an impression. 🤒

I took to my bed, isolated from my family, drank my smoothies and slept a ton in between (and let’s be honest, during) Olympic events. 

Once the worst of my symptoms subsided (which was a double blessing since part of my gum care included a one-minute rinse three times a day which is really hard to do when you can’t breathe through your nose), I was left with heavy fatigue in week two. 

In between only the most necessary of client work, I caught up on a lot of The Crown in the afternoon and evening. 

Did you watch? 

I am obsessed! 

I was basically in the Charles and Diana seasons (4, 5 and into 6).

Now that I’ve rejoined the land of the living in my house, I was watching a few episodes from the first half of season 6 (the sad part) this weekend with my husband. 

He asked a few times what about the show was historically accurate. And to be honest, I didn’t know. 

And I didn’t care. 

Often, when watching or reading historical fiction, I run to Google to see what’s true and what isn’t. This time, I haven’t. Not yet, anyway (maybe when I’m done). 

I didn’t care because it was extremely character-accurate. 

What do I mean by that? 

The writers on The Crown did an excellent job of developing their versions of Charles and Diana. Their actions and decisions were simply true to their character. 

Charles is a confused mess of entitled, insecure, forward thinking, intelligent, cruel, narcissism that of course he continues an affair with Camilla while blaming Diana for not loving him because of her own infidelity born out of her own need for acceptance, attention, and love. Both make decisions that are careless or cruel or misunderstood based on their own self-beliefs. And those decisions build and grow into a culmination of heartbreak in a Parisian tunnel. 

It’s awful and beautiful and heart-rending. 

It’s fiction. 

And yet it’s also truth. 

Because it’s true to the characters The Crown writers created. 

I’m not sure I would have noticed some of these character nuances if I was watching an episode here or there. It’s the binging, the sheer number of episode arcs I could watch in a row that were so illuminating.

I don’t usually have time to watch a show in this manner, but it has become a truly interesting case study in character development. 

You can learn so much from binge watching a show that you can apply to your writing: pacing, character, usage of back story, story arc. Each episode is its own arc that builds into a season arc which supports the larger series arc, just like each scene is its own arc that builds into a chapter arc which supports the larger book arc. 

While I’m somewhat back to normal, I’m still exhausted this week 😴 and will probably use that as an excuse to finish out season six over the next week or so. I can’t wait to see how they wrap up this multi-decades, multi-character story. 

I’d love to know what you think! Did you watch The Crown? What other shows have you binged and learned something from that you have used in your own writing? 

Reply in the comments and let me know! I will share the answers in a future post so we can make a nice list of bingeable shows…after all, it’s research! 

Featured photo by Ashton Mullins on Unsplash