A little bit of writing advice

If you need writing tips, turn to Joss Whedon.

The reason? The guy knows how to write television. He makes the chore look easy.

His characters in all shows he’s written come to life with a simple breath. He fills them people with tragedy, sad moments, far happier times. His characters are wrapped with a humanity that we can all learn lessons from. Their pains ache… and remind us of our own.

Whedon is the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series which showed a surprising, and successful, duration on television.

While I’m not his biggest fan… and believe me he does have a fan following out there who are crazy like a vampire walking out in broad daylight… I do admire his writing. He knows how to get into his characters’ heads. They go on personal journeys. We get to know the people who populate Sunnydale and Los Angeles. Their lives are teeming with loves and hates, joys and angers… they’re people. Like you and me. With perhaps a little touch of weirdness.

You can get a lot from this guy.

The thing is this… his characters grow. They change… just like real people do. Some people grow up and move away from their hometowns. And lovers tend to grow apart. People lose their jobs. There’s a death in the family… people continue to change. Life’s a journey in itself.

And the people of Buffy and Angel lead remarkable lives.

If characters stay the same, if they don’t grow, they become dull cardboard figures. People try different things everyday. They seek new territory of life. There’s a whole world out there. To coin a phrase.

Take one of my favorite characters Wesley for example. The classic nerd. In the beginning, he was a failed watcher who stemmed from England. Stuffy, pompous, yet stumbling. He was so very British. Look at Wesley when he first appeared in Buffy... "Bad Girls." Take a hard look. Then see him in his final episode on the spin-off series Angel.

You could barely believe it’s the same Wesley.

Why? He’s changed. The guy’s been through a lot. He’s seen people get killed, been through a lot of relationships… it’ll shape a man’s thoughts. And his feelings. Many painful wounds.

When working with Angel on several investigative cases, he’s grown with confidence. He’ll never become the superhero type. But he became his own man. Hell, he even took over the agency for a while when Angel was absent.

Each character is distinct. The character Willow is different from Buffy. They have their own little habits. And the way they talk. So does Angel who has lived for more than two hundred years. He’s going to pick up a few heartaches.

There’s one episode that’s a standout directed and written by Whedon—an apex of his writing abilities. It leaves one shaken with grief. You cry through the entire episode of “The Body” in the fifth season of Buffy. Because it felt so real. Everyone has gone through bereavement. And it hurts. Whedon shows how much his characters hurt. Just like life. We just don’t forget about these things. It stays with us. Everyone has gone through a death of a parent. It’s a very sad thing.

I would recommend “The Body” for perfect television viewing.

The writer of Doctor Who Russell T. Davies has mentioned his liking for Whedon’s writing. He owes some of his style to the Buffy creator. You can tell. Davies’ characters work the same way: they’re not clockwork people. They go through moments of disappointments. And tragedies. Both writers have the same kind of writing which is crisp, sharp. You know Davies must like Buffy. Anthony Stewart Head appears in one of Doctor Who’s second season’s shows.

The blokes from Star Trek: Enterprise could learn much from watching how Whedon works. People want a decent story with a heart. The series Enterprise missed out on that opportunity. Big time.

Any writer should review Whedon’s work before taking on a television project. They might get something out it. A little laughter. A little tear. And you begin to care about these characters. And that can mean a lot.