What I learned from The Vampire Diaries

Aside from the comeback of mood rings, and the fact that there are even scarier things around than vampires, most of what I've learned from the addictive CW television series, The Vampire Diaries, is writing-related.

It's been a year since I blogged about what we writers could learn from The Vampire Diaries over on The Minxes blog, and there is still so much more I'd like to share with you. So pull up a comfy sofa and a glass of your favourite drink, and get ready.

First, here's a re-cap of the posts I've already done:

The first posts were about the earliest lightbulb moments I had while watching Series 1. You can read An Awakening - Part One here, and Part Two here.

My next blog post was on Motivation - the importance of ensuring that the actions and decisions of each and every character are well motivated.

Then came Character Arcs - using examples from The Vampire Diaries to show how characters can change and grow.

Next was a post on Acting out of Character - the importance of keeping your characters consistent, as well as examples of when it's okay to have your characters act out of character. I'd still love ideas on just why the PTA mom absconded to Vegas. Feel free to leave your comments below.

Finally, I blogged about my personal revelation in Innovation. That was back in March last year, and it really helped formulate my writing style for the rest of the year. I stopped over-thinking what editors and agents might want from me, and just wrote, and the immense change it has brought about in my own writing has been phenomenal.

In my next post I'll be looking at POV. Yes, POV exists even in an omniscient TV series. Want to find out how? Check back here next week. Same time, same place, and I guarantee next time there'll be eye candy too.