The aptly named distraction called Netflix

10 Comments

I can weakly defend the recent abandonment of my writing by calling Netflix ‘research’ but I don’t think that defense would hold up in a court of law. While I am gathering some very useful character traits and background ideas for my second book, I have yet to take those ideas and weave them into my characters.

My current book involves a serial killer but he is not fully a product of my imagination. He is loosely based on a child I met two years ago. This child did atrocious things to smaller living creatures and he stared at me with a look that turned my blood cold. He was only eight years old at the time. Perhaps my inability to focus on molding this character comes from my hope I am wrong about this little boy but everything about his mannerisms has been documented by behavior analysts and related to the psyche of a fledgling serial killer. I have had many discussions with professionals in related fields about this child’s actions and they have all expressed great concern about his tendencies toward violence and the path he is potentially going to follow.

This brings me back to my reason for this post. Netflix lives up to their name by casting a wide net of flicks and offering a profusion of shows and documentaries about many topics. If the authorities were to look at a list of the shows I have viewed recently, my name could potentially show up on their watch list. I spent the last couple of nights watching a series of shows about Ted Bundy and I am going to delve into a few more documentaries about real serial killers so my writing has an honesty to it and doesn’t come across as manufactured. I want this character to have deep emotion, to be real and to be frightening, and I want the reader to have an apprehension because they believe this character could be someone they have met before.

If you are looking for me, I will be caught in the net again, hoping these tortured human beings can help me understand how their minds work so the fiction of Lark will be as frightening as the reality of the heinous crimes they committed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 thoughts on “The aptly named distraction called Netflix

  1. We share the same “research”!
    I almost started the Bundy documentary but opted for Get Me Roger Stone instead…I’m sure this was as evil as Bundy but maybe not as deadly…maybe…

  2. You have a strong stomach and a brave heart to watch the Bundy movie. Have you been following the news about Bruce McArthur? Nothing is more chilling than real life, that’s for sure. I recently fell down the “Breaking Bad” rabbit hole on Netflix. I missed it in “real time” but now I can binge – and I have binged shamelessly – episode after episode. It’s an amazing character study and while Walt, the main protagonist, may not be a psychopathic serial killer, he’s definitely on the sociopath spectrum.

    • I have been following Bruce MacArthur and I have also binge-watched breaking bad, it was brilliant writing, brilliant characters and I wish there were more episodes. I followed up with Ozark, and if you haven’t watched it, I highly suggest that as well.

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