Writers can be hard to live with. Even harder to watch television with.
I can often guess the plot before the show is over. I catch glitches in the story and point out why the crime scene doesn't make sense.
Hawaii 5-0 recently had a show where one of the characters is found kneeling in a parking lot or some such area, with a bomb strapped to his neck. One of the cops says, "Don't move. That's a mercury switch, if you move it will blow up."
A mercury switch depends on where the little drop of mercury is in the switch. If you lean to either side the mercury moves and completes the circuit and KABOOM!
So then the 5-0 character tells his would be rescuers that he doesn't know how he got there he was knocked out and just woke up in the parking lot.
Now remember as we come upon the scene the man is in a kneeling position. So that means, if he was knocked out, he would not have been in an upright kneeling position. He would have been laying down. Now, if it is a mercury switch, and he would have had to move up to the kneeling position, this would have set off the bomb. That's the way a mercury switch works.
Hmmmm...
I just can't let these things slide. It's bad habit. It's so apparent I just have to say something. It amazes me that others don't see this stuff.
I give away the plot and I dissect the inconsistent. I think its a writer thing.
Anyone else do this?
4 comments:
Yes!! I do that often!!! Not so much in details like that...I would not know a mercury switch from a whipping switch. However, I do tend to catch continuity issues. My husband just nods and smiles. I will be watching movies, TV, or reading a book and will start complaining about plot holes. That kind of stuff drives me crazy. I want to yell, "Pay attention to detail, people!!" Well, not really yell...but I do notice things others don't. It's a blessing...and a curse. Definitely a writer's mind.
I do, but only for shows I don't like, which sometimes irrites my lovely and understanding wife.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that does that! My husband is always amazed when I figure out plots right away...now I know it's the "writers brain".
I think the first rule in a writers life should be to choose an understanding spouse. I think this would drive some people nuts.
I'm glad I'm not the only one!
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