How do I keep an essay about "feeling flat" from feeling flat?
I was invited to participate in an anthology of essays about a tv show. I chose an episode based on the Wikipedia summary (since it had been so long since I had watched it), but after I watched it, I felt nothing.
I wrote to the editor and said that I wanted to give up that essay slot to someone who felt more passionate about it. He said that the flatness itself was interesting, and to explore it.
I don't want to make anhedonia and depression contagious, nor do I want to be boring. Any thoughts on how to write about blah-ness in a non-blah way?
1 answer
I would go analytical on this one. Talk about the missed opportunities, the lack of conflict, what makes you not give a crap about the characters, or the issues being presented, or in fact the resolution of the issue.
If a story falls flat, it is because the ending doesn't make a difference to the reader.
Why doesn't it? Typically because we don't care who won and who lost. The characters were shallow, or superficial, or plain unlikeable (selfish, cruel, uncaring or unfeeling to other characters, etc). and we aren't certain whether a right was wronged, or if a punishment was deserved (in a Karmic sense).
If you felt nothing, figure out why. Where did it go off the rails? When did you stop caring? It is also possible the goal of the episode just seemed puerile or nonsensical, so success or failure are equally puerile.
That is how I would review it, or write an essay about "flat" that I could find interesting to read, and it could be interesting to write and learn something for the future.
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