If you read my March wrap-up, you’ll have seen that I’m very into Parks and Recreation at the moment. For those who don’t know, this is a mockumentary-style sitcom that follows Leslie Knope, a bureaucrat in the Parks department of Pawnee, Indiana.
The show is really funny, and super easy watching. It’s TV, so the credit for this is obviously distributed between a lot of different people! Not just the writers, but also the actors, the directors, and a whole host of other people involved.
Still, I feel like there are some writing lessons that I can pull from this show, so that’s what I wanted to talk about today. What makes Parks and Rec so great, and what can we learn from it? Here are five ideas, in no particular order:
1. Parks and Recreation demonstrates that, when you have strong characters, you can play around with them in more interesting ways
Being a comedy, a lot of the character in Parks and Recreation are based on archetypes. They’re not subtle! But that doesn’t have to be a weakness. When you really lean into a few core traits, you can create clear characters. And once you have clear characters, who your audience can understand, it can be a lot of fun to play around with them.
When an audience can predict how a character will react to a given situation, you can tweak that and surprise them. This works best when your characters are otherwise consistent, a point that I’ll come back to later!
2. The show reminds me to consider character dynamics
One of the really entertaining things about Parks and Rec is watching the characters play off each other. It’s good to have regular character combos that you come back to, of course. That lets you build and then capitalise on strong character relationships. But one thing that this show definitely highlights is the benefits of switching things up. Sometimes the pairings you never thought of make for the most fun situations.
It reminded me that it’s valuable to consider putting my characters in unexpected combinations and seeing whether anything fun comes of it.
3. It demonstrates the importance of consistency
Your audience, or readers, should feel like they know your characters. A huge part of achieving this is through consistency. My reasoning behind this point comes in two parts, the first of which is about effectiveness. Sure, you could tell readers that your character is uptight. But that will sink in much more effectively if they consistently see that character responding and acting in a way that demonstrates how uptight they are. Consistency of thought, speech and action is the single best way to get a trait across to an audience.
The other reason for this point is that, when you’ve laid consistent groundwork, having a character do or say something surprising has a lot more impact. A show like Parks and Recreation obviously mostly plays this for comedy! But you can also use the technique for dramatic effect, to emphasise the seriousness of a situation or demonstrate character growth.
4. Parks and Recreation proves that you don’t need to be afraid of characters who genuinely mean well
Sarcastic and cynical humour has a place, as do characters who are mean or don’t get along. I’m certainly not here to suggest that these characters and styles of comedy are wrong or shouldn’t exist! But I also think there’s something really appealing about characters who like each other. Characters who are basically nice to each other.
One of the things that I think makes Parks and Recreation so much fun is that the characters are (mostly) good people. They are (usually) trying to help each other out, rather than trying to pull each other down. And that can make for some really satisfying episodes and story arcs. So don’t shy away from earnest characters who genuinely like each other!
5. It’s a nice reminder that romantic drama doesn’t have to be the central tension
It’s not uncommon for stories, in TV and in literature, to use romantic tension as a driving force. In a genre like romance this is obviously the point! But it comes up quite a lot in other types of fiction as well. As with all of these points, I’m not trying to say there’s anything inherently wrong with this. Loads of great stories employ that kind of will-they, won’t-they drama! There’s a reason we use it so much – it’s fun to read or watch.
With that being said, there’s also something really refreshing about a story that doesn’t drag these kinds of plotlines out for seasons at a time. I realized how much I appreciated this in Parks and Recreation, and it’s definitely made me think about how I might want to use romantic plotlines in my own work.
Have you picked up any writing ideas from TV?
I’d love to know what kind of tips or inspiration you’ve drawn from your favourite TV shows. Let me know in the comments!
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