Addictive storytelling and challenging your expectations

We raced through the latest series of two storytelling masterpieces recently: Only Murders In The Building series 3 and Good Omens 2.

Spoiler alert: this article does talk about events. I won’t be giving details away to start with but there is another spoiler alert lower down so if you haven’t watched either and you don’t want to know what happens, look out for the point to stop!

I can get obsessive about stories. I can’t tell you how many times I read The Secret Garden and Heidi as a child. Over the years there have been unputdownable books that I went straight back and read again when I’d finished, and TV shows I couldn’t stop watching on repeat. I was not ready to leave those worlds at the end of the novel or the series.

A couples of years ago, I got totally hooked on Schitt’s Creek and had to write about it. This week I am hopelessly addicted to Good Omens 2.

Writing goals

I am a big fan of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s work. Only Murders is created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. If I could write 1/10th as well as any of them I would be very happy!

I’m not a fiction writer and I’m in awe of people who conjure worlds. I also often wonder where names come from. I’ve been thinking about Oliver Putnam for a while. It’s such a great name. When I was checking references for writing this article, I called up Steve Martin’s Wikipedia page and discovered his first book was published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Coincidence? Maybe.

We also benefit as viewers from acting collaborations. Watching Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, Nina Sosanya – yes I know I’ve just smooshed the casts together – is a great way to end your day.

Using stories to build stories

Both these series use stories to tell new stories. There’s the premise of course: Only Murders is about true crime podcasts, a relatively new genre, while Good Omens draws on the Bible for inspiration.

But it’s the stories within the stories which are magical, like looking through a kaleidoscope. Each episode of Only Murders is told by a different character. It also follows the lives of the 3 central characters, and events leading to the death of the victim. These different voices enable you to see the story from different points of view. It’s a bit like spinning plates while juggling and the movement is eye-catching.

Each season is also focused on one of the 3 main characters so there’s an overarching story, plus the episode narrator’s story, plus the continuation of the murder mystery running through every show.

Good Omens takes Bible stories, and moments from history, but Aziraphale (an angel) and Crowley (a demon) have their own stories to tell, both as part of the Bibilical and historical moments, but also their friendship and the circumstances they get thrown into.

But what’s particularly delicious for fans about Good Omens is the way it brings in references to other stories.

For example, there’s a moment in a magic shop where Crowley puts on a fez. We’re Doctor Who fans (my husband can identify the character any actor who appears on TV has played in Doctor Who over the past 60 years) and David Tennant, who plays Crowley and the Doctor, wearing a fez made us smile.

Apparently, there are pictures in the pub of Terry Pratchett and Agnes Nutter, a character from the original Good Omens series. There are references to music Neil Gaiman likes.

Paperwork is many people’s idea of hell, so Hell is a disorganised office with mountains of untidy files, rather than an inferno. It’s dark, and you can’t find anything.

What absolutely comes across – and I think this helps with telling addictive stories – is how much fun everyone is having creating these shows and slipping in those devilish delightful details.

Spoiler alert: stop reading now if you don’t want to any plot details

Here’s a lovely behind the scenes film about the easter eggs hidden in Good Omens 2. I now need to go back and watch both series because I didn’t spot most of these (this video helped me write the section above).

Upsetting endings

Both Only Murders In the Building 3 and Good Omens 2 end on cliffhangers which suggest they will be back.

Both are heartrending.

While OMITB’s ending is a surprise, Good Omens’ is a shock.

We’re used to leaving a theatre with our emotions all over the place but TV rarely delivers a real gut punch ending.

As one fan wrote in a comment: “I’m not fine, you’re not fine. Aziraphale and Crowley are definitely not fine.”

No, I didn’t feel fine at the end. And yet I keep thinking about that writing choice. The fans wanted it to go in a particular direction, and it didn’t. I think we need that challenge.

We’re conditioned to expect happy endings. That nothing truly terrible will happen to main characters. But that’s not a guarantee in life. We all have experiences, or know of things which are happening to others, which are devastating.

Someone has to die at the end of an OMITB series to set up the next one.

Can Good Omens work if all is well in the bookshop?

We need series 3!

Post-script

While writing this, I’ve discovered that lots of Good Omens fans are Taylor Swift fans and incredibly good at video editing. I’ve listened to more Taylor Swift this week than I knew existed.

Here’s a cute compilation of Aziraphale and Crowley being their ineffable selves (I’ll completely understand if you can’t stand Taylor Swift or fan compilations). I have no idea how anyone has the patience to make these but hats off to them.

PPS

Argh! I am mailing this late. I got all in my head and angsty about it and bottled out on the writing!