I might be new at this!

What an inspiring idea! While being struck by a great idea Richard Castle, fictional bestseller author from ABC's show, is pulling and putting up index cards no what looks like a clothes line across the office. Brilliant! What a great way to storyboard and here I've been using the edge of my window sill to tuck index cards into, effective but not the best way to laid out options. Aside from that moment, there has been several great examples fictional Castle has given me. Not that I can afford or even figure out how he does his touch screen plot maps, but you know regular old pen and paper brainstorms can work just as well (and can look like a touch screen, with some quick shuffles and pretending). But aside from that the entire show is about events that fuel a creative process, the plots purpose is to fuel the writing!

I just started watching Castle because it was suggested and Hulu Gods saw it fit to put it up. After watching the first 6 episodes available, I knew I had fallen in love with another show. But the key element of my new devotion was that this show was something that not only inspired me because of witty writing, great acting and good production but because muses were also at work within it. The clothing line story boarding was a moment where ideas seem to flow about how I could set up and start using a similar system. I've been at wits end on a development process for story boarding with a necessity for it to be a more involved process and that seemed perfect. Or occasionally the way that Castle describes his ways of getting into story and character serve as a reminder of the need to understand and delve into so many minute parts of a story!

Aside from that initial love, the ABC show itself is very good. Every detail connected in a great combination of crime show and novel-character formula. Not only does every episode have to fit the crime committed, bad guy caught scenario but also the personal motive and false starts for better story criteria. Nathan Fillion proves himself captivating on screen yet again, in a devil give a damn with a heart character that is just a lovable rascal. But what I find to be a selling point of the characters is not the classic and predictable love story between author and subject (voyeurism at its best) but the natural and loving portrayal of Father and Daughter. The young teenage daughter Alexis Castle is smart, well grounded and adult like but not to the extreme. She is a well developed character that brings her savvy view of each crime through small nightly chats with her father. But its those chats between Castle and daughter that make Nathan's character even more endearing and helps the show connect to more viewers on an emotional level. Castle's character is quick with the wit and far-fetchism, while 15 year old Alexis delivers wisdom and realism.

Also the dynamic of the characters presented in the "cop" part of the show is also enjoyable. There of course lies the ultimate love story between Beckett (subject for new character) and Castle. But there's the way that Castle charms the others present, with his fame and wit and sometimes gifts. There is a nice underlying sense of humor of the situation that is presented with the other characters that are not leads. The outer characters detectives and medical examiner give it the extra familial characters. Altogether the show is well put together and truly enjoyable. I don't think there was a ten minute period in which something didn't make me laugh. So if you haven't checked it out, it's available on Hulu and I believe on the ABC website.