I got sucked into watching Invasion. The hurricane drew me. The first two episodes didn’t connect, but now I’m hooked.

Is it the question about the aliens?

No.

Is it because I can’t understand how Larkin has so much in the eyebrow department and the sheriff has so little?

No.

Is it the hunky actor in the role of Russ?

Uhhhh….welllll….not entirely.

It’s the subtext, specifically between Russ, his ex wife and the sheriff. The two families share custody of the kids so they interact a lot. I missed the first show, so I don’t know if it explained what happened to Russ and Mariel’s marriage. But now they’re both married to other people, but are forced to deal with each other every day. There’s a hint of tenderness there, I think, a hint of pain, when Russ and Mariel are together. And when Russ and Tom are together, they speak civilly to each other, work together, but there is an underlying animosity there.

I want that in Hot Shot, where I have a similar dynamic (minus the kids).

In TV shows and movies, subtext is so much easier to get across, I think. You can convey the subtext in the tones of voice, in the body language, while the characters are talking about something else. How do you get it across in the written word?

I think to a certain extent you can do it in body language, the characters who long for each other leaning toward each other, characters who mistrust each other squaring their shoulders, tensing up when the other person approaches. I suppose to a certain extent, you could use it in tone of voice.

If it was in internal dialogue, in character POV, that would be cheating, right? It wouldn’t be subtext anymore? Am I understanding this right?

Do you use subtext in your work? How? And is it on purpose?

This article talks about it much better than I can.

Subtext

I was going to put up a picture of the Invasion hunk, but I just couldn't do it ;)