Soap operas may be known as your grandmother’s afternoon indulgence, but there’s more than meets the eye when considering its longevity. The first television soap opera aired in the early 1950s after evolving from its origins as a radio series. Since then, the industry has sustained itself by fresh settings, an ever-growing cast of characters, and evolving plots. In short: it’s a work of fiction that has lasted for decades.

Soap operas understand the basics of storytelling: setting (distinct places), characters (well-developed characters to whom viewers can relate) and driving plot (A, B, and C storylines) are all interconnected to create a cohesive, sustainable whole that has the viewer returning time and again. In fiction, it’s important to operate with the same basics in order for the reader to become invested in your story.

Setting

Setting is an important piece of a story because it can be viewed as an extension of those already-crafted characters who might inhabit it. In soap operas, this especially rings true, as not only does plot unfold in the setting, but it helps us understand the characters who frequent the location.

Take, for example, General Hospital, wherein the hospital is, quite obviously, one of the main settings. Not only do emergencies take place there (plot), but it sets the scene for those who might naturally belong — namely doctors, nurses, and patients (characters) — while they also experience love, family, and friendship (secondary plot).

In fiction, setting is just as important as your plot and characters, and it’s often said that setting can become a character itself. What does it mean for your story to take place on a ranch, on an island, in a diner? What does that say about the characters who work, vacation, or frequent that specific location? What do these details mean for your plot?

Setting matters, as it helps us further understand the characters while moving the plot forward.

Characters

The vixen. The villain. The all-American guy or the girl-next-door. The lawyer. The cop. The bartender or the rebel teenager. The rich family and the suburbanites; the small business owners, the fashion designers, the doctors.

These stereotypes and simple labels are the basis of most soap opera characters before they are spun and woven into something more complex and three-dimensional. Soap opera characters are successful because they have layers, and those layers are the reasons why viewers feel some sense of connection and sympathy towards them, why we keep returning to find out what they’re up to. Characters have a rich history that comes from day-after-day of storytelling; flaws and mistakes make them relatable, while their experiences offer depth.

In fiction, you unfortunately don’t have the luxury of years to create your compelling characters; what you do have, however, are paragraphs and pages. As viewers, you get to see the transformation. As readers, we can have that same development and progression throughout the course of the novel or story as we get to know them. What are your characters’ likes, dislikes? What flaws do they have and what are their strengths? Where do they come from and why do they act the way they do? How does your protagonist change and grow?

We may not be able to see your characters on a screen, but they should come alive on the page.

Plot

Soap operas typically air five days a week throughout the year, offering time for the viewer to become invested in the characters and familiar with the settings. However, in order to keep the attention of the viewers, plot has to be heavily considered. Whether the action is driving the plot with some catastrophe, disaster, or emergency (such as in a sweeps period) or the characters are having a simple exchange, each day — each conversation, action — is planned out with the primary goal of moving the plot forward.

While soap operas generally have no set time-frame, in fiction, the goal is to keep the plot moving in order to reach some sort of final conclusion with the close of a book. Just like soap opera writers have to plan out their storyline, so must you “plot your plot” — or, at the very least, understand it — to create a tight, whole story.

But just what is the plot? Soaps take the very basic themes of good vs. bad, love, family, friendship, betrayal, etc. and create something deeper and original by inserting conflict. Soap operas are known for their elaborate storylines, and often the conflict is heightened for increased suspense and dramatic effect.

While you don’t have to go to those extremes with your story, think about the conflict in your plot: is their tension? Cliffhangers? Is there motivation for the reader to keep turning the page? Are you working towards some type of climax and resolution?

Have you discovered your plot?

Conclusion

So, remind me, you say. How does a soap opera where an evil twin turns up and schemes to steal their sibling’s spouse who is already having an affair with the previously presumed-deceased neighbor relate to fiction again?*

It’s about the story. Soap operas, like fiction, weave the basic elements of plot, character, and setting to create a story that is rich and dynamic. It’s a culmination of (semi) realistic, three-dimensional characters in a purposeful, believable setting that assist in character development and carries the plot forward.

Will your story be the one readers return to time and again?

* If this storyline never occurred on a soap opera, though doubtful, I’m hereby claiming full-rights.