My search for the new home of compelling narrative may have turned up an answer that I initially overlooked: TV.
Long regarded as a cultural wasteland, television has recently experienced a creative Renaissance. The movement toward superior writing, acting, and production value is being led by cable networks. By lavishing Hollywood blockbuster-sized budgets on their major projects, the likes of HBO, AMC, FX, and Showtime have managed to attract first rate talent.
Every novelist used to dream of getting a movie deal from a major studio. While that aspiration is still valid, TV has emerged as a medium capable of handling the intricacies of more complex narratives. Game of Thrones and Justified have proven that major cable networks can treat an author's work with greater respect and fidelity than the big studios.
A good friend once suggested that a hypothetical live action interpretation of my own fledgling fantasy universe could only be realized on cable. Recognizing the highly premature timing of such considerations (being as yet unpublished, much less having racked up enough sales to justify attention from other media), I will say that writing for TV has long held a certain appeal for me. I'm primarily a visual thinker: a trait that lends itself better to film and TV scripts than novels.
On the other hand, I've heard it said more than once from people who know what they're talking about that you really should have at least one novel under your belt before they'll let you have a shot at TV.
Is television the new home of challenging fiction? What's your opinion?
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