(Notes
from a workshop presented at RWAust “Life’s
a Beach” Conference 2004)
Let me start with a confession: I am
not a story-teller. Never have been a
raconteur, can’t hold a dinner
party rapt with witty anecdotes, I never
penned stories as a child.
So it bothered me during my writing
apprenticeship when I heard successful
authors say that “story is everything.” If
I’d heard that before I sat down
to write my very first story, I might
never have started. But I had written
an attempt at a story – not a very
good one, but an attempt – and
had started the next.
And I’d fallen in love with the
process, the crafting, the idea of creating
characters and controlling their destiny.
Maybe I’m not a story-teller but
a closet megalomaniac. Hmmm.
But by this stage I’d realised
something more. Yes, we tell stories,
but in romance that is only part of the
job description. Our real job is
to sell an experience to the reader. What
that experience is depends on the line
or sub-genre we write for. The reader
expectation – the experience the
reader is after – differs wildly
between, say, a taut thriller and a laugh-out-loud
rom-comedy and an uplifting inspirational
journey.
Realising this – the idea of reader
expectation, of an author’s promise
to their readers; knowing what a reader
might expect to experience when she picked
up one of my books, was one of the greatest
light-bulb moments for me as a writer.
It changed the way I thought about my
job. It changed the way I wrote.
How?
I thought about what experience the
romance reader was after. I discovered
that “emotion” wasn’t
about writing emotion, it was about evoking
emotion in the reader. Emotion of
many and varied kinds.
How do we evoke emotion? Through the
story arc itself, yes, but also through
our craft. Through word choice, sentence
structure, the rhythm of our paragraphs.
Through pacing and setting and characterisation.
Through all the details we feed into
our scenes.
If, like me, you are a writer who doesn’t
come up with brilliant, wonderful, unique,
compelling, creative plots (with twists
and half-pikes), that doesn’t mean
you can’t come up with a wonderful
book. I like to think I produce a decent
result through creating compelling characters
the readers will care about, and by putting
a lot of thought and attention into my
scenes.
Which brings me – in my own roundabout
way – to the workshop topic.
Scenes: the basic building blocks of
our stories.
Sure, they’re building blocks,
but that doesn’t mean they have
to be all the same grey concrete. Give
the reader some color and variety. Let
them stand out from the crowd! But before
we talk about the scene-stealers, I want
to be sure we all know the basics of
these building blocks.
What is a scene?
According to Jack Bickham in Scene & Structure:
“Each scene is a capsule that
depicts a specific story event. That
event relates to the events in each
of the other scenes, and when the writer
strings all the scenes together, s/he's
got a book.”
What’s in a scene?
* Every scene should advance the story,
moving the plot and characters toward
the story's resolution and conclusion.
If it doesn't, then it shouldn't be there.
* In each scene, the character should
have a goal and a strategy for reaching
that goal. If the character doesn't want
anything, then the scene lacks purpose.
If the character doesn't have "a plan" to
achieve that goal then the scene lacks
purpose.
(Ill-conceived plans are fine, BTW;
in fact sometimes they’re better
than fine, because they show the characters
flaws or humanity or plain old ill-directed
stubbornness or whatever – they
show CHARACTER.)
So, the character has a goal and a plan
to reach that goal, hence:
* Motivation. In life we have
random events and occurrences with no
rhyme or reason; in fiction if we don’t
set up our action and plot progress through
motivation that is true to the character,
then we lose the reader.
But if the character has a well-motivated
goal and goes right ahead and gets it,
no consequences, where is the interest?
Where is the tension? Where is the story?
* Conflict. This is created by
obstructions to the character achieving
his/her goal, and can come from internal
or external sources. Or can occur because
the character does achieve his/her goal.
It can be a conflict created by consequences.
So scenes either contain or create conflict
and tension.
Those are the vital basics, which I
really felt I needed to cover because
I see, so often, in beginners work (and
some by not-so-beginners) scenes that
do not serve a purpose, which do not
progress the story, that do not contain
the necessary tension and conflict.
Scene Structure / Construction:
Just like the story as a whole, every
scene should have a beginning, middle,
and an end. So, an inciting incident
sparks the scene into motion -- think
of this as the cause that incites an
effect (remember, when plotting a story
arc, we work from cause to effect to
cause to effect) and the effect links
the scenes to each other.
What happens in one scene causes the
next scene to happen, and so on and so
on. This builds your story, gives it
flow and continuity, and aids pacing.
This all sounds like a lot of work,
and I can feel the shudders starting
from those seat-of-the-pants writers
who are stifled by too much planning.
That’s OK. I believe we are all
wired differently and we need to respect
whichever method works. If that means
no scene planning, no scene cards, no
working out scene GMC, then good for
you.
However, if a scene isn’t working,
or if your story isn’t progressing
and you instinctively know something’s
wrong, try troubleshooting your latest
scene(s).
Troubleshooting Check List.
1. Ask yourself what changes in the
scene -- if the answer is “nothing” then
what is it doing in your story?
2. Whose scene is it? Choosing point
of view (POV) can make or break a scene.
Try writing it from the other main character’s
POV.
3. Does the POV character have a scene
goal? If not, then the scene may lack
purpose. (This can also clue you in to
whose scene it should be!)
4. Is that goal/purpose motivated in
a way that comes from character and/or
previous story action? (IOW, not contrived
by the author to move the story forward.)
5. Does the scene have conflict? Is
it too much like characters playing nice
and passing the time? How can you up
the tension?
An aside on conflict: it doesn’t
have to be argument. It doesn’t
have to be in-your-face. It just has
to be the push factor, keeping your
character from achieving his/her goal
6. Have you started the scene at the
inciting incident? Have you jumped right
into the scene action? Perhaps you’re
starting your scene at the wrong point,
setting up the action too slowly and
draining the tension.
So far I’ve been all about the
basics: structure and function and keeping
the story dynamic and moving forward.
All essential stuff, but here’s
where you steal the show with scenes
that don’t just carry a tune, but
which play jazz!
Scene choice
You have a scene purpose as the writer;
the character has his/her scene goal.
Now, what is the best way of achieving
those? Consider:
-- Characters: who is going to
be on stage? Your primary (POV) character,
the one with the scene goal, and who
else? One other character or a cast of
many? Are they all necessary? What is
their function in the story?
-- Setting: where is the stage?
what works best with the scene purpose?
Move beyond the obvious and investigate
other possibilities that lift your scene
from ordinary to compelling. Try brainstorming
and building what I’ve heard variously
referred to as a List of 10 or 20. The
best / newest / freshest ideas are often
toward the end of the list.
-- Tone and Mood: this is an
important and oft-forgotten element that
must work with the scene purpose and
the setting and the market or expectation
of your book genre to create maximum
effect. Make it memorable but make it
consistent!
-- Details, details, details…and
language. Create memorable characters
and vivid scenes AND evoke an emotional
reaction in the reader through attention
to detail. Choose sensual imagery according
to character. If you’re in your
hero’s POV, think carefully about
your descriptive narrative. How he looks
at the heroine, at the setting, at the
situation. Is he scientific, analytical,
succinct and to the point, or does he
have artistic sensibilities, a poet’s
soul? Think about WHO is doing the describing.
You, the author, or the character???
Words are the poetry of the soul.
They are as unique as your fingerprints.
You owe it to yourself to leave the
finest imprint. ~ Shirley Carolan
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