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Scene Quiz: From a Harvard Bar to Your Scenes

Yesterday, we talked about what you’d find if you dissected a good scene. Today, we’ll apply this information by studying a scene from the classic movie, Good Will Hunting. (Warning: Adult language) Then, you can apply it to your own scenes.

Watch this four minute scene and identify the following:

1. What happens in the beginning phase?
2. What happens in the middle phase?
3. What is the turning point or focal point of the story?
4. How does the scene end? In a disaster (tragedy), in success, or somewhere in between? At the end, what has changed for each character?
5. What is the setting for this scene? Why is this an appropriate scene for the action that happens?
6. What is the underlying emotions of this scene, the pulse, as Sandra Scofield calls it?
7. List at least 3 reasons why this is a necessary scene for this story.
8. What else do you notice about scenes by studying this film clip?

Repeat this analysis for each of the scenes in your novel.
If you want confirmation of your answers, or want to discuss the analysis, please leave a comment.

OK, you’ve narrowed down your story to a plot template and you know what characters, events, settings are implied by the story you are thinking about and the plot template. You know some of the pitfalls of plots. Now what?

It think this is the hardest part of plotting a novel, going from generalities to particulars, actually choosing and writing scenes. But you have to make a start, so let’s get to it.

Working Methods

Plan or write. Plan first or write and see where it goes? Oh, the perennial question! I’ll dodge it, though, by saying you must follow your own bent. Find your own working methods and habits of working that produce pages that lead to a full draft of a novel.

However! IF you usually just start in writing, TRY planning each scene. IF you usually plan each scene, TRY just jumping into the writing. Every once in a while, it’s great to break your pattern of working and see what happens. Shake yourself up! (I suggested this once at a national conference and got several notes later that this was the best advice the writers had ever taken, the resulting novel was the best she had written – so try it!) If the results are disappointing, you can always go back to your original methods of writing your novel.

It just depends. But I just avoided the question again of what to write first, second, third, etc. And here’s where the answers get frustrating: it just depends. Not knowing your genre, audience, voice, characters, setting, plot template – I simply can’t say. But I can give general guidelines.

Try to write in scenes. A scene is a unit of story that is self-contained, in that it has a beginning, middle and end; it has a goal and a resolution (either tragedy or success); it plays a role in the story. Writing in scenes adds tension to a story and keeps the writing focused. (MUST you write in scenes? No. Yes. It depends. If you’ve never done it, try it!) This is easy advice to ignore; I did it for many years and my writing suffered. More on the anatomy of scenes tomorrow.

Working Attitudes

Don’t be boring! Try to build in surprises. Bored readers won’t finish your story.

• Scene cuts. With each new scene or chapter, stop and think about what is expected next. Don’t do it. Instead, jump ahead a bit more than expected.
• Leap-frog story lines. Or leave a character in the middle of a crisis and leap frog to another character where you get us involved emotionally, before leap-frogging back to the first story line.
• Ground your novel in physical, sensory details. In the scene’s opening, set the scene, especially the emotional tone. Do this by careful selection of sensory details and the specific words you use to describe what is happening.
• Focus on emotions. Always remember to make us care about a character before springing danger.

Don’t be cliched! Brainstorm like crazy. Before you start a scene/chapter, list ten possible events and sequence of events. Yes. Ten. Not nine. Not eight. Ten. Force yourself to go beyond the cliche that you thought of first and go on to something different, more striking and more original.

Plot Complications and SubPlots

Depending on what source you consult, you may hear a couple terms used concerning subplots and plot layers, or extra complications for the main character. These work for me.

• Plot layer. A secondary problem given to the s
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Where has the month of October gone?

This year in many ways has been very LONG. When I think about all the things that have happened, 2009 stretches miles long. But then when I think of it in other ways, 2009 has flown by leaving me breathless wondering where the time went.

My goal for October was to finish my Act 1 revision. I’ve gotten some headway but I’m not finished so I don’t think I’m going to make my goal.

I would usually say “That’s okay.” But really it isn’t. I believe that I must be more diligent with myself. I need to be my own drill sargent. Because really I need to start meeting some deadlines.

So, I’ve decided to embark on 25 scenes in 25 days. That’s a scene a day. I need focus and I think tackling these scenes on a daily basis will help me get this Act 1 into shape. And even with my hectic work schedule, I should be able to carve some time to revise a scene. I’m sure to revisit these scenes again during the next revision round, but at least for this round, I can do it and move on to Act 2, which by the way has approximately 36 scenes.

So from October 24th until November 17th, I will concentrate on one scene per day.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress on Revision Update Wednesdays.

4 Ways to Slim Down Your Novel

After reading over the first section of the novel that I’ve just revised, I realize that I want to cut some of it. It’s not bad the way it is, but cutting 10-20% will help.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vernonwhite/3327754571/

Beats. One way to do this is to look at the individual beats or actions within a scene. Is each one necessary? Can I shorten each scene in the novel by 10%?

Cut scenes. I also realize that I might could cut one small scene entirely. The problem is that this scene is in the alternate POV, so if I cut it, then I have to give this character a different POV-scene.

Combine scenes. I don’t want too much going on in one scene, it needs to stay focused. But there might be one or two scenes that don’t have a sharp enough focus in this novel. If I take the narrative parts, information that needs to be given to the reader, and put that into other scenes, spread it around, I might be able to eliminate a scene.

Brisker Prose, Please. One critiquer of a novel manuscript asked for, “Brisker prose, please.” This is partly using great verbs, cutting adjectives, etc. But it’s also about writing tighter overall.

Related posts:

1. Writing a Novel in Scenes
2. 3 Ways to Salvage a Scene
3. Big Scenes

I mentioned layering moments in a scene on one of my writing listservs so I thought I would go into more detail in this post. To help me learn structure in novels, I’ve been analyzing some of my favorite books.

Right now, I’m analyzing The Hunger Games because it’s a great mix of a plot and character. This novel also incorporates the 3-act structure, which I love. The main thing I’ve learned is how author Suzanne Collins layers her moments. It’s fascinating when you break it down.

Here’s an example from a layered moment from Chapter 5.

Baseline:

“Sorry!” she pipes in her silly Capital accent. “You’re just so hairy!”

Venia makes what’s supposed to be a sympathetic face. “Good news, though. This is the last one. Ready?”

Baseline now layered with action:

R-i-i-i-p! I grit my teeth as Venia, a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyes, yanks a string of fabric from my leg tearing out the hair beneath it. “Sorry!” she pipes in her silly Capital accent. “You’re just so hairy!”

Venia makes what’s supposed to be a sympathetic face. “Good news, though. This is the last one. Ready?” I get a grip on the edges of the table I’m seated on and nod. The final swathe of my leg hair is uprooted in a painful jerk.

Baseline now layered with action and protagonist thoughts:

R-i-i-i-p! I grit my teeth as Venia, a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyes, yanks a string of fabric from my leg tearing out the hair beneath it. “Sorry!” she pipes in her silly Capital accent. “You’re just so hairy!”

Why do these people speak in such a high pitch? Why do their jaws barely open when they talk? Why do the ends of their sentences go up as if they’re asking a question? Odd vowels, clipped words, and always a hiss on the letter s…no wonder it’s impossible not to mimic them.

Venia makes what’s supposed to be a sympathetic face. “Good news, though. This is the last one. Ready?” I get a great on the edges of the table I’m seated on and nod. The final swathe of my leg hair is uprooted in a painful jerk.

This is just a simple example. With other moments, you could also break down layers including setting, background information, and/or flashback.

When you break a moment down like this, it really can help with your own writing—especially during revisions. If you find your scene is weak, you can go back and add layers to deepen moments. This is the beauty of layers.

You should try it with your own favorite novels and see if you can break down the moments into layers.

Every few months I meet a friend for lunch, and, over sandwiches and multiple cups of coffee, we discuss our works-in-progress and the vicissitudes of this crazy writing life.Each of us works alone, so it’s good to brainstorm a bit, offering encouragement to each other in the way that only other writers can provide support for one another when they step away from their desks for a few hours.At

In writing or revising a novel, it’s always a balancing act, deciding which scenes to fully develop and which to skip, to skim, or to forget.

Events NOT worthy of a full scene?

In my current WIP, I’ve sketched out the scenes I plan to write. But I’ve been stumped the last few days by one scene of a character mowing the grass. I need the character to do that mowing (for various reasons), but I finally realized that I could cover it in just a couple narrative sentences and still accomplish the same thing. It wasn’t a conflict or action worthy of a full scene. Once I had that insight, I’ve been working steadily again.

In writing or revising a novel, it’s always a balancing act, deciding which scenes to fully develop and which to skip, to skim, or to forget.

Events NOT worthy of a full scene?

In my current WIP, I’ve sketched out the scenes I plan to write. But I’ve been stumped the last few days by one scene of a character mowing the grass. I need the character to do that mowing (for various reasons), but I finally realized that I could cover it in just a couple narrative sentences and still accomplish the same thing. It wasn’t a conflict or action worthy of a full scene. Once I had that insight, I’ve been working steadily again.

This weekend I did something I've never done before - I wrote the last scene in a book long before the end of the book was in sight.

It wasn't intentional. I didn't sit down and say wow, let's write the last scene in the book because, heck, I don't really even know what this book is about - yet. But I am continuing on my bit by bit method of writing these three stories at once by just trying to write a single scene every night before bed. Of late they have all been in the plant book and that's okay. The character is very real to me and, I almost hesitate to say this, but I may have found his voice which goes a long way to bringing a book to life.

Friday night I knew I wanted to write a scene about the MC and a particular plant. So I did. And then I reread it, as is my habit before turning out the light and I realized that it was the very last scene in the book and suddenly I knew where I was headed. I have no idea how I'm going to get there but that's okay, I have a goal for this kid.

Saturday night's scene was prompting by watching my husband spend most of his Saturday pulling weeds in the yard. So I set the MC to pulling weeds. And in the process of writing the scene I had that wonderful experience where, before you can even get the words down, you can see the whole scene unfold in front of you. I gave him a simple task to do which set something else in motion which created a conflict that I needed but didn't know how to orchastrate.

Sunday night's scene was an apology that was not accepted.

I have no title for this book. I don't even know if I have the main character's name for sure and I'm not sure I know what his problem is or what he wants.

But I have scenes. And for now, that's enough.

Romance/fantasy author Laura Resnick has a series of five articles on cover art. They cover (Full disclosure: that was an inadvertent pun):
I: COVER KARMA
How does a book's cover affect sales, and consequently a writer's career? Why are some books (and some writers) uniquely blessed or cursed? What did a publisher do right (or wrong) with regard to a given cover? How do publishers ensure success (or stumble into disaster) when planning a book's cover?

II: GREEN BOOKS DON'T SELL
Yesterday's conventional wisdom becomes today's common misconceptions as art directors from New York's major publishing houses explain the step-by-step process of giving a book a cover.

III: BUT I WROTE THE DAMN THING!
If author input were actively desired in the cover process, somebody would have mentioned it by now. Nonetheless, there are constructive, productive, and useful ways for an author to contribute to the cover process; there are also contractual ways to gain influence over this process.

IV: STEAL THIS COVER!
Next to word of mouth, the cover is the single most important means by which an author reaches new readers. Find out how this has led to increasingly ruthless and volatile competition among publishers, and why people who don't even read often have more influence over a book's cover than the author, the editor, the cover artist, or the art director.

V: WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
A profile of three illustrators: sf/f cover artist Michael Whelan, winner of many Hugo, Howard, and Chesley Awards; romance cover artist Pino, with over 1,500 covers to his credit; and Janny Wurts, a bestselling sf/f novelist who is also an award-winning cover artist.

Click here to read them all.





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