~*~ Make a Scene! ~*~

In The Weekend Novelist, Robert Ray defines a scene in this way: "A scene is a single action or a series of connected actions taking place in a single setting in a finite period of time."

You can jump back and forth in time when you narrate, but once you begin showing a situation that is unfolding you are bound to respect the time sequence. There are no limits on how long or how short a scene can be; a month could take a page, five minutes could take a chapter but you'll remain in forward motion in and in one place.

When you alter the setting or make a time change you have also created a scene change. A change of scene also presents the opportunity to switch the point of view. Point of view changes should not occur during a single scene.

WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE A SCENE

Scenes are the lifeblood of your novel. They are the dramatic elements that propel the story forward. They make characters act, and action drives drama. Scenes serve as structural building blocks for your story because they have an inherent structure that helps you write efficiently. Carefully crafted scenes can echo scenes that have preceded, and can foreshadow upcoming events.

Strong scenes will control the turning points of your book. Calmer scenes can deepen character or setting and serve as links between high action segments. Rhythm is set up by alternating the strong scenes with the calm ones, and then is repeated in the rhythm of the action/reaction of the characters or the give-and-take that occurs in dialog within a scene.

THE GOOD SCENE

What do you need to make scenes good? Josip Novakovich writes, "Flow with the details, grasp them, expand them, overwrite. You'll edit later. In your early drafts, include images, twisted words, anything to keep the illusion of the scene going and growing, moving, shifting, bursting with energy." Doesn't that sound like fun? It's the easiest kind of writing as one action will trigger another, just as one piece of dialog will trigger a response. "You don't have to be superintelligent to write well-but I think you need to be free and playful," Novakovich says in summary. "Allow odd and bizarre ideas to come to the page. You can always delete them later."

Think energy. The more energy your scenes generate, the faster they will grab and hold reader interest. Energy doesn't necessarily mean action. Even the slower scenes should have an emotional energy that engages the reader.

An easy way to begin writing a scene is to set the specific location and time immediately-for your benefit. Once you know when, where and who, you might add the element of what. What is the conflict about?

Like the novel as a whole, a scene will have a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is where everything is introduced, the middle creates the conflict, and the end of the scene envelops the characters' choices that resolve the conflict for the moment but often create new problems for the characters to contend with as the story progresses.

There are various ways to get down the bones of a scene even before you start writing it. Ray calls this storyboarding. His technique calls for the stage setup, including the time and place, temperature and season, lighting, sounds, smells and any symbols or images that you want to include in the scene. Then note the characters that are present and their relationships, the dialog that takes place-both what the overall conversation is about and any undercurrents that are lurking beneath the conversation. Actions come in large and small varieties too. There are the main actions that are occurring as part of the scene and then any smaller habits or movements that can indicate state of mind or intent on the part of one character or another. Ray's storyboard then outlines the point of view, the climax of the scene and the exit line. His storyboard outline looks like this:

SCENE SETUP

Stage Setup:

Time/place
Temperature/season
Lighting/sounds/smells
Symbols/images

Characters/relationships:

Dialog:

Subjects
Subtext

Action:

Large
Small

Point of View:

Climax:

Exit Line:

A BETTER SCENE

One of the quickest ways to learn about putting together scenes is to study authors you enjoy. Mark the beginning and the end of a scene and then compare it with Ray's storyboard. Think about what the scene does to move the plot forward. What precipitates the event? What is the effect? What do you know about the characters that you didn't before the scene began? How does the author lead into the scene? Where is the climax and the resolution? How does the author wrap up the scene but lead into the next segment at the same time? The more you analyze scenes, the more knowledge you will be able to apply to your own scenes as they are transferred from the stage in your head to words on the page.

References:

Writing Fiction Step by Step by Josip Novakovich, Story Press
The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray, Dell Publishing

©2004Dekat

~*~ Home ~*~

---

My Writing Practice Today's words, as they spill...	Book Reviews Covers fiction and books about writing
Links To "Good Stuff" on the Web	About Me There's not much to know but here it is.

 

©2004 Carolyn Dekat
Last Modified: August 1, 2004