Still revising. And this time reading about writing in the process. Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell is helpful. Regarding scenes, he suggests making sure they are "hip". Each scene should open with a hook, have moments of intensity, and end with a prompt to read on.
Then there's the old goal motivation conflict idea. Old to most, too new to me and some of my pals!
So going back, I'm analyzing every scene and asking myself if it meets that criteria. Is it hip? Where's the GMC? Mostly, those elements are there, buried maybe, but there. I'm finding that if I "pitch" the scene, letting the reader know with a line or two where to look for these elements, it strengthens some of the weaker scenes. Example: Tonight was the night she’d show Christian Benson he wasn’t the only star in her sky. Not a great line, necessarily, but gives direction to the scene.
How do you make every scene count?
Friday, April 27, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
I try to find universal or personal truths as expressed by character. You could call it "hip" and come out about right. I use GMC to help fix a scene if it really isn't working, but I've noticed some scenes that don't have good GMC are excellent scenes - if they show the reader something and are hip. I work very much by feel.
Alice
Cripes, I think your star sentence is great!
I think each scene, whether it's intensely sexy, sad, or funny, should help the main characters understand a little bit more about themselves and each other. If it does that, it counts for me.
Or if it makes me laugh. I'm just a sucker for a good laugh. :)
Isn't it amazing how much you learn writing the first book? When I look back at what I was doing, I was basically fumbling around in the dark. No wonder it takes so long for people to publish! There's so much to learn. :)
And you never really stop learning. That's the scary part.
Ooh, I love the 'hip' idea.
I have so much plot to get through in the book I'm starting, I have no choice but to make every scene count!
Revelation...each scene should peel back a layer so we get to know the characters a little better. I'm still struggling not to infodump, reminding myself I've got lots of words and pages to get to The End. I am the original Backstory Babe and I've got to stop!
I follow Marshall Plan and give the character a goal and then make them fail into achieving that goal.
Alice, I love the universal and personal truths idea, not sure I can get that into every scene, but would love to try. I agree that the GMC idea doesn't work for every scene, unless you have a very broad definition of "goal motivation conflict".
Gillian-any scene that makes me laugh or cry is a winner. GMC or no. I think the hip concept fits my style better.
CM-yes, it's wonderful to find out that the best you thought you could do, isn't. I'm really enjoying working at this from a craft perspective.
Tessa, I'm waiting with baited breath for your next chapter. The plot is fabulous. NY times list here you come!
Maggie,Back story girl? I can relate. My back story is my story. So I keep getting comments like "flashback too long". "Too much back story". Little do these judges know they've only seen the tip of the iceberg! But of course, it's not back story at all. I'm telling two stories in parallel, like The Notebook
Beverly, LMAO at the Marshall Plan. Keep those characters in misery!
I hadn't heard of the HIP idea, thanks! It makes a lot of sense. I also liked your idea of pitching the scene and giving the readers clues in the beginning. I'm going to have to try that. I'm still in the stage where trying to pick apart the GMC for a scene makes me want to cry and give up writing. So I'm just forging ahead, making lots of mistakes, and hoping I can fix them later. It's not pretty, but it's all I can do right now. I totally know what you mean about setting pages aside to gain perspective on them, too. Isn't it crazy how something we think is so spectacular turns out to need major surgery? *sigh*
I like the way HIP comes out. And I think I could maybe even *use* it when revising! It's blasphemous to say it, but I find GMC almost useless at the scene level. I tried. Oh how I tried! But I end up all tangled up and confused inside my own story when I try to make individual scene units match that pattern. GMC works for me on a plot level, and on a character-growth level, and maybe even as a pacing tool. But it's too granular to use scene-by-scene. I lose whatever it is that makes the words work when I tried to get that specific. I've had a little better luck using the scene/sequel concept if I know the problem is pacing or possibly pov.
Mostly, I've done my revisions sort of patchwork, with a generic 'why is this here' question. If I can't figure out why it's utterly essential to the plot or to the reader feeling what I intend, or to the overall character arc, then it probably needs to go.
What stinks is when it's the very first scene, or one I love, or god forbid one full of dialogue (because dialogue is so hard for me I HATE deleting it).
I'm also apparently *big* on the concept of leaving it alone for a while before revising. When I return to the first novel to try to salvage it, we'll see if it worked out for me :-)
Lenora and Chris, hi!
Seems like we have a consensus that having a specific scene goal, motivation and conflict may be too formulaic for many of us. I'm glad I came across the hip concept. May be mostly a difference in semantics, but I do feel more comfortable with it.
Like Alice, I found GMC turned around a chapter that was sorely in need of repair. The chapter merely introduced two characters. When I put them in conflict and gave one of them a specific goal, the chapter bloomed. Went from my worst to one of my favorites.
Chris, you may have blogged on this, or someone else and I missed it, but what is scene/sequel? Sounds interesting.
The book Plot and Structure sounds interesting! I haven't studied to much where to begin and end each scene... 'HIP' sounds useful.
I do find GMC helpful- I try to have every scene point toward it in some way. I definitly have a few scenes in my book that could be cut, but I just love them too much. Other than that, each one needs to be a work horse- moving the plot forward, revealing a new depth of chara., adding and element of tension.
There is so much to learn about writing! I am feeling very motivated today ;-)
Oh boy, you may be sorry you asked ;-) It's honestly an awful lot like GMC, but it's different inside my head. The idea is that each scene is followed by a sequel, and then another scene. There's a very detailed and technical "method" surrounding the whole thing, which I ignore at the detail level, but tend to do sort of instinctively if I don't examine too closely. Here's a link to the articles that explains the whole notion:
http://www.ingermanson.com/writing/scene.php
Have a look at it. I can't use it in a very detailed way, but I *can* use the idea of scene ends in something happening, sequel is a reaction to that happening, and ends with a decision that leads to another something happening, and so on. Sometimes, even if I can't do what he says and write out a clear goal, I can still tell that a scene is a disaster scene, or a decision sequel. And if you end up with things out of order, it mucks up the overall flow of things.
Clear as mud, right? Read the article, and see if there's something useful there. I tend to sort of internalize this kind of thing and just use the parts that "fit" my brain waves.
Not sorry I asked at all. Great article, thanks for the link. I like that the author acknowledges this isn't the only way. There's always more than one right way. I learned that in medicine. But just as "protocols" in medicine don't always fit every patient, scene formulas don't always fit every story.
One issue I have with the scene/ sequel is the implication that the sequel would immediately follow the scene.
Generally speaking this would be true. But the predicatability of action -reaction may not always work. Delayed character reactions, nonlinear story telling, all these things have their place.
I think taking what works from these various methods is a good idea
I completely agree. I think the thing that I found most useful was the idea that there are two different phases that tend to have a different structure. As a general notion, it helps me sort out order of things -- even if my scene/sequel phases aren't strictly scene-based. It definitely explained why some of the places I knew with my gut were essential didn't fit the GMC pattern very well.
I use Randy Ingermanson's snowflake method for plotting. I hadn't discovered his scene stuff. I'll have to dig deeper.
Sadly. . . I just write. Then I go back and make sure each scene moves it forward somehow. . . then, I rewrite, cut, rewrite, cry. . . well, you get the picture!
One more link for you -- I knew I had one that was romance oriented somewhere. This one sort of connected the dots for me in a way that made better sense...
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~mgoodin68/scene.htm
I read lots of articles on craft, but they never seem to stick. I just write the story, or rather, take dictation and try to capture the movie playing out in my mind. GMC helps me understand my characters when I'm starting out a book, but I really don't use it much after that. My tool is reading lots and lots of other great books - I figure I'm learning craft by osmosis.
Erika, I admire pansters like you. I have to have some semblance of an idea before I write, although it's usually just a shell.
Chris, thanks for all the great links. I'm loving all the good info.
And Sara, isn't that the best way to learn craft. By Osmosis? I'd say you're doing just swell.
Post a Comment