TECH: Stronger Scenes?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 16 July 2009

Writer's Digest, December 2006, pages 91 and 92, have an article by James Scott Bell with the title Fiction: Strengthen Your Scenes. They're also a couple of sidebars for us to look at. Bell is talking about ways to add drama and conflict to the scene. Your characters may be colorful, but they need to be doing something. Here's some suggestions about ways to make the scene (yes, I know that's a dated cliche, but it seemed to fit :-)

1. Dialogue flow. Try writing the scene only in dialogue. Let it flow, and then look back and see what the scene is about and what your characters may have said that you didn't expect.
2. Cut or hide exposition. Narrative exposition bloats and chokes good scenes. Put some action into it, let the characters argue, think about other ways to explain things.
3. Flip the obvious. We all automatically use familiar types. The truck driver is almost always a burly, grizzled man, with a beat-up cap. Try making it a woman, or try putting your truck driver in a suit. Break the stereotypes.
4. Closed eyes technique. Rich detail is crucial to a vivid physical setting. Close your eyes and imagine the setting. Then write down what you see is if you were a reporter. You can always pull out extra details later.
5. Hotspot. "Every scene should have that moment or exchange that's the focal point -- the essential part." If it doesn't have a hotspot, can you drop the scene? Usually a hotspot is a line of dialogue or perhaps an action that changes everything or reveals something. To check your hotspot, consider: why is this scene in your story? What does it do for the story? What is the one point in this scene that has to be there? What would you lose if you drop the scene?

Look at the material before and after the hotspot. How much of it can you take out, or can you sharpen it to support the central purpose -- make the hotspot sizzle?

Sidebar number one describes three kinds of scenes.

• set up scenes provide the necessary background information to set up actions by the characters. These scenes provide motivation.
• verifying scenes show your characters living -- establishing skills and abilities. These scenes show that characters can do things.
• flashback scenes take us back and show us past action. Don't overdo it, and make sure the action deserves to be dramatized. Provide adequate transitions into the flashback and back out of it.

Sidebar number two is a table provided by Nancy Kress with quick fixes for weak scenes. Symptom, diagnosis, and cure for six diseases of the scene.

Symptom: scene is too slow getting started
Diagnosis: excess exposition
Cure: get characters on stage and interacting, preferably with conflict

Symptom: scene is too talky
Diagnosis: excess dialogue
Cure: add action tags, gestures, or thoughts. Replace some speech with action.

Symptom: reader can't visualize concrete details
Diagnosis: White room syndrome (blank setting)
Cure: add descriptive details that underscore the mood of the scene

Symptom: boring
Diagnosis: lack of information, no advance in plot
Cure: cut the scene. If necessary, combine some elements in another scene

Symptom: flagging tension
Diagnosis: lack of scene variety, neglected plot
Cure: rearrange scene order [tink suggests you may also want to look at raising the stakes and adding more conflict]

Symptom: scene start strong but fizzles
Diagnosis: misplaced scene climax
Cure: rewrite with emotional high point of scene at end

So there you have it. Some ways to add strength to your scenes, a little bit of classification to help you understand what your scenes are doing for you, and a quick guide to some problems you might have with your scenes.

Exercise? Take your work in progress, and try applying one of the methods that Bell suggests. Or consider your scenes in terms of the three categories, set up, verifying, and flashback. Finally, consider your scenes in terms of the symptoms that Nancy mentions -- do you need to apply first aid?

Write!