The Place For My Writers Notes

original posting Nov. 2, 2010

Once upon a time in the land of nanowrimo, you got to the end of the scene (or will get to one, sooner or later, as the words run trippingly off your fingers. At least I don't think you can write one scene that is 50,000 words long. I'm not sure that the reader would have the slightest chance of being able to keep all of that in their head at one time! Not to mention this incredibly elaborated parenthetical remark about getting to the end of the scene :-) And, the odds are reasonably good that you should start another scene. But what should this next scene do for you? Well, most of the scenes between the beginning and the climax complicate things. Something gets in the way of your characters immediate gratification, they don't get what they want right away because frankly, having dessert right away is kind of boring. Delayed gratification, that's the trick.

So what goes in the middle? Well, over here at http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/140680.html I borrowed from the book Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham a list of seven different possibilities. Let's take a relatively short look at them (or you could just roll a die and pick that one, although where you're going to find seven sided die is a good question).

First, the scene could simply push the character away from quick attainment of goal. He was going to sign the check, but he insists on adding up the balance first. And the balance isn't right? And... one thing after another makes it harder and harder to quickly attain that goal.

Second, you can mix in some unexpected, unrelated problems. We almost had the check when the black turtle ninjas crashed through the window and forced everyone to the floor. Then the white foxes came rolling through. And did we mention the tornado?

Third is very like the second one -- somewhat unrelated problems that have to be solved before getting back to that check. The pen runs out of ink. Looking for ink, the desk drawer is locked, and the key is lost? And more and more things stack up, making it harder and harder to get that darn check signed.

Fourth, subplots. Your main character or other characters can certainly have other things going on. Jane insists on everyone having dinner before signing the check. Little Boy Blue wants to know about the sheep in the backyard, and who's going to clean up?

Fifth is simply adding tension. Put those deadlines, ticking clocks, threats and costs into scenes. Sure, our hero is about to get the check signed, but having eaten dinner, Little Boy Blue points out that the post office in town closes at 9, and we've only got 20 minutes to get there. Do you want to bet that we can have enough flat tires, bad directions, and other problems to turn 20 minutes into a race to the door, only to find that ...

Sixth is more of an arrangement of scenes. At the beginning, there are often a large variety of possibilities open to the hero. Lots of people could sign that check, but one scene after another, we find out why those other people aren't right for the job. Sure, we could get a loan, but... the bank doesn't believe that itinerant cameramen living with their aging aunt who is about to lose her house are exactly the best risks? And then... work through the possibilities and cancel them out, one by one, until finally our hero is just going to have to face Dad once more.

Seventh, revelations. One of the great things about scenes is that they can be used to reveal complications and history, background, the reason that Sally kept her hand inside the purse as they walked into the house. And again, each revelation can make it more necessary to achieve the goal or less likely to get there, or even both! Sure, Sally had her hand on a gun the whole time, but Dad isn't going to sign with a gun to his head. And why does Sally feel this way about Dad, anyway?

Go ahead. Mix a few more scenes into the play, and see how they can complicate the path from here to there. Poor George. He just wanted to get a check signed, and now look what's happened. It's not enough that Dad gets obsessive compulsive about checking his balance, the ninjas destroy the house, the pen runs out of ink, Jane makes sure everyone eats before the signing, the Post Office is closing, and anyone and everyone else who might have loaned George the money turned him down flat. No, on top of all of that, Sally has to get revenge? Will George ever get that check signed?

Stay tuned for the great climax, coming in... oh, say 45,000 words or so?

Go, Nanowrimowers, go!

one of the public channel shows had this information in it, and I thought it was interesting enough that I wrote it down. I'm not sure who might be interested though, so what the heck, I'll share with you and you can do whatever you want with it.

Okay, the first chunk of stuff concerned the concept of anchoring. Not your boat, this is mental anchoring. For example, apparently business people have found that there are several ways to show you that they are giving you a better price. You can simply say 30% off, you can list the discount price and then the old price, or you can list the old price and then the discount price. It turns out that showing you the high price first (the anchor) and then the discount price works best - people say "Oh, it's much cheaper." So the first thing we encounter is the anchor, used for comparison and a basis for thought.

Another example concerned an array of three shoes with slightly different prices. Which one should you put in the display window? Again, for retail purposes, put the high-priced item where the customer sees it first -- then the middle and low priced items will be seen as good buys.

They even had a very odd little experiment. People were given a chance to spin a roulette wheel with an array of values from 200 to 2000. Just for fun, while waiting. Then they were shown into another room, where someone asked them for a market survey to suggest a price for a pair of scissors. No apparent connection, but . . . with a large sample, they can show that people who spin 200 to 1000 end up suggesting an average price about 900, while those who get 1200 to 2000 propose a price about 1600.

So that's anchoring. The tendency for people to use a recent encounter as a comparison point or basis for decisions.

Now the next little bit of trivia concerned the old story of the ant and the grasshopper. Immediate or delayed gratification in more technical terms. Someone has done some brain imaging while asking people questions. The questions are rather simple. The first question is would you rather have $100 in one year or $110 in one year and one day? The second question is superficially similar, would you rather have $100 today or $110 tomorrow? However, brain imaging shows that these two questions are processed in very different parts of the brain.

They pointed out that this has to do with behavior in response to limited time sales. Buy it now apparently appeals to that grasshopper part of the brain, the immediate gratification processor, which tends to get engaged when we're excited and wants it now, not later! They also tied this into sales ads connected with sporting events - buy it now works best for those, since the customer is already excited.

Anchors and immediate gratification. Set the context for us to buy, and tell us it's only available for a limited time, only the first seven callers - and watch the phones ring!