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Developing
Scenes
by
Shon Bacon
In article
3, I talked about the concept of CAMPING AND MARCHING. When I
pursued my MFA degree a few years ago, my fiction professor/mentor
discussed the concept with us. When a writer "camps", he/she
fleshes out a scene. On the flip side, when a writer
"marches", he/she gives the reader EXACTLY what the reader
needs - nothing more and nothing less.
Many newbie writers fear having their readers "in the dark"
during their story, so they will overwrite and overstate and overdevelop
every scene so that readers are in on EVERYTHING. Many of these stories
can be seen a laborious because of this.
Camping and marching are extremely important when one discusses
developing scenes, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's
take a step back and discuss scenes.
What is a scene? Well, it takes place in one setting -- though if there
are flashbacks, a scene could conceivably have more than one setting. It
involves one or more characters. It has a beginning, middle, and ending.
And most importantly - it MOVES a story FORWARD. Think about some of
your favorite TV shows. Imagine a scene from one of those shows. As you
visualize it, think about how the scene starts. Typically, we are
"placed" somewhere (setting). People are revealed to us
(characters). Some idea, point, purpose, situation is presented to us
(beginning). There is interaction amongst the characters (middle), and
the scene concludes in a way that propels the story forward and makes us
want to know what happens next (ending).
EACH SCENE in your novel should work toward doing all of these things,
too, and depending on a scene's purpose determines how developed the
scene will be. Sometimes, there will be scenes that do not move the
story's conflict(s) along. In these types of scenes, writers should
MARCH; they should give the reader exactly what he/she needs and move on
to the next scene.
Most of your scenes should, however, develop your story's conflict(s)
and move the story's purpose toward its conclusion. These are the scenes
that writers should "camp" in. How does the setting affect the
story? How do the characters' internal thoughts affect the story? How do
the characters' facial movements, actions, words affect the story? In
these scenes, you will want to make the atmosphere literally jump off
the page so that the reader can visualize the scene and understand its
importance to the story - if not right then, then surely
by the end of the story.
Now, it's always important to preface any advice by saying that as
you're writing your first draft, you should solely focus on getting a
draft out. Do not think about if each word is perfect or if every scene
begins or ends wonderfully. It's in the revision stage that you should
consider scene development as one of your ISSUES to develop and fine
tune.
If you'd like to talk
more about scene development with me or about any writing-related
issues, or would like to pitch an idea for me to develop an article on,
PLEASE feel free to e-mail
me. If I can help you on your literary journey, then I will do
what I can!
Next:
Article #13: Finding
Time to Write
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