One more for the writers! I’m working on some more drawing-related posts, but they’ll take a little more work. Maybe next week.
Please make sure each scene serves a purpose. Thanks.
This post describes a little technique I use to make sure my scenes don’t end up being Entirely Pointless, because it happens to the best of them, so you have to watch out for these things.
If you’re writing a short story you’re probably trimming everything that could possibly be regarded as fat anyway, and you may not need a formal outline. If you’re writing something longer though, you’re probably working from some kind of summary or notes. I like bullet points.
- Ninja Dave infiltrates Daimyo Satan’s castle
- Ninja Dave meets Princess Peachblossom
- Princess Peachblossom remembers her childhood/mother
- Ninja Dave and Samurai Fred reluctantly agree to work together
- Princess Peachblossom warns Samurai Fred against Ninja Dave
- Daimyo Satan talks to Princess Peachblossom’s agent
- Ninja Dave and Samurai Fred make their attack
- Samurai Fred thinks Ninja Dave has betrayed him, and stabs him up
- Daimyo Satan laughs in Samurai Fred’s face because he’s walked right into the trap
- Ninja Dave wasn’t dead after all, and beheads Daimyo Satan
- Ninja Dave forgives Samurai Fred, but Samurai Fred does not want to believe Princess Peachblossom betrayed them
- Princess Peachblossom is discovered, dead, with a hairpin in her neck
- Princess Peachblossom’s agent reveals the tea Peachblossom was brewing for them was poisonous, and it was he who killed her, because he has the hots for Ninja Dave
- Samurai Fred finally realised Princess Peachblossom is evil, but he’s still sad she’s dead
- Samurai Fred and Ninjas Dave part ways, each with greater respect for the other
Every scene, that is, every time some characters meet up and talk or fight or travel or whatever, gets a line. I then make some notes about each scene: which scenes are action-based or high tension, which scenes introduce new characters, which characters appear where, and that kind of thing. That makes it easy to check for areas in the story where the action flags, or where there’s climax after climax without a bit of come-down to make some sense of it.
Most importantly, I can check each scene and make sure it serves a purpose. I like making little tables like this, but that’s probably because I am a super-nerd who sets up spreadsheets for fun. I’m not saying this is what you should do. I’m just showing you what I do, and you can take from it what’s useful to you.
|
Princess Peachblossom remembers her childhood/mother |
Explores PB’s character, foreshadowing of her betrayal |
|
Ninja Dave and Samurai Fred reluctantly agree to work together |
Introduction of S. Fred, sets up the big fight |
|
Princess Peachblossom warns Samurai Fred against Ninja Dave |
Clarifies relationship between PB and S. Fred, sets up S. Fred’s attack on N. Dave |
|
Daimyo Satan talks to Princess Peachblossom’s agent |
Shows PB is in fact evil |
By writing it all down, I can check that each scene does indeed lead to the next and serve an important purpose. I can make sure there aren’t any important loose ends, I’m not introducing 5 characters in one scene, etc.
Looking at this table, I might decide, for instance, that the flashback to PB’s childhood, although cool and deeply emotional and stuff, is not actually vital to the story, and that it might be better to use that space to introduce Samurai Fred, who currently drops into the story out of nowhere and immediately agrees to storm the castle with Dave. Perhaps a scene with PB and S. Fred would be better, so we know who he is when Ninja Dave meets him. That scene could also foreshadow PB’s betrayal, but in a different way, maybe she gives him a secret evil look, or says something slightly creepy.
I’m big on structure, especially for longer stories. I know there are a lot of writers out there who have a more “make stuff up as you go” approach and if that works for you don’t let me stop you. If you do like structured outlines, or you’re willing to give it a try to see if it works for you, this is a technique you could use. Even if you don’t, it’s always worth checking thoroughly once you have your plan laid out that none of your scenes are Entirely Pointless or even Slightly Pointless. Otherwise, if they ever make a movie out of your story, you’ll fall foul of this guy, and you don’t want that:
Angry critic.
Does this strike you as useful? (I mean, the technique, not the crazy with the toy gun.) Would you be interested in reading about Ninja Dave and company? Do you want me to stop talking already? Use that crazy comments box!
Note: the pictures in this post are screencaps from the Nostalgia Critic, a funny internet video man. Check him out.
{ 3 comments }
Wow, looking at this makes me think that filler is pointless. At least my added chapters tell more of the story. My beta tells me to add detail, so I do. Now I think she’s just a filler fanatic.
Yes, this is useful! I also work in a similar way, in that I have to plan everything in advance – the idea of not knowing where the story just messes with my head too much. If I don’t know where it’s going, then I don’t know what the point is, so I don’t know how to illustrate that point, create foreshadowing, add symbolism, know how to pace so it reaches that point. Personally, I just can’t be doing with that whole improvisation thing X-D. I guess if it’s an epic story, I mean truly epic, it would be OK to plan it one plot arc at a time…. but even then it can lose depth. At the moment I’m planning a story I’m writing to the absolute nth degree (no spreadsheets, lol) and mainly, I’m finding things to ADD into it to make it better rather than subtract – the complete opposite of how I wrote Tsuchigumo (which was the subtraction method). Things that get added to the rather basic plotline are giving it some interesting extra dimensions which will hopefully make the story, while short, a bit more dense and re-readable.
Hm, that’s a good point. Sometimes you start with something that isn’t too big and sprawling, but too bare bones, and you edit with additions. I do that too sometimes, although I’m a very big and sprawling type of idea generator.
About filler; I think it’s only filler if, like I said above, there’s no point. Not every scene has to propel the plot forward, but it has to do something. Explain something about a character. Create some tension, some foreshadowing. Give us some background detail on the setting that will later be crucial to our understanding of the events.
I’m all about the super-tight plots though, I know there are plenty of writers who don’t work that way, and still produce good stuff. You could ask the filler fanatic what she means by detail. It’s not a bad thing to add complexity, layers, or little mini-stories to a plot. You don’t have to get from A to B in the straightest line possible. It’s only filler when the path you’re on not only doesn’t get you closer to B, it doesn’t get you anywhere, and you have to retrace your steps to pick up the flow of the story elsewhere.
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