Writers' Wednesday!!!
There comes a time in every writer's life when his/her family and friends don't really want to hear anymore about the story. That being understood, make the most of what time you have until that happens.
Writers need sounding boards. Vocalizing is an important tool for organizing plot points, describing concepts, and testing where the readers/audience will want more information (and especially where they won't).
In order for these chats to be as effective as possible, listen. Listen to yourself tell the story. Listen to your family members and friends. Not just for what they say, but also for the subtext behind what they say.
The first big alarm that should go off in your head occurs when you hear yourself actually get into story-telling mode after knocking around with backstory. Don't write the backstory! Start with where you started story telling and keep the backstory in mind, revealing the important bits as they become relevant. (Had Tolkien done this, he could have spared us decades of waiting in the Shire, which Jackson astutely truncated.)
The first big alarm you get, whilst listening to aforementioned sounding board, happens when they switch from interjecting their oohs and aahs with casual references to your genius, and get involved with the world you're creating. They will ask for more detail, speak of your characters as real people, and put pieces together before your very eyes.
Should your trusted listener begin offering suggestions on how to change your story, or slip into a writer mode all their own, that's a big (and valuable) hint that your story just isn't doing enough for them. You've lost them and, if it keeps happening, spend more time developing your story. The exception to this usually involves at least one person we all know who compulsively fixes things that aren't broken until they are.
This technique is especially helpful for people who say they have a hard time explaining their story. That just means you need more practice. The better you get at it, the more it will improve your writing style.
Showing posts with label flow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flow. Show all posts
25 January, 2012
30 November, 2011
Use the "F" Word
Writers' Wednesday!!!
Look to your right and your left at the same time. No? Okay, without the use of mirrors, keep your eyes forward and look behind you. Still not happening? Hm... Try holding onto every word, character, concept, conflict, and plot point in your mind at the same time. (Sure, if you're writing copy for a "got milk?" print ad, you might could do that. But, you get the point.)
Even if you are writing third-person omniscient, respect the fact that your readers/audience have the same limitations of visual space that you have. They can only look at what you tell them to look at and where you tell them to look for it.
Focus!
In visual media, they can cut between shot/reverse-shot and multiple camera set-ups. Occasionally they try (and fail) to make the audience feel like they're in the movie through POV. The important thing to note is that everything is still revealed in a logical one-at-a-time sequence, often limiting what is seen to the director's specifications for tone and pace. Not to mention, seeing registers much quicker than reading. (Half-a-second is plenty of time to hook a visual and it's probably taken you four or five seconds to read this overly long parenthetical.)
You and your readers/audience will appreciate it when you write with tunnel vision. Ask yourself what nugget you're describing right now. Describe it well. What's the next nugget? How can you transition from this nugget to that nugget without getting whiplash?
And please, please, please, please make those nuggets important to the story. No paragraphs about a lamp that turns out to be a red herring. No sweeping purple, apricot, and gunmetal blue landscapes unless they have a pertinent B-52 approaching through them. Because, if there isn't, I'm sending one to really make your setting interesting. If it doesn't add to your characters, advance the plot, or heighten the conflict, cut it.
I trust you will find that concentrating on each little moment in turn and not trying to look all over the whole story at once helps your writing flow immensely. You won't even need to write chronologically. Take whatever section is poking through your forehead. If you structured properly before you started writing and can trust the editing and revision process, it won't matter.
Look to your right and your left at the same time. No? Okay, without the use of mirrors, keep your eyes forward and look behind you. Still not happening? Hm... Try holding onto every word, character, concept, conflict, and plot point in your mind at the same time. (Sure, if you're writing copy for a "got milk?" print ad, you might could do that. But, you get the point.)
Even if you are writing third-person omniscient, respect the fact that your readers/audience have the same limitations of visual space that you have. They can only look at what you tell them to look at and where you tell them to look for it.
Focus!
In visual media, they can cut between shot/reverse-shot and multiple camera set-ups. Occasionally they try (and fail) to make the audience feel like they're in the movie through POV. The important thing to note is that everything is still revealed in a logical one-at-a-time sequence, often limiting what is seen to the director's specifications for tone and pace. Not to mention, seeing registers much quicker than reading. (Half-a-second is plenty of time to hook a visual and it's probably taken you four or five seconds to read this overly long parenthetical.)
You and your readers/audience will appreciate it when you write with tunnel vision. Ask yourself what nugget you're describing right now. Describe it well. What's the next nugget? How can you transition from this nugget to that nugget without getting whiplash?
And please, please, please, please make those nuggets important to the story. No paragraphs about a lamp that turns out to be a red herring. No sweeping purple, apricot, and gunmetal blue landscapes unless they have a pertinent B-52 approaching through them. Because, if there isn't, I'm sending one to really make your setting interesting. If it doesn't add to your characters, advance the plot, or heighten the conflict, cut it.
I trust you will find that concentrating on each little moment in turn and not trying to look all over the whole story at once helps your writing flow immensely. You won't even need to write chronologically. Take whatever section is poking through your forehead. If you structured properly before you started writing and can trust the editing and revision process, it won't matter.
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