"Hopefully you will find this useful."
Selected from the Internet 12/10/11.
WAYS
TO LAUNCH STRONG SCENES - Page 1
of 6.
Any
story or novel is, in essence, a series of scenes strung together like beads on
a wire, with narrative summary adding texture and color between. A work of
fiction will comprise many scenes, and each one of these individual scenes must
be built with a structure most easily described as having a beginning, middle
and end. The beginning of each scene is what we’ll address here.
The
word beginning is a bit misleading,
since some scenes pick up in the middle of action or continue where others left
off, so I prefer the term launch,
which more clearly suggests the place where the reader’s attention is engaged
anew.
Visually,
in a manuscript a new scene is usually signified by the start of a chapter, by
a break of four lines (called a soft hiatus)
between the last paragraph of one scene and the first paragraph of the next
one, or sometimes by a symbol such as an asterisk, to let the reader know that
time has passed.
Each
new scene still has a responsibility to the idea or plot you started with, and
that is to communicate your idea in a way that is vivifying for the reader and
that provides an experience, not a lecture. Scene launches, therefore, pave the
way for all the robust consequences of the idea or plot to unfurl. Each scene
launch is a reintroduction, capturing your reader’s attention all over again.
Start each scene by asking yourself two key questions:
Where are my characters in the plot? Where did I leave them and what are
they doing now?
What is the most important piece of information that needs to be
revealed in this scene?
Only
you and the course of your narrative can decide which kinds of launches will
work best for each scene, and choosing the right launch often takes some
experimentation. Here we’ll cover 10 key techniques for launching scenes in
three main ways: with action, narrative summary or setting.
ACTION
LAUNCHES
The sooner you start the action in a
scene, the more momentum it has to carry the reader forward. If you find
yourself explaining an action, then you’re not demonstrating the action any longer; you’re floating in a distant star system known
as Nebulous Intellectulus—more commonly known
as your head—and so is the reader.
Keep in mind the key elements of action:
time and momentum. It takes time to plan a murder over late-night whispers; to
cause an embarrassing scene by drunkenly dropping a jar at the grocery; to
blackmail a betraying spouse; or to haul off and kick a wall in anger. These
things don’t happen spontaneously, they happen over a period of time. They are
sometimes quick, sometimes slow, but once started, they unfold until
finished.
The key to creating strong momentum is to start an action without
explaining anything:
Albert
leads them all into the dining room and everyone drifts around the large teak
table, studying the busily constructed salads at each place setting—salads,
which, with their knobs of cheese, jutting chives and little folios of frisée,
resemble small Easter hats.
“Do
we wear these or eat them?” asks Jack. In his mouth is a piece of gray chewing
gum like a rat’s brain.
Lorrie
Moore plunges her reader into the above scene in the story “Beautiful Grade.”
Although the action is quiet, there is physical movement and a sense of real
time. The lack of explanation for what is happening forces the reader to press
on to learn more. The action gives clues to the reader: The characters are led
into a room full of wildly decorated salads that one character is uncertain
whether he should eat or wear, which gives a sense of the environment—probably
chic. We get a feeling for Jack—he’s got a good sense of humor. Clearly
something more is going to happen in this environment, and judging from the
tone of the paragraph, we can probably expect irony and humor.
Action
launches tend to energize the reader’s physical senses. To create an action
launch:
1.
GET STRAIGHT TO THE ACTION. Don’t drag your feet
here. “Jimmy jumped off the cliff” rather than “Jimmy stared at the water,
imagining how cold it would feel when he jumped.”
2.
HOOK THE READER WITH BIG OR SURPRISING ACTIONS.
An outburst, car crash, violent heart attack or public fight at the launch of a
scene allows for more possibilities within it.
3.
BE SURE THAT THE ACTION IS TRUE TO YOUR CHARACTER.
Don’t have a shy character choose to become suddenly uninhibited at the launch
of a scene. Do have a bossy character belittle another character in a way that
creates conflict.
4.
ACT FIRST, THINK LATER. If a character is
going to think in your action opening, let the action come first, as in, “Elizabeth
slapped the Prince. When his face turned pink, horror filled her. What have I
done? she thought.”
NARRATIVE
LAUNCHES
Writers often try to include narrative
summary, such as descriptions of the history of a place or the backstory of
characters, right at the launch of a scene, believing that the reader will not
be patient enough to allow actions and dialogue to tell the story. In large
doses, narrative summaries are to scenes what voice-overs are to
movies—distractions and interruptions.
Yet
a scene launch is actually one of the easier places to use a judicious amount
of narrative summary, so long as you don’t keep the reader captive too long.
Take the opening of this scene in Amanda Eyre Ward’s novel How to Be Lost:
The
afternoon before, I planned how I would tell her. I would begin with my age and
maturity, allude to a new lover, and finish with a bouquet of promises:
grandchildren, handwritten letters, boxes from Tiffany sent in time to beat the
rush. I sat in my apartment drinking Scotch and planning the words.
The
above bit is almost entirely narrative summary, and the only action—drinking
Scotch—is described, not demonstrated. There is no real setting, and the only
visual cues the reader has are vague and abstract. However, the narrative
summary does demonstrate the nature of the character, Caroline—she feels she
must butter her mother up, bribe her even, in order to ask for something she
needs, which turns out to be a relatively small thing. It reflects Caroline’s
tendency to live in her head, and shows us she’s the kind of person who must
prepare herself mentally for difficult things—a theme that recurs throughout
the book. It’s also useful because Caroline spends a lot of time by herself,
cutting herself off from her relationships, and, therefore, it is very true to
her personality. In just one short paragraph of narrative summary, the reader
learns a lot about Caroline, and Ward gets to action in the next paragraph:
Georgette
stretched lazily on the balcony. Below, an ambulance wailed. A man with a
shopping cart stood underneath my apartment building, eating chicken wings and
whistling.
If
the entire scene had continued in narrative summary, it would have had a
sedative effect on the reader, and the scene’s momentum would have been lost.
A
narrative approach is best used with the following launch strategies:
5.
SAVE TIME BY BEGINNING WITH SUMMARY.
Sometimes actions will simply take up more time and space in the scene than you
would like. A scene beginning needs to move fairly quickly and, on occasion,
summary will get the reader there faster.
6.
COMMUNICATE NECESSARY INFORMATION TO THE READER BEFORE THE ACTION KICKS IN. Sometimes information needs to be imparted simply in order to set
action in motion later in the scene. Opening sentences such as, “My mother was
dead before I arrived,” “The war had begun” and, “The storm left half of the
city underwater,” could easily lead to action.
7.
REVEAL A CHARACTER’S THOUGHTS OR INTENTIONS THAT CANNOT BE SHOWN THROUGH
ACTION. Coma victims, elderly characters, small
children and other characters sometimes cannot speak or act for physical,
mental or emotional reasons; therefore the scene may need to launch with
narration to let the reader know what they think and feel.
SETTING
LAUNCHES
Sometimes setting details—like a jungle
on fire, or moonlight sparkling on a lake—are so important to plot or character
development that it’s appropriate to include visual setting at the launch of a
scene. This is often the case in books set in unusual, exotic or challenging
locations such as snowy Himalayan mountains, lush islands or brutal desert
climates. If the setting is going to bear dramatically on the characters and
the plot, then there is every reason to let it lead into the scene that will
follow.
John
Fowles’ novel The Magus is set mostly on a
Greek island that leaves an indelible imprint on the main character, Nicholas.
He becomes involved with an eccentric man whose isolated villa in the Greek
countryside becomes the stage upon which the major drama of the novel unfolds.
Therefore, it makes sense for him to launch a scene in this manner:
It
was a Sunday in late May, blue as a bird’s wing. I climbed up the goat-paths to
the island’s ridge-back, from where the green froth of the pine-tops rolled two
miles down to the coast. The sea stretched like a silk carpet across to the
shadowy wall of mountains on the mainland to the west. … It was an azure world,
stupendously pure, and as always when I stood on the central ridge of the
island and saw it before me, I forgot most of my troubles.
The
reader needs to be able to see in detail the empty Greek countryside in which
Nicholas becomes so isolated. It sets the scene for something beautiful and
strange to happen, and Fowles does not disappoint.
These final three methods
can create an effective scenic launch:
8.
ENGAGE WITH SPECIFIC VISUAL DETAILS.
If your character is deserted on an island, the reader needs to know the lay of
the land. Any fruit trees in sight? What color sand? Are there rocks, shelter
or wild, roaming beasts?
9.
USE SCENERY TO SET THE TONE OF THE SCENE.
Say your scene opens in a jungle where your character is going to face danger;
you can describe the scenery in language that conveys darkness, fear and
mystery.
10.
REFLECT A CHARACTER’S FEELINGS THROUGH SETTING.
Say you have a sad character walking through a residential neighborhood. The
descriptions of the homes can reflect that sadness—houses can be in disrepair,
with rotting wood and untended yards. You can use weather in the same way. A
bright, powerfully sunny day can reflect a mood of great cheer in a character.
Scene
launches happen so quickly and are so soon forgotten that it’s easy to rush
through them, figuring it doesn’t really matter how you get it started. Don’t
fall prey to that thinking. Take your time with each scene launch. Craft it as
carefully and strategically as you would any other aspect of your scene.
Remember that a scene launch is an invitation
to the reader, beckoning him to come further along with you. Make your invitation
as alluring as possible.
This article was written by
Jordan E. Rosenfeld.
