Chesterama posted a link describing scene and sequel in another post:
Writing The Perfect Scene: Advanced Fiction Writing Tips
It was a good reminder for me, and looking back in my very horrible first draft I see some places where I definitely needed to add in some disasters lol.
But, I got this idea, and it is probably not super brilliant... In fact, I'm probably a total idiot for not thinking of it sooner, but I thought I would share anyway just on the off chance there is anyone else here who didn't think of it
Ok, so based on scene/sequel the scene must end in a disaster, or else the reader will get bored and turn the light out and go to sleep. If you make things too easy and the sequence goes like:
Goal
Obstacles
Success!
Then that is boring. Success shouldn't come until the end.
So then I was thinking, but wait, what if they need to get the magical amulet half way through the story in order to move the story forward? What if they can't do the next thing in the plot without the magical amulet? Boo to you Scene/Sequel.
But then I started thinking, what if I (the ever clever and brilliant author) made getting the amulet appear to be a disaster? What if I set up the scene so that the team started out searching for something else, like the princess, or a magical headband, or a fortune telling rabbit, and they failed in that quest, ending up with this dumb amulet? Oh! The Horror! The devastation!
But wait... Oh... is this amulet more than it seems?
Lo and behold it was what they needed all along!
Reader: Ohhhh, clever writer. You set it all up so it would appear like it was a disaster when really it wasn't.
So, that was my idea re: messing with the reader in terms of scene and sequel. Make it appear like it is a disaster, even if it isn't.
Thoughts on this?
Writing The Perfect Scene: Advanced Fiction Writing Tips
It was a good reminder for me, and looking back in my very horrible first draft I see some places where I definitely needed to add in some disasters lol.
But, I got this idea, and it is probably not super brilliant... In fact, I'm probably a total idiot for not thinking of it sooner, but I thought I would share anyway just on the off chance there is anyone else here who didn't think of it
Ok, so based on scene/sequel the scene must end in a disaster, or else the reader will get bored and turn the light out and go to sleep. If you make things too easy and the sequence goes like:
Goal
Obstacles
Success!
Then that is boring. Success shouldn't come until the end.
So then I was thinking, but wait, what if they need to get the magical amulet half way through the story in order to move the story forward? What if they can't do the next thing in the plot without the magical amulet? Boo to you Scene/Sequel.
But then I started thinking, what if I (the ever clever and brilliant author) made getting the amulet appear to be a disaster? What if I set up the scene so that the team started out searching for something else, like the princess, or a magical headband, or a fortune telling rabbit, and they failed in that quest, ending up with this dumb amulet? Oh! The Horror! The devastation!
But wait... Oh... is this amulet more than it seems?
Lo and behold it was what they needed all along!
Reader: Ohhhh, clever writer. You set it all up so it would appear like it was a disaster when really it wasn't.
So, that was my idea re: messing with the reader in terms of scene and sequel. Make it appear like it is a disaster, even if it isn't.
Thoughts on this?