Hello scribes. We were talking briefly about...well...menstruation, but that's not where we left off. Someone infiltrated the game of telephone and messed up the original message. (Okay, it was me)
The conversation turned south with the mention of lice (by the way, there are three different kinds of lice humans can host. The common clothes lice, head lice, and the one related closely to gorilla lice--pubic lice. Weird there are three distinctive types and they only dwell in/ on their preferred...er...thing). Anyways, so I mentioned a scene I wrote where the pests were discussed, in clear but non-explicit detail--casually, like friends. Anyways, this brought up the interesting subject of vehicles. So here I go:
I'm no writing instructor of any sort. (and any other disclaimer I need to insert) Read at your own risk!
So any scene you write ought to have a goal.
You want to write characters having breakfast so you can show the interesting cuisine of your elf town? That's not a goal. That's an amusing tidbit. But that tidbit need not be cut for its lacking plot importance, right? So it becomes part of the vehicle.
The vehicle is HOW you accomplish the GOAL of the scene.
Here's a brief post that I mentioned this in before (in the second post down): http://mythicscribes.com/forums/writing-questions/11551-show-dont-tell-2.html?highlight=cedrick
Anyways, imagine your story needs a certain thing. Maybe you need to have the MC find out a bit of information. That's kinda what my example in that link was about. So you jot down a few ways he can find the information.
My point is, there's always more than one way to accomplish a goal. Sometimes scenes have a single goal (the discovery of information pertinent to the larger plot) and sometimes they have several goals (show the MC distrusts his friend, show how the friendship is fragile, and separate the characters...or whatever).
The strongest scenes you can write will do the heavy lifting. They will progress the plot, portray the character in a meaningful way to the reader, and immerse the reader more into the situation/ setting/ scene. To accomplish the heavy work, planning a scene is critical. Just as selecting the right kind of vehicle for your needs is critical. I'm not talking about a 4-door sedan vs. a 2-door coupe here. I'm talking about broader concepts. Clown cars of comedy and whimsy, Mack trucks that slam into the character in a manner of speaking. Make as many analogies as you need to.
My point again (because I always feel as though I've strayed from an initial concept that's so simple yet draws me out into a world of surreal strategies), is that the vehicle of the scene's goal is important.
If you have a simple scene goal, keep the vehicle simple. It can be funny without pulling out the foam noses and over-sized rubber shoes of silliness. It can be tense without shattering your character with the impact of a diesel monster. But the vehicle should be considered compared to the ultimate goal.
Put plainly, a story that is too "this happens, then this thing happens, then they run into a..." bores readers to tears. It can lack excitement, immersion, and connection because readers crave the unusual, the surprising, and the clever little details that set one work apart from others.
Okay, so we talked about lice in the other thread. I don't even know why or how I decided to write it that way, but for me, it was a simple comparison. One character compared to the other, over a silly, probably stupid topic--how they felt about bodily pests. For one, it was a fact of life, and for the other it was a disgusting notion, one that probably made her wish she hadn't been in bed with him the previous night. HA! I still think it's funny. I can't help myself. Sometimes I just have good ideas...
Anyways, when selecting your vehicles for plot/ character development, look at what your goal is. If you're trying to show how two characters don't get along, throw something in that they can whole-heartedly disagree on. If you want to approach from the other side and say, have a real desire to show them having breakfast, consider what can happen during breakfast to accomplish larger goals for the story or its message. Can someone interrupt the characters and flirt with one of them, inciting jealousy? Can someone be robbed at knife point and the other doesn't notice until he returns from the privy? There are tons of possibilities out there and every one of them is a slightly different vehicle.
The more committed your writing, the stronger an impact it has upon a reader. The clearer you select your vehicle and write with intent, the better your goals will resonate with the reader.
I hope my random rant for today is helpful. I'd like to hear what you guys think about scene-writing and scene goals. Do you start with a goal and let it form your scene or do you write the scene and try to edit in the strength goals provide? It's an interesting conundrum, when and how to decide which scenes "work" and which don't.
Best wishes!
The conversation turned south with the mention of lice (by the way, there are three different kinds of lice humans can host. The common clothes lice, head lice, and the one related closely to gorilla lice--pubic lice. Weird there are three distinctive types and they only dwell in/ on their preferred...er...thing). Anyways, so I mentioned a scene I wrote where the pests were discussed, in clear but non-explicit detail--casually, like friends. Anyways, this brought up the interesting subject of vehicles. So here I go:
I'm no writing instructor of any sort. (and any other disclaimer I need to insert) Read at your own risk!
So any scene you write ought to have a goal.
You want to write characters having breakfast so you can show the interesting cuisine of your elf town? That's not a goal. That's an amusing tidbit. But that tidbit need not be cut for its lacking plot importance, right? So it becomes part of the vehicle.
The vehicle is HOW you accomplish the GOAL of the scene.
Here's a brief post that I mentioned this in before (in the second post down): http://mythicscribes.com/forums/writing-questions/11551-show-dont-tell-2.html?highlight=cedrick
Anyways, imagine your story needs a certain thing. Maybe you need to have the MC find out a bit of information. That's kinda what my example in that link was about. So you jot down a few ways he can find the information.
- he can overhear people talking about it
- some sort of obstacle can bring it to his attention
- he can blunder upon it
- some secondary character can pull his weight by introducing the subject.
My point is, there's always more than one way to accomplish a goal. Sometimes scenes have a single goal (the discovery of information pertinent to the larger plot) and sometimes they have several goals (show the MC distrusts his friend, show how the friendship is fragile, and separate the characters...or whatever).
The strongest scenes you can write will do the heavy lifting. They will progress the plot, portray the character in a meaningful way to the reader, and immerse the reader more into the situation/ setting/ scene. To accomplish the heavy work, planning a scene is critical. Just as selecting the right kind of vehicle for your needs is critical. I'm not talking about a 4-door sedan vs. a 2-door coupe here. I'm talking about broader concepts. Clown cars of comedy and whimsy, Mack trucks that slam into the character in a manner of speaking. Make as many analogies as you need to.
My point again (because I always feel as though I've strayed from an initial concept that's so simple yet draws me out into a world of surreal strategies), is that the vehicle of the scene's goal is important.
If you have a simple scene goal, keep the vehicle simple. It can be funny without pulling out the foam noses and over-sized rubber shoes of silliness. It can be tense without shattering your character with the impact of a diesel monster. But the vehicle should be considered compared to the ultimate goal.
Put plainly, a story that is too "this happens, then this thing happens, then they run into a..." bores readers to tears. It can lack excitement, immersion, and connection because readers crave the unusual, the surprising, and the clever little details that set one work apart from others.
Okay, so we talked about lice in the other thread. I don't even know why or how I decided to write it that way, but for me, it was a simple comparison. One character compared to the other, over a silly, probably stupid topic--how they felt about bodily pests. For one, it was a fact of life, and for the other it was a disgusting notion, one that probably made her wish she hadn't been in bed with him the previous night. HA! I still think it's funny. I can't help myself. Sometimes I just have good ideas...
Anyways, when selecting your vehicles for plot/ character development, look at what your goal is. If you're trying to show how two characters don't get along, throw something in that they can whole-heartedly disagree on. If you want to approach from the other side and say, have a real desire to show them having breakfast, consider what can happen during breakfast to accomplish larger goals for the story or its message. Can someone interrupt the characters and flirt with one of them, inciting jealousy? Can someone be robbed at knife point and the other doesn't notice until he returns from the privy? There are tons of possibilities out there and every one of them is a slightly different vehicle.
The more committed your writing, the stronger an impact it has upon a reader. The clearer you select your vehicle and write with intent, the better your goals will resonate with the reader.
I hope my random rant for today is helpful. I'd like to hear what you guys think about scene-writing and scene goals. Do you start with a goal and let it form your scene or do you write the scene and try to edit in the strength goals provide? It's an interesting conundrum, when and how to decide which scenes "work" and which don't.
Best wishes!
Sage