One of the awesomely cool things about taking an online writing course is the
fun new ways you learn about old techniques. I love it when something you
already know clicks in your head because now you fully understand the concept.
And you can point out what you’ve learned in every published book you read.
In
Margie
Lawson’s Deep Editing course, she referred to an article by Randy
Ingermanson (the ‘Snowflake Guy’) called,
“Writing the Perfect
Scene.” The sad part is I read this article a loooong time ago, but none of
it clicked for some reason. So Margie shared this article and added her thoughts
because it truly was the best way to understand both Scene and Sequel and
Motivation Reaction Units (which I’ll cover next week)…and I got it!
As Randy states, a scene has a large-scale structure and a small-scale
structure. The large-scale structure is Scene and Sequel; small-scale is
Motivation Reaction Units.
And here’s how I broke it all down in my head to where it clicked:
Scene
In this sense, scene can also be understood as the stimulus. You open the
scene stating the
goal of the character. Then you create a
conflict that keeps the character from obtaining it. Then the fun part
comes: the
disaster of being unable to reach said goal.
Easy enough, right?
I know it sounds easy, but pinpointing this in every single scene? Not so
easy sometimes. There are some scenes where the goal isn’t obvious or clear to
the reader. Or maybe there really isn’t a conflict there and the character goes
straight from goal to disaster.
But as Randy states, your character has to have a
goal at the helm of
every scene. If they don’t have a
goal then they’re simply sitting there
twiddling their thumbs waiting for something to happen to them. With a
goal they – and the reader – have a clear understanding of what they want
so they’ll go after it. And the fun of fiction as a writer is throwing
conflict their way. *evil grin* We think of everything possible to plant
in front of them, to slow them down, which is great – and also known as
disaster. This keeps the reader intrigued and ups the tension (yay!).
The best way I understood Scene was to insert myself as the character. I want
to be a published author (
goal). But I have to learn how to write
compelling stories with knock-it-out-of-the-park plots, but it’s hard to do that
when life either gets in the way or a character(s) won’t cooperate, or the muse
is nowhere to be found (
conflict). Then…
disaster strikes! My
computer goes kaput, or the plot goes to hell…or maybe I reply to MS requests
and get rejections (we all know rejections can feel like disaster).
Sequel
Sequel is parallel to response. You’ve written your scene where your
character has a clear goal, he’s going for it then gets shot down, pushed
around, and trampled on by a herd of wild banshees (great visual, huh?).
Now it’s time for the character to
react to the disaster, face the
dilemma ahead of him, and make a
decision that’ll allow the story
to move forward.
Again, easy enough, right?
But sometimes we miss ensuring each step is represented in the sequel. We’ll
have the character react but then he’ll follow that up in a quick manner with a
decision. Or maybe we’ll have him look at the dilemma and make a decision but
forgot to include his reaction.
This is where the tried and true advice of Randy comes into play. Sequels
must have all three of these elements in order for them to work. No exceptions.
Period.
In life when we’re working toward something we desperately want and get hit
so hard it puts a kink in those plans, we react. We cry, scream, steam, stew,
stomp, bang our heads against the wall, and sometimes threaten the worst on
whatever caused the set back.
So why wouldn’t our characters do the same?
Once we’re done having a
reaction, we sit back down, face the
dilemma head-on, then finally come to a
decision that will clear
the path to getting what we ultimately want…once again.
Again, this can be compared to the life of a writer. We’ve gotten tons of
rejections which feel like a disaster. So we
react by crying, screaming,
etc., etc. Then we face our
dilemma: one of the rejections suggested
revising a core element of our MS, so now we’re faced with the
decision
to change it and resubmit the query, or move on and query more agents.
I had a huge “A-ha!” moment when I got to this section in the lectures. Then
I got another one when both Margie and Randy explained Motivation Reaction Units
(MRU) as the small-scale structure of a scene.
This is what a novel is! It’s going from scene and sequel, over and over and
over again until the character
finally arrives at their ultimate goal.
Yes, I knew the overall plot of a story was to get a character from point A to
point B, and that they needed to face a series of obstacles throughout that
journey. But the problem not only lies in getting the character there. It also
lies with ensuring each and every scene has a goal, conflict or disaster
followed by a reaction, dilemma and decision.
I think sometimes when we’re in the midst of writing that first draft, we
just write, write, write until the bare bones are on the screen. Then it’s
difficult when we go back and edit because we just can’t figure out why a scene
isn’t working. And most times we’ve been told it’s the plot that’s causing a
scene not to cooperate – which is true. But a way to examine this theory is to look
for the Scene and Sequel, then check for the Motivation Reaction Units.
By having these points written on an index card
and sitting on my
desk, I’m constantly reminded as I write and/or edit that if I look for
these elements – or include them as I’m drafting – my path to getting my WIP
polished will be brighter and provide me the much-needed jolt of excitement that
says, “You can do this! It’s all right there, you just have to pull it out and
make it obvious!”
And the best part of having these elements in your WIP? If they’re there, in
the right order, you’ve helped eliminate the telling…and brought on the showing.
:)
HUGE kudos to both Margie and Randy for their genius in helping this
finally sink in and stick!
Can you easily pinpoint these elements in your WIP? What other advice have
you read or can share on the structure of a scene? Have you had any “A-ha!”
writing moments recently? Were they during the plotting, writing or editing
phase?
