Some writerly notes...
Mar. 29th, 2006 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsAn acquaintace of mine asked to see my craft notes. Here are a few.
A beat is something other than the word "said" that indicates which character is speaking. This "something other" is usually an action that helps establish the speaking character in place and performing an action: behind a desk toying with a pencil, sitting in tall grass turning pages, or lying in bed and stroking a lover's back. The pace of beats is one of the hardest things in writing to master: David Weber had it, then lost it, during the course of his career. He seems to be getting it back.
A coin is a moment in a book that rewards the reader for reading this far. It is usually a beat, and it may have little to do with the current plot, but it provides the reader with a small thrill, smile, laugh, or shock. It lets the reader know that you can evoke those emotions, and that you can do it again.
A scene presents a conflict for the protagonist in more or less continuous time that ends with the character having resolved the minor conflict only to have precipitated a major one. Frequently, the resolution will result in the character adopting a change in his or her values: determined to unsure, faithful to unfaithful, or (most drastically) threatened with death to assured of life.
A sequence can be anywhere from three to ten scenes long and ends with a dramatic scene that has a stronger impact. A sequence layers knowledge onto the reader until that last piece of knowledge is put into place: this is known as the payoff. A sequence is usually associated with a chapter.
A conflict is the context in which the character is confronted with a challenge to his values. The plot is the writer's choice of events and the series in time and place by which the conflict is resolved.
A story is a series of sequences, each of which adds a layer, that builds to the ultimate payoff, also known as the climax of the story. After the climax, the character has experienced irreversable and profound change.
A story starts with a precipitating scene, in which a character is confronted with something that challenges his or her view of the world. This difference between the character's expectations and reality is called the gap. The story doesn't really start moving until the character tries by actions familiar to him to close the gap, and instead reality responds by the widened gap. This is the inciting scene, after which the protagonist's life is radically upset and the protagonist must react.
A fishhead is any writing the writer does up until the precipitating scene. Writers often write fishheads to establish character, background, and setting, but none of these grab the reader's interest the way conflict does: therefore, once written, chop off everything prior to the precipitating event: your story proceeds from that moment. The fishhead is useful: it helped the writer get going, and details within it may be important. The writer should consider sprinkling them through the story later as they are needed, after he has seduced the reader into continuing.
A subplot must either enrich the theme of the main plot to present variations that illustrate the theme, or they contradict that theme to provide irony and contrast. Anything else is a different story that deserves attention otherwise. (Man I am so guilty of blowing this one.)
And finally, words of wisdom: If the scene is about what the scene is about, it's crap. Scenes in which no character has a hidden agenda, and either makes no steps closer nor is pushed away to acheiving it, are death to your prose.
A beat is something other than the word "said" that indicates which character is speaking. This "something other" is usually an action that helps establish the speaking character in place and performing an action: behind a desk toying with a pencil, sitting in tall grass turning pages, or lying in bed and stroking a lover's back. The pace of beats is one of the hardest things in writing to master: David Weber had it, then lost it, during the course of his career. He seems to be getting it back.
A coin is a moment in a book that rewards the reader for reading this far. It is usually a beat, and it may have little to do with the current plot, but it provides the reader with a small thrill, smile, laugh, or shock. It lets the reader know that you can evoke those emotions, and that you can do it again.
A scene presents a conflict for the protagonist in more or less continuous time that ends with the character having resolved the minor conflict only to have precipitated a major one. Frequently, the resolution will result in the character adopting a change in his or her values: determined to unsure, faithful to unfaithful, or (most drastically) threatened with death to assured of life.
A sequence can be anywhere from three to ten scenes long and ends with a dramatic scene that has a stronger impact. A sequence layers knowledge onto the reader until that last piece of knowledge is put into place: this is known as the payoff. A sequence is usually associated with a chapter.
A conflict is the context in which the character is confronted with a challenge to his values. The plot is the writer's choice of events and the series in time and place by which the conflict is resolved.
A story is a series of sequences, each of which adds a layer, that builds to the ultimate payoff, also known as the climax of the story. After the climax, the character has experienced irreversable and profound change.
A story starts with a precipitating scene, in which a character is confronted with something that challenges his or her view of the world. This difference between the character's expectations and reality is called the gap. The story doesn't really start moving until the character tries by actions familiar to him to close the gap, and instead reality responds by the widened gap. This is the inciting scene, after which the protagonist's life is radically upset and the protagonist must react.
A fishhead is any writing the writer does up until the precipitating scene. Writers often write fishheads to establish character, background, and setting, but none of these grab the reader's interest the way conflict does: therefore, once written, chop off everything prior to the precipitating event: your story proceeds from that moment. The fishhead is useful: it helped the writer get going, and details within it may be important. The writer should consider sprinkling them through the story later as they are needed, after he has seduced the reader into continuing.
A subplot must either enrich the theme of the main plot to present variations that illustrate the theme, or they contradict that theme to provide irony and contrast. Anything else is a different story that deserves attention otherwise. (Man I am so guilty of blowing this one.)
And finally, words of wisdom: If the scene is about what the scene is about, it's crap. Scenes in which no character has a hidden agenda, and either makes no steps closer nor is pushed away to acheiving it, are death to your prose.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-30 08:14 am (UTC)Poems are much easier.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-30 02:39 pm (UTC)My writing is character/dialogue-driven, and I think of it as "putting people in a room." This can actually be one person and their thoughts, and it can certainly be outdoors. But I just assemble them and watch them go. Add or subtract other characters as needed. Eliminate what I think of as "grocery shopping," that is the mundane actions that don't reveal character or add anything of interest, no matter how realistic they are. Divide into serving portions of chapters when necessary. Heat (edit) and serve.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-31 12:03 am (UTC)The notes I posted are the tools for analyzing what I've written, figuring out what to extract, what to re-arrange, re-write, and so on. Eventually, I have as story rather than an anecdote; the distinction is essential to both the romantic and adventuresome parts of my tales.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-31 03:59 am (UTC)I don't think I've submitted anything for actual public consumption since High School. Not real sure yet how much work I want to put into getting back to my writing, but I do at least want to get into it again for myself. Definitely a different perspective though.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-31 03:52 pm (UTC)I'll confess: most of those are terms-of-art from scriptwriting. "Beat" is an overloaded term: scriptwriters use it to refer to the parts of a script that are not dialogue but describe the action that goes on during an exchange, whereas in fiction a beat is any indicator other than "X said" that indicates who's speaking. "Fishhead" is a common term tossed around Clarion writers; I've never been to Clarion, but so many people I know have that I'm used to it.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-01 08:46 pm (UTC)Thanks Elf. :)