Developing/prepping to write scenes?

[Tanja Milaja]

I want to play around with my process and try new things, see what works and what doesn't.

So, when it's time to write the next scene, what do you do? Do you journal about what you're about to write? Meditate? Collect visual inspiration? Music? Arrange action figures? Or anything else? 

[Daniel]

I've tried all of the things you listed, except the action figures thing. Instead of that, I tend to draw a diagram, which has a similar effect of physically representing the scene, and in some cases, the interactions.

I can't say that one thing works better than any other for me. They all work some of the time not at other times. It depends upon what obstacle my brain has put in front of me for writing the scene. Much of the time I don't have to do anything but start writing because I know what needs to happen next, but occasionally, a complex scene will make me step back and try to get more organized about my approach. That's usually when I put together a scene summary. In Scrivener, I'll use the document notes area to write up a plan for the scene. Here's the template I start with although I don't always fill it out completely:

---

Characters

Description
Beginning:

Middle:

End:

Forward hook:

Rationale

Conflict

Revealed

Behind the Scene

Preparation

Revision Notes

[Victoria]

Having been a pantser for most of my writing life, I fully converted to plotting a couple of years ago and haven't looked back, because I was Very Bad at pantsing. I now make it a rule that I have to write out a detailed, scene-by-scene plan before I'm allowed to start any actual writing.

If I ever do try pantsing again, I'll probably use the 2k to 10k method of scribbling down an outline for the scene before getting started, because that would replicate the benefits I get from plotting: namely, stopping me from getting hopelessly stuck because I don't know where I'm going. Have you ever tried that?

Having said all that, I do actually use music sometimes to prepare for a scene - for instance, if I'm gearing up to write a big breakup scene, I might take care of some chores while listening to some angsty breakup songs to get in the mood. But I'm not sure that that's not procrastination masquerading as preparation!

[Tanja Milaja]

@daniel: Thanks for sharing your template! I especially liked that it included a forward hook.

@victoria: I haven't tried that, it's on my list of things to try though. I do outline and I have a pretty good idea of what each scene will cover. But sometimes it's still a struggle to get it down in words. I want to see if I can find something that helps me visualise the scene better and then transfer that vision on to paper.

[Suzy]

I'm not a bit organised! The scene is usually in my head before I start. Then I write it down and fool around with bits of it before I go on to the next one. No master plan here. I just couldn't do it any other way.

[Quinn Inuit]

Victoria, thanks for posting that. I do something similar, but I'd never really considered the enthusiasm angle before. That's a great way to look at it.

I use this method of outlining from Matt Stone and Trey Parker (I wish I could find a copy of the full lecture to show people).  Before I start a scene, I know how it flows from the previous scene and how it flows into the next scene, as well as what happens in it.  Every 2-4 scenes, the flow is a "but" rather than a "so."  Too many and the reader doesn't have a place to mentally stand and they can't keep track of the narrative, but too few and they start to feel like they always know what's coming.

[Daniel]

Oct 15, 2018 3:58:49 GMT -5 Tanja Milaja said:

@daniel: Thanks for sharing your template! I especially liked that it included a forward hook.

I'm a big fan of the forward hook.

Many readers like to stop their reading session at the end of a scene or chapter. The books that keep me reading until all hours of the night are the ones that keep pulling me forward into the next chapter. I think the forward hook is an important part of that.

[Daniel]

Oct 14, 2018 11:33:18 GMT -5 Tanja Milaja said:

I want to play around with my process and try new things, see what works and what doesn't.

On a more general note, I've come to view my process as a work-in-progress, or perhaps, a "living process." I originally intended to come up with a reliable and consistent system that I could use to help me repeatedly write the best stories I could. I've abandoned that idea as impractical because it assumes that, at some point, I'll know everything about writing that I need to know. Instead, my current process incorporates the things I've learned work best for me so far, and I'm always open to trying new things. I've concluded that a process that isn't a living process is a dead process.

[quinning]

When I think about it I will make a quick list of who is in the scene and then work out what each of their goals, motivation, and conflict is. I find the scenes are stronger if they have conflicting goals.

Rachel Aaron wrote a nice blog post about it. She may have written about it in 2k to 10k as well, but I remember reading the blog post and having a light bulb moment.

thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2016/04/writing-wednesday-gmc-stupidly-simple.html

[reveries]

I am a discovery writer. This will sound weird to those who plan their books in advance, but I delegate the process of inventing the story to my subconscious. My characters hang out down there, deciding what will happen next in the book. The conscious part of me doesn't have the faintest idea what's going on, only discovering the story as I write it. On occasion, my subconscious is feeling generous and gives me a glimpse of how the book will end.

When I get in the proper creative mode during a first draft, this system can work extremely well. As I go to sleep, I remind my subconscious where we are in the story. Next morning the characters start dictating the next scene to me. There is only the slight snag that sometimes my subconscious thinks of such a brilliant idea that it gets overexcited and wakes me up at three o'clock in the morning to tell me all about it.

So I write into the dark and then tidy up the book structure at the end. This system has the disadvantage that I sometimes waste time by writing a chunk of story which is very interesting but doesn't really belong in the book so I throw it away. It has the advantage that I don't take up my time with plotting. It's also true that I'm constantly surprised by the direction the story goes, so the reader is hopefully surprised too.

If I get seriously stuck writing a book then it often means my conscious mind has been interfering with the plot and tried to force the characters into doing something against their nature. I have to go back to the point where the story was working and go forward again allowing the characters to make their own decisions.

[Suzy]

Oct 15, 2018 9:42:11 GMT -5 reveries said:

I am a discovery writer. This will sound weird to those who plan their books in advance, but I delegate the process of inventing the story to my subconscious. My characters hang out down there, deciding what will happen next in the book. The conscious part of me doesn't have the faintest idea what's going on, only discovering the story as I write it. On occasion, my subconscious is feeling generous and gives me a glimpse of how the book will end.

When I get in the proper creative mode during a first draft, this system can work extremely well. As I go to sleep, I remind my subconscious where we are in the story. Next morning the characters start dictating the next scene to me. There is only the slight snag that sometimes my subconscious thinks of such a brilliant idea that it gets overexcited and wakes me up at three o'clock in the morning to tell me all about it.

So I write into the dark and then tidy up the book structure at the end. This system has the disadvantage that I sometimes waste time by writing a chunk of story which is very interesting but doesn't really belong in the book so I throw it away. It has the advantage that I don't take up my time with plotting. It's also true that I'm constantly surprised by the direction the story goes, so the reader is hopefully surprised too.

If I get seriously stuck writing a book then it often means my conscious mind has been interfering with the plot and tried to force the characters into doing something against their nature. I have to go back to the point where the story was working and go forward again allowing the characters to make their own decisions.

That sounds very much like me! I think working like this also produces a lot of material that you can then sort out and use in all kinds of ways.

[Miss Terri Novelle]

My process is such a work in progress it's hard to lay it out. I started out without any process at all, just totally pantsing it. But really, I did sort of have a process that began with building my characters. Not on paper, not with exhaustive written outlines of what they looked like, or their past. Just in my head.

Then I put my main character into a situation that she wasn't comfortable with and the story evolved into a series. I got stuck a few times and maybe went off on a tangent, but people liked the books because they liked the characters.

Then I started writing with my daughter and pantsing was no longer an option, so we took up the idea of plotting. The problem was, we went at it from the story perspective as opposed to the character building one and it's taken us some time to figure out a better way. So now, we're building our characters first, storyline second. We write in Scrivener, so we make liberal use of the notecards feature, but we also added a corresponding set of documents with the notes for each scene. What happens, why it matters, how does it move the internal story forward, how does it move the external. The other thing we have been trying to include is the concept of the four outcomes.

Every scene asks a question that has one of four answers: Yes. No. Yes, but. Or no, and furthermore.
Yes and no are fairly cut and dried and can be story stoppers. Yes, but is good because sometimes our characters need to get what they wanted and then find out it comes with a price. Most of the time, we shoot for no, and furthermore because that creates a dynamic in the story.

There's a balance we're trying to find between having enough structure but leaving room for creativity. For falling into the story and letting it build organically but not going off book so far we get stuck and set up problems for further down the series.

In terms of writing rituals...those things I do to get my head in the writing space. It depends on the weather and the time of year. I tend to write more in the evening in the summer because I like to be outside on nice days. I've tried music, but I can't write with it playing, though I do use it to get in the mood for a particular character. For instance, the song Oh Lord by In This Moment is the theme for my MC in the book I'm currently writing. I'll listen to it before I start writing to get into her skin.

I've also had TV on during certain books. I played reruns of Gilmore Girls while I wrote some of my first series just because the dialog in that show runs at a fast pace and I wanted to have that cadence in my head.

Not sure if any of that helps.

Writing on my own, not co-authoring, I do things a bit more like I did with my original series. I have a firm idea of the ending and the beginning and a few key scenes I know have to happen. Plus my characters have to be real people in my head. The rest evolves as they work from point A to point Z. So pantsed, but not totally.

[scdaffron]

My process is somewhat similar to Laura's in that I start with the characters. I create character sheets in Scrivener that have information like what they do for a living, what they look like, and whatever Myer's Brigg type I've selected for them. If I can figure it out, I also determine the back-story, goal, motivation, and conflict for major characters. (Sometimes I do that after I've started writing.)

Then I have a 50-scene table that I created in Word. I brainstorm what's gonna happen in the story on paper first, then transfer it into a Scrivener template. The scenes are usually a phrase like, "Carly goes to Post Office," so, uh, not exactly detailed. If it's too detailed, the writing is less fun. (Probably my inner pantser is trying to assert itself.) Mostly I use the scene framework so while I'm writing, I don't get lost in the weeds structure-wise and so I remember what has happened and what's going to happen. I wish I were one of those people that could keep an entire book in my head, but sadly, I'm not

[Quinn Inuit]

BW: I watched a bit of the MV for that song. It seemed like the sort of thing you'd see right before the crazy cultists swarm out and make your life unpleasant. Yikes.

Susan: based on what you've described, you might find these threads I started over at AW interesting:
absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?303060-Game-What-the-Heart-would-say
absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?312439-What-s-your-character-s-greatest-fear

[Miss Terri Novelle]

Well, the video isn't indicative of my character, but she's in a bit of a dark place at the moment, so the song works for giving me the feel of her.

[elephantsbookshelf]

Oct 15, 2018 5:42:08 GMT -5 Quinn Inuit said:

Victoria, thanks for posting that. I do something similar, but I'd never really considered the enthusiasm angle before. That's a great way to look at it.

I use this method of outlining from Matt Stone and Trey Parker (I wish I could find a copy of the full lecture to show people).  Before I start a scene, I know how it flows from the previous scene and how it flows into the next scene, as well as what happens in it.  Every 2-4 scenes, the flow is a "but" rather than a "so."  Too many and the reader doesn't have a place to mentally stand and they can't keep track of the narrative, but too few and they start to feel like they always know what's coming.

I've seen the full video of that, so it at least used to exist on YouTube somewhere. But FWIW, that segment is the most important part of that video. I've actually been trying to find that again, so I'm really glad you put that there.

The key to their approach is to avoid the "And then..." and replace it with "therefore" or "But."