by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell
Some years ago I make a list of the things I wanted front-of-mind as I wrote. Here is that list, with some added commentary.
EMOTION! That’s what your readers want! YOU must be moved in order to move your readers. WRITE WITH EMOTION!
One of the first truths about writing fiction I picked up from Sol Stein. He emphasized that the best fiction was first and foremost an emotional experience. You can have a clever plot with all sorts of twists and turns, but if the readers don’t care about the characters emotionally, it’s all for naught.
One of the things I do before I write a scene is get myself into the mood of the scene. The best way for me to do this is listen to music. I have several playlists made up mainly of movie soundtracks. If I’m going to write suspense, I’ll put on some Bernard Herrmann (Hitchcock’s favorite). If it’s deeply felt emotion in the character, I’ll choose something another movie, like A River Runs Through It or October Sky. And so on.
Better to put too much emotion in first draft, and cut back, than not enough and puff up.
Further, if I really want to capture strong emotion, I’ll open up a fresh doc and just write intensely and fast, forgetting grammar, sometimes producing a page-long sentence. Then I sit back and choose the best nuggets. Sometimes it’s only one line, but it’s one I wouldn’t have come up with without overwriting.
Major in conflict: Physical and emotional.
We all know conflict is the engine of fiction. This is just a reminder to keep piling on the trouble.
Always write lists of possibilities. Search for originality.
When it comes to making a choice of where to go in a scene or how to describe something, I’ll make a quick list of possibilities, pushing myself to avoid the clichés and stereotypes. It doesn’t take long to do this and the payoff is well worth it.
Write with eyes closed for description.
Before describing a location, I’ll close my eyes and let my imagination roam around like a movie camera. What is it showing me? I keep looking for original items. One “telling detail” is better than a dozen standard images.
Unanticipate. What would readers expect? Don’t give it to them.
Be aware of what the average reader might think will happen next. Then don’t do that thing!
STAY LOOSE! Always be learning the craft, but when you write, write fast and loose. Like Fast Eddie Felson plays pool.
You all know I believe in craft study. I credit it for my initial breakthrough and whatever success I’ve managed to have. But when I’m doing the writing itself, I don’t think about anything other than the emotion and conflict in front of me. Fast Eddie Felson is the character Paul Newman plays in one of the great American movies, The Hustler. When he has his big showdown with Minnesota Fats, which comes at a great personal cost, he says he’s not going to play it safe anymore. “Fast and loose,” he says, and proceeds to run the table.
When in doubt, freak the character out.
This is sort of a corollary of that famous Raymond Chandler idea that when you don’t know what to do next, bring in a guy with a gun. Do something that rattles the character’s world, turns things upside down.
Start a scene a bit later. End it a bit sooner.
This works wonders for readability and page-turning. Look at your chapter openings, and see if you can jump into the scene a beat or two later. Instead of setting up with description, give us dialogue and action. You can always drop back and describe later.
Then look at your chapter endings. See if you can cut the last line or two, or even paragraph. The feeling of momentum will prompt the reader to keep going.
Showing two conflicting emotions in a character heightens the tension and deepens the scene.
Often we give a character an emotional response that is rather predictable. Not that it is necessarily wrong. But, as with unanticipation, try to work in another emotion, unexpected and in conflict with the first. Readers are really drawn to emotional cross-currents. You will create a moment that is highly original.
SUES: Something unexpected in every scene, even if it’s just one line of odd dialogue.
Again, what makes for a boring or forgettable fiction experience? It’s when a reader subconsciously guesses what will happen next…and it does.
But when they are surprised, their interest skyrockets.
You can find a spot in every scene to drop in something they don’t see coming.
One of my favorite ways is to have a character say something that seems so off the wall that it doesn’t fit, then find a way to have it make sense.
There you have it. My favorite reminders. What about you? What would you add to this list?
I’m very systematic with my preparation for a scene. I have detailed checklists, a conflict-opportunities list with 14 kinds of conflicts (my interpretation of a chapter in Maass’ The Fire in Fiction), and places for everything as I figure out such details as FIRST LINE and LAST LINE and turning points.
Most of these come from craft books, and it’s the subset I’ve committed to over 23 years.
One of these is mine: “Hardest part: What is MY biggest obstacle to writing THIS scene?” It has led to some amazing insights and illumination thrown into blind spots, critical flaws, and unique abilities.
Here’s a sample from a critical scene: Kary has to turn down an offer from Andrew she would kill to accept – without hurting his feelings, or ruining their friendship.
“Hardest part: What is my biggest obstacle to writing this scene? Making it good. Making the reader go along with Kary’s ethics, feel her pain, not have a solution.
And the next hardest part will be somehow making Andrew’s offer seem natural and right in his eyes – instead of the huge insult it really is.”
By taking each point which may affect the scene separately, and deciding what I’m aiming for before writing, when I get to the writing point the DECISIONS are already made, and I’m choosing language, affect, choreography, specific dialogue – but I can measure each of the choices I will make against the written aims – and see if I’ve hit them. It’s a fractal way of preparing at different levels, because I can’t hold it all in my head. Like planning a party, setting up the venue and making sure everything on the list is ready to be deployed and we haven’t forgotten the ice.
I like your metaphor of planning a party, Alicia. Make sure the most antagonistic guests get seated next to each other…and have some drinks…a few too many…and…
That’s one of my favorite parts: checking every one of Maass’ 14 sources of microtension, and giving as many as possible of them a place in the scene. A word here, a noun choice there…
The, ah, tension has been commented upon by my reviewers.
Finish what you start.
Heinlein’s Rule #2. Rule #1 is: You must write.
They work.
Excellent, JSB. I’ve used the imaginary camera trick to ensure setting is revealed in some logical order. Not much to add–you can only keep a few desiderata in mind at one time. Maybe a few lesser points:
❦ Avoid sit-down settings that impede action; e.g., don’t put the story in a restaurant or bar.
❦ Increase the stakes to add tension,
❦ Add a “ticking clock.” Make time important.
❦ Every character must want something.
Good list, J. I do have sit down and eat scenes sometimes, and wrote a post about how to insert conflict.
https://killzoneblog.com/2016/07/how-to-write-eating-scene.html
Excellent list, Jim. I love the term “unanticipate.”
What is the worst thing that can happen next? Make it happen.
When you’re stuck about what the protagonist should do, check in with the antagonist. What are they doing now? How can they further impede the protag’s progress? Even if the antag is not seen onstage by the reader, behind the scenes, they are still planning and acting to achieve their own goals which disrupt the protag’s goals. This is sometimes called the “shadow story.”
Yes, Debbie, my term is “shadow story” and it is really one of the great plotting tools! I put in several “Offscreen” index cards in Scrivener.
I thought that shadow story term came from you!
Be true to your characters.
“Be true to your teeth, and they’ll never be false to you.” – Soupy Sales
Love the posts and comments. This is the best teaching blog anywhere!
Sometimes make the character choose between two good things.
Patricia, that’s an interesting take on the “dilemma” (which is a choice between two bad things). A good choice could work if it leads to bad consequences. I think of Kimble choosing to save a child on a gurney, at the cost of being found out and having to flee.
All excellent reminders, Jim. Never heard of the acronym SUES, but I like it. 😉 This post also fits perfectly with mine (tomorrow).
I’ll add…
Write like no one’s watching… because no one’s watching. This simple reminder frees us from overthinking and self-doubt. Meaning, get out of your own way.
“Get out of your own way.” That’s an important one.
“Write like no one is watching, because no one is watching” is absolutely brilliant, Sue. I’m certainly my own biggest obstacle.
Thanks, Dale! You’re not alone. We all create obstacles for no good reason. Seems to be a writer trait. I’ll have tips for you tomorrow!
Absolutely, Sue.
“Write like there’s no tomorrow. Edit tomorrow.”
Wonderful list, Jim. Thanks!
The new item I’ve added to my list is along the lines of Debbie’s comment on the “shadow story.” I’m trying to constantly keep in mind what the antagonist is doing or how s/he will respond to what the protagonist does.
That almost writes the plot fo you, Steve. Truly!
Terrific list of very helpful reminders, Jim. Dialing up the emotion in first draft is something that my late friend and collaborator K.C. Ball advised me to do as well, and it’s an excellent reminder. As you note, you can always dial it back in revision.
Reminders for me: What tone in the narrative works best here? How would this sound (dialog or internal narrative) more like my character?
Yes, Dale, the whole idea of voice…which should, IMO, be the voice of whatever character has the viewpoint in a scene. Elmore Leonard was a master at that.
Another keeper, Jim!
🙂
Welcome to it, Deb!
Wonderful list, Jim. Thanks.
I like the term “write fast and loose” for the first draft. That opens the creative door wider for me. Once I get past the first draft and begin revising, I like to look at the manuscript as a whole and ask myself if the ebb and flow of the story works. Will the reader react to each scene the way I want them to.
I’m increasingly drawn to humor as a way surprise the reader.
I absolutely love comic relief in a thriller or mystery, Kay. Hitchcock was a master at it. Have you seen Shadow of a Doubt?
I don’t recall ever seeing “Shadow of a Doubt,” but it’s on my list now!
You’ll love the two characters who are mystery fans arguing about the best ways to murder someone.
Good list, Jim, and I completely agree about the emotion in storytelling. I stopped watching a “critically acclaimed” movie because the protagonist was so unemotional, I didn’t care what happened to her.
I’d add a reminder about goals: What does your main character want? Does this chapter help them achieve it? Does it move the plot forward?
That’s a fantastic reminder, Elaine. First thing I do before writing a scene is determine, Objective, followed by Obstacles and then Outcome (usually a setback, but if it’s a victory it leads to more trouble!)