Fiction

Starting A Novel Scene

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

This week I’ve been thinking about starting points. On Monday, I blogged about when to begin your novel. But what about a scene?

Once you’ve decided when to start your scene, as in before the action, in the middle of the action, or after then action, what about how to start your scene?

There are different ways to do this. These include with:

  • Action
  • Dialogue
  • Thought
  • Narrative

To choose which one, I think about what I want to accomplish with the scene, what happened in the previous scene, and what’s going to happen in the next scene.

For example, if the previous scene was high on action, I might want to start the current scene with narrative, perhaps describing where the POV character is. This slows the story and gives the reader a break.

When a first draft is complete, the next step is to check whether the scenes begin in different ways. If all the scenes start with dialogue, the novel might be tedious to read.

As usual, I keep track of scene starts with a column in a spreadsheet. This allows me to quickly glance and check that I haven’t been monotonous.

What’s your method for deciding how to start a scene?

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Before the Story Begins . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

For any author, the starting point of a novel is a big decision. Do you start before the beginning, at the beginning or after the beginning? And how do you decide?

For my fourth novel, Look the Other Way, I’m trying something new. I wrote 20,000 words of the story. With 20,000 words on paper, I have a good idea who the characters are.

The characters come to life, but not fully at this point. Next, I write character synopses that include the basic details, but also the story of the character’s life up to the beginning of the novel. Each synopsis ends up being three to five pages.

The synopsis format is informal. Point form will do. I don’t worry about typos or grammar, but I do get to know my characters.

This process helps me decide where to begin my novel. It’s a creative process. As I write each synopsis, I keep a separate document open that contains plot points or ideas. By the time I have all the synopses written, I have the full novel outline done too.

From this process, I somehow know where the starting point should be and what the inciting incident is. I chose the point that will drive the characters through the story. Too early, and the scene’s aren’t needed. Too late, and an important scene might be excluded.

Next comes scene writing.

Everybody has a different process for writing a novel. What’s yours?

Why is Character Development Important?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

While I spend time in Canada during the summer, I get to watch the news on TV, something that never happens in the Bahamas.

I’ve been watching how friends and family react to news, and I started thinking about character development in a novel and why it’s so important.

Witnessing a car crash, or the aftermath of a car crash, on TV can be upsetting, or make a person sad, but once the clip is over, everyone focuses on the next news clip.

But, what if someone you know is in the car? Then, I think, most people react a little differently. All of sudden, there is a vested interest in the crash. Were the people hurt? Are they in the hospital? Will they recover?

Why? Because you are personally involved.

I find if I can’t put a novel down, it’s usually because I feel like I know the characters and I care about what happens to them. To me, this means the author has done a great job of developing the characters. As a writer, I think it’s important for me to spend time on developing characters. Then maybe I’ll get lucky, and my readers won’t want to put my book down.

Step Away From Your Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writetip

How many times have you heard or read that when you finish your first draft, and I mean a serious draft, that you should put your novel in a drawer for a couple of weeks?

I never understood this until recently. I had three readers commenting on my updated version of The Final Gate.  While they were commenting, I decided to start work on my fourth novel, and leave The Final Gate alone.

Now that I am reviewing their comments and doing the final proofread, I finally get the importance of the advice.

I can see things I hadn’t seen before. Maybe it’s a passage of text that is too earnest, or maybe it’s narrative describing something I’ve already described. Without taking a break, I couldn’t see these things.

Even thought it’s hard to leave something alone that you are passionate about, I am now a believer in “Step Away From Your Novel.”

Write From Experience

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

#writetip

Do you have scenes in your novel that are beyond your experience?

If you do, why not try the things your characters are doing? Everywhere you look, someone writes about writing being lonely. Well, it doesn’t have to be. Writing can be your excuse to be adventurous.

In The Final Gate I have a scene where my main protagonist is in danger while snowshoeing in the mountains. Having spent many hours snowshoeing in steep, rugged terrain, I found it easier to describe than if I’d just read about it.

My husband gets to do all these things in the name of writing a good novel and is happy to pose for a photo.

Starting My Fourth Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

#writing

Novel One, Novel Two, Novel Three . . . Now what?

I’ve eighteen pages of notes on my fourth novel, and it’s time to move location.  Three novels are set in the Purcell Mountains, BC, Canada.

The fourth novel (and I feel like I should play music here) is set in the Bahamas. It’s time for a sailing adventure.

It’s been quite the experience writing about the Purcell’s. A place I lived and loved. An isolated mountain resort provides a great setting for a romantic thriller.

But the winds are changing and pushing me in a new direction. This is not to say I won’t continue to write about BC, only that it’s time to try something new.

New characters, new location, new mystery. It’s all a bit overwhelming, but also fun.

Now to go back and read what I wrote about the writing process and make sure I remember it all.

Scene Locations

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

#writetip Where does your action happen?

Do you vary the locations of your scenes throughout your novel?

If you hadn’t guessed it, I’m going to mention my spreadsheet again. Yup, I have a column for scene locations. When I read, I enjoy a novel that takes place in different locations and has the characters moving around.

Sorting the spreadsheet by location tells me if I’ve used one location too many times. Maybe it’s important to the story, and that’s okay. But what if it’s not? When I see a location turn up many times, I assess it and see if I can come of with a more imaginative way of describing the scene.

Sometimes by creating new location, the characters surprise me and the story takes a new turn. Always an interesting process.

Spread Sheets and Novels

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

#writetip I don’t know how anyone writes a novel without spread sheet. The more I write, the more columns my spread sheet contains.

What I’ve discovered writing my third novel, Burnt, is that I needed to add two new columns. These columns are helpful if you are writing a mystery novel.

One column is used for clues to solving the crime. This means the reader knows the clues, but the main protagonist might not. This is especially helpful if you write from multiple points of view. If not, you probably don’t need this one.

The second column keeps track of clues the main protagonist knows. This ensures the character doesn’t mysteriously know something at the wrong time.

For a more detailed description of my complete spread sheet and how I use it, please see:

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A Story Worthy Problem

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

#writetip How do you know if you have a story worthy problem and why do you want one?

I guess it depends on whether you are writing short stories or novels. I write novels, but love to read short stories. Let’s say a novel is somewhere between 70,000 and 100,000 words. Some can be more and some less.

For a reader to want to spend their time reading 70,000 words, there has to be a problem they are interested in and it has to be big enough to write that many words about.

Your main character needs to strive for something of they are just sitting around being boring. They need to come up against obstacles.

My idea is that you know you have a story worthy problem if you find yourself at 70,000 words (ish) and are still writing about it. If you run out of things to say, it might not be the story worthy.

Descriptions That Engage The Reader

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

#writetip When you create the world your novel exists in, there are an infinite number of “things” you can describe. A daunting task! How do you choose what to write about and what to leave out?

One technique is to describe what the character cares about. Chances are if the character is interested in the “thing” being described then the reader will be to.

The character might be interested in something if it is relevant to their goal, if it is a danger to them, or if it shows something about their personality.

To show the reader your character cares about this “thing” you can have the character give their opinion in either speech or thought. You can have the character go to extreme to save this “thing.”

If their house was burning down, what would they save? Maybe that’s the “thing” you should be describing.

For everything you describe, ask yourself how what it means to your character. That should get you on way to deciding what in your new world to write about.

As usual, this is what works for me. If you have other methods, I love to hear about them.