Notes from a panel with Sean Hoade at SLC ComicCon.
Sean recommended Jack Bickham's Scene and Structure; Bickham was a student of Dwight Swain and covers much of the same ground.
Each scene has a viewpoint character, and that character has a goal, opposition, and a resolution. To clarify the goal in the first draft, you can have the viewpoint character come right out and say "I want to ____", describing what he wants to accomplish during this scene. (You might also add a line about how that scene goal will help him accomplish his overall goal). The four possible resolutions to the character's action are Yes, No, Yes-But, and No-And-Furthermore. The Yes and No options are bland.--they either solve the problem (with a Yes) or at least do nothing to change it (if it's a No). A Yes-But solves this problem but raises a whole new one; the No-And-Furthermore leaves this problem open and makes it worse.
A scene never has conflict which is entirely internal. That goes in a sequel; a sequel is the connective tissue that links one scene to the next. The sequel has four parts: emotion and expresson; thought and reflection; decision; action. The action is the beginning of the next scene (and the point at which you can change PoV characters, if you need to).
Use the length of your scenes and sequels to vary your pacing. Long sequels with lots of emoting and internal monologues will slow down the action.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
On Plotting, Rising Action, and the Try/Fail Cycle
Notes from SLC ComicCon 2014 panel, including Kevin J Anderson, Brandon Sanderson, Dave Farland, Larry Correia, Brandon Mull, Brad Torgersen.
Plotting:
When you're writing an epic, you can't wing it. When you're building a skyscraper, you really need a blueprint. My outline sometimes runs to 100 pages--it gets to be a first draft.
My plot is "What promise am I making the reader, and what steps do I need to take to fulfill that promise?"
I'm a loose outliner. For each character, I know where they're going to end up. I need to know the ending. And I blow something up every forty pages.
I need to look for movement.You never have a static scene--a character is always going up or down. I think about where my protagonist is, and what's the worst thing that I can do to him....
Pantsing is for the daydreaming at the start of the project. Once you've got the ideas, you outline.
I can pants a short story but I need a skeleton for a novel.
If you do pants it, go back and write an outline afterwards, as a post mortem tool.
Try/Fail:
My characters are my friends, but it's an abusive relationship. They can't have it easy.
"Try/Fail" is a diagnostic tool, for finding problems after you've finished. Practice writing and you'll internalize the need to give your characters trouble, although you may not call it "adding a Try Fail cycle" while yoiu're writing it.
Remember that there's not just the one Protagonist/Antagonist Try Fail Cycle. There are other characters and other subplots and they need their own cycles.
The response to "Try" can be "Yes" or "No"--which are boring--or "Yes But" or "No And". The "No And" is what you'd call a Try/Fail"; the "Yes But" isn't "Fail" but can also be interesting.
Productivity/Writer's Block:
Don't look for perfection. You need to be prolific. The more you make, the better you get. Ask your alpha readers if there are parts they find boring or confusing.
If I get stuck, it's because I made a mistake the day before; but when I figure out how to fix it, I get excited and write even more.
Destress. It's a first draft; you don't have to be perfect.
Set a deadline so you're committed to getting stuff done, rather than thinking I"m A Writer" but not doing any writing.
Sanderson: I'm usually writing one book, planning one or two more, and editing another. I write 500 words per hour, which is low; but I write 8 hours a day, five days a week. If you figure half my time is editing, travel, and other non-writing activity, that's 500words x 8 hours x 5 days x 26 weeks = 520,000 words per year. One 400,000 word epic and one 120,000 word novel.
Correia: I write 10,000 words per week, every week.
Write what you think is cool--that you'd want to read.
Plotting:
When you're writing an epic, you can't wing it. When you're building a skyscraper, you really need a blueprint. My outline sometimes runs to 100 pages--it gets to be a first draft.
My plot is "What promise am I making the reader, and what steps do I need to take to fulfill that promise?"
I'm a loose outliner. For each character, I know where they're going to end up. I need to know the ending. And I blow something up every forty pages.
I need to look for movement.You never have a static scene--a character is always going up or down. I think about where my protagonist is, and what's the worst thing that I can do to him....
Pantsing is for the daydreaming at the start of the project. Once you've got the ideas, you outline.
I can pants a short story but I need a skeleton for a novel.
If you do pants it, go back and write an outline afterwards, as a post mortem tool.
Try/Fail:
My characters are my friends, but it's an abusive relationship. They can't have it easy.
"Try/Fail" is a diagnostic tool, for finding problems after you've finished. Practice writing and you'll internalize the need to give your characters trouble, although you may not call it "adding a Try Fail cycle" while yoiu're writing it.
Remember that there's not just the one Protagonist/Antagonist Try Fail Cycle. There are other characters and other subplots and they need their own cycles.
The response to "Try" can be "Yes" or "No"--which are boring--or "Yes But" or "No And". The "No And" is what you'd call a Try/Fail"; the "Yes But" isn't "Fail" but can also be interesting.
Productivity/Writer's Block:
Don't look for perfection. You need to be prolific. The more you make, the better you get. Ask your alpha readers if there are parts they find boring or confusing.
If I get stuck, it's because I made a mistake the day before; but when I figure out how to fix it, I get excited and write even more.
Destress. It's a first draft; you don't have to be perfect.
Set a deadline so you're committed to getting stuff done, rather than thinking I"m A Writer" but not doing any writing.
Sanderson: I'm usually writing one book, planning one or two more, and editing another. I write 500 words per hour, which is low; but I write 8 hours a day, five days a week. If you figure half my time is editing, travel, and other non-writing activity, that's 500words x 8 hours x 5 days x 26 weeks = 520,000 words per year. One 400,000 word epic and one 120,000 word novel.
Correia: I write 10,000 words per week, every week.
Write what you think is cool--that you'd want to read.
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