My story passes in choppy blocks - how can I fix it?
Similar to this question, I am slowly coming to realize that my writing is getting choppy. Unlike that question however, my problem does not lie within sentences, or even paragraphs. It lies within whole scenes.
Recently, I've found that my stories are starting to sound more like a narration of events than anything else. This happens. Then something else happens. Then the hero goes here and learns this. Then he does this. The scenes seem to fall one after the other like soldiers in a line.
The worst part is that I'm not entirely sure where the problem is. Part of me feels it lies in jumping from one plot point to the next with nothing bridging between the two (for example, once I'm done with a plot point I'll end the scene, say with a cliff-hanger, and open the next chapter with "the next morning..."). Part of me feels like it's something completely different.
At the same time, I can't help but notice that the openings of my novels seem fine. This may be because they are generally only one scene long. But it may also be because I develop them differently than the rest of the plot.
To generate plot, I use a version of the method described by Lauren Ipsum in the answer to this question. I will start with a general feel for how the plot progresses, and work backwards from the climax. Useful as this method is, it could be the reason my writing seems to be devolving into a line of scenes, as all I'm doing is coming up for reasons for each scene.
Does anyone know what my problem is, and better yet, how to fix it?
2 answers
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You have all your parts; you've sort of discovered your story backwards. Now you need to reverse–reverse-engineer an outline.
A very rough skeleton for an outline is:
Intro: set up the story world
Act I: Plot is set in motion. Ends with a disaster or reversal
Act II: Reversal is overcome. Plot moves forward. Ends with another disaster or reversal.
Act III can be the same structure as Act II if you want to use it.
Act IV: Plot is resolved.
Conclusion or Epilogue: wrap up loose ends or leave them untied for the sequel.
Take my examples from the other answer and put them in chronological order:
- Why is the macguffin important?
- How did the macguffin get lost?
- Who told the heroine about the macguffin?
- How does she know it's in a building? (As opposed to a ship, at emple, a bank, a house, on the road, etc.)
- How does she find which building it's in?
- How does she reach the building?
- How does she get into the building with the macguffin?
Now take those questions and put them into the outline:
Intro: Why is the macguffin important?
Act I: The macguffin gets lost/stolen. Someone tells the heroine about the macguffin and why it has to be retrieved.
Here you can see you need some bridging material to get to the next question. This is the part you're lacking right now.
(Act I cont'd) The heroine sets out to get the macguffin. Obstacles thwart her. The "obstacles" are more bridging material.
Act II: She overcomes obstacles. She finds out the macguffin is in a building. How? She finds the building. How? She tries to reach the building. This is a good spot for another reversal.
Act III/IV: She gets into the building with the macguffin. More obstacles and bridging material.
She gets the macguffin and returns it to wherever it needs to be.
Epilogue.
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"The openings of my novels seem fine. This may be because they are generally only one scene long. But it may also be because I develop them differently than the rest of the plot."
In that case, treat each scene as the "opening" of the rest of the novel. Develop it as you would develop the real opening, rather than the "rest of the plot." That way, your development of each scene is fresh. Then "wash, rinse, and repeat."
In computer science, this process is known as "recursion."
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17969. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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