I wrote a scene that the majority of my readers loved. How do I get back to that place while writing my new book?
I wrote a scene that I put my heart and soul into. It was received well by most of my readers, but I'm struggling with crafting a new scene for a book I'm currently writing. Here's some comments from my beta readers on the first scene in which I was able to captivate my audience:
"OMG I love how you set the mood!" "Love it! The details and it was so graphic, made me feel like I was there. I had to stop reading for a minute because I felt like I was there," "Beautifully written"
I want to be able to do this again in my new book, but I'm finding it so difficult. How can I get back to that place?
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What did you think when you first wrote that scene? Was it easy or hard?
The best scenes in my complete novel are the reveal scenes, because they are fraught with emotion and interpersonal dynamics. To craft a reveal scene, you need to obscure effectively beforehand.
I like both of the answers, and will piggyback off of Galastel's comments--write. Also re-write, as she says Hemingway did. Listen to the cadence, learn to hear the emotional arc and movement in the words, be willing to kill darlings in order to stick the landing.
I think the answer is to write and then re-write. Writing can get better through revision and editing and learning to 'write by ear.'
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I've always been a "prisoner of inspiration," but I've at long last come to understand/accept that there are technical, skill-based things that you can do to create those perfect scenes --you don't have to wait for the stars to align and your soul to speak.
First really understand your characters, setting and scene. You don't have to plot everything out ahead of time, but take some time to clearly visualize the place, the people, and all the events that happen in the scene. Next, find something that you really love in the scene, to make sure your enthusiasm stays high as you write it. Finally, remember that your descriptions and dialogue should all be doing double or even triple duty. They are (a) directly providing information, (b) putting us in the the mindstate of the main characters, with hints as to their mood, history, attitudes and desires and (c) creating counternarratives, substories, foreshadowings, allusions and so forth.
You also don't want to be a "prisoner of technique," but if you do the work to bring things like this under your conscious control, it will expand your ability to reliably connect with the reader. My suspicion is that your previous scene was probably built on a lot of prep work that you might not even have been conscious you were doing.
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You write. If what comes under your fingers is not great, if you're not satisfied, you rewrite. It's easier to find what needs to be improved once you have something, than finding the perfect scene while staring at a blank page.
You have no "inspiration"? Write anyway. Inspiration will come. I wouldn't say writing is like a muscle that needs exercise, but I do often feel it's like a train: there's the first effort of getting going, and then it gathers speed. You don't write, it keeps standing at the station.
Rewriting is a normal process. Hemingway rewrote For Whom the Bell Tolls 38 times, I believe. Do not expect the perfect scene to just come out in your first draft.
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