There are three stages to the discovery stage of writing a novel: Character development, Story development, and Scene development.  Like building a house, the book takes shape as you craft each scene.

Yesterday, we went over scene rhythm, how an author knits together the story, through Action and Reaction scenes and the components of each. Here are some tips as you work through each component.

Action Scene Tips:

Goal – A character has an overall story goal, but inside those goals are smaller goals, goals derived by the situation, or his motivation, or the events happening around him. For each scene, make your goal specific, tangible, measurable and timely. This will give an urgency to your scene, and will make your character alive and interesting.  A character that wants something desperately is an interesting character – someone we want to know or emulate.  And this helps a reader bond with the character.

Conflict – A scene without conflict is a BORING scene.  The conflict can be internal, competing values, or external, something physical that stands in the way of the goal. There are to tips to creating great conflict:

• Make it something visible to the reader – we need to believe that the conflict is real, not imagined.
• Make it equal to the character’s motivation for completing the goal. Conflict that is too easily overcome isn’t a real conflict.  That’s why bad guys are stronger than good guys – because if they weren’t there wouldn’t be a story.  That’s why there is ALWAYS krypton in a Superman story.  So, make your conflict strong enough to defeat your hero.

Disaster – Another way to explain this is that there must be something new at STAKE at the end, something that raises a new risk, something that adds an element of looming disaster. The disaster must be something that contributes to the overall Black Moment of the story, so a disaster might actually be a victory or the character reaching their goal at the end of the scene.  For example, I might give my character a job opportunity with the caveat if she doesn’t do this well, she’ll lose everything. (which of course, then she does!)  As you plot the disaster that looms at the end of your scene, ask: How will this ending make the Black Moment blacker?

Your disaster must also be compelling enough to make the reader turn the page. If there is no sense of dread or disaster, or no sense of anticipation, then the reader won’t continue. Ask: Does my disaster make my reader care more about the character, enough to turn the page?

Here are some tricks to finding the disaster at the end of your Action Scenes:

The disaster can be found by asking the following questions:

1. What is the worth thing, externally, (circumstance, or physically?) that could happen to my character?
2. What is my character’s worst fear at the moment?
3. What is the worst information my character can receive right now?
4. What is the worst trouble my character can get into in this scene? Raise the stake so that they are further from their overall goals.
5. Have I set up the danger  for the readers before the scene begins?
6. Have I made my reader CARE about my character?  Can they  sympathize?  (Spell out the stakes often enough so the reader worries!)

Now, let’s take a look at the Reaction Scenes Tips:

Reaction – The importance of the Reaction scene is to understand what just happened, and give your character the proper motivation to continue his journey.  Here’s the key: A fast-paced story will have Reaction scenes cut down to the bone. A longer story will draw them out. And, you may even combine a Reaction Scene with an Action Scene to keep a story moving faster in Act 2, or near the end. But you must have a Reaction Scene, however long to build the right motivation into your Action scenes.

Dilemma – The key to building a great dilemma is to make sure your character sees all the options before him, and counts all of them in as he considers what to do.  When an author leaves out a perfectly reasonable option, the character suddenly becomes too stupid to live. To make sure the story and plot is believable, the character must see his options – and have a good reason for dismissing them.

Decision – Your character will finally make a decision, based on his values and his motivations. Here’s the key: It’s important that your character make the decision for himself, not have the events just push him along. But make the decision something that makes sense to the reader, one they can get behind.  If you have to make a decision that isn’t popular, make sure you rule out the obvious decision with a good reason.

If you use these tips and tricks in creating the components of your scenes you will build a strong rhythm of action and motivation for your story.

Have a great writing week!

Susie May

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