Back to my Scene and Sequel study.
Jack M. Bickham talks some in his book, Scene & Structure, about authors who overuse the shortcut of adding sequel components(especially with internalization) within their scenes. It's no surprise that this problem is commonly found in Romances. We always like to know what our characters are thinking, right?
And of course, Romance is my chosen genre, so I have to pay particular attention to this warning.
I must admit, this is probably why I have had such trouble getting my head around this particular structure of writing. Since the majority of the books I read are Romances, I know that Jack M. Bickham is absolutely correct. Many of the novels I've read have a tendency to incorporate the sequels into their scenes and thus making it difficult for me to see them as separate entities of the story.
As a writer, I must be careful to follow the rule of providing a stimulus followed by the character's response, at the same time as keeping the action of the scene moving along.
That's the important part. Keeping the action moving within the scene despite the tendency to overload on character's response right then and there.
When you spot paragraphs of basically internalization within a scene, then you know you've got to take a second look and do some analyzing.
It's fine to use internalization within a scene when it is clearly called for, or needed to help reestablish who the POV character is of the scene, but keep it concise so that it doesn't overpower the action of the scene. When longer internalization is called for, highlight it in the given scene with one-liners and then work the depth of it into a following sequel or a later smaller scene designed specifically to give the reader all the sequel components. That way the big scenes will still read fast and get the reader's heart rate up, while providing those all important sequel elements at a later time.
Happy writing to us all today!
Eileen
Showing posts with label Studying Scene and Sequel using Jack M. Bickham's Scene [and] Structure Writing Resource. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Studying Scene and Sequel using Jack M. Bickham's Scene [and] Structure Writing Resource. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Study notes for Scene and Sequel: What are Sequels Made Of?--Installment 3
A sequel is really the POV character's response to the previous scene played out.
Sequels are the components of your story that deliver the emotional response to what happened in the previous scene. As well as revealing your POV character's thoughts, followed by his/her decision making and thus giving us the next goal-oriented action which leads to a smooth transition into the next action-driven scene. That's the four components of a Sequel wrapped up in a nutshell.
Components of the sequel can be interspersed within a given scene, such as through internalized thoughts (those portions of your manuscript that you italicize), or a sequel can actually play out as a scene of its own. Such as when you have your POV character dialoguing with another character expressing his/her reaction to what happened in a previous scene. Think of the intent of your scene. If it's to provide the sequel components to a previous scene, then you have completed the required follow-up to that scene within a scene and you're ready to move on to the next big disaster-accomplishing scene.
The sequel components, because of their nature, are generally breathers for the reader. They are slower paced and allow the reader to reflect on past events in the story. Because they slow the pace of the story, you would not want to incorporate them into certain scenes. While in other scenes you may find it necessary to add an element or more from the sequel criteria to it. It's up to you as the author to decide on the pacing of your novel, where you want the story to whiz by and where you want it played out in slow motion.
It's the variations of how you get your sequel components (or not) into your story that keep this whole Scene & Sequel concept from becoming formulaic.
Your story and characters really do dictate the flow. If you have a character who is always thinking, then more often than not when in his/her POV you will likely need to mesh the sequel components in with the scene as it is playing out, to show the characterization properly. But remember, even deep thinkers can find themselves in situations where they have no time to internalize or consider the ramification of their actions or discern their next course of action. For those instances a follow-up sequel will be required when the character is ready to express his/her feelings and tackle the consequences of what happened.
When something is obvious, then of course you'll have no need to create a structured four-component sequel that includes the POV character's emotional response, thought process, decision making, and finally the next goal-oriented action. Perhaps only a couple of those components are required, or perhaps none at all, given the specifics of your well-drafted scene. Sometimes what little is required of the sequel components can be interspersed within the acting scene, depending on how fast you want that scene to play out and the feel your going for.
As noted in Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham, when structuring your scenes and sequels always be sure to include all the components in one way or another, though. If a component is obvious, then you needed spell it out. You've already incorporated it into your story in a subliminal way and thus your work has already been done. However, if the elements stated are not obvious, it is your job as the author to incorporate all the necessary components in a logical and understandable ordering, to keep your story flowing and to keep the reader's interest. To do this, it may require you to write a sentence, paragraph or even pages of sequel material following a scene, or it may require none at all before heading into the next big scene. It all depends on the individual circumstances of the action-driven scene and your characters as to what is required.
Have fun experimenting with the multitude of permutations of scene and sequel to make your story the best it can be.
On with the fight to write on,
Eileen
Sequels are the components of your story that deliver the emotional response to what happened in the previous scene. As well as revealing your POV character's thoughts, followed by his/her decision making and thus giving us the next goal-oriented action which leads to a smooth transition into the next action-driven scene. That's the four components of a Sequel wrapped up in a nutshell.
Components of the sequel can be interspersed within a given scene, such as through internalized thoughts (those portions of your manuscript that you italicize), or a sequel can actually play out as a scene of its own. Such as when you have your POV character dialoguing with another character expressing his/her reaction to what happened in a previous scene. Think of the intent of your scene. If it's to provide the sequel components to a previous scene, then you have completed the required follow-up to that scene within a scene and you're ready to move on to the next big disaster-accomplishing scene.
The sequel components, because of their nature, are generally breathers for the reader. They are slower paced and allow the reader to reflect on past events in the story. Because they slow the pace of the story, you would not want to incorporate them into certain scenes. While in other scenes you may find it necessary to add an element or more from the sequel criteria to it. It's up to you as the author to decide on the pacing of your novel, where you want the story to whiz by and where you want it played out in slow motion.
It's the variations of how you get your sequel components (or not) into your story that keep this whole Scene & Sequel concept from becoming formulaic.
Your story and characters really do dictate the flow. If you have a character who is always thinking, then more often than not when in his/her POV you will likely need to mesh the sequel components in with the scene as it is playing out, to show the characterization properly. But remember, even deep thinkers can find themselves in situations where they have no time to internalize or consider the ramification of their actions or discern their next course of action. For those instances a follow-up sequel will be required when the character is ready to express his/her feelings and tackle the consequences of what happened.
When something is obvious, then of course you'll have no need to create a structured four-component sequel that includes the POV character's emotional response, thought process, decision making, and finally the next goal-oriented action. Perhaps only a couple of those components are required, or perhaps none at all, given the specifics of your well-drafted scene. Sometimes what little is required of the sequel components can be interspersed within the acting scene, depending on how fast you want that scene to play out and the feel your going for.
As noted in Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham, when structuring your scenes and sequels always be sure to include all the components in one way or another, though. If a component is obvious, then you needed spell it out. You've already incorporated it into your story in a subliminal way and thus your work has already been done. However, if the elements stated are not obvious, it is your job as the author to incorporate all the necessary components in a logical and understandable ordering, to keep your story flowing and to keep the reader's interest. To do this, it may require you to write a sentence, paragraph or even pages of sequel material following a scene, or it may require none at all before heading into the next big scene. It all depends on the individual circumstances of the action-driven scene and your characters as to what is required.
Have fun experimenting with the multitude of permutations of scene and sequel to make your story the best it can be.
On with the fight to write on,
Eileen
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Studying Scene and Sequel: Installment 2
To start our exploration of the scene component of the Scene and Sequel method of writing, we should first visit the definition of a scene.
According to Jack M. Bickhman, he states the definition of a scene in Chapter 4 of his book Scene & Structure as:
"It's a segment of a story action, written moment-by-moment, without summary, presented onstage in the story "now." It is not something that goes on inside a character's head; it is physical. It could be put on the theatre stage and acted out."
With that in mind, lets look at the three main components of a scene according to Jack M. Bickham.
1) Goal -- Every scene needs a scene goal and this scene goal must be directly related in some way to the POV character's desired attainment of their overall story goal. It must be specific enough that the character and reader will know for certain by the end of the scene if the goal was met or not. This scene goal forms a scene question in the readers mind which must be answered by the end of the scene.
2) Conflict -- Anyone who has looked at writing fiction knows that conflict is a huge component to keeping the reader interested. So make your moment-by-moment, acting-out-now scenes with external conflict that causes not only the characters but the reader to worry that not only the scene goal will not be accomplished, but also that the story goal seems to be that much less attainable.
3) Disaster -- That would be the final twist in the given scene that provides a new setback to the character achieving their goal. It might be a disaster such that the answer to the scene goal is a simple "No" and thus the character must go in a totally new direction. Or it could be a "Yes, but" answer in which the character has to decide if the new strings attached are acceptable or not. At the very least those "strings" should lead the character into further conflict. Or the disaster could answer the scene goal question with a "No, and furthermore" answer. But in this case, you must be sure to leave enough room with the "furthermore" to not have ended the story right then and there, unless of course, this is your final page of your novel and you want a disastrous ending.
It would be a good exercise to take a look at a novel you're working on and see if you can spot these three elements in any given scene. If you don't, then how could you rewrite it such that they do become evident?
In the next installment we'll take a look at the elements of sequels.
According to Jack M. Bickhman, he states the definition of a scene in Chapter 4 of his book Scene & Structure as:
"It's a segment of a story action, written moment-by-moment, without summary, presented onstage in the story "now." It is not something that goes on inside a character's head; it is physical. It could be put on the theatre stage and acted out."
With that in mind, lets look at the three main components of a scene according to Jack M. Bickham.
1) Goal -- Every scene needs a scene goal and this scene goal must be directly related in some way to the POV character's desired attainment of their overall story goal. It must be specific enough that the character and reader will know for certain by the end of the scene if the goal was met or not. This scene goal forms a scene question in the readers mind which must be answered by the end of the scene.
2) Conflict -- Anyone who has looked at writing fiction knows that conflict is a huge component to keeping the reader interested. So make your moment-by-moment, acting-out-now scenes with external conflict that causes not only the characters but the reader to worry that not only the scene goal will not be accomplished, but also that the story goal seems to be that much less attainable.
3) Disaster -- That would be the final twist in the given scene that provides a new setback to the character achieving their goal. It might be a disaster such that the answer to the scene goal is a simple "No" and thus the character must go in a totally new direction. Or it could be a "Yes, but" answer in which the character has to decide if the new strings attached are acceptable or not. At the very least those "strings" should lead the character into further conflict. Or the disaster could answer the scene goal question with a "No, and furthermore" answer. But in this case, you must be sure to leave enough room with the "furthermore" to not have ended the story right then and there, unless of course, this is your final page of your novel and you want a disastrous ending.
It would be a good exercise to take a look at a novel you're working on and see if you can spot these three elements in any given scene. If you don't, then how could you rewrite it such that they do become evident?
In the next installment we'll take a look at the elements of sequels.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Scene and Sequel Analysis: Installment 1
The thought of formulaic writing has always disturbed me and so my first job at visiting this scene and sequel process was to prove to myself that it isn't a rigid formulaic way of writing. Reading Jack M. Bickham's writing resource, Scene & Structure has helped me to get a better understanding of the Scene and Sequel method of writing. I recommend you pick up a copy of Jack M. Bickham's book or borrow one from a friend or your local library to study yourself.
As a disclaimer, please remember, these posts are just my understanding of this method, so please feel free to comment if you have a differing opinion. I'm all for further clarification and learning.
My current understanding is that Scene and Sequel is more representative of a logical way of making your story flow naturally so that the reader can experience the story at an optimal level, conducive to how people naturally think and process things.
The basic structure of Scene and Sequel encompasses all the needed criteria to help the reader feel for the characters, understand the dilemma's, and provides inspiration for the reader to want to read on. It's a compilation of basic elements to be included in your plotting and story telling that can or cannot be revealed in classic order, depending on the needs of the individual story and it's parts.
That's what keeps if from becoming a rigid formulaic writing process. There are so many permutations of how to write and place your scenes and sequels that your story will dictate the actual word count, flow, and even existence of each of those parts.
In the next installment of my Scene and Sequel blog postings I'll tackle deciphering what the Scene sections basically entail.
As a disclaimer, please remember, these posts are just my understanding of this method, so please feel free to comment if you have a differing opinion. I'm all for further clarification and learning.
My current understanding is that Scene and Sequel is more representative of a logical way of making your story flow naturally so that the reader can experience the story at an optimal level, conducive to how people naturally think and process things.
The basic structure of Scene and Sequel encompasses all the needed criteria to help the reader feel for the characters, understand the dilemma's, and provides inspiration for the reader to want to read on. It's a compilation of basic elements to be included in your plotting and story telling that can or cannot be revealed in classic order, depending on the needs of the individual story and it's parts.
That's what keeps if from becoming a rigid formulaic writing process. There are so many permutations of how to write and place your scenes and sequels that your story will dictate the actual word count, flow, and even existence of each of those parts.
In the next installment of my Scene and Sequel blog postings I'll tackle deciphering what the Scene sections basically entail.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham
This is the book I'm currently studying all over again. Trying to get my head around scene and sequel is like studying for my fourth year algebra final. Not fun!
I keep thinking of recent novels I've read and can't seem to remember any scene goals popping out at me, but yet, I still wanted to read on. How did the author do it then, without spelling out those scene goals, or at least not making them stand out?
As I work through learning this structure of writing, I think I'll use this blog to summarize what I've discovered through my reading of Jack M. Bickham's writing resource, Scene & Structure. Hopefully it will help many of us grasp the concepts of Scene and Sequel writing.
Blessings to all,
Eileen
I keep thinking of recent novels I've read and can't seem to remember any scene goals popping out at me, but yet, I still wanted to read on. How did the author do it then, without spelling out those scene goals, or at least not making them stand out?
As I work through learning this structure of writing, I think I'll use this blog to summarize what I've discovered through my reading of Jack M. Bickham's writing resource, Scene & Structure. Hopefully it will help many of us grasp the concepts of Scene and Sequel writing.
Blessings to all,
Eileen
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