Eliminate Writer's Block when Writing the Scene

Stories are made up of scenes. Whether you are a planner or a pantster, a little preplanning before diving into the scene helps to eliminate writer's block. Here are a few basics I like to settle: 1. Why do you want to write this scene? This scene must advance the story by having your character do one or more of the following: (from most to least external): * pursue an action * make a decision * reach an insight Write down, very specifically, why you need to include this scene in your story. 2. Who will be in this scene? Generate tension by giving characters separate goals that are mutually exclusive. These goals can be overt and external (swim from the shark) and/or subtle and hidden (plant a seed of doubt in a rival's mind). You may even have mutually exclusive goals within the same character: the boy knows he must kill his rabid dog, Old Yeller, whom he loves. Write down your scene's guest list, and then figure out what each character wants at this particular moment in the story. 3. Where and when will this scene take place? Now, ponder some alternatives: for example, a breakup scene may occur quietly in a restaurant, but how about a noisy hockey game, or a conference room in which the characters can only pass notes to each other? Now, close your eyes and imagine the setting. Write down some unusual details you might be able to use. And this is important: describe the details the way your POV character would describe them. 4. Map out the scene. Scenes are best structured in a GOAL/CONFLICT/DISASTER type format. The POV character walks into the scene, and will actually think his goal either at the beginning of this scene or, better, at the end of his last one: Jim knew he needed more money, he deserved it, and he wasn't going to be a wimp any more. He was going to walk into his boss' office and ask for a raise. This statement focuses the reader so he knows for what to look out. The conflict portion takes the majority of the scene. Obstacles can be both external (physical blocks, other people) and internal (lack of knowledge, overcoming emotion). The ending, except for a few specialized circumstances, should be a yes but or no and furthermore: YES Jim, you can have a raise BUT you must work an extra 10 hours per week. NO Jim, you cannot have a raise AND FURTHERMORE you are fired. Rarely scenes can be ended with a YES for a specific effect. Any scene ending with a NO can be deleted without consequences, since by definition it isn't pushing the story action forward. Write down your scene goal. List as many internal and external obstacles as you can -- you don't have to use all of these, but they're mighty helpful if you hit writer's block. Finally determine how your scene will end. 5. A great trick if you're stuck is to WRITE ONLY THE DIALOGUE. Add in the other stuff later. * Hope this is helpful. I'll be writing about sequels on Friday.

Seven Effective Habits

Goal Setting:

Stephen Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People came out in 1989, and has sold over 15 million copies. He describes 7 ways of thinking that will allow success in life. Here they are:

1. Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Choice

To be proactive means that you take responsibility for the things that happen to you, instead of blaming others. You figure out what YOU can do rather than waiting for others to move.

2. Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Vision

Decide what you want to accomplish in life, rather than floating through day to day. Do some soul-searching and formulate a personal *mission statement*. Write down goals: where do you see yourself next year? In five years? Then break down your goals into monthly and weekly targets.

3. Put First Things First: Principles of Integrity and Execution

The urgent things that assail you are not always the most important things. Find other ways to get the urgent things done, such as delegating tasks, and focus on what you want to accomplish.

4. Think Win/Win: Principles of Mutual Benefit

You don't have to have winners and losers: work for solutions that benefit others as well as yourself. When in conflict, get both parties working to solve the problem, rather than blaming each other.

5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Principles of Mutual Understanding

The old saw goes *People don't care how much you know before they know how much you care* (about them). If you want to give advice, first make sure you understand where the person is coming from. Don't tell the person about your own experiences; just LISTEN!

6. Synergize: Principles of Creative Cooperation

Teamwork can exceed what each member could achieve on his own. Value the members of the team, be aware of individual strengths and weakness, and include everyone in the decisions to work toward a common goal.

7. Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

Any machine will overheat if it isn't given a rest, and the same is true for people. Take the time you need to rejuvenate with activities and family. Also, take time to exercise and sharpen your mind.

Some of My Favorite Writing Books: A List for Fiction and Screenplays

I've been meaning to make a list of my all-time favorite writing books. It's going to take some time to really review and remember all of the books that have been excellent, but I thought I'd at least start on a few. Whether you do screenwriting or novel writing, I've found ALL of these books have been insightful. Also, if you have any favorites that you thought were helpful but I've missed them, please let me know.

Save the Cat! and its two sequels, by Blake Snyder

Snyder was a successful Hollywood screenwriter who sadly died in August 2009. He had developed a system for writing a story that is amazing; I just love what's he's done here. Snyder starts with a 15 point story progression, then breaks it out into 40 scenes that are ready to write for the screenplay.

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The Anatomy of Story by John Truby

This is an intellectual book that needs to be worked through slowly with your story development notebook in the other hand. Truby sticks with the important through line of the story, and especially the all-important changes that MUST occur in your character in order to make the story gripping and resonant.

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Writing the Fiction Synopsis by Pam McCutcheon

This book is hard to find, which I never understood because it's so on-target. McCutcheon breaks down writing the synopsis and gives many examples that will help guide you to write a decent synopsis. This book is also helpful if you're simply trying to work out what your story is about. If you want to purchase, I suggest you go to the publisher Gryphon Books for Writers at http://www.gryphonbooksforwriters.com, since this book is outrageously expensive on amazon.

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Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon

Another offering from Gryphon books for Writers at http://www.gryphonbooksforwriters.com that gives clear instruction for the smaller units of fiction development. Randy Ingermanson and others also talk about the GMC -- a critical concept if you want to write well enough to become published. Again, buy this from the publisher rather than on amazon.

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Break Into Fiction by Mary Buckham and Dianna Love

The book that goes along with the workshop taught by these two ladies, different chapters focus on different aspects of the story with templates and worksheets that give thought-provoking exercises to help develop your ideas.

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Writing the Breakout Novel and Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass

Maass is a successful literary agent who has deeply studied books that have "broken out" and grab readers. He includes challenging and thoughtful exercises to do once you have finished your first draft -- and believe me, you will NOT finish your next draft for a very long time, but it will become so strong you won't recognize it.

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The Dramatic Writer's Companion by Will Dunne

This is an insightful book that puts forth many questions about your work, in different categories, that will help you shape and then refine it. At the end Dunne has a troubleshooting guide called "Fixing Common Script Problems" that gives clues and suggestions to help with bugaboos such as not enough conflict in a scene, or a passive main character.

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The Scene Book by Sandra Scofield

Scofield looks at a unit of story construction, the scene, and discusses how to focus it so that it resonates. Step by step instructions, examples, and exercises really guide to write something effective.

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Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy

Randy is my hero, and I love everything he writes. Peter Economy is a professional writer, and together he and Randy have created something really helpful here. This book uses a number of Randy's techniques to develop a writing routine, design and finish a novel, and then create a book proposal and marketing plan. Here is inspiring and can-do advice especially for the newbie.

Don't Be a Welfare Hydra

I've done an in-depth study of story (novels and films) with the aim of articulating how stories can be put together. I've been fortunate enough to coach fiction writers to apply and refine my paradigm, and I think I'm onto something! My book: The Story Template: Conquer Writer's Block Using the Universal Structure of Story is available in print and kindle formats.

A main, and I mean really main, really big, problem that I keep running across while editing I've called the "One Darn Thing After Another" syndrome. But I've just found the icon for this that I think is perfect -- the Welfare Hydra!

First, take a look at this 3 minute clip. This scene is from 1963's Jason and the Argonauts, where Jason needs to kill the 7-headed Hydra in order to steal the golden fleece. The chick is Medea, a high priestess who's basically betrayed her people to help Jason, but we won't go into the whole ethics of Jason's quest here -- after all, this is high Greek mythology, so let's just watch it for fun:



This is an impressive movie with astounding special effects for 1963, and I enjoyed watching it on many levels. I first saw this movie a few years ago with my boy, when as a first grader he became interested in ancient warfare topics in general (as an aside, he impressed the heck out of his teacher by taking half an hour to explain the Pelopynesian War to the class. My daughter, though, is the Greek myth expert. But as a proud mom, I digress).

I feel a bit guilty being so critical here since the special effects technology WAS so primitive, but hey, this makes my point. In this clip, did you notice what the Welfare Hydra does?

...

???

Nothing!

Yes, the Hydra waves its heads a bit, hisses, and slithers on its floppy little belly. It even catches Jason in its tail at one point, but promptly lets him go and doesn't press the attack. You can almost hear the Hydra saying (in a squeaky voice) "I'm scary! I'm scary! See how scary I am?" At the end it bares its chest so Jason with his sword can conveniently stab its heart, at which it obligingly dies.

So what does this have to do with writing?

Simply this: in many of the stories that I critique, I find this same sort of "Welfare Hydra" mentality appearing, on both the macro and the micro levels. The writer describes exciting (or not so exciting) events that the protagonist wrestles through, but in the end, these events don't make any difference to the story. They don't push the story along.

The micro events just add word count. A character will find a chilled bottle of water, unscrew its tight cap, take a few sips of the cold liquid, then screw the lid back on and wipe her hands on her black summer-cloth-weight capris, feeling refreshed now. Excuse me? Does any of this detail really add to the story? Now, maybe if the character had arthritis, then her method of opening a bottle might give a little grace note to her character, but otherwise this is throwaway stuff.

So how might one push a story along? There are many techniques to do this, but the core principle is to consistently raise the stakes for the protagonist: put more in jeopardy, make it uncertain that the protagonist can accomplish a goal that is vital to him and for the long-term success for the story. Everything counts, including little actions. Who cares how the character opens a bottle of water? But if the character isn't sure that she will be able to sneak a sip of water to calm a cough before she has to make an announcement, it might become more interesting.

A good way to raise these questions is to write in a deep third person point of view. Many manuscripts I read are written in a superficial POV, where actions are captured as if on camera, and there is no insight into the character's thoughts. The penetrating POV is one of the great strengths of novel writing. (Films of course have music, camera angles, and other tricks that make them a different, yet also strong, medium).

Use your POV!

Here are two passages:

(1)

Sam ran down the hallway. It was long, and there were no windows. He picked up speed. The entrance was twenty feet away. (objective POV)

(2)

Escape.

Sam couldn't see the intruder, but knew he must be close by. This was the hardest part to get out of the building: a long white tunnel, no windows.

Twenty feet. He might just have time. If only he could turn off these lights to race in the dark, but no time, no time.

And then he heard a footstep behind him...

(penetrating POV)

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OK, it's a hokey example written off the top of my head, but you get the idea, I trust.

When you write, whether a paragraph or a scene or more, keep asking yourself, "Are my words a Welfare Hydra?" If they are, stab them through the heart.

Carpe Diem

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

---C. S. Lewis

We all imagine how life could be different, but until we start acting on our dreams, they just remain irrelevant. My dear friends, I hope this will inspire you to reach for something hard. Take a small step every day towards your goal. You can do it!

your Skeletal Story Outline

Now you need to start a preliminary structure of your story. First, identify where your protagonist is starting, and where he will finish.

A very rough story structure can be described using the story goal and five general points of the story flow:

1. Beginning
2. Story Goal
3. Door
4. Journey
5. Slide
6. Resolution

Beginning -- describes "ordinary world" plus a change;

Story Goal -- overall goal that the protagonist wants to achieve by the end of the story

Door -- point where the protagonist embarks on a "journey" to achieve the story goal;

Journey -- long middle section of the story;

Slide -- point where the action changes again, and the story moves onto a course of resolution;

Resolution -- the end of the story

Examples:

The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship)
Beginning: Frodo lives in the Shire when he is given the One Ring by his Uncle Bilbo. Frodo wants to hide it.

Story Goal: Gandalf says the Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom.

Door: Frodo leaves the Shire with Sam.

Journey: Frodo and Sam meet friends and form the Fellowship. They have many adventures and trials traveling toward Mount Doom.

Slide: Orcs fall upon the group, and Frodo and Sam are separated from the others.

Resolution: The story is continued in the next two books, but in this one Frodo and Sam continue alone. Frodo realizes that only he is able to bear the Ring long enough to destroy it.

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The Wizard of Oz
Beginning: Dorothy is a farm girl in Kansas when her dog Toto is taken from her by Miss Gulch.

Bridging Story Goal: She decides to get Toto back.

Door: A tornado lifts Dorothy and Toto into the Land of Oz.

Story Goal: Dorothy wants to convince the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City to get her home.

Journey: Dorothy meets friends, and they have many adventures and trials traveling towards the Emerald City.

Slide: Dorothy kills the witch so she can bring the witch's broomstick to the wizard, then he will help her go home.

Resolution: Dorothy learns the wizard is a fraud but she uses the ruby slippers she's already wearing to get home.

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Now write the stages for your own story.

Protagonist and Simple Story

Who is your main character? Although there are exceptions, stories in general have one protagonist. Fairly frequently, especially in more plot-driven stories, there may also be what I call a "secondary protagonist" who is closely allied with the protagonist and works as a team with him or her. Often the secondary protagonist is also a love interest, but not always. Additionally, you may have protagonists of subplots. I discussed subplots HERE.

For your story, choose only one protagonist and, if you wish, one secondary protagonist.

Now, you need to lay out a simple outline of your story. A story can be divided into three parts, cleverly:

1. Beginning
2. Middle
3. End

The beginning sets up the story, showing the protagonist in his "ordinary world" and how and why he makes the decision to pursue the story goal.

The middle, the longest section, consists of a series of actions and reactions that show the progress and problems of the progatonist pursuing the story goal.

The end describes how the story is resolved.

Identify in a few sentences each what happens to your protagonist in the beginning, middle, and end of your story.

OK, on Friday we'll expand the story outline. Happy writing!