Thursday, February 4, 2010

ACTION! (I need help!)

So, I'm working on something both old and new, and I need some advice that will motivate me and make the scene I write become a rocking awesome scene!! So, here's my request:

PLEASE! Post any links or advice you've found helpful or you've written in the comments.

What do you do to prep for writing a HUGE scene in your book? One that is PIVITAL to the rest of the story?

*picture came from: http://halcyonhealth.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/writing-with-pen.jpg

12 comments:

Aubrie said...

Sometimes I write down important lines that the characters absolutely have to say and then work toward them. Sometimes I think about the turning point and make it happen in slow motion.

Hope this helps!

Patti said...

I just write the basics then fill in the details later if I can't think of them just then.

Amalia Dillin said...

I act it out in my head. Or let my characters act it out, anyway. But that's as far as I go, I guess. Listen to some good music that evokes the same emotions and tones you want in your scene, too, maybe? In another book one of my characters listened to a lot of Sinatra, so I did too, when I wrote him.

Clementine said...

Make a list of what must occur, and any dialogue that you've played in your head. Then become your main character. Start at the beginning of the scene and act it out. Do the scene over and over, playing with different entrances and dialogue. Then do the scene from a different character's point of view. It helps to see it from different angles.

Joanne said...

I'll often take a long walk and talk it out with a friend or daughter. Then too a rough outline helps to visualize what will happen with the scene, and then to follow out the repurcussions of that scene on the rest of the story. To see where that one pivotal scene will take you. Hope this helps!

Stephanie Thornton said...

I definitely listen to music that evokes the same emotion I'm striving for. I get the bare bones down and go back and add more later.

Elana Johnson said...

I just sit down and write it. Everything I write becomes editing and revised and rewritten a million times anyway. I don't plan, I don't think. I just do.

Good luck!

Kelly Lyman said...

I listen to music while I go back and reread certain scenes that have lead to that part of the story...the scene before it, usually. I think about my characters and what mood they are in and then I just write...if it is a heartbreaking scene, I listen to music that makes me cry. If it is a battle scene, I listen to music that I can picture angry men screaming a battle cry too. Music always helps me get in the right frame of mind.

Unknown said...

To prep for a huge scene, I outline! I'm already an obsessive outliner, but when something pivotal comes into play, I'm all over it. I think about each character and what they would be feeling at that moment, what their motivations are, etc. I remind myself what the main theme & goal of the novel are supposed to be... and then I just write!

Good luck!

Tiffany Neal said...

First of all, I wanted to say that I found your blog through a series of blog-stalking. I just started mine up this week (I know, I've been livng under a rock) and I am having a really great time finding other writers all in the same boat on here! I'm also finding that I am procrastinating much more than I did before I started blogging...
When I get to a pivotal point where I need inspiration for words and ideas, I read. I don't read to steal, I read to gain passion and inspiration.
I tell my fourth graders at school when we are working on our writing, "Good writers read more than they write."
Sometimes some time a way is the best thing for a piece of work that is too close to you.
I'd love for you to stop by my blog...I'm looking for other writers like me to have on my blog. I will be a faithful follower of yours and can't wait to see other great things you have going on.
Good luck!

Carrie Harris said...

I'm another don't-planner. Yes, I obsess about all my scenes, think about them in the shower, and so on. But just getting it down on paper is the hardest part. You can finesse it umpteen ways once it's there.

Katie said...

I'm a planner, so I write a detailed outline. For the climax of my last WIP, I wrote a 5-page outline, expanded from a 1-page one. It helped me figure everything out: how it would work, who would do what, etc. It also showed me flaws in the plot and how I could change things. I ended up killing off a character because of that outline... LOL

Hope this helps! :)