My 94 year-old father is in the hospital with serious issues after a fall, and it’s rather tense, so I’m reposting about a critical writing skill: Three-dimensional scenes.
Writing Tip for Today: How can we craft 3-D scenes?
The Heart of Character
Begin by creating a strong POV character. Give this person strong emotions, attitudes and wants. I once had a student whose character, in midlife crisis. The character drifted aimlessly across the pages—because that’s what people in midlife crisis often do. Unfortunately, readers would likely drop out before the character’s passions were reignited. Don’t wait long to introduce an event that shifts your character into desperation—whether it be for love, acceptance or to solve a crime.
You’ll also want your character to lose a lot—especially at first. Another of my students told me about a story of a boy who wanted to play the French horn in the school band—so he did. That’s not much of a story. Readers crave the struggle, the determination and the battles in order to reach a goal. One way to know if there’s enough at stake is by asking, “So What?” If the answer isn’t earthshaking, you may wish to give your character a better goal.
Another trick for writing strong POV characters is to get another character on stage with her/him fairly quickly. I call this The Wilson Principle, after the movie “Cast Away” with Tom Hanks. If your character has no one to interact with, a monologue without movement may be the result. Resist the urge to plunk down your character in a field or somewhere alone, just sitting and thinking. Readers can feel trapped inside the character’s head.
3-D Scene Mechanics
When scenes feel alive, it’s often because the writer understands how to construct a scene. Long passages of set-up or description, monologues or separation of action from emotions can weigh down a scene. Instead of chunky passages of description at the beginning of the scene, learn to weave scenic details in and around the action and dialogue.
But how many details are needed? In draft, go ahead and pack the CSD (Concrete Sensory Details) into the scene. But in revision, choose the best ones and use details intentionally—that is, to draw attention to important things the character would notice. Delete the extras.
Don’t allow your characters to shoot the breeze, and I believe you can also edit out hesitations such as ers and ums. Instead make every line of dialogue point to the story. As you write dialogue, the Rule of Three may help you ensure there are no “talking heads” or “speechifying.” If the dialogue carries the story, put your characters somewhere besides around a table sipping a drink. In life we do this a lot, but in a story, movement enlivens readers. Could your characters have the same conversation as they are wrapping gifts or working horseshoes in the smithy’s shop?
In revision, choose the best CSD and use details intentionally.
Write in Micro Tension
Let every sentence of description, action, dialogue reflect your character’s attitudes and emotions. What I might describe as a great homestyle restaurant might be viewed by another as a dive. Flavor your prose with these little judgments to reflect not just your character’s attitudes, but the ways in which he/she changes those attitudes over the course of the story.
Consider who is narrating your story. If you have more than one narrator, be sure the voices are distinct and different. If all the characters sound like you, readers may not have a strong attachment to any of them. This is especially important in romances where the POV bounces between the two characters.
Finally, use body language and interior thoughts to convey micro tension through emotions. If your character says something yet rolls her eyes, readers get the micro tension. You can improve your sense of micro tension by becoming a keen observer of people in your life. What do people do when they’re saying one thing but meaning another? How do you react when you get mixed messages? All these nuances can be incorporated into your characters’ repertoires to bring a flat scene to life.
