In looking back over this blog after the last post, I realize that I haven’t ever explicitly dealt with scene-to-scene or chapter-end-to-chapter-beginning transitions – not all in one post, anyway. So here is that discussion. The first thing to look at is what changes between the end
Read more →This is a continuation of the pre-open-mic post on choreography. Last time, I was talking mostly about the macro level – the order things happen in the overall story. This week, I’m going to talk more about the scene level. Choreographing a scene starts with the things
Read more →Choreography is defined as “the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion, form, or both are specified.” It is most often applied to dance, but the term gets used for pretty much anything that involves a need
Read more →“Every scene must cause or lead into the next scene.” I ran across this particular bit of writing advice recently; it was followed by a couple of tips such as “cut any scene that isn’t caused by the scene immediately before it.” Wow, that means Ian M.
Read more →One of the things I hate writing the most is what I refer to as “council scenes.” These are the scenes that involve a bunch of characters who are trying to solve a problem (or series of problems) by talking them to death, rather than bashing something
Read more →Scene choreography or planning is a thing that some writers do up front, some do as a routine part of their process, and some hardly ever bother with even though they’re not pantsers, strictly speaking. What I’m talking about here is a whole class of preparation variously
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