A few people have asked me to write about this “Scene Writing Method.” I will talk about it. First off, this is something I came up with on my own. If you find someone else espousing this method, please be assured that I cam up with this on my own. Just Think of this as great minds thinking alike and all. After the Break, The scene writing method.
When I started writing in earnest it was with typewriter and paper. For those of you too young to remember, a typewriter was what we wrote with when we had handwriting more suited to a Doctor than a writer. We started at page one and went to page 400+. We had our notecards and they might be pinned up on a corkboard.
Then came computers and the ability to cut and paste. Now we have dedicated programs like Scrivener, which allow me to work in untraditional ways. I felt empowered enough to begin working in a new way. This new way was in the Scene Writing method.
I spent a large part of my College days doing acting classes and the like. I found it interesting that when I write I see a movie in my head. The movie progressed scene by scene, and I thought that I would like to write like that. Now my outlining of the book was not outlining a dry bit of prose. Rather, i found myself using my Theatre training to block the scene, figure out what each character wanted out of the scene. Once I had done that The writing of this prepared scene was absolutely easier. There was one thing I do have to remind myself and that is setting the scene for the reader. I sometimes forget that the reader has not spent the time I have with my story, and I have to remember to do that.
So here’s what I do:
- In Scrivener I add a few Text objects. I use the corkboard view to give these Scene Documents a title. I don’t number them because numbers force me to put things in order.
- I indicate who the characters are, either by assigning character names as keywords to the scene
- On the notecard I put down a synopsis of what the scene is going to accomplish. Who wins, and what is resolved, if anything.
- I do this for as long as I can stand it, and then start writing, usually with the beginning scene.
The cool thing about this is that you might have too many scenes, and you can cut, or you can see where a plot hole is and can fill it up. Once you have all the scenes written out then you can collect them in their appropriate chapters. Do read through your manuscript to make sure it makes sense.
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