You can all probably guess by my late post last night that nothing has changed as far as my progress toward my goals. I did read a little Bloodwitch last night, but not even 1% of the book so all the numbers stay the same.
So I will simply offer a blessing and celebration for all mothers out there. Happy Mother’s Day! It ought to be Mother’s Day every day for all the stuff you all do for those you love, but at least there’s today. I hope those who love you and whom you love treat you exactly as you wish.
Well Chat
Pushing Your Characters to Act
In previous posts, I’ve talked about every other aspect of the scene cycle: Goal, Conflict, Disaster, and Reaction. The pivotal part of the cycle, though, has escaped my analysis and advice, though: the Dilemma and Decision portions. I’m writing one combined post on these two pieces because they are inextricably tied.
Also, I’ve recently added Series/Collection links to the site so you can easily go back and review what I’ve said previously on related topics. This includes the scene cycle which is good because it has been spread over the last two months. Feel free to check out the other posts in this collection at your leisure.
What is a dilemma? It is a temporary inability to choose between alternatives. So why is this important in your writing? Well, art is best when it emulates life and your life is full of choices. What to wear, what to eat, where to go, how to work, who to call, and so forth. There’s countless choices we make every day. So your characters need choices. Not all choices are created equal, though. Choosing whether to have cereal or toast for breakfast is not the same as deciding whether to tell the truth or a lie. In writing, economy is king. Every choice has to matter. The dilemma is list of available options; the decision is choice itself.
So let’s look at an example. This is going to be modeled after “real” life so that its relatable. You need to get to work on time; this is your goal. The issue is that traffic is thick and it looks like you might be late which causes you conflict. To counteract that, you look around to find a faster route at which point you rear-end another car. Now you have a disaster. You have a reaction of shock, anger, frustration, fear, and heightened anxiety. Now you also have a dilemma (this is where today’s article comes into play): do you stay and handle the car crash you just caused and be late to work or do you hit and run and get to work on time hoping it will all blow over? This may seem like an obvious choice, but for some people (read that as characters), it’s not. The choice then drives you to your new goal. If you stay, your goal is to do the right thing and be honest. If you run, your goal is the same at the beginning of the last cycle.
And that’s the important thing here: this is a cyclical process. The decision in the sequel of one scene becomes the goal of the next, rotating back through the cycle again to create conflict, action, and reaction in the story. Start stringing these together and you’ve got yourself a plot. That’s why it is so important for me to keep asking why. By letting the answers to the multitudinous “why’s” inform the action and reaction, a natural flow arises and my plot becomes believable.
Once you account for suspension of disbelief, of course.
So that’s the end of the scene cycle. What do you think? Does one part not follow as well as the others? Does it seem too complicated? Do you wonder why you can’t just write? Sound off in the comments and I hope you’ve had a wonderful Mother’s Day
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG