Drawing from the Well
Scenes Arranged: 0
Total Scenes: 158
Yesterday was a weird day. Business seemed to come out of nowhere. Today I’m HOPING to get a few scenes written. I’ve picked my next scene set, I just have to get to writing it.
Filling the Well
That Hideous Strength: 53%
Sightwitch: 100%! (Book 12 of 25 for #ProjectBookworm2019)
Elegy: Page 3 of 89
Jessica Jones: S2E10 of 13
I finished Sightwitch! What a ride when it was all said and done. I liked the shorter format for this book because it couldn’t meander quite as much. Things focused down to a razor’s edge by the finale and it brought so much of the rest of the Witchlands series into focus. I’m excited to start Bloodwitch soon, but I’ve got a few bullets in the chamber to clear first. Elegy is one of a pair of novellas released as part of the World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Collector’s Edition and are available free on Blizzard’s website. I’ve been wanting to read them for a while and they’re short and quick so I’m going to devour this and A Good War before moving back into novels.
As you can see above, I added a bunch of books to my “active” TBR. These are books from some of my favorite authors including Rachel A. Marks and Charlie N. Holmberg. I can’t wait to dive into their stuff again soon.
Polishing the Well
Yesterday wasn’t exceptional in any real way…except we renewed our season tickets to Broadway at the Straz. We’re so excited for Aladdin and My Fair Lady in the 2019-2020 season. Can’t wait to dive into all of it in the fall. Plus, we have a show tonight…
Well Chat
Why is your character here?
Let’s talk about another element of scene structure: the goal. Because goals are desires with a plan, scene goals are more like desires than actual goals. This actually helps in describing the purpose of goals in a scene as well as their importance.
The goal is the thing your POV character wants. Could be to save the love of his life or it could be (as Kurt Vonnegut said and was described here) a glass of water. The point is that they want SOMETHING. The goal is the first thing to consider in a scene and a Scene. The difference in capitalization is deliberate. A Scene is divided into two triplets of parts. The first triplet is the scene while the second is the sequel. The first part of the first triplet is our goal. It’s right at the front and serves as the motivation through the remainder of the scene as well as the sequel. It also feeds from the decision made at the end of the previous sequel.
To me, this is why a second book is easier to start than a first. There’s no goals or desires to establish in a second book because it carries over from the first (unless you’re talking about a serialized series in which each book is a standalone; that’s a whole other kettle of fish). The same is true of scenes within a book. Once you have your decision in a sequel, it BECOMES the goal of the following scene. If a character decides “I’m going to get a drink of water” then their subsequent goal is “Get a drink of water.” One flows naturally into the next.
Now, why is this important? This is a little more difficult to nail down until you get it. The goal is the reason your character is in the Scene to begin with. “Well of course it is.” That’s easy to say until you step back and look at your work and realize that your character is bobbing about in a sea of circumstances without actually wanting or doing anything. It’s all well and good to have a whole bunch of cool stuff happen in your book, but if your main character doesn’t want any of it, then it stops making sense and the entire premise breaks down. Plus, if a bunch of stuff is happening around your main character because of things OTHER characters want, maybe your book is supposed to be about them.
Anyway, your character has to want something for it to make sense that they appear in the conflict. If they want to go home, they could be present in the conflict because they can’t get home so they’re fighting to get there. If they want to save the world, they could be fighting against “evil” and forces beyond their control to keep the world from nuking itself. If they want a glass of water (tired of this metaphor yet?), they could be fighting against their kids who keep needing things and waylay them from getting to the fridge. Oh and the phone. And the dog threw up on the rug. And a snake popped up in their yard. This is starting to sound like a fun short story…
The point is, your character has to want something, to have something they’re striving for. Without it, there’s no reason for them to be in the story because there IS NO STORY. The story itself is them trying to satisfy their desire, to meet their goal.
What are some of your goals? What do you want to accomplish? What’s standing in your way? Be the hero of your own story and achieve something.
May the tide carry you to safer shores
BSG