And . . . Scene!
At the August 2010 NILA residency, Mary Guterson spoke about her own path to professional novel-writing, and about her process as an author. I have a vivid image from her talk of her in a motel room (not like that!) with some five hundred three-by-five index cards, madly scribbling out the basics of every scene in her novel, scene-by-scene, one to a card. Then she would lay them out on the floor and play with the order.
I remember thinking something like, “That sounds insane!” Admittedly, I think I added the overlay of her laughing maniacally as she went. I don’t think that was part of her actual description. But the notion of putting together that sort of scene-by-scene breakdown sounded excessive to me.
Yeah. About that. . .
Fast forward almost exactly one year. I am working on my thesis and my adviser, Bruce Holland Rogers, starts me on what he calls “close editing practice” for my project (still, alas, untitled). We go through the first couple of pages this way, and in the process I completely rework the opening scene.
Those of you with keen perception will notice that the operative word is “scene.”
I realized something by starting this exercise. I need to go through the whole work, scene by scene, and revisit the elements of craft: check the point of view, check the characterization, check the points of tension and conflict, check the language and imagery, check the progress of the major plot, check the progress of the subplots, and so forth.
It occurs to me now that I would find it useful to note for each scene what role it plays in the overall story.
Now, I won’t be using three-by-five cards. I organize my project using Liquid Story Binder XE, which includes a storyboarding tool that works very well for this purpose. I can look at the scenes on my computer screen – less visceral, but it requires less space.
So, by the time I finish the close editing practice, I will have mapped out my novel scene by scene. I can then look at the arrangement and decide if I need to move any parts around. I don’t know that I will, but I can’t say I consider the idea insane anymore.
Whether this is a sign of my own growing madness or the usefulness of the practice I shall leave as an exercise for the reader.
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Submissions update: since my last post, I have submitted pieces to Basement Stories, Aoife’s Kiss, Electric Spec, and Weird Tales.
