For those who find this in the future…
…wait, that’s a REALLY GOOD SETUP for a novel!
I’m writing this during NaNoWriMo, so you’re going to see a lot of advice that probably doesn’t work the rest of the year, and some advice that is timeless.
During Nano, you often don’t have a lot of time for, “Cobwebs stretched across the space between the cupboards.” Narrative sections may be reduced to simple actions. You’re going to invest a lot of time in basic dialog to capture the essence of the scene. All the “Breath fogged on the glass window” may have to wait. We’ll see. As I said, 2018 is my first NaNoWriMo.
Man, I wish I could stop getting novel Ideas! I’ve had two just writing this article!
The essence of writing a scene is this – every line of dialog, every action, every bit of the narrative must move the story forward. Yes, it’s great to write the scene where the guy and the girl sit on the river bank barefoot and look at clouds. But unless it leads to a conflict, resolution of a conflict or delivers some information the scene must have, or crucial like a “falling in love” scene…
It has to go. And during NaNoWriMo, you don’t have time to write that scene.
(In case you’re wondering what the second novel was, it isn’t mentioned here – I just had a picture in my head of a chinese man learning traditional Kung fu, getting slapped on the forehead by his Sifu for asking questions, then seeing a western boxer… yeah. That’s a good setup, if you’ve seen a lot of Chiu Chi Ling movies).
During NaNoWriMo, you don’t have time to salt and pepper your scenes. Write it, move on.
In many ways, this is one of the two key lessons in NaNo – write it, move on, finish the book. There you go.
Everything present in the scene must move the story forward. Back Story? Leave it out. hint at it if you must.
“They won’t know who the character is!”
Then you didn’t do your job.
Don’t forget the Gamera formula – try, fail, try again, succeed. Use this to structure your novels. It helps.
December you can worry about the “smell of dying flowers hanging in the air like rancid fruit”.
And you may do your re-read, and find your book was better without it.
