Tweet "It's 2:00am and I have been up for two hours frantically typing a scene for my current middle school MS. You know what I'm talking about, the kind of scene that won't let you get on with anything in your life until you get it on paper."
Sound familiar? Well, it had been two months since that night and I still couldn't figure out where the scene fit. Still sound familiar? Well, I revised it, tried it in several different positions but it still wasn't working. So I decided that I would just put it aside and deal with it later and picked up one of the current books I'm reading, The Architecture of the Novel by Jane Vandenburgh. In her section on plot she writes:
"So plot is story's sequence--the 3,2.1 or the 2,3,1 of it's scenes. These are events arranged not necessarily in the order in which they chronologically happened. Rather, they are positioned so they best show us what we are to understand about each event in the moment in which it occurs. Sequencing has everything to do with the way plot weaves layers of time... we can look back...and understand and events significance-- only later, when we encounter meaning in the story's narrative future.' (Vandenburgh, 78)
Eureka! It suddenly occurred to me that the scene that I believed was for my protagonist, was actually a scene involving her deceased mother. So now I had to discover where in my plot this information/ scene would be meaningful and how my protagonist would learn about it.
Uncovering story and plot is such an adventure! Have you had any eureka moments you would like to share?
It's still not to late to enter my 80 followers celebration give-away, enter here. Amazingly in only two days I have now jumped to 103 followers, so....in celebration I will be adding another copy of Possession, doubling the chances of winning!! :) Be sure to enter before 12:00 midnight on December, 9th.
No, my brain is on vacation right now. I can't think of an eureka moments, even though I know I've had them. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteMy brain's dead, too. Well, frozen is more like it. But congrats on having more followers! Knew you would (cause you've got a super blog!)
ReplyDeleteI had this great idea in my head, but had no idea how to plot it out. My writing partner gave me some ideas that helped, but ultimately I felt stumped.
ReplyDeleteBut then just as I was about to pass out in bed for the night it hit me. I jumped up, causing the cat to flee in terror and wrote it all down.
When I woke up the writing was scribbles, but I made out enough that it now works. :)
What a wonderful example! I still have those moments about the beginning. Most people cut the first third off their book, I just add an initual third on all my books. LOL!
ReplyDeleteOff to check out your celebration!