When I start writing a new novel, I experiment with how to begin, and this year I tried writing my story’s key scenes first, right after I wrote to discover the characters.
I wrote to hear their voices, frame their backgrounds and culture, shape their appearances, and decide what kind of relationship they will explore. Is it an adventure, a romance, a family drama, or a woman’s journey of self-discovery?
In the case of my current work-in-progress, it’s a sequel, so I had a lot about the characters already. But I took them on a road trip, and they began with a brewing romance, so those things were easy to determine.
Once I nailed down what kind of book was brewing, I thought about their story’s key scenes — the most emotional interactions or realizations that would change their actions and determine how their story would end.
How do you know which ones will be key scenes of your nascent story? About a zillion plot structure theories abound, but basically an engaging story needs:
1. an inciting incident — something to kick the protagonist out of her status quo
2. rising conflict between characters — developing tension, whether adversarial or romantic
3. peak or climax of their conflict — can be conflict with each other or with circumstances
4. resolution of the conflict and main character’s resulting transformation
5. followup (wrapping up their story — what comes after the resolution and feels like a satisfying or logical ending point.
That’s my terminology. I coined my own because the terms shown in diagram like the one below are opaque in terms of an actual story. They refer to the effect of the action, but not the content that creates it. They’re hard to memorize. Some people like diagrams. Here you go:
After getting to know my characters, I write the scenes that define who they are. Then I write the ones that are key turning points in their story, including the climax of the conflict and its resolution. These should be the most emotionally heated scenes.
It’s easy for me to get into the heat, as that’s largely how I define the character. What is the emotional wound they carry, and how do they navigate life with it? For example, is this person clingy and prone to be overly attached, or an avoidance addict? Does the character feel better than or less than others, or enjoy a healthy sense of equality with others? Successful or striving to succeed? Are they rich, middle class, or poor, and how did they come to that status? Are they super-educated, or little educated?
The story’s key scenes will flow out of who they are. WHAT IS THE CHARACTER’S MOST INTENSELY FELT GOAL? What is it they think they can’t live without, and how does that their inability to achieve that goal complicate his or her life? That’s the kernel of a story about that character. If another character thwarts them, we have a story conflict.
I recommend a deep dive into what makes a character’s goal a story by reading Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story. It’s the book that made me really understand what makes a story fascinating. Some of my thoughts on creating characters can be found in this post.
Writing the main character’s most emotionally important scenes, whether it’s about feelings of love, desire, thwarted ambition, yearning, homesickness, fear, fury, or obsession will define the reader’s experience. Once you have written — or even dashed off notes for — those key scenes, the rest is easy. For me, setting, description, transitions, and entertaining digressions all flow once I have the story in my pocket, the intense emotional moments for the characters.
Hope you give this method a try! And find this post helpful in your writing journey.