Post by LynnDoiron on Jul 14, 2007 16:11:42 GMT -5
From the Santa Barbara Writers Conference workshops, a couple notes taken regarding "Scenes" created in writing. I'm posting them here in the General Forum because I think, in a wider sense, these five points apply to poetry as well as prose (although they come to me by way of a fiction workshop)
Every scene must earn its place on the page. A scene is narrative segments that have a shape. Consider these five points when determining whether to keep or cut --
Purpose
Direction
Conflict
Development
Closure
If any of the above are difficult to find in the written scene created, then rethink the work. If the purpose hasn't been met, figure out how to meet it. If the direction meanders to such a degree that it can't be nailed down, by you, the writer--consider how frustrated your reader will be. If some conflict, whether internal decision making or external action, whatever, isn't recognizable, then the prose, while possibly gorgeous and a particular "darling" will lack energy and tension. Before leaving the scene, check out how well every element has been developed, or over-developed. Close the scene while the reader is still with you, but bait the hook for what's to come.
My notes are scratched and scrawled and I didn't do a very good job. The instructor was so very good that I found myself listening and watching way more than I was writing . . .
But these five points have been hugely helpful to me since my return from SB. I apply them to every scene, and to scenes within scenes. And I even think about them when writing poetry. Hope they may be helpful to you, too.
lynn
Every scene must earn its place on the page. A scene is narrative segments that have a shape. Consider these five points when determining whether to keep or cut --
Purpose
Direction
Conflict
Development
Closure
If any of the above are difficult to find in the written scene created, then rethink the work. If the purpose hasn't been met, figure out how to meet it. If the direction meanders to such a degree that it can't be nailed down, by you, the writer--consider how frustrated your reader will be. If some conflict, whether internal decision making or external action, whatever, isn't recognizable, then the prose, while possibly gorgeous and a particular "darling" will lack energy and tension. Before leaving the scene, check out how well every element has been developed, or over-developed. Close the scene while the reader is still with you, but bait the hook for what's to come.
My notes are scratched and scrawled and I didn't do a very good job. The instructor was so very good that I found myself listening and watching way more than I was writing . . .
But these five points have been hugely helpful to me since my return from SB. I apply them to every scene, and to scenes within scenes. And I even think about them when writing poetry. Hope they may be helpful to you, too.
lynn