Solving Story Flow Issues

My first novel had flow issues. Other novels I was reading at the time seemed to flow so easily from one idea to the next–like a slinky walking down the stairs, but mine was more like a dollar store slinky–it would make it to the second step and just roll the rest of the way down. I wanted that smooth flow for my book, but couldn’t put my finger on the problem or decipher what made those other books work.

A couple years ago, I took Advanced Fiction Writing with Steve Alcorn--which I highly recommend--and in one of the lessons he presented the Scene and Sequel technique. I doubted him. In fact, I told him how wrong he was and set out to prove it. But, I soon realized, much to my irritation, he was right. Scene and Sequel not only remedied my story flow issues, but has been the technique that has most transformed my manuscripts.

If I were naming this technique I would have called it "Action and Reaction." It’s a way of keeping

tension and action at a high level, while giving your character a chance to react to what’s going on. In every book there are hundreds of scene and sequel pairs and may be multiple pairs within each chapter.

An individual scene or sequel can be long or short depending on your genre and target audience. It can even be applied in dialogue.

Here’s how it works:

Scene:

• Goal– What the character hopes to accomplish, big or small. 
• Conflict– A point of tension in reaching the goal or conflict with the goal itself. 
• Disaster– A setback, big or small, that increases tension. Can even be a reverse disaster, a too good to be true moment. 

After the disaster we give our character a chance to react, which brings us to the Sequel.

Sequel:

• Emotion– Reveal how the character feels (remember to show not tell) 
• Thought- What’s your character thinking at that moment? 
• Decision– How will they handle the conflict? Remember that making no decision is still a decision 
• Action– What course of action will they take as a result? 

This action will lead into the next scene.

Here’s a simple example:

Laura snatched her keys off the kitchen counter and ran for the front door. (Goal) A brisk arctic wind smacked her in the face when she stepped outside. She trudged through knee deep snow to her car, her nose already stinging from the cold. (Conflict) Out of the wind and tucked inside her car, she slid the key into the ignition and gave it a crank. Click. She turned the key again, pumped the gas. Nothing but clicks of automotive death and dim dashboard lights. (Disaster)

Laura pounded her fists on her steering wheel. (Emotion) Not today! She’d been waiting months for this interview. (Thought) She dropped her forehead against the steering wheel. She couldn’t give up, couldn’t let this beat her. (Decision) She grabbed her purse and ran for bus stop. (Action)

Take a piece of your own writing and give it a try. With repeated use, it becomes second nature--the logical way to organize a novel. Check out Crossing the Threshold for a deeper discussion of Scene and Sequel.

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Melinda Friesen writes novels for teens and short stories. You can find her first published novel, Enslavement, here. Unfortunately, she is all too familiar with automotive clicks of death.

Solving Story Problems Collaboratively

I’m a big advocate for writers’ groups. I figure that drawing on the wisdom of eight brains will certainly get me further than the limited wisdom of my single brain. 

One of the things we like to do in my writers’ group, The Anita Factor, is help each other brainstorm when we have a story problem.

I’d come up with a new concept for a novel. I was pretty jazzed about the idea, but I lacked one thing—a disaster. A major one. One that would level a huge portion of a town and result in the deaths of thousands. As you can tell, I’m all giggles and butterflies over here. I was stumped as to what that disaster should be. This is where novels can become trite, where authors choose something that’s been done hundreds of times. I needed a unique disaster.

I decided to take my problem to my writers’ group. I explained the main character and the premise of the story and, for the next 20 minutes, we brainstormed. I wrote down all of their ideas, no matter how silly, unusable or ridiculous. When we were done, I had 32 disastrous ideas. None of them stood out as, “the one,” but I had pages worth of material to ruminate on.

That night, when I went to my car, still thinking on all those potential disasters, I came up with idea number 33. It was THE idea! While my group may not have come up with it, I needed to go through all of their ideas to stumble upon mine. I also have the assurance of knowing that if these highly creative people didn’t come up with my idea, then there probably are not hundreds of novels out there structured around the same disaster.

Are you a part of a writers’ group? How do you help each other? Do you brainstorm with friends or beta readers when you’re stumped? Leave a comment.

Melinda Friesen writes middle grade, young adult and new adult fiction. Learn more about her and her novel, Enslavement, at www.melindafriesen.com. 

Major Rewrites: Revising in Layers or Moving Mountains One Stone at a Time, Part 1

In the spring, I had to tackle a major revision of the second book in the One Bright Future series. To give a bit of history, I wrote the series nearly six years ago. I put the first book through countless revisions over those years. However, I did not do the same to subsequent books as I rationalized that spending that time on sequels when I couldn’t find a publisher for the first book was a waste of time.

So, after Enslavement (book one) was published, I knew I had to devote some serious attention to book two. My basic plot worked, but I needed to amp up the action and dystopian elements to match the first book. A new fear seized me—that those who read Enslavement and liked it, would be disappointed by book two. I wanted book two, not just to meet expectations, but to exceed them.

Thinking about the changes I needed to make was overwhelming and intimidating to say the least, but I’d already done this type of revision with the first book. Yes, there was some heart-pounding panic. Yes, part of me wanted to lie down and give up. Yes, I cursed myself for not doing more with the MS previously. But, I pushed this aside. It was time to get to work.

I’ve developed my own system for applying these major changes, which I’ll share with you. After writing this blog post, I realized it was far too long and detailed for a single post, so I’m going to give it to you in two installments. Next, Monday, September 21, I’ll give you the remainder.

I’ve learned that I can accomplish any task, no matter how huge, by breaking it down into smaller tasks. So, let’s get started.

1.       Brainstorming.

In this phase, I ask myself oodles of questions. What else is possible in this setting? What else could be going on with these characters? What is my antagonist’s goal, my protagonists goal? What are all the possible ways they could attempt to forward their agendas? How would all this effect my protagonist? There are no bad answers. I write them down—all of them, even the ridiculous ones, knowing some I’ll use and some I won’t.

2.       Outlining the existing MS.

This is a list of plot points, nothing elaborate. I just need to get a bird’s eye view of what I’ve already done. Because the basic plot was staying the same, I needed to be able to plug the new elements into the old.

3.       Thinning.

After taking some time to mentally explore my brainstormed options, I thin that list by removing items that are inconsistent with my world and characters, items that will take the story in an unacceptable direction, those that will not feed into the greater plot and some that I just don’t like. I'm left with the subplots and character changes that I intend to integrate into the MS.

4.       Subplotting.

I take each of the new subplots/characters and make a brief outline of what each will involve. For example, if I'm adding a new character, I jot down how they will figure into the story—where the character will meet my protagonist, how they will interact and how they will support the greater plot.

Overwhelmed yet? Don't worry. You’ll tackle one element at a time and it will all come together.

So, where do you go from here? Stop by next Monday, and I’ll tell you how I complete this process and shine up that manuscript so it’s publication ready.

Have you had to tackle rewrites and major revision? What’s your response? I’d love to hear from you.

Melinda Friesen writes short stories and novels for teens. When she's not writing, she's the marketing director at Rebelight Publishing Inc. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada with her husband, four children and five gerbils.