Learning As I Go

I'm one-third in my manuscript, but still writing the scene outline for the 3rd draft. Most of my scenes had to be killed off or consolidated with other scenes. Lately I've been reading up on Story Grid by Shawn Coyne and Make A Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld. These resources are helping me out greatly in planning out my scenes: they help point out my weaknesses and flaws. One thing I noticed was most of my scenes didn't have a turning points and proper scene launches.

I've learned that turning points are crucial to make a scene work. Each scene needs a turning point so it doesn't come across as dull. This was mentioned by Shawn Coyne and also Sandra Scofield in her book The Scene Book (what a humdrum title). Coyne, however, has a complex method with regards to turning points; he talks about Value Shifts, Polarity Shifts and Turning Point (see here: http://www.storygrid.com/tracking-the-scene). As for Scofield, she calls it the Focal Point, a moment where the momentum shifts, where things change from good to bad and vice-verse.

And going through my draft, I've noticed that my narrative summaries were all over the place. I've since planned them out and placed them in strategic scenes where they could elicit the best drama for the novel.

I'm learning as I go, and it's great. When I started this novel early last year, I told myself that the time I spent on it was my "tuition fee." Hope I graduate this year with a complete manuscript.

I'm one-third in my manuscript, but still writing the scene outline for the 3rd draft. Most of my scenes had to be killed off or consolidated with other scenes. Lately I've been reading up on Story Grid by Shawn Coyne and Make A Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld. These resources are helping me out greatly in planning out my scenes; they help point out my weaknesses and flaws. One thing I noticed was most of my scenes didn't have a turning points and proper scene launches.

I've learned that turning points are crucial to make a scene work. This was mentioned by Shawn Coyne and also Sandra Scofield in her book The Scene Book (what a humdrum title). Coyne, however, has a complex method with regards to turning points; he talks about Value Shifts, Polarity Shifts and Turning Point (see here: http://www.storygrid.com/tracking-the-scene). As for Scofield, she calls it the Focal Point, a moment where the momentum shifts, where things change from good to bad and vice-verse. Each scene needs a turning point so it doesn't come across as dull.

And going through my draft, I've noticed that my narrative summaries were all over the place. I've since planned them out and placed them in strategic scenes where they could elicit the best drama for the novel.

I'm learning as I go, and it's great. When I started this novel early last year, I told myself that the time I spent on it was my "tuition fee." Hope I graduate this year with a complete manuscript.

I'm one-third in my manuscript, but still writing the scene outline for the 3rd draft. Most of my scenes had to be killed off or consolidated with other scenes. Lately I've been reading up on Story Grid by Shawn Coyne and Make A Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld. These resources are helping me out greatly in planning out my scenes; they help point out my weaknesses and flaws. One thing I noticed was most of my scenes didn't have a turning points and proper scene launches.

I've learned that turning points are crucial to make a scene work. This was mentioned by Shawn Coyne and also Sandra Scofield in her book The Scene Book (what a humdrum title). Coyne, however, has a complex method with regards to turning points; he talks about Value Shifts, Polarity Shifts and Turning Point (see here: http://www.storygrid.com/tracking-the-scene). As for Scofield, she calls it the Focal Point, a moment where the momentum shifts, where things change from good to bad and vice-verse. Each scene needs a turning point so it doesn't come across as dull.

And going through my draft, I've noticed that my narrative summaries were all over the place. I've since planned them out and placed them in strategic scenes where they could elicit the best drama for the novel.

I'm learning as I go, and it's great. When I started this novel early last year, I told myself that the time I spent on it was my "tuition fee." Hope I graduate this year with a complete manuscript.