Thursday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

SCENE STRUCTURE: THE FIRST 3 THINGS YOU NEED IN YOUR SCENE

By: C. S. Lakin

The First Paragraph

That first paragraph is probably going to be the hardest one to write and polish since it carries the biggest burden in your novel (and the last paragraph in the book carries the second biggest burden). It’s fine to just throw something out there to get started, knowing you’ll come back and make it much better.

But before you can write that first paragraph, you should know what your first scene is going to be about—and it has to be about some specific things:

• Your protagonist. Unless you are writing a prologue (if you really must) that involves some other characters, you want that first scene to showcase your protagonist. Why? Because you are clueing your reader and telling her to pay attention to this particular character right from the start. Your reader will assume the first character they are introduced to, with the scene being told in their POV (point of view), is your protagonist and the one they will want to root for. There are exceptions to this, of course, but as a general rule, this is the time-tested and best way to start.
• A catalyst or incident. Your opening scene should start off with a bang, with your protagonist in the middle of something that we sense has been going on for a while. Insinuate a conflict, a problem, some tense situation that puts the protagonist right in the heart of a scene that will be the perfect milieu to showcase her humanity, needs, fears, dreams, or whatever it is you want to reveal about her to the reader at the start. This incident or situation should provide a great platform for your MDQ and plot goal (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go read the previous posts that go into detail on this). This is why you need to spend some serious time thinking about the setting, locale, and situation of your first scene.
• A hint of the protagonist’s core need. I’ll talk about this more in future posts, but this is essential. Basically, you want to introduce a character who has a visible goal (as we’ve gone over)—but what does that translate to? That she has a need. Hence, the reason she has a goal. If Indiana Jones’s goal is to get the Ark of the Covenant, it’s because he has a need. Now, in a different story, his need may be to get enough money to pay the rent and what is motivating him is his desire not to be homeless, so he’s driven by a need to survive by going after a reward. Or his need could be for fame, for humanitarian purposes, to impress a girl—the list is endless. It’s your story, so you should know why your protagonist wants to reach that visible goal. So hint at what that is.

Now, I’m not suggesting you need to write a three-page first paragraph to get all this in there. In fact, that first paragraph may tell us very little and just give us a great hook and introduce your character in some compelling situation (at very least you need that). But you do need all this on your first page—at least a hint of this. It’s doable—really! And essential to the heart of your story.

From The Defining of a Scene: How Would You Define a Scene?

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If you missed my latest writing and marketing tweets, here they are again:

• Writing Fantasy Fiction: How to Make the Magic Work http://ow.ly/Y9GDf
• April Henry on Just Add Tension: How to Make Any Book - But Especially Mysteries and Thrillers - Better http://ow.ly/Y9GFr\
• Lisa Romeo Writes: Guest Blogger Sandra Hurtes on How a Writer Stays Committed With No Promise of Success http://ow.ly/Y9GKt
• WOW! Women On Writing Blog: Publishing Could Be Causing a Writing Block http://ow.ly/Y9GN6
• 5 Ways to Create an Em Dash – Tech Tools for Writers http://ow.ly/Y9GP1
• How Writers Can Craft an Effective Setting | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/Y9GRV
• On Writers, Hoarders, and Their Clutter | Literary Hub http://ow.ly/Y9GUs
• Scene Structure: The First 3 Things You Need in Your Scene | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/Y9GZ4
• [Guest Post] 7 Tips for Creating an Antihero that Readers Would Love - The Procrastiwriter http://ow.ly/Y9Hu8
• How to Create a Professional Press Kit in 8 Easy Steps | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/Y9HwC
• Operation Awesome: Convention Basics: Five Tips to Make Your Book Stand Out http://ow.ly/Y9HyK
• How to Make Beta Reading Work for Us | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/Y9KV0
• The Write Type - Multi-Author Musings: The Question of Book Promotion Sites http://ow.ly/Y9L98

Happy writing and running, Kathy