Something's Coming...

I spent a good part of this afternoon looking out the window. Hurricane Sandy is coming and boy, could I tell. The sky was leaden. Wind pulled at the treetops. It felt like that moment when a perfectly still cat flicks its tail, and you just know it's ready to pounce…

It's the perfect example of what I learned last weekend in Honesdale. During the Heart of the Fantasy Novel Workshop led by Patti Gauch, I began revising the novel I wrote over the summer. (Nearly 80,000 words in two months. You will not be surprised to learn it needs work.)

One of the big issues I dealt with was what Patti called “staging.” In a theater sense, I think this refers to the physicality of the set: where people stand, etc. However, as best I can describe it,* Patti meant that the climax of each scene or chapter must be set up.  (This is different from foreshadowing, where an event in the first chapter might foreshadow something at the end of the book.) Staging means that every portion of a chapter sets up what happens a few pages later. There should be a narrative wave, or momentum, that carries the reader to a specific moment in every scene and chapter.

However, in my hurry this summer, I often just plopped major plot points or moments into the narrative. It happened a lot towards the end, where I wrote as fast I could figure the story out. Now, as I'm revising, those story plops** need to be set up. Here's what I think that means, specifically: 

If I reveal a major plot point in a chapter, I better be sure that the reader has been curious for a while. The reader shouldn’t find out where the villain comes from before she wonders about it. I need to stage a fight-- or a kiss. The reader needs to cringe away from the fight before it starts, or lean in for that kiss. To play with an old adage, if I'm about to take the horse reader to water, I'd better be sure I've salted the oats story. 

This may seem obvious, but I also need to identify my narrative high point for each scene and chapter. I can't build to it if I can't find it. And if there isn't a high point at all, well, I'd better put one there. 

Now, as I revise, I pick that one moment that the scene rises towards. Then I check to see if I’ve staged it. If I haven’t, I spend some time making notes or thinking about how to set it up. Should I draw attention to some portion of the environment? Should I tilt the dialog to reveal a specific emotion? Maybe one sentence of a main character’s introspection will do the trick. (Craig told me he actually writes down what the set up and payoff will be for his scenes.)

I also think about what I should cut. Are there any places that would draw a reader’s attention away from the moment I’m moving towards? Are there any sections that could be tightened so that the momentum doesn’t lag?

All today, I've known Sandy was coming. I would've known it without the Weather Channel. I need to make sure I do the same for my story. I want readers to feel in their bones and blood that something is about to happen. They don’t need to know what it is, but they better feel it coming.

And to all our East Coast friends, please stay safe and dry these next few days! You’re in my thoughts and prayers. 

*Anything I've said about staging that makes sense should be attributed to Patti. Anything that doesn't came straight from yours truly.

** Not unlike cow plops because, narratively, a reader often ends up just stepping in one. Story plops do smell better, though.