In Thursday’s post, I mentioned that I’d be opening my blog for guests. It’s time. I’ll be opening Tuesday slots for April, May, and June. If you’re interested in writing an article (You don’t have to be a writer to be a guest. Everyone is welcome) or answering my interview questions, start by reading Thursday’s post. Please. Next, email me at terry (at) terryodell (dot) com and ask for the guidelines. That’s step one. You’ll get the next steps when I respond.
Other ways to join me here are to contribute recipes for my What’s Cooking Wednesday posts, or photographs for my Friday Field Trips. I’m always looking for new ones.
And on to today’s post.
When I was a child, my dad would read Winnie the Pooh (the REAL one, not the Disney version) to me and my brother. I loved his voices (Years later, when an old movie was playing on the television, I heard Eeyore’s voice. I ran out to look and it was a W.C. Fields movie. I didn’t know my dad had been doing “real” voices when he read—but I digress.)
Another thing I remember from my dad’s reading was the way he began each chapter in a Very Important Voice. And the way each chapter was titled, “In Which…” followed by a few words telling us what the chapter was about. (Kind of like “circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one…” but I digress again.)
Although I certainly don’t title my chapters, the “in which” approach helps make sure I’m actually putting something on the page that belongs there. Too often, it’s easy to get carried away with description, or dumping in some back story, or including that “wonderful” scene that came to you when you overheard a conversation at the coffee shop, or salon, or when you were people watching and saw someone who just had to be in the book. So you write it, and it’s wonderful, and you’ve captured the moments perfectly. But is it moving the story. Is it something worthy of including in your “in which” summary of the scene.
Because you should be summarizing the scenes, either before or after you write them. And there need to be plot points (which is the official writerly term for “in which”). You’ll notice I used the plural. A scene had better be carrying more than one. While there’s no rule, and no exact number, I’d recommend shooting for three. Scene length, of course, can cause variations, but whatever happens in that scene needs to relate to the plot.
Do you ever find scenes in books, even very well-written scenes, that leave you wondering what they’re doing there?
Tomorrow my guest is fellow Booklover’s Bench author Linda Hubalek. She writes historical fiction, and she’ll be talking about looking back and remembering.