Couple of things here. First off if you haven’t already heard I’m going to start writing more about fiction writing and fighting which are two hobbies of mine. However since they are not a main focus on this site articles that reference either craft (sounds better than hobby right?) will go up on a day that otherwise wouldn’t have an article going up. So in other words these won’t be in replacement of any other articles I would be writing.
Instead they’ll be extra that I wouldn’t have put up otherwise. Even if you’re not into fighting or writing fiction I honestly still feel that there are things that you can learn about life and certainly excelling at a craft of your own from learning about these respective fields. I remember after takining AWAI’s Accelerated Six Figure Copywriting course how much of what went into being a good copywriter also went into being a good fighter, writer, or just about anything else.
Meaning that there are overlaps between the learning of one craft and another, if not in specifics then in principles. Also someone once said that if you want to truly accelerate the learning of some skill then teach it (of course someone else said those that can’t do teach) and I think there’s something to this. So by teaching you hopefully I’ll learn even more about the craft myself and improve at it as well.
So we all win.
About Writing Scenes
For those that have no idea how to write fiction then this article is going to be a bit specific for you. For example if you don’t know what a scene in then don’t bother with this article until you do. Larry Brook’s Story Engineering is a great primer on the basics of writing fiction to get you started. But let’s say that you do understand what a scene is and are wondering what knowledge I have that will help you to write even crisper, clearer, and more engaging scenes.
Well let’s first talk about how I came about this knowledge. I’ve written quite a bit of fiction over the years (I think I’m near 600,000 words or so, not as much as non-fiction but still something) and have worked on projects of my own as well as helped others as well as ghost written books before (ties into copywriting business). And safe to say that I’ve learned quite a bit along the way.
I always try to do at least two revisions of my work before sending it off to a proofreader or a client who wants a “first” draft. I’ll first write the thing, give it about a week (depending on deadlines) and then go through and read the entire thing out loud (that isn’t some quirky choice that’s very important) and make corrections. Then anywhere from a week to a month later (more time you get between these the better) I’ll go back over it and read it out loud again, again making the changes that need to be made.
Writing Scenes That’ll Stick In Your Readers Mind
And over time I notice patterns of things that tend to work well and things that don’t tend to work well. One thing I was noticing was that some scenes were coming through much stronger (clearer, more engaging, etc.) than others. Now obviously there are a millions reasons why this could be but I narrowed it down to what it was for me. What it was that was making the difference between scenes that were both structured properly, written well, and for the most part well done, yet one would sing and one wouldn’t.
And I found that it had to do with the characters in the scene or more specifically their number. Scenes that had one main character going back and forth with one other (could one on same team and one on other) were much more powerful than those that had the dialogue and action split up amongst different people, even when keeping the viewpoint the same throughout.
I’m not saying have only 2-3 people per scene because obviously that won’t always work I’m saying have 2-3 people as the focus. Or it could be the hero, his lieutenant, and then the army of baddies or whatever. When you have multiple characters and Bobs says this, Bill says that, while Rob chimes in this, it dilutes the power of the scene and how well it works. You want to keep your scene between two main focal people/points as much as possible.
Rules Not Set In Stone
This doesn’t mean that there can’t be other people present in the scene or anything, just that they’re background noise (or not even noise which is better). Sure they exist and they’re there but the conflict in the scene is taking place between two focal points. Not split up among a bunch of different points/people. Again this can be a problem even when the main viewpoint stays the same (as it should).
So as much as possible keep your scenes contained between two focal points/people. Sure Bill, Bob, and Rob can all be there. But keep the dialogue between Protagonist and sidekick and then protagonist and bad guy (once he appears) as much as possible. Try not to clutter your work with a whole bunch of extras that just take away from the power of the story and of the scene they’re in.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
