Sunday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

TIGHTEN YOUR SCENES

By: Pat Verducci

You know that feeling… You’re staring at a bloated, overlong, rambling scene that has no structure and seems to spool out into infinity. People talk and talk, blah, blah, blah…. yet nothing happens. You grab your red pencil or place your fingers on the keys, determined to trim the scene down, find its purpose.

You are stumped.

This week Donna reflects all our scene writing pain when she asks, “I tend to have long scenes. Is there a process that touches on where and when and how often to switch scenes? I’m learning, but am always open to new lessons.”

The question of switching scenes is really about learning to get to the heart of the scene and out of it as quickly as possible. Your various scene lengths will be dictated by the story you’re writing. Whether you’re working on a novel, memoir, or screenplay, you’re going to want to create rhythm and pacing in your story, and this will be dictated by the length and content and varying textures of your scenes.

Unfortunately, there’s no “set” answer to Donna’s question, but here are some things to think about as you edit your scenes…

1)  How does this scene move the story forward?

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To read the rest of the post, click here:

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

• Tighten Your Scenes | Pat Verducci http://ow.ly/QEsQ5
• How To Win a Writing Contest http://ow.ly/QEsyx
• Can digital community support writing, really? | The Bookseller http://ow.ly/QEsSQ
• How to Go Viral on Tumblr: Five Steps http://ow.ly/QEsV6
• Keeping Informed Through Podcasts - Elizabeth Spann Craig http://ow.ly/QEsWi
• The Writers Alley: The Terrifying Benefits of Public Speaking for Writers http://ow.ly/QEt0z
• Quick Writing Fix: Improving the Flow | Linda S. Clare http://ow.ly/QEt26
• You're all Write. | Implementing Your Own Culture on your... http://ow.ly/QEt4M
• Four Ways To Fail as a Writer (And One Way to Succeed) http://ow.ly/QEtjU
• Instagram Opens Ads to Masses: This Week in Social Media Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/QEtoS
• Doing Everything Right Part II: Self Publishing | The Passive Voice | http://ow.ly/QEtuc
• 10 Tips for Writing Fight Scenes » Writeonsisters.com http://ow.ly/QEtJ4
• Writing Rules http://ow.ly/QEtKt There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
• Can a Virtuous Character Be Interesting? - The New York Times http://ow.ly/QEtQL
• 5 Tips for Making Writing a Daily Habit | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/QEu2q
• Emotional Wounds: Overly Critical or Strict Parents - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™ http://ow.ly/QEQxX

Happy writing and running, Kathy