[ SECRET POST #3055 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3055 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 072 secrets from Secret Submission Post #436.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 2 3 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: DA

[cenobitic_anchorite]

By making them short, making them a brief travel bridge between two locations, and giving out essential information and some interesting character interaction during them.

I've got a set of scenes I just finished - I've got two characters that were working a crime scene for an investigation. They're not two people that usually team up, so I've got some potential for fresh dialogue there. I need to get them to another city for direct plot reasons, and one of the characters is not only normally close-mouthed but he has a lot of reason to not divulge where he's taking them both in that investigation scene.

So that gives me a chance to put them in a car for a few paragraphs. During this scene I establish where they're going through bantering dialogue, a few hints of why (but not everything, to keep the reader curious), and let the characters deal with a minor traffic jam. All of this not only gets them moving, but lets their personalities show while providing story info.

Next scene, bam, they're in Philly. Repeat as needed.

Re: DA

[(Anonymous)]

But then you've created two more transition to deal with. Transitioning them to the car and transitioning from the end of their banta and into Philly.

Re: DA

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt

...?

...and with that, they got into the car.

[scene break]

When they arrived in Philly...

....????

I think you need to go right back to basics with scene structure, because your above comment implies that you're currently writing one long, constant narrative where you're describing everything your character's doing without a single break. A glance at any work of fiction (excluding the experimental stream of consciousness stuff where the endlessness is the whole point) will show you how not to do that. Pay attention especially to how authors begin and end chapters, or how they switch scenes or POVs within chapters.

Re: DA

[cenobitic_anchorite]

Unless it adds detail, those transitions aren't necessary and you simply ignore them. Readers can logically figure that when the scene is done where they were investigating, the story has to go somewhere else. End the scene (or the chapter entire) at the crime. Next scene - they're in the car. After the car? The next chapter starts with them in Philly.

You don't need a scene at a toll booth, unless something needs to happen at that booth. No need for gas stations and munchie breaks. Readers typically know what goes on when you're in the car.

If your chapters have a flow and they're already in motion, many transitions are superfluous. I guess the key to transitions is knowing which to simply not bother with and which connect the flow of the story together.