Munday: Framing the scene
What are your favorite type of scenes to write? Fight scenes? Love scenes? Funny scenes? Dramatic moments? Why? Do you make an attempt to write outside your comfort zone and try others, or do you tend to indulge yourself?
My favorite scenes to write are the ones where my character, or in the case of role play the characters I am interacting with, surprise me. Sometimes it's by unexpected skill, like a witch reporter cleaning a gun. Other times it's doing something unexpected, like turning quitting a job I thought they were married to. Most of the time it is easier for other people's characters to surprise me than it is my own. Whether it's my character or not, the biggest challenge with writing these kinds of scenes is not surprising me but making the surprise both consistent and believable within the scope of the character and the story. The fact that so many of my RP partners do it on a regular basis is a testimony to their storytelling skills. The fact that my NaNo novel really hasn't pulled this off often, if at all, is probably why I'm not in love with the story. It probably also explains why I tend to free write rough drafts rather than planning them out or outlining. It's the process of discovery that I thrive on as a writer.
My favorite scenes to write are the ones where my character, or in the case of role play the characters I am interacting with, surprise me. Sometimes it's by unexpected skill, like a witch reporter cleaning a gun. Other times it's doing something unexpected, like turning quitting a job I thought they were married to. Most of the time it is easier for other people's characters to surprise me than it is my own. Whether it's my character or not, the biggest challenge with writing these kinds of scenes is not surprising me but making the surprise both consistent and believable within the scope of the character and the story. The fact that so many of my RP partners do it on a regular basis is a testimony to their storytelling skills. The fact that my NaNo novel really hasn't pulled this off often, if at all, is probably why I'm not in love with the story. It probably also explains why I tend to free write rough drafts rather than planning them out or outlining. It's the process of discovery that I thrive on as a writer.