As authors, we have a tendency of getting tunnel vision on the parts of the story we really like. This can mean that we blitz through supporting scenes, expecting that we'll go back and fix them in editorial, but it can also mean that we end up not putting things that should be in the spotlight on full display for our readers to enjoy.
And this can really hamstring your book, and make it a lot less interesting to read overall.
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| Yeah, yeah, love scene, whatever... I want to talk about thermodynamics! |
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The Epic, Thrilling Conclusion (That We Don't See)
Have you ever read the Sparhawk novels by David Eddings? These two trilogies of books follow a group of church knights, their witch tutor, and various other characters on their adventures to save cursed queens, overcome dark magic, deal with dissident usurpers, and a slew of other great deeds. While the scale of this book series can get kind of epic, the narrative tends to stay personal, and even grounded around our party of main characters.
However, there is a particular section in these books that always rubbed me wrong as a reader, and which nearly stopped me from finishing them. To set the scene, our heroes have had a large force following them for some time, and it's been a point of serious drama as they try to stay one step ahead of their pursuers. Finally, exhausted and with no other options, they turn as one, and charge toward their pursuing enemy.
Then the chapter ends. In the next chapter the battle is over, our heroes won, and now we're moving on to the next part of the plot.
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| Yes it was very exciting. Anyway, moving on... |
This fight was something that drove a large portion of the drama for this particular book. Our heroes were seriously outmatched, and they were running scared for chapter after chapter because strength of arms wouldn't carry them through. Then, exhausted and out of options, they finally turn and fight... and then when we see them again they're all in one piece, and carrying on like nothing happened. We didn't lose anyone to death or capture, no one appears to be gravely injured, and if my memory recalls even their horses made it through in one piece.
Skipping this battle scene undid so many things that had been set up. For one thing, it sucked all the tension out of the story up to that point. If our protagonists did that well after running and hiding for so long, why didn't they take on their foes when they were fresh and strong? If writing a large-scale battle scene was too difficult, why not write several small battle scenes over time to keep the tension, and make it clear that our heroes were being worn down (as we see in films like John Wick)? Why not use a clever plan like destroying a bridge, setting an ambush, or doing something else that allowed our heroes to progress, without denying us the sight of this battle that had been brewing all book?
These are the kinds of issues you run into when you skip important parts of your story, or you leave pivotal moments to happen off-screen.
Whether two characters are finally going to have an emotional reunion after a lot of bad blood, your detective catches the bad guy, a former villain joins with the protagonists, or your struggling wizard's apprentice finally gets their magic to flow, these are pivotal moments that can really give your readers a lot of catharsis. So skipping over them, and relegating them to post-action reports or hand-waving them away can really have a negative impact on your overall story.
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| What will draw the eye and the heart alike? |
Lastly, if you're making decisions about what to focus on in your story, compare what scenes you're glossing over, and which ones you're lingering on. Evaluate this decision, and ask some of your beta readers for their opinions. Because it's possible that you might want to have another knock-down, drag out brawl, but your readers might find it gratuitous when you've already got so many in your story. You might want to get into the mechanics of time travel, or the specs of the starship the story takes place on, but if that's being done at the sacrifice of other aspects that are more central to the story, then those are the things you should be cutting. If you don't need to include long descriptions of cooking because they're getting in the way of your private eye solving his current case, then focus more on fact-finding and less on how to make a perfect quiche.
Writing a book isn't like making a movie. Because while there's time, energy, and creativity that goes into adding scenes, you don't have the same kind of budget filmmakers do. Don't scrimp on something if you can avoid it, because it may wind up being a part of your book that really needed the breathing room to grow!
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