On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [55]
But what comes after that first scene often isn't as clear or as easy to write. That's why a lot of writers hit a wall about the time they finish writing the first chapter: They're not sure what comes next, or how to put the events down on paper in a way the readers will appreciate.
Even writers who have done a full outline sometimes encounter this problem. Having the main events of the story in mind is one thing; actually putting those events down on the page is another.
But there are some specific techniques you may find helpful in telling a story. Among them are story-showing (which is different from storytelling); choosing the specific details to create the exact picture you want to form in the readers' minds; and using narrative, flashback, exposition, and summary to effectively share those carefully chosen details with your readers.
These techniques will help you get your story out of your head and onto the paper as you create the individual scenes and chapters that are the building blocks of your book.
STORY-SHOWING, STORYTELLING
The goal of writing a story is to make the readers feel like they're right there, sitting quietly in a corner as the action unfolds—watching, listening, smelling, touching, and
lasting right along with the characters. When the readers feel like they're part of the story, they become so involved that they can't put the book down. You can create this feeling in your readers by using a technique known as story-showing. I say showing, rather than telling, quite deliberately.
Storytelling gives the readers a summary of the events and action and tells them about the characters, as in this made-up example based on Lynn Michaels's single title Mother of the Bride-.
Cydney had had a rotten day, and the last straw was when her client made a pass.
But what makes a day rotten? Exactly what sort of behavior is involved in making a pass? Without having the details so they can judge for themselves, the readers may be skeptical of the author's definition of rotten.
Story-showing, on the other hand, gives the readers a word picture of the scene and allows them to draw their own conclusions about the characters and the action. Here's the real passage from Mother of the Bride, showing Cydney's rot-ten day and the client making a pass:
Thirty-two was too young for spider veins.
It was also too young to be hit on by Wendell Pickering, art director of Bloom and Bulb magazine, a lanky man with thinning hair and pale eyes. He made the pass once he finished nitpicking the six-page spread on perennial borders Cydney had stayed up until 3 a.m. to finish.
"I'm afraid I can't approve this," he said. "I might be able to over dinner this evening if you think you can make the corrections by seven-thirty."
Then he smiled and laid his hand on her tush.
It was now 2:30 in the afternoon. Cydney had a parking ticket in her purse, a headache and no Tylenol, a notebook computer with a blown graphics card that thought it was an Etch a Sketch, a roll of film a client had accidentally exposed and would have to be reshot, a broken heel on her best pumps, and now a man with a neck like a chicken who actually thought she'd go out with him to salvage a $2,500 photo layout.
"I'm busy tonight, Wendell," Cydney said in her iciest voice. Sticking my head in the oven, she thought. "Now take your hands off me while you still can."
By giving the details of Cydney's day and showing Wendell right down to his hand on Cydney's rear, Michaels has given the readers all the evidence they need to form their own conclusion. She's also presented Cydney in a positive light— appropriately assertive but not nasty, even though Wendell deserves it.
Summarizing—telling—is an occupational hazard for every novelist. Because you, as the author, can so clearly see the action, hear the words, and smell the scents of the story as you're writing it, it's sometimes easy to forget that the readers don't automatically have the same grasp of the scene.
The readers can only see, hear,