Friday, October 07, 2005
Three-Dimensional Scenes
Lots of elements go into crafting a three-dimensional scene--one that jumps out at the reader, one that comes to life in the reader's imagination. Characters, obviously, are key. So are goal, motivation, and conflict--all of which suggest or implicate plot.
The idea of three-dimensionality suggests contrast. Contrast is all about striking differences. For the action and emotion within a scene to leap out, background information needs to be layered in to provide that striking difference.
For example, the hero and heroine are driving through traffic to pick up the hero's sick nephew and take him to a hospital. Picking up the nephew is their goal. The fact that he's sick and in need of medical care is their motivation. The conflict is they need to hurry but they're trapped in rush hour traffic.
This is fine, as far as it goes. But to make the scene three-dimensional, it needs contrast, something to make it stand out as different. But different from what? The answer is to provide context to the characters, specifically their relationship. How is it different now than when they were last together in a scene? What issues were left unresolved and dangling between them last time they met? Maybe the context is found in the far past, in something one or both of them are only now ready to talk about. Find the emotional thread to what one of them is feeling now, follow it back, and have one or the other mention it in dialogue. It only takes a few lines, like highlights in a portrait, to bring the rest of the scene into sharp, three-dimensional relief for the reader.
For instance, while the hero and heroine are rushing through traffic, intent on their goal, the heroine remembers the day three years ago when she raced to catch the hero at the airport. But she was too late, and he left the country without hearing her tell him how much she cared. She always felt a little hurt that he never contacted her again, never gave her another chance. So she says something about the traffic being as bad as it was the day he left. She admits she tried to reach him before he flew away, and wondered why he never called. He explains that when they broke up he withdrew into his work. Those four or five lines of dialogue bring context to the relationship they have now, and layer contrast in what now has the potential to become a three-dimensional scene.
The idea of three-dimensionality suggests contrast. Contrast is all about striking differences. For the action and emotion within a scene to leap out, background information needs to be layered in to provide that striking difference.
For example, the hero and heroine are driving through traffic to pick up the hero's sick nephew and take him to a hospital. Picking up the nephew is their goal. The fact that he's sick and in need of medical care is their motivation. The conflict is they need to hurry but they're trapped in rush hour traffic.
This is fine, as far as it goes. But to make the scene three-dimensional, it needs contrast, something to make it stand out as different. But different from what? The answer is to provide context to the characters, specifically their relationship. How is it different now than when they were last together in a scene? What issues were left unresolved and dangling between them last time they met? Maybe the context is found in the far past, in something one or both of them are only now ready to talk about. Find the emotional thread to what one of them is feeling now, follow it back, and have one or the other mention it in dialogue. It only takes a few lines, like highlights in a portrait, to bring the rest of the scene into sharp, three-dimensional relief for the reader.
For instance, while the hero and heroine are rushing through traffic, intent on their goal, the heroine remembers the day three years ago when she raced to catch the hero at the airport. But she was too late, and he left the country without hearing her tell him how much she cared. She always felt a little hurt that he never contacted her again, never gave her another chance. So she says something about the traffic being as bad as it was the day he left. She admits she tried to reach him before he flew away, and wondered why he never called. He explains that when they broke up he withdrew into his work. Those four or five lines of dialogue bring context to the relationship they have now, and layer contrast in what now has the potential to become a three-dimensional scene.
