Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Boring scenes need not apply


It seems really early to talk about my favorite scene in LEVEL TWO, because it’s still a year out and I really don’t want to give anything away.  I’ll try to talk about it as vaguely as Jay did yesterday (although I am sure I won’t be half as amusing – sorry!).

I’m a big believer in the adage “If it’s boring, cut it.”  But I go a step further – if I think it’s boring, I don’t even put it to paper.  When I’m drafting, I know the basics of the story – the beginning and the end and the general character arc as well as some of the big twists.   Then I brainstorm scenes that will not only tell the story, but will also be fun for me to write.  Only after I have an idea for a scene that really excites me do I start writing.  And I’ve been known to sift and tweak ideas for scenes for days at a time.

In one such case, I knew that I needed to show my main character’s special bond with her father, and I thought a father/daughter trip might do the trick.  Now I’ve travelled to over 55 countries, so I had plenty of my own travel experiences to draw on, but after thinking for days about the elements of the trip, none of the locations I had personally visited really fit what I had in mind (vague, I know). I actually ended up taking inspiration from a trip that my husband took without me, which strikes me as rather ironic.

But oh was it fun to write!


Lenore Appelhans is the author of LEVEL TWO (Simon & Schuster BFYR/Fall 2012), a dystopian afterlife thriller. Visit her blog and/or follow her on twitter.

1 comment:

  1. LOL, I have (vaguely) done that. Haha. Sometimes places sound so much more interesting described by someone else than if you actually visit them. Glad you didn't spoil any LEVEL TWO so we can enjoy it all at once in a year! :D

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