{"id":1282,"date":"2021-01-27T08:20:09","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T13:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2021-01-27T08:20:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T13:20:09","slug":"unboring-the-boring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/27\/unboring-the-boring\/","title":{"rendered":"Unboring the boring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On February 16, 2020, Katie W. wrote, My problem with getting the characters involved in a conversation is that when I\u2019m stuck, it\u2019s usually because I\u2019m procrastinating, so the characters start talking and never stop. I\u2019m facing that right now in my WIP, as well as the general \u201cI need to put something in the middle of this story but I don\u2019t know what.\u201d Essentially, I have a busy day, four fairly boring days (although there will probably be an exciting scene or two), and then it gets interesting again. Any advice?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sara wrote back, I would try to be as brief as you can with the boring parts. You have to describe something in order to let the reader know that time is passing, but try not to go through the motions with what you describe. Something I do sometimes is be brief but still go through a day chronologically, by giving short descriptions of everything that happens. Then I realize that a bunch of the stuff wasn\u2019t necessary, and I only kept the interesting things. So if the little descriptions don\u2019t give us something that\u2019s at least kinda useful, don\u2019t feel bad cutting it. I think that the reader can fill in the blanks. For letting dialogue go on and on, you might want to just write it when you feel like you need to or want to and then go back and look for any useful or interesting or funny little parts. A lot of the time, in a bunch of dialogue, there will still be really good parts even if it\u2019s overall unnecessary. If the whole thing doesn\u2019t fit, then try to put the good parts somewhere else in your story.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am with Sara that we can let our stories run on in a first draft, and we can snip away a little at a time in later drafts. If we\u2019re entertaining ourselves, there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. Writing is hard. We should take our fun where we find it. And I’m with her that there will generally be really good bits that we can keep or drop into other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t want any boring parts to remain in our story when we finish polishing it, so as we revise, or even as we write in the first place, we can insert hints to the \u201cnext interesting thing\u201d coming up in our plot. To do this, we think ahead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does our MC or anyone taking part in the dialogue know about the plot point on the way? If yes, we can put hints into the conversation or the body language or the thoughts and feelings of our MC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose our MC, named Kiara, and her friends will all be competing to get into an elite academy, and the competition is the next important event in our story. Meanwhile, they\u2019re at the birthday party of Kiara\u2019s best friend Lyle, eating swamp beast stew and talking about, say, favorite board games. We need this scene to show the bond between the characters, but nothing major happens in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we introduce tension? We make a list!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result of the list is that during the party, Kiara thinks how, after Friday, she probably won\u2019t see some of the other kids again and, if she fails, won\u2019t see any of them. She notices Lyle talking with his mouth full and remembers how that always annoyed her but now it seems precious. She swallows over the lump in her throat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reader can\u2019t be inside the heart and mind of any other characters, but their actions and dialogue can foreshadow the coming test. These go on our list too. Lyle drops his fork, and Kiara notices that his hand is trembling. Janelle says she hates board games because they\u2019re too competitive. Marla announces spontaneously, \u201cI love you guys! Every\u2026 single\u2026 one\u2026 of\u2026 you.\u201d Jerrold blows his nose with a wet honk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These hints can punctuate a debate over the best board game and a rambling anecdote from someone about a family Monopoly marathon. The reader will pick up on the clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the characters don\u2019t know about the excitement ahead, we can still put in signs. Suppose a goblin army is about to invade the kingdom and Kiara and her friends live in a town near the border. The partygoers have no idea this is on the way. How to foreshadow the danger without out-and-out saying, Little did they know\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, we make a list. How can we suggest trouble while the peaceful party is going on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Kiara casually mentions that Lyle is now old enough to be called up if the kingdom is threatened. Most of the kids are old enough too. This becomes a joke. If they all flunk the entrance exam, they can still fight together. Kiara thinks that it\u2019s lucky the kingdom has been at peace for a century, because she barely passed her martial arts class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Lyle picks up the Royal Gazette on a side table and reads out loud an article about a construction project that happened to unearth sacred goblin bones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 In a discussion of end-of-year research papers, Kiara says she wrote about goblin psychology, concentrating on goblin rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Lyle says that goblins never die alone. \u201cThey always take someone with them.\u201d Everyone shudders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We list other possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we write the scene, we include the mundane. Lyle opens his presents. Kiara says she ate too much. Lyle\u2019s parents put in an appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if the party scene turns out not to be necessary for our plot, we cut it\u2013and save it in case we change our mind, in case we need it for another story, in case a doctoral student writing about us will find it fascinating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is nothing wrong with making time pass in a sentence or even three words: A week later\u2026<\/em> Or we can mark off time landmarks in a few sentences. Lyle\u2019s birthday party came and went. Rain fell three times. Out of boredom, I repaired the hem of my least favorite gown. <\/em>If we like, we can drop a hint of tension into our summary: Mother was called away two nights running.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three prompts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The goblin army is camped ten miles outside the border. A dozen soldiers eat around a campfire. Write their conversation. Make it both boring and horrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 I based my Princess Tale Cinderellis and the Glass Hill<\/em> on a little known fairy tale called \u201cThe Princess on the Glass Hill.\u201d In the beginning of the fairy tale, a farm\u2019s hay harvest is mysteriously ruined three years running. In the third year, the hero discovers that a magical horse is eating the hay. The next year, a second magical horse shows up, and the next, a third magical horse. Nothing happens in the story aside from one day a year. Here\u2019s a link to the fairy tale: https:\/\/www.sacred-texts.com\/neu\/lfb\/bl\/blfb34.htm<\/a>. Or https:\/\/ufdc.ufl.edu\/UF00077434\/00001\/7j<\/a>. Write the first two or three years. The challenge is to make them interesting. If you haven\u2019t already, don\u2019t read my version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Write Prince Charming\u2019s first hour at the first ball before Cinderella shows up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have fun and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 16, 2020, Katie W. wrote, My problem with getting the characters involved in a conversation is that when I\u2019m stuck, it\u2019s usually because I\u2019m procrastinating, so the characters start talking and never stop. I\u2019m facing that right now in my WIP, as well as the general \u201cI need to put something in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,98],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1282"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1292,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282\/revisions\/1292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}