Fic Talk > General Discussion

How do you lead into a scene?

(1/2) > >>

RokofAges75:
So like I said in the thread I made yesterday, I'm taking this class on writer's workshop.  It's a class for teachers, on how to run writer's workshop in our classrooms, but in some ways it's also a writing class because we also participate in a model of writer's workshop to see how it works from the students' point of view.  So we have to write, as well as read and learn about how to teach it.

Today we worked on leads for the personal narrative we have to write, which is just how to start the whole thing.  We had to experiment with different leads - starting with action, starting with dialogue, and starting with setting.  Then we can choose whichever one we thought worked best to write our rough draft from for homework tonight.

I realized as I was working on this and looking back at what I wrote for the class yesterday, my first attempts at every scene I started always started with setting.  I realized that, lately, this is true in my real fanfic writing too.  Who knew, but apparently I am a setting person, at least for setting up a scene - makes sense.

So I thought this would make an interesting poll, just for fun, to see where everyone lies.  Think back - or even look back - at some of the scenes you've written recently, or over time.  You probably use a variety of all three types of leads, but which one do you tend to gravitate towards the most?

If you need examples, I'll put them in the next post.

RokofAges75:
Here are examples of the three types of leads.  I was working on a piece about "firsts," and I chose the first time I slow-danced with a boy, who was my big crush at the time.  These are the three different leads I wrote for it, actually in reverse order of how I wrote them.


Action
My heart pounded like a jackhammer against my ribs, as I started across the gym floor.  My steps were timid, hesitant, yet I tried to move quickly, eyes wide and alert as I looked around for him.  All around me were bodies, pressed together in little clusters.  I squeezed past them as I made my way to the middle of the gym...


Dialogue
"Oh come on, Julie, let us ask him."
I shook my head.  I could feel myself already starting to blush.
"Come on!" my friends begged.  "What have you got to lose?"
I hesitated.  "What if he says no?"
"Well, then he's not worth dancing with, anyway.  Besides, he'll probably say yes," insisted Jenn, as if she had any more wisdom about the inner workings of a 12-year-old boy's mind than I did.
I shrugged helplessly.  Realizing I had no other defenses, they continued to push.  "Let us ask him," pressed Erin.  "C'mon, you know you want us to."
I sighed in defeat, but even as my face started to burn, a little smile tugged at the corners of my lips.  "All right."


Setting
The gym was stuffy with the bodies of a hundred some seventh and eighth graders, but the heat wasn't what was making me sweat.  The Christmas dance - only the second school dance I'd been old enough to attend - was winding down, and I still had not danced.


What I find funny is that I started with the last one, with the setting, then wrote the dialogue one, and then wrote the action one... but actually, if I were going to write a rough draft on this prompt (which I was going to, but I changed my mind and am gonna do a different one instead), I would probably just end up combining them, since they kind of go in order of what happened anyway.  Apparently that is why I'm so wordy, if I'm taking three short beginnings and combining them into one big one on every scene LOL.

Anyway, those are some examples of what the three types may look like for the same scene.

mare:
I voted for action because I usually start things out that way. Sometimes I do with dialogue but I rarely use setting. lol Interesting.

Rose:
With me, I usually start with action I think. Usually I have someone pacing or looking around or something lol. 

cabybakes:
I mix it up, do a little bit of all of them, depending on what is going to happen in the chapter and what I am trying to get across. 

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page