This week we’re doing something a little different. We’ll write a scene from a story as if it were a screenplay being brought to life by a whole studio full of professionals. Imagine a world where every novel was written like a screenplay….
Strategy:
Imagine you're a cinematographer, but instead of a camera, you're armed with words. Your job is to frame the story in a way that captures its essence and draws the reader in. Just as a cinematographer makes crucial decisions about lighting, angles, and focus, you'll be making key choices about narrative elements that will shape how your scene unfolds on the page. This exercise challenges you to think deeply about the technical aspects of storytelling before you write a single word of the scene itself. By considering elements like tense, point of view, and narrative distance, you'll create a blueprint for your scene that will guide your writing and enhance its impact.
Instructions:
Tense and Point of View: Decide on the grammatical tense and narrative point of view for your scene. Consider past vs. present tense, and first, second, or third person POV. Explain how your choice enhances the story you want to tell.
Narrative Distance: Determine how close or distant the narrative voice will be from the action and characters' thoughts. Will you use a close, intimate perspective or a more detached, observational one? How might this distance shift throughout the scene?
Tone and Mood: Define the overall tone of the narrative voice and the mood you want to create in the scene. How will your word choice, sentence structure, and pacing contribute to this tone and mood?
Description: Plan your approach to descriptive elements in the scene. Will you use rich, detailed descriptions or minimal, suggestive ones? Which sensory details will you emphasize to bring the scene to life?
Dialogue: Outline your strategy for presenting dialogue in the scene. Will you use direct quotes, reported speech, or a mix? How will you balance dialogue with other narrative elements?
Introspection: Decide how you'll incorporate characters' thoughts and feelings. Will you use internal monologue, free indirect discourse, or more subtle cues? How will this introspection interact with the external action?
Tags: narrative techniques, storytelling, point of view, descriptive writing, dialogue, character introspection
Example:
Tense and Point of View: I'll use present tense and third person limited POV, focused on Heather. The present tense will create a sense of immediacy and tension, making the reader feel as if they're experiencing the scene in real-time. The third person limited POV allows us to stay close to Heather's perspective while still maintaining some narrative flexibility.
Narrative Distance: The narrative distance will be close, almost intimate, staying tightly connected to Heather's perceptions and thoughts. However, it will occasionally pull back to provide crucial details about the setting or The Whisperer that Heather might not directly focus on. This technique will help maintain the mystery while keeping the reader aligned with Heather's experience.
Tone and Mood: The tone will be tense and paranoid, reflecting Heather's state of mind. Sentences will often be short and punchy, with occasional longer, more complex sentences to build suspense. The mood will be dark and unsettling, with an undercurrent of technological unease. Word choices will emphasize shadows, glitches, and the merging of organic and artificial.
Description: Descriptions will be sharp and focused, emphasizing visual and auditory details that create the cyberpunk atmosphere. I'll use a mix of tech-noir jargon and more traditional sensory language to balance the futuristic setting with relatable human experiences. Key details about the AI repair shop and The Whisperer's shifting form will be highlighted, while leaving some elements to the reader's imagination.
Dialogue: Dialogue will be used sparingly but impactfully. The Whisperer's speech will be presented in italics to emphasize its artificial, projected nature. Heather's responses will often be terse, reflecting her caution. I'll intersperse dialogue with Heather's observations and the scene's atmospheric elements to maintain tension and pacing.
Introspection: Heather's thoughts will be woven throughout the scene using free indirect discourse. This will allow for seamless transitions between her observations, memories, and emotional reactions. Special attention will be given to moments when Heather's AI implant conflicts with her human instincts, using internal monologue to highlight this struggle.