#character work

Working on Ralsies character sheet

So, if I was a normal person, I would advise you to plan out your scenes, but I know firsthand that's not good advice because I never do that. So what I do to make sure my pacing works is:

1. Edit. It sucks and it's annoying but rereading your story can give you new perspective on what you just wrote. Sometimes you get hung up on a sentence and feel like you wrote more than you did - and upon reread you realise you could expand on a lot.

2. If your scene is very short (which, mind you, is not always a problem) try to pick an aspect of it that's most interesting to you and expand on it. You could focus on a brand new relationship between characters, expand on a worldbuilding element, etc., all while making your scene convey what it was supposed to convey.

When you have a character, it’s good to know the difference between what they want and what they need. Often, this advice is used so an author can make their characters choose between the two, and either punish them or reward them depending on their choice. That’s a really good practice and I absolutely think you should utilize it if it so fits your story, but let’s talk about those wants and needs, shall we?

If your character has any sort of sentience at all, odds are they want something. But how does what they want affect the plot, and how does it affect them?

oncnept art for my oc's childhood home

Earlier today, I had a lovely commenter ask me this: When you write, do the scenes play out visually in your mind, or is it more about capturing the emotions? 

Trying to explain my process was interesting because no, nothing plays out visually in my mind, despite being a very visual person. I'm a discovery writer, which means I tend to sit down and write scenes with only a general idea of what's going to happen (so and so talk and go from place x to place y is a good example). The process generally goes as follows:

My first pass is high level, leading mostly with blocking (who stands where and how they get from here to there) and dialogue - this part is very character led and sometimes we don't get to the place we plan and the rest of the story shifts slightly. It gives me a good feel for how the scene/chapter will go, and helps me know what I'm actually working with.

Then I go back after and make sure the dialogue and the blocking feel in character (and I'm not pushing plot where it doesn't naturally fit), and add details as needed. This is where I try to shift the plot if I need to. Create circumstances/scenarios that push them in the direction I need them to go, if they're fighting me. Which they do. Or it's where I abandon the original plan for something different.

And then I read it again, fancy up the language a bit and add any lingering details around how to make sure the emotions and attitudes are clear. These mostly involve beats, pauses where you add a look or a touch or an internal thought. My characters have a lot of internal thoughts.

When trying to make that feel real, honestly I read the scene in character and describe what I'm feeling or how my face is reacting and try to put that into words - sometimes effectively, sometimes ineffectively. It's an extremely emotionally driven process.

I took a bit of acting back in high school (and am very likely an undiagnosed/highly masking autistic woman in her 40's who mirrors emotions and mannerisms back to people without realizing it), so it comes very naturally to me to step into a role and walk through the scene in the perspective of the character. I know that might not be something that's easy for everyone, but it's the only way I can do it.

I do know many people block beforehand, make a plan and start top down. For me, the character's intentions and emotions are the drivers, and everything grows from there.