ACTION!
Here’s an exercise I’ve been using lately in my groups, which has been generating a lot of strong work and fruitful discussion.
But first, a proviso. Over the past two years I’ve shifted a little in the way I work with writers. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still obsessed with structure, and with how working organically in this way can help you to see the whole forest, and give you some nudges along the way, especially when it comes to the long arc of a novel. But I’ve also come to believe strongly in the importance of a ‘untamed’ first draft. What I mean by ‘untamed’ is that there are gems to be found when you write without controlling or herding your imagination toward a pre-conceived direction. You can start in one direction, of course. Or you can start with a single first sentence and no idea where it’s going. But either way it might turn out to be a richer experience if, in a first draft, you allow yourself to be diverted. You may find yourselves following a completely different path than the one you planned, or a different character, without knowing exactly why… until you reach the end or can’t write any more.
No matter the inconsistent strangeness that emerges from your fertile imagination, as long as you are feeling excited and engaged with the story, don’t worry, just keep going. (And if you’re delighting yourself going in the direction you’d always planned to - hooray! Your instincts were right, keep going.)
However, the exercise I’m about to elucidate is designed for the NEXT step. After your first, ’untamed’ draft has dropped onto the page.
So, here goes.
Read your story (or chapter or scene) as it now stands.
Make a list of what happens in this story. 5 to 10 simple sentences, no more. You are giving us UNITS of action, the LARGE beats of the scene, not the details. For instance, ‘she returns to the house’ might include a dozen actions (‘she gets up from the bench, she crosses the road, she trips on the pavement, she waits for the bus, she gets on the bus’), but these smaller actions DO NOT belong on this list. They are contained within the larger unit of action called: She goes home. Think concrete verbs. Either the actions the characters are doing, or an event in the world of the story. No more than ten sentences! (I’m presuming the chunk of writing is around 5000 words, could be less but not much more.)
Once you have your list of simply stated actions, to the side of each one make a note of the possible EFFECTS of each action. Effects on the most important character, primarily, but also on the general surroundings, if that’s relevant. And by effect I mean both emotional and physical. How did this action leave the character feeling? What did it cause her to do next? These might be effects that we are already seeing played out in the first draft, or they might be effects you have neglected to think about and notice in the fog of your untamed creation, therefore missing an important aspect of a character’s state of mind and how this state might then cause them to behave. You are now mapping their emotional, motivational journey, based on what you spontaneously made happen. Looking out for anything which you might have missed, which might in turn lead to a new…action.
Next, to the side of each action on your list, write down any EXPECTATIONS this action might have provoked in a reader. Of the story to come. This is easier to do in a group than on your own, so if you have readers you trust, you could ask them to help you by describing their expectations. In fact you could ask them to do this whole exercise - it’s often illuminating to see how someone else’s list of actions might differ from your own.
Next, note down what each action makes you think about the TRAITS of the character who’s performing it? When you were writing your untamed draft, I’m hoping the ideas just sprang spontaneously into your head, characters acting in ways you hadn’t necessarily expected…but now have a think about what these split-second micro-choices you made for no conscious reason tell you about this character you are building. Jot down some adjectives. Does this person excite you? Maybe these actions are transforming the character into someone different than you planned, but you actually like it - if so, great. Notice it. Pursue this development. And weed out anything that doesn’t fit.
Finally, by the END of each unit of action, what has changed? Has something got worse, more difficult or complicated? Have the stakes risen? What does the character know that they didn’t before? Has something been resolved, perhaps temporarily? Start to get a feel for the rungs of your story. And think of each one as the inevitable step up to the next - connected, not just juxtaposed. One wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, exist without the other.
That’s it! Hope you find it useful.
Feel free to throw an Action Party with your writing group - if you have one – and take turns concentrating on each other’s stories in this way, one at a time. Be patient and stick with it. Slowing down and taking a good look at what you have is never a waste of time.