| One of the most serious issues facing many | | | | dialogue while dining, for example, although much |
| writers is the ability to maintain the action | | | | less dramatic, is not dissimilar in its end result for |
| throughout the narrative. Unfortunately, the mere | | | | a moviegoer who experiences a fight scene or an |
| creation of a dramatic occurrence does not | | | | explosion or a car chase that is ridiculously |
| guarantee plot movement. | | | | positioned or overused as a plot point. In leaving |
| The literary critic for The Palm Beach Post, Scott | | | | the theater and asking why a particular scene |
| Eyman, has written many outstanding books on | | | | was in the movie, there is no difference should a |
| the legends of the cinema. In an article he wrote | | | | reader say that a passage of exposition or a rift |
| some years ago pertaining to a trend in film | | | | of dialogue had nothing to do with the story line |
| making that was conceived to sustain an | | | | of a novel. |
| audience's attention span, he stated, "Action has | | | | Writers of Books Don't have the Luxury |
| become confused with movement." I was so | | | | Filmmakers Possess |
| taken by what I felt was an exceptionally acute | | | | But movie makers have an advantage, since their |
| and accurate comment, I asked for and received | | | | medium is visual. A lot can be remedied in a |
| his permission to cite his line, since I am of the | | | | couple of minutes and a few scene changes. A |
| opinion this issue applies equally to crafting a novel. | | | | novel requires much more time to regain the |
| There is a Time When you may have to Kill your | | | | reader's confidence after a lull in the narrative. |
| Babies | | | | And it requires much less effort to put down a |
| In writing, a glaring fault occurs when an | | | | flawed book that might take another eight hours |
| otherwise perfectly good scene has nothing to do | | | | to read than to hang around the theater for a |
| with the plot. And what happens when the story | | | | half hour until the movie ends. |
| has evolved from that plot element--to the state | | | | It is Impractical to Write around an Ineffective |
| of rendering the scene superfluous or no longer | | | | Scene |
| pertinent to the story--but the writer doesn't | | | | It sounds simple, but this is the whole magilla: For |
| want to lose the scene? As harsh as it sounds, to | | | | anyone desiring publication by a quality royalty |
| paraphrase Faulkner, this is the time the writer | | | | publisher, all of the words have to be focused |
| may have to kill his or her babies. But not many | | | | toward the goal of advancing the plot. If not, |
| who write their gems want to do it. And not | | | | revise or cut them. It is impossible to write the |
| without a battle of intestinal tumult that often | | | | plot around rhetoric in its original context, no |
| reaches epic proportions. | | | | matter how brilliant it might be, if it does not |
| Whether Exposition or Dialogue, Lateral Movement | | | | move the story forward. When a writer accepts |
| is Equally Deadly to Advancing the Plot | | | | this, the task of transitioning prose becomes |
| No aspect of a narrative is immune, and to imply | | | | easier (sometimes exponentially so) and the |
| the problem is found more in exposition than | | | | overall narrative, with the rarest of exceptions, |
| dialogue would likely be inaccurate, but flat scenes | | | | more effective. |
| seem easier to identify in the latter. Stagnant | | | | |