Novel Craft: Transitions

Hi folks, I'm spending the month of January chewing on novel craft. This week I'm going to talk about transitions. Transitions are about leaving one chapter behind and picking up the thread of the story in the next chapter. Chapters are a convention for ease of reading, but they are more for the novelist. Chapters help you present your story. It's a huge piece of how you keep your reader hooked and longing for more. The way writers keep readers engaged is by devising provocative transitions between chapters. These transitions grab readers attention, plunge them into new action, and ensure complete satisfaction during the reading experience. You might find that some of this transition talk helps you in transitions in your life.

Transitions are about how one chapter ends and the next one begins. Instead of trying to tie everything up in a chapter. You must think of a chapter transitions as a dynamic phase, smack dab in the middle of the action, the epiphany, and/or the relationships.  Transitions are not neat things all wrapped up in bows. A good end transition launches you toward the next chapter. Be prepare to leap in the middle of the mystery. Raise a big question and then just cut off the chapter. Journey toward something audacious but don't arrive, cut off just before that. Stop trying to end things in easy way, Complication, surprise, and turmoil? This is the true stuff of transition.

Now that you have ended the last chapter in a compelling way, it's time to turn the page to the next chapter. You have primed your reader if they had to put the book away until tomorrow. They will be thinking about the chapter all day. They must see that next page. So how do you get that next chapter going. Some transitions are easier than others. If the next chapter is in the same time frame. The next step is logical. It's usually about dialogue and a twist. It's the the transitions that require a jump that are harder, mainly because it causes the writer to leap. My recommendation, don't get bogged down with time, but launch immediately into the heart of what is important in your story. It might be musing from your main character. It might be at the next point in time that stuff is going down. The important thing is not being trapped in the minutia of time change, setting change, and interior thoughts. Cut to what is most interesting, upsetting, or exciting.

Last, it's important transitions build satisfaction, but that does not mean complacency. It's important that readers feel like they are on a journey. Transitions keep your story from being a series of episodes. They are glue for the overreaching arc. How? Stories need to going somewhere just like our lives need to be going somewhere. We are all looking for a point, even if the point is there is no point. Powerful transitions illuminate.They make the reader feel that this journey is worthwhile. Readers inhabit stories that are nimble, like a mountain goat leaping from one peak to the next--a glorious and amazing sight. Good transitions are fearless, seamless, thoughtful, and thrilling. They make for one satisfying read.

That's a teaspoon of transition chat. I hope something resonates with you. I will continue my novel craft series next week.

Here is a doodle. Veg.

Now for the quote for your pocket:

A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it. Nikki Giovanni

Traveling

I'm on the road today so another short blog post.

First a big SHOUT OUT for Holly Cupala who sold not one but two books to Harpercollins this past week. Read all about it here!

I'm going to chat for a minute about transitions in novels. Transitions need to be seamless. A clunky transition will kill the narrative flow, knock your reader out of the willful suspension on disbelief and will cause your book to be put down or worse tossed into the bin. There is this annoying business of moving characters from scene to scene in a novel that is somewhat boring and tedious to deal with. If you write, you know the drill. First, the characters are at the fair and then they go to the house and after that out to the swimming hole. How do we make these changes in scene authentic? It's all in the details, and if we are mindful, we might even be able add a definition to our characters, theme, or plot with our scene transtions.

I find a few things help me make smooth transitions; I'll cover a couple of useful tips here. First, less is more. Often over-writing the scene transtion and then pulling back helps me make the that seamless step. Write out every detail of the transition and then go back and cut the flack and fluff. Next, try making maps of the origin and destination settings and also the pathway between them. I recommend drawing diagrams of the various "sets" the characters move through. This helps me write realistic scene transitions. This way the business of where the piano is in relation to the clown punching bag is always clear. And you have the bonus of the complete map if you ever return to that the setting location in the story.

I also look for ways to twist in theme when I make a transition. I like to have echos within the setting that reflect the purpose of my plot. If I'm writing a coming of age story, I like to have transitions that are sharp and contrast greatly -- like from a playground to a mosh pit. I'm always searching for the opportunities to echo themes. If my character is going from a place of darkness to a place of great light, I will echo this in scene transitions (i.e. going from a dark place like a cellar to a place full of light like a mountain top.) I think this helps strengthen the writing, giving greater substance to the story.

I hope that you try to improve your transitions this week.

My doodle of the week is called Promise.



Remember: ©Molly Blaisdell, all rights reserved. If you want to use my cool doodles, ask permission first. It is so wrong to take people's doodles without permission!



Not in his goals but in his transitions is man great. Ralph Waldo Emerson