This post is going to be about writing scenes before they actually
take place. Essentially, I am writing things out of order to see how it works
for me.
So when I was first starting book 2 of the
Knight's Journey series, I decided to try my hand at writing scenes out of
order, things that took place later in the book where I knew what was going to
happen and I had some good ideas for dialogue and action and stuff. I wanted to
try this as a test, because I've always written in a linear fashion. I write
what happens as it happens, beginning at the start of a story and continuing
until the story ends. I wanted to experiment with something new. I wanted to
try writing a scene where I had nothing leading into it and no need to finish.
The first one that I did was a scene with Rowan
in the desert. He had lost his way and was in a dire situation that had left
him weakened. I wanted him to collapse and be forced to confront a vision of
Baird. It was a cool scene, and as I wrote it I found that it was much easier
to do because I could pretend that I had already built up the scene so that it
is exactly where I need it to be to start writing. I didn't have to worry about
the circumstances that brought it about or even how to wrap it up when I was
done. I just started a paragraph with Rowan collapsing and went from there.
I wrote a few other scenes like this, but I like this one because
it was my first attempt at writing a scene out of order and because I just
reached the point in the novel where that scene takes place. I actually used
it, I just copy-pasted the whole thing word for word into the chapter and went
with it. I was relieved to have it while writing because it made writing the
setup for the scene easier. It allowed me to work on building into something
existing so I knew exactly where I was going. I hit a point where could place
the scene in, and then I had it and it worked very well.
So I think I am going to try to continue
this. I have a bunch of scenes where I know what will happen or how I want a
specific conversation to go. I can write these scenes and set them aside when I
am finished. It will help me establish areas where there is rising or falling
action, or where I want to have a big hook or a reveal. So far it has been a
fun exercise, and it has worked out well for me. We'll see how it goes when I
reach the next scene.
