Cats On Parade

DAY 12

Word Count: 6072

Sentence of the Day: She spit out his name as if it were an olive pit.

Wednesday means I teach. Translation: little time for writing, though I did manage to pencil in quite a dialogue between the hero and heroine early this morning.

All that to say, today I'll impart someone else's wisdom. Here's another tidbit from The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson.

Without cause and effect, there is no plot.

"In scene one, a character emotionally responds to an event. In scene two, we see the outcome of that emotional response, which, in turn, becomes cause for another effect. Each scene is organic; seeds planted in the first scene create the effect in the next." (pg. 177)

So...does that mean that when I sit down to write, I map out cause and effect in pen and ink? No way. Remember those nationally normed tests way back when that used to have questions about cause and effect? Stellar student that I am, I always bombed that section.

Nevertheless, I totally agree with Martha's premise and strive to accomplish the goal of cause/effect in each scene. How do I do it?

At the beginning of each scene, I fill out these staple items...

POV: (what character's head the scene is in)

SCENE: (what's going on physically, what the eye can see)

PURPOSE: (Bingo! We have a winner. This is where I write down the emotional point of the scene, what the reader's takeaway value should be. Technically, this is where I lay out the cause and effect though I don't think of it in that terminology)

CLIFFHANGER: (give the reader a reason to read on to the next scene)

There you have it. Michelle Griep's method. Not exactly as catchy a title as the Snowflake Method, but you know me and titles. Hey, maybe this is where I could throw in Cats on Parade, eh?