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Writing The First Scene,

You only have a sentence or two to catch the readers attention.  Watch any movie and see that something happens in the first few seconds.  You know if you want to watch that movie or not.

So what is your opening scene?

Open by introducing the main character in her normal world, then BAM something happens to change her world.

I wrote the first scene in my novel yesterday at work:

Maggie stood on the side of the highway, as cars whizzed by.  "You can do this."  She told herself.  She shifted her backpack..  She focused on the dog that laid in the center lane and then bolted toward the dog, ignoring the traffic, only focusing on the dog.

Does this get your attention?  Are you interested in if Maggie gets to the dog or get run over?

I wrote the first scene at work yesterday while I was at work. 

I have written and rewritten the beginning scene at least five times.  I kept changing the beginning.

Now I know this is the scene.

If you have been following my blog you might be wondering why I keep jumping from one book to another.

I am attempting to write my memoir.  That is hard for me to dredge up the past.  I am working on a fiction novel based on an event that happened in my life.

So I have been going back and forth with each book.

Now after many writes and rewrites and changing characters, settings  and plots, I now think I know the direction for my fiction novel.

Yes, the first scene is written in longhand. 

Each scene is like a short story.

Scene Goal

Conflict

Resolution

Time of Day

Time of year

Scene Goal:  Maggie needs to rescue the dog.

Conflict:  Traffic

Time of day:  afternoon

Time of year Summer

I am doing this for each scene, because I know when I write, CONFLICT is the one thing I leave out and then my writing is BORING.


So What is your first scene about.  Leave it in the comment section. 

Have a question?  Ask me. 

50 Lessons I learned Publishing over 50 Books download this book, and see how I have written and self-published more than 50 E-Books and Print Books

Write something today

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