Tuesday, April 26, 2011

How to map out a scene + questions!

I'm having a lot of trouble writing chapter 3, part 2, which is why it has taken me so long to post. I finally realized what the problem is: I have too much going on in this scene and I haven't thought it all out properly. So here's a sample of what I call a scene map, which covers the main events, mood, and character and plot developments that I want to cover in the scene. Following that are some questions for you.

Chapter 3, part 2 scene map

I'm picturing scene 3-2 as a conversation between Cy and Raine. It's a quiet, almost mellow scene set in Raine's living room. They're both exhausted, although Raine does a pretty good job of hiding it. And they both feel extremely awkward, Cy because he doesn't understand why Raine's being so nice to him and Raine for several reasons that will be revealed in scene 3-3.

This scene has to do a lot for our story:

1) Shape Cy into a dynamic character who interests our readers as much as Auggie, Raine, and Moxie.

Thus far, we've portrayed Cy as a victim both of the attempted murder and the prejudice against hybrids. We've also portrayed him as a kind but angsty young man, a bit cynical but with some spunk. But this is not enough to compete with Auggie, Raine, and Moxie on the interest scale. So going into chapter 3, readers probably feel sorry for Cy and have some interest in his situation, but otherwise don't feel of anything much for him. Scene 3-1 showed some of his vulnerability and emotions, which probably made readers feel partial to him, protective even, as it casts him firmly into the role of the underdog. Readers are prepped at this point to make their decision about whether or not they like him. Scene 3-2 has to put him into the "like" category of course. More importantly though, we need to give his character depth to throw him into the "interesting" category.

2) Play on what our readers know and what our characters don't, and vice versa.

Our readers know that Raine is an assassin who has taken a particular interest in Cy's mechanical arm. They know that he sees the arm as a harbinger of disaster, but they don't know what he intends to do about it. They also know that Auggie, who is himself a hard-ass, is afraid of Raine. And Cy doesn't know any of this, so readers think that he's walking into a lion's den unaware.

Meanwhile, readers don't know any of Raine's motivations. He does several uncharacteristic acts of kindness towards Cy in this scene, and his bad-ass demeanor cracks as he also shows several moments of awkwardness. Plus it's hard to be a bad-ass when you're padding around your living room in bare feet.

3) Clear up two perplexing little details that readers may remember from chapter 1.
  • Cy was bound when he woke up
  • Cy remembered Raine's voice when he thought about the attack toward the end of scene 1-1. Readers don't know at this point if he forgot that when he fell unconscious again or if he was so desperate to have the metal removed that he went to Raine for help despite the memory.
 4) This scene also needs to move our story along. Some of the points that I'm trying to incorporate are:
  • That Cy was starting to turn into one of the sluagh (the Damned Host) and the darkness he's been feeling, which he thought was from the metal, as well as his uncharacteristic anger and the impulse in chapter 1 to hit Moxie are all from the turning. Raine called him back (hence the memory of Raine's voice), but part of him is now sluagh.
  • That Cy's human blood didn't protect him from the turning and it should have. This is a clue about the Steam Generator powering up and making magic stronger.
  • Why Raine attached the metal parts when he knew Cy would hate them: he wanted Cy to live. Some of the pieces Cy needed to live, like the piece that replaces the shattered portions of his skull and ribs. The arm and eye were because Raine, long-lived creature that he is, thinks long term: there was no point in saving Cy now only to have him starve to death later because he couldn't work.
  • Raine's opinion of Moxie and his impression that she's deceiving Cy. This is a hint at Moxie's promise.
  • I have an image in my head in which Cy's curious nature peeks out, and he shows his curiosity about Raine's faerie marks (the gashes on his arms). Cy wants to touch them, but doesn't dare ask. Raine guesses his desire and kneels by Cy's chair, offering his arm to Cy. Cy is completely humbled, and it's at this point that Cy asks Raine why he's being so nice to him. Raine's response (a half-truth) is that it's because Cy offers him no hostility so he has no reason to push back (which explains his statement about "pushing back" that confused Auggie in chapter two). This develops into a quick explanation of how faerie marks work in our story: the marks are usually related to the faerie's power. (This begs the question "What is Cy's power?", something to develop later in the story.) Next it flows into a brief explanation of what happened to Cy's other faerie arm, which we hinted at in chapter 1. Cy's mother, unable to stand the sight of her half-fey child, cut it off when Cy was an infant. She didn't take the other one because Cy's cries in his sidhe voice were too much for her to handle. (This not only gives the reader a pretty good idea of what Cy's life has been like, but it also shows how deep the prejudice against hybrids runs, which sets us up for one of Raine's revelations in the next scene. Btw, for those of you who are counting, yes, Cy has lost three limbs to date.)
  • This isn't revealed until scene 3-3, but the reason that Raine's being so kind to Cy, and the reason that he saved Cy's life when it might have been kinder to let him die, is that Cy is Raine's half-brother. This means a lot to Raine because the rest of his family is dead. To keep this from being cliche, I'm also throwing in that most of the people Raine assassinates, by order of the faerie king, are hybrids. He's disobeying his king to save Cy. He's also tortured by the question of how many of his own brothers and sisters he has killed.
Questions for you
  1. Do you have any ideas or desires for what we should put into Cy's character to make him more dynamic and interesting? Even small details help (like Auggie's obscene number of pockets and fidgeting habit).
  2. Do you want to develop the dynamic between Raine and the faerie king any further? The king, btw, is King Finvarra, Lord of the Dead (aka sluagh)? I'm adding this dynamic in for several reasons, including: 1) as a red herring for the villains in our story, 2) as a threat to Cy, 3) as back story to develop Raine's character.
  3. Any other comments or suggestions are also welcome!

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