The Terror of Writing the Pivotal Scene
One of my fellow writers recently Facebooked about the horror and despair of writing what I call the 'pivotal scene'. The pivotal scene might not be the most important scene in the story, although it could well be. It might not be key to the plot either. The pivotal scene is the reason you started the story in the first place.
This is the scene that comes unbidden. You might be watching TV, driving, out for a meal, and there it is, in all its blood-pumping detail in your head. You might well be in the middle of another unrelated book or series, but the pivotal scene refuses to go away.
Put your head on the pillow at night, and there it is again, and it's no longer alone. It's drawn other bits of story inexorably to it, for no scene ever exists in isolation. And then the happy day comes when you can start to write the story which is home to the pivotal scene.
By now the pivotal scene is even more important because it determines what comes before, and what comes after. Why, you ask yourself, did the events in the pivotal scene happen? What triggered them? What were their consequences?
The pivotal scene is beautiful and dangerous and daunting. It was the reason you started the story, and reaching the pivotal scene, is often the reason you've kept going. And then one day, thousands of words into the story, you are about to write the pivotal scene.
And sheer panic sets in. This wondrous gem has lived in your brain in all its perfection, often for years, and now you must render it in words. And you fear that it's not going to end well.
What comes next is the arduous task of aligning the mental with the physical form of words. It is no more difficult than any other scene you've written, but it has taken on a god-like quality and the stakes are sky-high. What can you do but push on.
Bear in mind, you can write the pivotal scene at any stage and work backwards and forwards from it. The pivotal scene in Angel Blessed was near the end and I wrote it before the preceding three chapters. I knew the pivotal scene, but not how to get there, but once it was done, I had a framework to close the gap.
Having written 'out of order' for the first time in eleven books, I think it's something I might do again, perhaps even write the pivotal scene first. We'll see.
This is the scene that comes unbidden. You might be watching TV, driving, out for a meal, and there it is, in all its blood-pumping detail in your head. You might well be in the middle of another unrelated book or series, but the pivotal scene refuses to go away.
Put your head on the pillow at night, and there it is again, and it's no longer alone. It's drawn other bits of story inexorably to it, for no scene ever exists in isolation. And then the happy day comes when you can start to write the story which is home to the pivotal scene.
By now the pivotal scene is even more important because it determines what comes before, and what comes after. Why, you ask yourself, did the events in the pivotal scene happen? What triggered them? What were their consequences?
The pivotal scene is beautiful and dangerous and daunting. It was the reason you started the story, and reaching the pivotal scene, is often the reason you've kept going. And then one day, thousands of words into the story, you are about to write the pivotal scene.
And sheer panic sets in. This wondrous gem has lived in your brain in all its perfection, often for years, and now you must render it in words. And you fear that it's not going to end well.
What comes next is the arduous task of aligning the mental with the physical form of words. It is no more difficult than any other scene you've written, but it has taken on a god-like quality and the stakes are sky-high. What can you do but push on.
Bear in mind, you can write the pivotal scene at any stage and work backwards and forwards from it. The pivotal scene in Angel Blessed was near the end and I wrote it before the preceding three chapters. I knew the pivotal scene, but not how to get there, but once it was done, I had a framework to close the gap.
Having written 'out of order' for the first time in eleven books, I think it's something I might do again, perhaps even write the pivotal scene first. We'll see.
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