What a Reader Really Needs to Know-Part Two

Continuing the series of A Call to Action-What a Reader Really Needs to Know. Read Part One here.

So how do you know when to stop the action or delete it altogether? With practice and a little help from an acronym called D.I.M.E. which breaks down to:

Does the action add to the scene?

Is the action filler?

Make it (the action) work by tightening the steps.

Eliminate it if it’s not absolutely necessary.

Does the action add to the scene?

In an early morning scene, does the reader really need to know that Janice walked into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, put on her robe, and then went to put on a pot of coffee? How much of those actions really add to the storyline?

While it’s important for readers to know another day has begun to keep the pace of the timeline, so many steps are cumbersome and serve no purpose other than to inflate the word count.  The scene should begin with action that really moves the story along rather than taking the reader on a tour of the character’s daily routine.

Take, for instance, a minor character that is needed to move a scene, interact with the other characters, or fill in where needed. It’s important to utilize that character only for the means intended. Unless that character is going to be a major player, his or her scenes should be limited in scope and kept to what is needed to further the plot.

Harlequin Intrigue author Debra Webb does a wonderful job using her minor characters in her book, Broken. One part of the storyline calls for a dentist to compare two sets of dental records. The dentist was named, but his actions were kept limited, and readers learned nothing about him nor did they need to. He was there for one purpose—to move the storyline along.

In likewise fashion, New York Times Bestselling Author, Lisa Gardner provides her characters with just enough action to keep the reader invested but not so much that one is left wondering why the information was included.  She uses short, choppy bits of action like in the following example from her book, Gone.

She tried to move her hands again. Tried to move her feet. And then all at once, she went a little nuts.

One paragraph. Short and sweet. Yet it says a lot without giving a reader detailed movements. That’s all the action that is needed to keep the story flowing.

In Part Three, we’ll cover the “i” in D.I.M.E., Is the action filler?