Writing Excuses 8.18: Blocking

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Writing Excuses 8.18: Blocking

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2013/05/05/writing-excuses-8-18-blocking/

Key points: blocking is how you let the reader know about the setting, characters, and their relative motions. Try to make your blocking also convey how the character feels about something. Make sure your blocking is clear. Use blocking early to set up later actions. Blocking also is good for beats, reminding readers that there is action around the dialogue. Use rough blocking to keep writing, then fix it later. Use blocking to convey a passage of time without dialogue. Establish terrain before using it. Use diagrams to get it right. Make your scene interesting and emotionally powerful, then make sure everyone is standing in the right places.
( You put your right foot in, you shake it all around... )

[Brandon] Yup. All right. Let's do a writing prompt.
[Mary] Write a fight scene.
[Brandon] Okay. Let's add something on top of it. You're going to write a fight scene and I want you to have four people involved...
[Dan] You're going to write a Jackie Chan fight scene.
[Mary] No, four people is too many to juggle at first.
[Brandon] I think four is good. It's going to force them to stretch.
[Mary] Because you're a novel writer.
[Brandon] It's going to force them to stretch. Four people, fighting and keeping track of them all and where they are.
[Howard] One of them can die early.
[Brandon] Yeah. One of them can die early. You don't think... You think four people is a lot, huh? For a fight scene?
[Mary] I think when you're learning to write things...
[Dan] You went to a different high school than Brandon did.
[Mary] Oh, I know. Gotta watch those Mormon boys.
[Brandon] That's right.
[Howard] So, single POV... Single POV? Fight scene?
[Brandon] Sure.
[Dan] Write a fight scene. Details are up to you.
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
[Howard] A fight scene...
[Brandon] Between Mary and Brandon.