In this article ❧ Saavy writers know that the scenes are a line of domino pieces. But how do you align them correctly?

The essential element to achieving reader commitment iscuriosity. The bases of this spirit of inquiry are already there: any reader was a child whose natural curiosity drove her into experiences that coined character. Some were luckier than others, but if they’re plunging into a novel it is because they have a sense of exploration and amusement. Beautiful, isn’t it? A detail: the satisfied curiosity that comes from exploration has to be offset by a sense of safety. That feeling --the right pairing of exploration and safety-- is provided by the writer in many ways, so the reader starts to take care: he wants to know what occurs with the story, especially to the protagonist.

The First Movement

The first sentences should hook the reader with mystery, dazzling dialog, an exciting introduction of the heroine. In a paragraph, the reader has to learn all he needs to know about the heroine for the next few chapters.

I like to think of a novel as a symphony because it conveys the importance of the overture (many symphonies have three stages). The first moment is about the Hero and her trouble. Without a terrific overture, the reader may dump the rest, as good as it can be.

Once the author introduces the hero, she should present the conflict, the main obstacle posed in front. In a Romance novel, men —especially the man the heroine will fall in love with— are roadblocks you place in the heroine’s way, and they should keep the reader guessing as to how it will all work out —or even if it will. In Science Fiction, the roadblocks are aliens, viruses, mazes (remember Metroid), empires, technological advantages of enemies, etcetera.

Meaningful questions arises from a dramatic and rich start. To create such a experience, you need to research in-depth (any writer is a curious and experienced researcher).

Prefer conflicts arising from within a relationship over conflicts caused by context. For example, in a plot in which two races fight each other by planting traps in mazes, it would be easier to explain the central conflict (say between the heroine and Mr. Perfect falling in love or between the hero and the villain rivalry) by the social and political context (race hate) but it's more hooking to build a familiar plot in which the hate between two people created a personal motivation to follow the lead of war.

Sometimes, this may be different in Science Fiction where conflicts have a historical, social, political, and technological background. Depending on the genre, Science Fiction followers look for this flavor because Science Fiction is a reflexion about society (frequently, in the form of dystopias). Even on those cases, context should enhance the story rather than dominate it (otherwise would be better to write sociology or anthropology books).

The Second Movement

This part of the novel encompasses most of its chapters (over 16 chapters in a 50,000 words book).

Above all, don’t slow down the story. The reader is always asking:Why are you telling me this?The writer has failed when the response is imperceptible: he has to guess, or worse, abandon.

In this aspect —as in several others— novels are like mathematics and any other creation in which reasoning is relevant. Controlling this makes the difference between soulless prose (cliché painting or mathematical boredom) and empowered creativity. A shallow writer could assume the problem is solved by telling facts as if readers were askingWhat are you gonna tell me. But readers’ minds have a cultural construct, a sense of storytelling (sharpened by thousands of series, video games, and movies) claiming:Don’t tell things like a shopping list. Tell me and show me why did that happen, mind!

“In real life, actions don’t always make sense. In fiction they must,” wrote Valerie Parv.

Facile writing reminds us of some mathematics teachers we met in school. They were there to kill us with drills, memorization, and repetition. They felt safe “teaching” formulas and grading quizzes. In the end, they were killing math. Let’s keep fiction alive.

Saavy writers know that the scenes are a line of domino pieces. But how do you align them correctly? How do you achieve the cascade effect that feels like cutting butter? How do you make the reader feel it and buy your next title? As the old myths posed, life is a test. Better, life is a chain of tests. Novels are like real life, except that the trickiest test takes place in the last chapters (it is the way fiction compensates us readers for going through such onerous experiences sometimes life is).

So, life must be strenuous (and still get some poetic justice in the end). Provided you set the path and planted chaos wherever possible, the big deal is the emotional arc. The heroine changes to be better, to reach a goal, and she is doing it step by step: each scene should serve this purpose.

Now, reveal character through action and dialog. Avoid 19th-century God approaches to characters. Every piece of distant narration that holds actionable facts shall be rewritten as that.

When acting and chatting, fictional characters need the motivation to make their minds believable. Why does the character do something? Because of fear, ambition, or love?

When you know what drives them, you can devise what they might do and share their inner thoughts and feelings. The book comes to life. So know them, make them act, share their reasoning and motivation, and throw them into an algorithm of Problem, Solution, Problem.

"Two hundred hundred pages read"is the condition that stops the algorithm.

The Last Movement

Provided that: 1) the readership believes that the Problem God cast on the hero is a big deal, 2) Mr. Perfect, an Alien, or an Artificial Intelligence has been a firm obstacle —so its presence has unleashed direct conflic, and 3) the process has been laborious and the heroine has changed gradually and positively, you can reward your cast with happiness and justice.

The End :)