There is a natural tendency in writing to get into flow and allow words to just start falling. It's actually quite good. But, as you said, when you are attempting to write in a focused manner it can create a problem.

I believe there are two helpful things to do in this case.

Create a list of scenes with expected goals
Write like a news reporter

Create List of Scenes With Expected Goals

This is not a detailed outline (though some writers like more detail and that's fine). Instead just create a list of your scenes and the outcome for the scene.
Generally in fiction these outcomes should set the character even further behind in her goal to create tension.

Write Like A News Reporter

This is the tough part of writing. I believe it is also why reading fiction often falls so flat. It is also the principle of "show don't tell".
Here's what I mean.

Before you write your scene, take a few minutes to imagine the scene through.
But it is far more than thinking in words. Instead you should see the scene play out.

Movie-Screen Of Your Mind

You should imagine the characters in the scene and the basic events that are going to happen. Can you see the main character confronting his antagonist. Do you see main character getting angry and throwing a punch. How does the antagonist respond? You must see this play out on the "movie-screen of your mind".

Once you see the scene, you will be far more able to :

stay focused
show the action playing out in front of your reader

The Challenge

The huge challenge here is two-fold. At first you won't want to move from writing to imagining. It'll feel forced. Your brain will resist this idea because it may attempt to convince you it is a waste of time.

Then once you are imagining it really well with strong images you may feel that it is difficult to move toward a writing utensil (keyboard or pen) to physically get the words down.

Once you've imagined the scene however, you will be more like an eye-witness who is reporting events you saw play out and your writing will be far more:

action-based (not just characters sitting around thinking) -- this is truly the show don't tell in action
realistic - because you've seen it play out just as you might've in
real life, and you'll be describing it as you saw it.

Unclear Writing: Writing Falls Flat

I mentioned that I believe the lack of imagining the scene is also why writing often falls flat. It's because many writers don't imagine the scene and only attempt to capture words (not images) to explain how something happened. If they took the time to see the scene then they'd be far more able to show the scene play out.

Where The Focus Comes From

I came back and added this section to make the answer more direct.
Only write what you see happen in the scene. Do not allow yourself to write anything else. If you've truly done the work to imagine the scene then you will have far more details than you can capture anyways. But you must do the work of imagining the scene in detail.
It will force you to focus and your writing will benefit from it.

---

(0)

Login to post a comment!