Stepping Stone Scenes by Sara L. Foust

I was told in my early attempts at critique groups that my first manuscript lacked a clear goal. It wasn’t easy criticism to hear, but it was important and I am glad that brave person had the courage to point it out to me. I started studying goals, motivations, conflicts, and plots for novels and realized I had a lot to learn. Learning these techniques and thought processes has really helped me hone my craft. My favorite part is the motivation—the psychology of why my character acts the way they do, why they want what they want, and so forth. But we can’t have motivation without goal. They are inextricably linked.

Once I gave conscious thought to setting a story goal, I realized that this big-picture, overarching goal wasn’t the only one I was learning about in my stories. Yes, it is important to have a story goal for each and every character—something they want to achieve by The End. But, I feel it is just as important to make sure each of my scenes has a smaller goal that ties into the larger goal. These scene goals are my stepping stones. Each one unique, necessary, and individual but also leading to the overall story goal.

In my current manuscript, whenever I get to a point in the story where I feel like my writing lags or I have no direction, I realize, “Ah, I’ve failed to set a scene goal.” I go back to the prior scene, figure out what logically comes next for the protagonist (or antagonist, depending on where I’m at), and ask her what she wants and needs to achieve next in order to get closer to her end story goal. After I have that answer, I can resume the scene with direction. With purpose.

I sometimes visualize the scene goals as actual stepping stones or stopping points. They are guidelines to write to, like traveling a long distance, these scene goals are my roadmap. They are smaller pieces of the plot and, therefore, each scene goal inevitably leads me to the next. Once I got a feel for this technique, it seemed that my stories wandered aimlessly a whole lot less frequently. I have my heading, I suppose, and know which direction to travel.

How about you? Do you make a point of checking to be sure that each scene in your story has a clear goal that is unique but also integral to the story goal? If you haven’t ever tried looking at your story from this leap-frog, travel-stop angle, I might encourage you to try it. It has certainly helped me stay on target and, hopefully, it helps my readers stay engaged too.

Do you make a point of checking to be sure that each scene in your story has a clear goal that is unique but also integral to the story goal? via @sfoust25 #SeriouslyWrite

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Sara is a multi-published, award-winning author who writes Inspirational Romantic Suspense www.saralfoust.com.
from the beauty of East Tennessee, where she lives with her five homeschooled children. To learn more about her, please visit

About Rarity Mountain:

On the surface, SIMON FINCUFF and FERN STRONGBOW have nothing in common. Simon has served his sentence, but his past conviction still haunts him. Fern is a veterinarian and grew up on an off-the-grid homestead. The one thing they share? Each has a dark secret they would do almost anything to protect. When their current careers are yanked away, they are left scrambling to pick up the pieces. A reality television show falls into their paths, offering a life-changing opportunity that tests their resolve and their faith. These two unlikely partners must battle to survive for thirty days in the untouched wilderness of Rarity Mountain with only a handful of survival items and a director who is out for drama, no matter the cost. With their lives and their carefully guarded skeletons on the line, they will discover how far they are willing to go to win the million-dollar prize for Survival Tennessee.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945094737

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1130715034?ean=9781945094743

Writer’s Math: Prep a Scene with 5+5+1 by Beth K. Vogt

Beth K. Vogt

As a novelist, I thought I’d escaped all things numerical. Fine with me, as the mention of numbers is reason to cue the white noise in my brain.

Through the years. I’ve learned that even wordsmiths like to devise equations for the writing process. Susie and Rachel have developed a variety of writer equations and — Surprise! — I’m formulating a bit of writer math myself.

I love the process of fast drafting — writing the first draft of my manuscript without stopping to rewrite, using it as an act of discovery about my characters and my plot. But how can I ensure that even my fast draft is as strong as it can be?

Simple. Whenever I write a scene, I remember the equation: 5+5+1.

5 + 5 + 1

The first 5 stands for the 5 Ws: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Before I begin writing a scene, I type out the 5 Ws of the scene. I like to do this in red so that it stands out. I list:

Who is in the scene? Specify the main POV character and any other key character

What is going on? Focus on the main action.

Where does the scene takes place? In a castle? On a boat?

When does the scene happen? What time of year is it (if that’s important) or what time of day is it?

Why is this scene important? What is the goal of this scene? Is it an Action or ReAction scene?

5 + 5 + 1

The second 5 stands for the 5 Senses: Touch, Sight, Taste, Smell, and Hearing. I consider the main character for the scene I’m writing and then run their POV through the list, one by one. (I also type this out in red.)

EXAMPLE: What if my main POV character is a shool teacher and the scene takes place on the playground? My list might look like this:

Touch: the chainlink of a swing, a young child’s hand, some stray trash blowing across the schoolyard, an abandoned lunchbox

Sight: children climbing on the monkey bars, one child sitting by himself off to the side, a kick ball soaring over the fence into the street

Taste: bitter aftertaste of coffee

Smell: hint of autumn on the breeze, scent of cherry chapstick she applied

Hear: children laughing, footsteps running across asphalt, the sound of a school bell

Sometimes as I write out the 5 Senses I stumble upon a possible symbol to weave through my scene.

5 + 5 + 1

The 1 stands for the main emotion of the POV character in the scene. I’ve discussed the importance of determining the specific emotion the POV character is feeling in other posts. Use one word: anxious, rejected, elated, content. Write this down too — yes, in red.

Now that I’ve done my prep work, which takes 10-15 minutes, I’m ready to start writing. I don’t have to interrupt my forward motion by wondering about Storyworld — what my character might see or hear or touch — and knowing the character’s main emotion keeps the scene anchored.

TIP: You can also use the 5+5+1 Prep a Scene Equation as you finish writing for the day. Consider the scene you’ll start writing tomorrow and type out the 5 Ws, the 5 Senses, and the POV character’s main emotion for it before calling it quits. You’ll have a jumpstart on tomorrow’s word count.

About the Author

About Beth Vogt

Crazy Little Thing Called Love
by Beth K. Vogt

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” A 2015 RITA^® Finalist and a 2014 Carol Award finalist, Beth is a contemporary romance novelist with Howard Books. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. In 2015 she introduced her destination wedding series with both an e-novella, Can’t Buy Me Love (May) and a novel, Crazy Little Thing Called Love (June). Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Wedding bells and storm clouds collide in the first engaging novel in a brand-new series about destination weddings, the power of love, and the possible mishaps and missteps that happen on a couple’s journey down the aisle to “I do.”

Paramedic Vanessa Hollister has put her adolescence behind her, including the unwanted label of being the new kid in town over and over again, thanks to her father’s military career. She’s overcome what her mother called “the biggest mistake of her life” and is planning an elegant destination wedding in Destin, Florida with her new fiancé. But will the reappearance of her first husband from her what-were-you-thinking teenage elopement disrupt her dream of an idyllic beach wedding?

As a professional storm chaser, Logan Hollister is used to taking risks. However, a reckless decision during the last tornado season has him questioning the future of his team, the Stormmeisters. Coming face to face with his ex-wife eight years after their divorce compels him to confront his greatest regret: losing Vanessa. Does their past give him the right to interfere with her future?

Scene Setting Tips by Gina Holmes

Gina Holmes

When I began writing novels, description was not an area of strength for me, and setting was just a place to plop my characters. Fast forward ten years and my publisher compliments my upcoming release with a “You can smell the salt in this one.” DRIFTWOOD TIDES (releasing this September) is set at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. You can’t set a book a place like that without readers expecting a richly painted scene. They want to feel the cold ocean foam on their feet, feel the grit of sand between their toes, hear the seagulls circling above, see the cotton candy colors in the sunset . . . and yes, smell the salt.

1. The best way to learn to master setting is by reading other books that have done just that. One novel that sets the scene better than maybe any other book I’ve read is To Kill a Mockingbird. Here’s one example of the masterfulness of her scene-setting:
   
   “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop, grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.” You don’t get better than that.
   
   
2. Go feel the roses.
   
   It might go without saying to go to the place you are setting your work, but I’m going to say it anyway. Close your eyes and listen, first to the obvious sounds: sirens, traffic, subway, whatever. Don’t stop there. Listen for the underlying background noise: car doors slamming, the flutter of pigeon wings. Listen beyond that to the softer noises until you’ve made note of all the sounds the setting has to offer. When your eyes are closed and you’re noting a particular sound, before you open your eyes, try to guess what you’re hearing.
   
   While writing DRIFTWOOD TIDES, I sat on the beach, closed my eyes and heard what I would have guessed to be a sprinkler system rapidly firing. I knew it couldn’t be, but that’s what it sounded like. It was actually the sound of chirping cicadas and the sprinkler system description was something I was able to use to describe that sound in the book.
   
   You can do the same close your eyes technique for smell and touch too. Write down as many descriptions and comparisons as you can while they’re still fresh in your mind.
   
   
3. If you can’t go there, visit vicariously. Watch movies set where your book is, take lots of notes.
   
   
4. Observe the details. One little trick that brings fiction to life lies in writing in the little things that we take for granted. Not just the sandy beach, but the water that fills a footprint left in the sand… watch how it’s absorbed back into the ground and the tiny bubbles that pop up right before it does.

You get the picture. And if you do it right, so will your readers.

Have you read any particular authors that make their settings real? What do you do to help you set the scene?

Driftwood Tides
by Gina Holmes

Gina Holmes writes about flawed people living in a flawed world with the help of a perfect God. She's a two-time Christy and ECPA Book of the Year finalist as well as winner of the INSPY, Inspirational Reader's Choice and Carol Award. Her third novel, Wings of Glass was named among the best books of 2013 by Library Journal. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter or her website.

DRIFTWOOD TIDES
He made himself an island until something unexpected washed ashore.

When Holton lost his wife, Adele, in a freak accident, he shut himself off from the world, living a life of seclusion, making drifwood sculptures and drowning his pain in gin. Until twenty-three-year-old Libby knocks on his door, asking for a job and claiming to be a friend of his late wife. When he discovers Libby is actually his late wife’s illegitimate daughter, given up for adoption without his knowledge, his life is turned upside down as he struggles to accept that the wife he’d given saint status to was not the woman he thought he knew.

Together Holton and Libby form an unlikely bond as the two struggle to learn the identity of Libby’s father and the truth about Adele, themselves, and each other.