Muse Food – Capybaras And Being Watched
When we’re writing, we tend to focus on the main characters – what they are doing, how they are feeling, their plans, their desires, etc.
Other characters in our stories might be doing the same. THEY might be focused on our main characters. And these other characters could be nameless. They could be strangers in a crowd.
But these nameless characters can still influence the plot. Maybe they post a photo on social media that shows the main character in the background. The big baddie is monitoring all social media sites. He sees the main character in this random photo and knows exactly where they are.
Who is watching your main characters?
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Muse Food – Add A Splash Of Color
This little boat is a splash of bright color amidst a sea of white and/or black boats. It stands out. It draws the eye. It is a MOOD.
Consider adding a splash of color to the scene you’re currently crafting. This could be a hero in a bright red coat. Or a word that is rarely used and fantastical. Or an explosion. (grins) I love explosions.
Make something in your scene stand out.
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Muse Food – Physical Space
There are many reasons why ‘Only One Bed’ is such an appealing trope and one of them is because there is a very small physical space the characters have to inhabit.
And that space can be even smaller. That one bed could have been designed for a single person.
Changing the physical space the characters inhabit can significantly change a scene.
A hero whispering in the heroine’s ear in a confined closet where they are forced to press up against each other, for example, is a very different experience than a whisper in a massive ballroom.
A heroine floating alone in the vast expanse of space is a very different experience than the heroine floating alone in a bathtub.
A battle scene inside a building is different than a battle scene in a wide open field.
Can you change the physical space your characters are inhabiting to make the scene more powerful?
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Muse Food – Ray’s Story And Writing Crowd Scenes
The worlds our characters live in are often HUGE. There might be a gazillion beings in it.
And it is rare that our main characters are alone.
Sometimes they’re in crowds.
We, writers, still want the focus to be on our main characters. It is their story. We don’t want our readers to be distracted from it.
But we also want our readers to live in the scene, to be able to picture it, to feel like they are there.
What I do is I choose a few background characters in the scene and I describe them and what they’re doing.
In this photo, I might write “Behind Ray, a shark pursues a silver fish. Another ray glides by. Other fish churn the waters.” And that’s it.
It sets the scene but it doesn’t distract from Ray’s story.
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Muse Food – Lighting And Setting The Mood
As anyone in a wintery climate will tell you, lighting influences our moods.
Currently, in my part of the world, there are fewer hours of daylight. And this causes big issues like depression, increase in suicide rates, overall grumpiness.
Lighting in our stories sets the mood also.
A scene set at night, in the darkness, automatically becomes more dangerous and mysterious than a scene set at noon, under a blazing sun.
Rain and gray clouds in a scene bring with them a sense of dreariness, of sadness.
A scene set in an office, under harsh fluorescent lights, is colder, less personal.
Lighting matters.
What is the lighting in the scene you’re currently writing or reading?
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