HardeeBurger asks: My question is about writing connecting scenes. Like, my gang is about to go scuba diving, and I have to get them from their apartment to the dive site, and then from the dive site to a bonfire. I have no problem with the action that occurs at a location, but getting characters from one scene to the next is sometimes a hard slog for me. It oftentimes seems contrived or pedantic.
We all experience this dilemma. We have things happening at Point A, and more things happening at Point B, but what's the best way to show them traversing from A to B? The first thing we need to ask is, does anything significant need to happen between A and B? Here are a few examples of what I mean by "significant":
- Someone gets lost or injured
- Character changes his mind about something
- The weather changes, affecting things happening in Point B
- Characters have a meaningful conversation that reveals personalities or plot details
The following are insignificant events:
- Character needs to stop by his house to pick up a book
- Characters ride the bus to get to their next destination
- Character watches TV while waiting for friends to arrive
If something significant happens between Point A and B, then another scene is warranted. This means anything that advances the plot forward, or gives us a better understanding of the character(s). If the scene you have in mind does neither of these things, then it's boring, and we don't need to write it. We can simply bridge Points A and B with a symbol to indicate time passing. I personally use ***. Here's an example (italicized to visually separate it from my instructing text).
After agreeing we'd all meet at the beach, we went our separate ways.
***
The beach was colder than I expected. I should've picked up a sweater while I was at my house.
See how that works? There's no need to explain what everyone did between Points A and B, because it doesn't matter. The important thing is they were meeting at the beach.
Sometimes, even when a significant event happens between A and B, you may not need to write an entire scene about it. You can simply summarize what happened. I'll continue with my previous example.
After agreeing we'd all meet at the beach, we went our separate ways.
***
I limped across the sandy beach, towel in hand and frown on my face. I hadn't expected to trip over a stupid shoe while running around my house in search of my swimsuit. Not only did I trip, I fell over and sprained my ankle. Now I looked like an idiot.
So the bottom line is this: if not enough things happen to warrant a separate scene, then fast forward through it. This keeps both you and the reader from getting bored with mundane details. Reader imaginations can easily fill in the blanks.
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