At the Scene: The Establishing Shot & Your Novel

Are you a visual writer?

As you sit and write your novel, do you imagine the action unfolding as clearly as if you were watching a movie?

That’s the kind of writer I am. Images and words are inextricably joined, inseparable until The End. I tend to visualize the action, the characters, the scenes, mulling them over and “watching” them interact and unfold, then take mad notes when I “see” something that works. The notes turn into manuscript pages and the pages into chapters.

Although novel-writing and screenwriting are two completely different animals, I have picked up more than one pointer from the film makers. By far, the most useful tip I’ve taken is the use of the establishing shot.

In film, the establishing shot is the opening shot that sets the scene—the location, the time, the spatial relationship between characters, even the concept of the story. Traditionally, this was accomplished through the use of a longshot or extreme longshot, although today’s film makers often skip it in order to get right into the action to establish a quicker pace.

Think about how many times we are chided to start in media res—in the middle of things—so that our first pages hook the reader. Those first 250 words are crucial if we want to catch the attention of an agent or editor. We can’t let readers fall asleep on the first page, can we?

However, that doesn’t mean there is no longer a place for an “establishing shot” in our books. You don’t need a lengthy scene set up to run as long as opening credits to an eighties romantic comedy but you do need a way to anchor the reader in each scene in order for them to become submerged in the story. Even in the case of the more modern action opener, the reader gets a strong sense of who and where when you establish the scene.

The Establishing Shot and Your Novel

You may only need a few sentences to establish each scene, using vivid imagery and well-crafted showing. Place your characters in the scene, and let the dialog and action take it from there. Establishing your scene at the very beginning allows you to set the stage—and forget it. The story moves forward in the space you’ve created.

And believe me, you must establish the scene before diving into action or dialog. Otherwise, it’s all just too far out there for a reader to grasp. Have you ever read a section, turning pages and having no clue who is speaking, where they are, or anything of a truly grounding nature? Readers crave substance in a story. Settings are part of that substance.

Consider fantasy literature, with its extensive world-building. Because the writer may have to create a setting from the ground up, the establishing shots can get pretty lengthy if not handled properly. One of my favorite set of first lines does brilliant work with its “establishing shot”:

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (1937)

Tolkien had a lot of work ahead of him, what with the creation of Middle Earth and all. He developed that hobbit-hole, then Hobbiton, then Middle Earth itself little by little as the story unfolded. Pretty soon we were imagining pretty near what Peter Jackson tossed up on the screen. But it was those first lines—that “establishing shot”—that put us there at the very beginning.

(And I love the back-loading he used—the placement of a powerful word at the very end of the sentence. Comfort. It’s a personal word that calls up our own definitions, thereby further investing ourselves in that hobbit-hole.)

Each subsequent scene you write will need its own “establishing shot”, too, even if it’s not quite as brilliant or elaborate as Tolkien’s. Time, location, participants, concept—every scene needs to relay those elements or you risk losing the reader. Good use of “establishing shots” will take your reader from one setting to another without letting them get lost on the way.

Writing Exercise

Open your current manuscript to the first page and read until you reach your “establishing shot”. How close to the beginning is it? Even stories that begin with the full-out action hook need establishing shots in order to anchor the action.

If you do not set the scene up at the very beginning, you need to work thrice as hard to keep readers engaged until you provide them with story legs to stand on. How can you set the scene earlier?

The good news is that you may be a champion “establishing shot” writer without ever having had to think about it very hard. If that’s the case, your work will be to ensure that every scene has its set-up and that you don’t waste pages doing it. Set up a scene in a country mansion in Georgia with a lush establishing shot--then illustrate the details of the party and the wedding cake and the jilted lover one by one as you move the story along. You don’t have to mention the mansion in Georgia over and over because it’s been established.

The plot moves unimpeded by unnecessary words, while the reader always knows where the story is happening. By paying attention to your “establishing shots” you can be sure to keep the reader engaged. Not only will the setting be established but the reader’s involvement in the story will be established, as well.

And that makes for a happy reader.

 

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Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who, despite having a Time Turner under her couch and three different sonic screwdrivers in her purse, still encounters difficulty with time management. Visit Ash's blog at www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com for news on her urban fantasy series The Books of the Demimonde (Pink Narcissus Press); "Blood Rush (Demimonde #2)" was released May 2013. Additionally, her urban fantasy novella "Stranger at the Hell Gate" (The Wild Rose Press) will be available for full release on July 10, 2013.

Setting, Reaction, Interaction

It was a dark and stormy night, or so the author told you. There were clouds, puddles, trees torn by the wind, and at the end of a long road, the character saw a castle.

Are you bored yet? Good. Let's try that again.

On the second take, a character hunches as the wind gusts against him, shivering because he's not wearing a jacket. He squints because the rain has made his glasses next to useless. While he's walking, he splashes into a puddle he didn't see, soaking through his beaten-up sneakers. The only light he sees is at the end of the road, at a building so huge that at first he stops in his tracks, sure they'll never take him in. But as the rain intensifies, he heads straight for that light.

What's different? Character.

We need setting because our stories have to take place somewhere, and somewhere usually has things like objects in it and some kind of ambiance. It's important, and we know it. But do we always leverage it to its best effect?

Setting matters, but you can make it matter double if it gives a boost to character.

In the above, we get the same setting details in both the first and second examples, but in the second, they're filtered through the experiences of a character. Is it cold? Yes, because he shivers. Is it raining? Yes, because it's messing up his glasses and it's soaked through his sneakers. Wait, the sneakers are all beat-up, so that tells us something about this character being either poor or just unprepared for this trip. We get a sense of distance instead of just location, since the castle is at the end of the road but still feels huge. And then we get the character's response to this situation.

When you're writing, don't stop the story to give us the setting. The setting needs to filter to us through the experiences of the character: the character's perception, but also the character's reaction to what he perceives. I've recently read two stories in which the authors included amazing detail, and yet the details felt superfluous because the main character in no way reacted to those details.

And if reaction is good, interaction is even better.

It's fine to tell us the sidewalk is cracked. It's better to have the character respond to the cracked sidewalks: maybe wistful that his childhood home is going to ruins; maybe glad that his ex-girlfriend lives in this lousy place; maybe angry that his tax money goes for, apparently, no maintenance of the infrastructure.

But best of all is to have the character interact with the setting. Show us how the character stumbled over that crack in the sidewalk, and maybe he swore, or maybe he looked around hoping no one saw him do that. Maybe he jammed his toe and just held his breath until the pain subsided. Maybe the character picked his way over the uneven pavement. 

The character's response to his setting is going to tell us more about the character...and in some ways, it's going to tell us more about the setting as well. Two jobs for the price of one. Plus, when the character is interacting with the details, we won't wonder why you included them. It feels more seamless.

Finally, if you can weave the setting into the plot so they're inextricable from one another, then you can see even more how setting would bolster everything. Ask yourself what the setting you choose has to offer the story, the characters, the subtext, the theme. Ask what the season you've chosen will evoke in the characters. 

Bring to bear your setting's unique details in order to tell us not only about the character's world, but why it's important to the character. Once they're enmeshed that way, every detail is going to be doing double duty, and the character will fully inhabit the space of your story.

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Jane Lebak is the author of The Wrong Enemy. She has four kids, three cats, two books in print, and one husband. She lives in the Swamp and spends her time either writing books or knitting socks. At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four kids. If you want to make her rich and famous, please contact the riveting Roseanne Wells of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. 

Controlling The Weather in Your Manuscript

Who says you can’t control the weather? You can in your manuscript, and what’s more, you can use it to enhance the mood, guide the plot, or boost the climax.

The weather plays a part in our daily lives: what we wear, how we plan events. The same can be said for your characters. They, too, can notice the temperature outside, what the sky looks like, how the air feels. Your characters’ observations ground them (and the reader!) in the setting, and add a layer of realism to your story.

The weather can also be symbolic of an underlying theme: Rain can symbolize sadness, despair, or new life; a blanket of snow may represent a feeling of stagnation, or hibernation; wind and storms often denote foreshadow a violent event; fog or mist are often the prelude to a revelation or another important event; moving clouds often represent change; thunder, the voice of God or gods, and so on.

For example, in “Dracula”, Bram Stoker chose London’s rainy, foggy climate to enhance his Gothic novel. Count Dracula can control the weather, creating mists to hide his presence. When he arrives in England, one of the worst storms ever recorded takes place, which, incidentally, he created for his grand entrance.

In “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald used the weather to chart his character’s moods—rain for tension, sun for laughter. Daisy ultimately has to choose between going away with Gatsby, or staying with Tom—on the hottest day of the year. The weather perfectly connects with the conflict.

On a more contemporary note, Stephenie Myer successfully created an eerie atmosphere when she chose Forks, Washington for the setting of “Twilight”. The rain (even of the freezing variety) is a backdrop in the story, providing a feeling of chilly foreboding. Bella moves from her comfort zone in sunny, hot Arizona to the constant cloud cover and rain of Forks, symbolizing her progression to a much more mysterious world.

In science fiction and fantasy, the sky is the limit when it comes to adding weather to your manuscript. When you are world building, the weather becomes a crucial element, and you are in control. Volcanoes, floods, earthquakes, wind, rainbows, and lightning are magically yours to command, and vividly express to your readers.

On a much grander scale, many writers use weather as an “event”. In “State of Fear”, Michael Critchton used global warming as the backdrop for the story, wherein the main villains are environmentalists. In Stephen King’s “Dolores Claiborne”, the tension of the story mounts as a total eclipse of the sun looms. Of course, this type of writing can be tricky; research is key.

Whatever the weather, don’t forget to add a splash of rain, a mysterious fog, or a perfect, sunny day. Used appropriately and imaginatively, weather will have a huge impact on your story.

How’s the weather in your manuscript?


Cynthia Watson is in the query process for her first novel, WIND, a Young Adult Paranormal Romance, while writing the second book in the saga, SAND.


Cynthia lives just north of Toronto, Canada, with her Cocker Spaniel, Symon, and five rescued cats.

Cynthia blogs at: http://cynthiawatson.blogspot.com/
Follow Cynthia on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CynWatson

Familiarity Breeds Authenticity

Even though I write paranormal fiction that contains elements far outside the realm of possibility, it is essential that I make the story believable.  I increase believability by grounding my stories in settings with which I am familiar.  This familiarity breeds authenticity.  

My novel, SOUL PURPOSE, centers around a girl who can intervene on behalf of hindered spirits and help them find resolution to the problems that keep them earth-bound.  I set the story in Houston and Galveston Island, Texas--two places with which I am familiar.  The Texas Gulf Coast was perfect because I needed ghosts for my story.  Part of the plot centers around The Great Storm of 1900.  8-10 thousand people died in that storm.  Plenty of ghosts!

The research was a blast.  I took my kids to Galveston Island and we explored.  After visiting a museum dedicated to The Storm, we found the perfect cemetery, hotel, and restaurant for my book.  Once again, familiarity breeds authenticity.  

My century-old story world came roaring to life (with a little too much authenticity, thank you) last September in the form of a hurricane named Ike.  Ike was similar in intensity to The Storm of 1900.  Fortunately, we now have radar, satellites, radio and television to warn us that entire communities may be swept away.  No such system existed in 1900 when my book takes place.  

The effect of Hurricane Ike was similar to The Storm of 1900, but the death rate was negligible thanks to modern technology.  I've been through several hurricanes in my lifetime, but this one made the others look, feel, sound and smell like babies in comparison.  I sat hunkered in my boarded-up house experiencing some of the same terror my characters endured.  I can't wait to finish my sequel.  Talk about Familiarity!  

Show and tell time!

It shocked me how similar the pictures of the devastation from The Great Storm of 1900 and Hurricane Ike are.  I got witness first-hand my story world from 108 years earlier.  Here are a couple of examples of then and now.  They are frighteningly parallel.  

Surveying the damage on wheels 2008 and 1900: 

Searching through the debris 2008 and 1900: 

Whether you set your book in your hometown or outer space, try to find an element that is familiar to both you and the reader.  Familiarity breeds authenticity. (You just knew I was going to say that again, didn't you?)  

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Mary

Mary Lindsey writes paranormal fiction for children and adults. Prior to attending University of Houston Law School, she received a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Drama.

Mary can also be found on her website.