Transitions

One of my biggest challenges in writing, Cat Skinner: A Story of Lust, Love and Loss in the 1930’s, has to do with transitions.

I begin the story in March of 1939 with my father, Webster Warren Bateman, driving from a construction site in Nebraska. He has miles to think about the recent death of his wife, the funeral he’s going to attend and what the future has in store for him and his three year old daughter.

The miles also give him lots of time to think about his past and why he believes he’s not worth a “tinker’s dam.” 

Moving from present to past and back again has its challenges. How many chapters do I write between present and past when the past is the real story? How do I keep my readers anchored and interested in both time periods? And what’s the best way to maintain reader interest between scenes within a chapter and between chapters?

No one said writing a novel would be easy, at least for a beginner, but there’s lots of help along the way. Following are worthy prompts from a website called Men with Pens. If anyone else is struggling with these or other issues in writing, take a look at the site and the excerpt that follows.

Enter Stage Left, Exit Stage Right

Transitions are much like the turn of a page at the end of a scene in a paperback novel. They should wrap the scene up nicely and give the reader a place to sigh happily and set down the book for the night to come back to it tomorrow, or they should leave the reader with a real cliffhanger so they can’t resist turning that page.

Always leave them wanting more. 

So if something exciting is going to happen next, give readers a teaser or a taste. Make them say, “Ooh!” and get them excited to read the next scene. 

…If you’re aiming for warm fuzzies or a somber wrap up, give readers that too. Write in a way that leaves them with a sigh, or with some emotional response that lingers. “Aw, how sad! I wonder what he’ll do!” Or, “Aw, that’s so sweet…”

…Find a better way to wrap your scene and pass the baton. Ask a question. “Do you really think we’ll make it?” and leave it there for a cliffhanger that begs for an answer. Or, end with a statement sentence. “He turned his back to her, and put his face in his hands.” Try an action. “The glass flew from his fingers, and smashed against the wall.”

And the reader goes, “Ooh!” and turns the page to see what happens next.

http://menwithpens.ca/how-to-write-transition-scenes/