Point of View: This is one of the most liberating techniques in fiction writing. It gets you out of yourself and into your character’s imagination, heart, history, thoughts, and instincts.
Setting and Mood: Your scene might take place in an empty office, a darkened bedroom, a rainy alley, Venice in the 16th century … or anywhere imaginable. But that’s the setting. Each of these settings can support a number of different moods, which originate with your character. How, at this moment in time, is she perceiving the setting? What is she feeling?
A rainy alley may lead to the apartment in which your character is joining her new love for a romantic dinner. Or it may be a rendezvous with a blackmailer. Same setting, different moods. |
Flashback: Sometimes it’s most effective to have one or more scenes that take place prior to the main action. It’s really important to know when flashback is appropriate, and when it’s simply lazy on the part of the writer.
In this workshop, I’ll teach you how to use flashback effectively and how to avoid overuse of it. |