“
The Sailor cannot see the North, but knows the Needle can.”
This is me getting my Ren Faire on and very happy indeed. I feel like it represents that Emily Dickinson quote above - for me, at least. A sense of personal power, of inner belief that your inner compass is calibrated, so even if you can't see North...the needle can. So you just keep doing you and moving towards YES. My word this month is ALCHEMY—turning metaphorical lead (shadows, disappointments, regrets, uncertainty) into gold (mindfulness for writers, words, equilibrium, joy in creation).
One of my favorite discoveries in the writing laboratory has been my process for writing a solid chapter. Out of all the craft miseries my writers run into, it's not knowing how to craft a chapter that earns its place in the book.
Over the years, I've developed a kind of magical approach that works for me and seems to work for the writers who try it out. It's word alchemy, and I'm willing to share my special recipe with you below.
How To Write A Chapter
If you're familiar with my Unlock Your Novel workbook (if not, it's free for my newsletter subscribers), then you'll recall me yammering on about what I call "objectives." Let's start there. ("Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..")
Bookending Your Chapter With Objectives
in 10 Steps :
Objective, Pivot, Repeat
This is the single most helpful thing I could ever pass on to you, craft-wise.
I've never heard anyone talk about this concept in quite this way. When my writers revise their messy chapters and bookend with objectives, the chapter is SO MUCH BETTER. It might still need work, but it finally has a purpose, momentum, and it earns its place in the story. Plus, the writer isn't tearing her hair out, unsure if it's working. She knows it's working - a sailor who trusts her compass.
This isn't some kind of hoity-toity formula - it's just good common writing sense. It was me, breaking down what I was doing, what the writers I love do, and what the writers I work with do when their chapter is swinging for the fences and getting them that home run.
What is an objective?
"Objective" is a term I cribbed from the acting Method teacher, Konstantin Stanislavski. It's basically the desire a character has in a scene. So, when Romeo walks into the church with the poison in his pocket and the news that Juliet is dead is confirmed, his objective is to kill himself so he can be with her - in fact, he had that objective before he walked into the church. That way, the second he shows up on the page, he's bringing a LOT of generative energy with him. (Pro Tip: Think about what your character is doing just before the scene begins so that they can come into it with that energy).
Imagine if Shakespeare wrote that scene with Romeo not having that poison in his pocket. Imagine if he just had Romeo discover she's dead - first, we'd be like, dude why are you in a church the cops are after you and the priests in your town are shady. And then Romeo walks in and....what? Philosophizes about death? Braids Juliet's hair?
By giving Romeo a clear objective at the top of the scene (kill himself with the poison in his pocket), Shakespeare has:
1. Given Romeo something specific to do. The scene immediately has focus. Focus = energy. Energy = what John Gardner in The Art of Fiction calls "profluence" (a fancy MFA term that describes when a writer is giving the reader enough mystery to make predictions, enough uncertainty to want to see how things plays out, and enough action to look forward to, thus giving the reader the desire to turn the page and see what happens. It's a good thing. Have more of it in your work). This focus also allows us to know what the point of the scene is and track with the proto.
2. Given Romeo a ticking clock. Eventually, someone will come into the church and try and stop him. Also, he's sort of in trouble re: Tybalt. So he has to hurry. Now we have urgency. This increases pacing and adds tension and suspense. Tension + suspense = drama.
3. The thing Romeo is doing is scene-specific and emotionally resonant. It also dovetails nicely with his Character Keys. (This is something I talk about in Unlock and my on-demand Writing Bingeable Characters course. The Character Keys (to unlocking your novel) are their Desperate Desire, Longing, Misbelief, and Purpose). Scene specific means we're in the character's skin, the plot is generating from within scene, which means you are writing from within the moment. This makes the work more urgent, exciting, and present. It's highly mindful. And the reader can't put it down.
P.S. Romeo's Keyring is:
DD (Desperate Desire): To have true love.
Longing: To belong to a loving family.
MB (Misbelief): That he is nothing without this love.
Purpose: To open his heart to people, regardless of their family. (Re: Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt)
4. The objective has given him STAKES. What is at stake is his life. Stakes are where my writers get really tripped up, but it's simply asking yourself, over and over: What is at stake if my character gets what she wants in this scene? What is at stake if she doesn't? Then, you put your stakes through the cards - that's British Secret Service speak for "vetting" them. If what's at stake doesn't matter much, then you need to revise the objective. Give them something they want in the scene that matters.
Note: What "matters" doesn't have to be life and death. Stakes would be high if Romeo really had to pee. Like, he wants this deep moment with his love and to kill himself and all, but he doesn't want to go down as the lover who pissed himself. So this scene could equally be intense if he was trying to find a bathroom in the cathedral. Is it a sin to pee in the communion cup?
5. So, you start your chapter with an objective, a clear desire for that particular scene (it may or may not be related to their Character Keys, but will still be tracking. Having to pee? Not Romeo's Desperate Desire key. But it still works). Problem is, a lot of writers stop there. They think that's enough. The character wants something and they either get it or don't. WRONG. Now you just have a character who wants something and then they winge about how hard it is to get with lots of internal moping and philosophizing and maybe they eat a sandwich. What you need are OBSTACLES to getting what they want. Remember: Tension + suspense = drama. Readers heart drama. So how do you get it? OBSTACLES.
6. Obstacles are what get your reader's heart racing like it's a Montague looking to kick some Capulet ass. A chapter without obstacles is boring AF so be sure to include them. Obstacles can be big or small. The key to them being filled with tension, suspense, conflict, and all those yummy things is that obstacles force your protagonist to pivot, strategize, and possibly change their objective. Stop being so nice to them. Make them work hard for the money!
When a character has to pivot and strategize and maybe even change their objective because of events, it gets really exciting. Let's talk R & J again.
Romeo drink the poison, he's dying, but just as he's dying JULIET WAKES UP OH HELL. Now, he's out of options, he dies (spoiler alert and if you're a writer who doesn't know that, I have concerns). But guess what? Now JULIET has to pivot! She has an obstacle.
She thought she was so smart. She went into this scene unconscious, but with a plan - fake her death, then be with her beloved. But now he's dead. What to do? She pivots. Ah! He has a "dagger." So what does she do? Yeah, we know: she dies. Great obstacles and boy did Juliet pivot.
Note: When we watch characters react, we get to see and learn a lot more about them. This is the heart of show don't tell. As we say in the theatre, "acting is reacting." We want active characters, not passive ones. Active characters take what's coming at them and it's interesting for us to see what they do.
7. These pivots create plot and story. Things move forward or back, as does your character's growth as they move toward the climax, what I call the "enlightenment," when their misbelief is overcome and they get their unconscious need (you can't always get what you want, but if you try some time, you find you get what you need). Note that a chapter always needs to move your character either forward through their arc, or back (as in, a setback). This is how a book is built, one freaking fantastic chapter after another.
8. So your character is pivoting and then you get to the end of the scene. This is where I often cry writer's tears (and then need a glass of that good Irish stuff of the same name). So many chapters I read flop at the end. They kind of just...stall. There's no profluence, nothing to read for. There's no unanswered question, no clear guidance on what to look forward to. RED FLAG! MAYDAY! But I've got you. All you need to be sure to do is to END YOUR CHAPTER WITH A NEW OBJECTIVE.
Now, your character wants something else and they will try to get it in the next chapter. Sometimes, it's even carried over and is the first objective in the next chapter, which is very efficient writing indeed.
And because you've done such a stellar job of showing us that you can deliver the goods, we're excited to see them go through the whole dance of desire all over again, so we turn the page instead of pick up our phone.
This thing they want at the end of the chapter, just like the first objective, doesn't have to be big, it just has to have a generative quality that requires some form of action in the future in order to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the objective.
Chapter ending objectives can be, but aren't limited to:
- a resolution (they come to a decision based on events in the scene)
- a reveal: we learn something big, get the next clue, find out who the killer is, etc.
- a choice (a choice was presented and they took the road less travelled and we can't wait to see how it plays out)
- a death (always good profluence): This can be literal or a breakup or the loss of something important.
The character must have a choice hanging in the air: to be or not to be, that is the question.
- a cliffhanger (not necessary, but flashy and fun sometimes)
- an unsettled-ness, an unanswered question, uncertainty of a kind that is interesting (example: a chapter ends with the parents saying, "you're grounded for a week" and the kid walks up the stairs smiling because....Mom and Dad are out of town next week. Hello, party! Now we have to read to see what happens!)
If R& J were a novel, we know that the chapter would end with Romeo drinking the poison just as Juliet wakes up. That chapter is his POV, so he'd say, "Thus with a kiss, I die" and then her eyes would open. His objective would be: DON'T DIE YOU DUMBASS. Alas. The chapter would end with Romeo gasping for breath, seeing her alive. If you stop reading there you must be a Death Eater.
See how this plays out in the next chapter:
Romeo's objective to stay alive (the bookend that ends the chapter, where his initial objective had been to die....nice twist, that) leads us into the next chapter - will he live? Will Juliet somehow magically have an antidote? Hell no. That apothecary wouldn't have given her a freebie. His poverty - but not his will - consented to this crazy plan.
The objective leaves things uncertain, and so...we turn the page.
The next chapter is in Juliet's POV. Think of this dual-POV as a relay race. Romeo's objective (don't die!), is the baton he hands off to Juliet. Her objective is - wake his ass up! He can't be dead. We are star-crossed!!! She runs with it, but not far: he dies.
So the objective that is bookended with this scene is Juliet being awake and having to immediately pivot from happy aliveness to keeping her man from dying. Her objective when she went to sleep was to surprise Romeo in Mantua and live in a trailer park, happily ever after. But now that objective is gone, then her next one (keep him alive) disappears too - he's dead. She needs to pivot again. She needs a new objective.
So you get Claire Danes ugly crying and looking around and all those candles and Leo looking so hot, and then she sees the dagger. Pivot. Strategize. This is interesting, right? What would you do? The clock is ticking.
If her parents know she's alive, they'll totally make her marry Paris and who cares if he is Paul Rudd, he's not Leo. She sees the dagger (gun). Pivot. Strategize. Romeo is dead. He died for me. His gun worked on Tybalt, so...In for a penny, in for a pound.
Objective at the end of the scene: Juliet decides to kill herself. And then she does.
9. Notice how you kept reading R& J after the death scene. Why? Your characters are dead. Why bother? PROFLUENCE, that's why. (Remember, that's the desire to keep reading.) We hope there is a mistake, we have to see someone actually confirm it. And when we get to the end, and everyone is mourning (for never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo) we are like AW HELL NO.
Shakespeare got us to keep reading after they died because he knew we'd want to know if it was really true, and we want to see the community react. We want to see what this means for Montagues and Capulets. Juliet's choice to die in this relay race hands the baton over to the Prince and co., who now have to clean up this mess and make sense of it all.
Objective for them: Figure out what the fuck happened.
And so the whole play ends on a massive objective: the community, understanding it was their fault these kids are dead, strategizes and pivots away from their turf war and decide things have to change. New Objective: to have peace between the warring families. We don't know if this will work. I mean, they're Italian. Let's be real. The Montague and Capulet boys only know how to look hot while waving about swords. So this loose end keeps the profluence rolling along. The curtain goes down and yet the show must go on: we still get to imagine all the ways things might play out in Verona. I'm thinking some Nurse / Apothecary fanfic? Balthazar and Paris?
10. I gave you an example of the end of a play, but imagine we were doing the balcony scene instead and there were more chapters to come. Objectives are the gift that keep on giving because they set you up for the next scene, the next chapter, and you can write the whole damn book objective by objective. (And this way, you don't have to go around looking for birds to write it bird by bird).
What happens? Juliet goes back up to the balcony after a pool party of two. Romeo is like, ummmmmm....
R: "Wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
J: "What satisfaction cans't thou have tonight?"
R: "The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine."
J: "I gave thee mine before thou dids't request it!"
Look at all this profluence. Yo, they got ENGAGED. New objective: find a way to get sneaky married.
Old Will has set himself up for the next scene - this thing writes itself! All Shakespeare has to do is just keep passing the Baton of Objectives (which is obviously made of Valerian steel) from the beginning of a scene (that's "chapter" to you novelists) to the end of the next chapter to the beginning of the next one and so on, until we get to that fateful moment in the church when they get married and then again when they die (in your book, that would be the climax of the novel).
Below, happier times in said church.
And there you have it!
Try working in this way for yourself and see what happens. And if you dug this, then you're really going to have a blast in my Writing Bingeable Characters course.
Whatever obstacles are coming YOUR way, I hope you get lots of opportunities to alchemize your lead into gold.
Fly, my pretties, fly !
