Had a scene fall flat during my writers group critique last night in Chicago

I was reading a scene I spent 3 days on where my MC discovers a hidden letter in an old desk. Everyone just sat there quiet for like 10 seconds. Finally someone said "what does the letter say exactly?" and I realized I never wrote the actual letter. Just described her finding it and reacting. Felt like a total idiot. Has anyone else gotten so caught up in describing a moment that you forgot to put the actual content in there?

2 comments

2 Comments

evand6513d ago

Three years back I wrote a whole chapter where my guy was supposed to find a map in a wall safe, and I spent like two pages on him prying it open and his hands shaking and all that. Then I realized I never described the map or what was on it at all. My critique group roasted me, but it taught me a hard lesson. Now when I write a reveal scene, I literally stop after the first draft and ask myself "okay what is the actual thing they found?" It fixes the problem every time. So my advice is to write the letter first, even a rough version, before you write the reaction. That way you can't accidentally skip the main event. Also, don't beat yourself up too much, this is one of those mistakes almost everyone makes at least once.

brown.susan13d ago

Actually I'm gonna push back on this a little. I think writing the letter first can actually kill the magic of discovery for the writer too. When you draft the actual document before the reaction, you end up writing it in your own voice instead of the character's voice discovering it. I've done it before and the letter ended up sounding like a boring info dump because I already knew what it said. Also, sometimes the surprise of not knowing what's in the letter helps you write a more genuine reaction later. Like if you're figuring out the contents alongside your character, that raw confusion or shock can come through better on the page. I get what you're saying about accidentally skipping the main event though, that's a solid point.