Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Photo Tuesday - Cause & Effect

There's a law that states that for every action, there is a reaction. A stone tossed in a still pond will cause ever-widening ripples.



As writers we need to apply cause & effect to our craft.
.







Are our scenes and characters designed for a purpose? Do they serve a point? Is our storyline in need of some tightening so actions aren't meaningless?










For every cause...





.






..is there an effect?









Look back over your work - see any situations that simply fizzle into nothing? Places where you've started the ball rolling but it gathers moss instead? Pointless points will only disappoint your readers!

.

Point taken?
.
In a nutshell - don't build and prime the pump unless you're prepared for water!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

What a great analogy!

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Great point! And our editors will thank us that they won't have to strike through all the pointless scenes, themselves...

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

And boy have I gathered lots of moss through the years! But I do think I'm at least getting better at recognizing situations that go no where. I enjoyed your analogy.

Allyn Evans said...

As always love the pics.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Jane I am working on a project right now that will probably need some serious pruning as well!

Jai Joshi said...

Excellent advice. Thanks for posting this.

Jai

Helen Ginger said...

That's an important thing to be looking for during the rewrite stage. Great advice & fun pictures to illustrate.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

What a lovely way to illustrate a writing point!

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Blogging at Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites pick www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com

Creative Chronicler said...

I love this post. Brilliant advice