Problematic Scenes

Right now I’m adding a new scene to Sly As A Fox. Mind you, this is a new scene into an already finished storyline skeleton.

The beginning and ending of said scene have to transition smoothly into what precedes and follows.

Not always easy.

In this case, Sylvia has been arrested. I decided a scene was needed detailing her few hours in a cell. But first I had to write the processing into the system. And before that I needed to write the transport to the jail.

One scene to insert often means writing several scenes.

Thankfully I’d already written the actual arrest. But that had to be altered in order to accommodate the new details. More specifically the blinding panic attack she experiences at being put into the back of the squad car. PTSD sucks.

When writing or editing difficult scenes, I find it’s easiest to follow the onion theory I spoke of in earlier posts. Write what you know about the scene. Come back for another layer when you know more. Another layer when you discovered you really screwed something up. Another layer when you realize you should add the inventory of her possessions. Lots of research into the earlier parts of the story for that.

Lots of back and forth. Takes a lot of time. And a lot of patience.