Stop Writing Boring Scenes! (Writing Advice)
After you start writing, what do you do with the Messy Middle?
By now your setup is out of the way. In romance, we’ve met the couple, have unpacked (some of) their baggage and established whether or not your hero and heroine are enemies or friends. Depending on if your romance novel is a slow-burn or a scorcher, hero and heroine might have already had their first kiss, or their first romantic encounter.
Now what? How do you maintain the conflict to see them through to the ultimate conflict, the *bum bummm* Dark Moment of the Soul?
The middle is when you share more history about your hero and heroine. If you gave it all up in the beginning, you might consider pulling back so that they can reveal their truths to each other as they begin to trust each other more.
For me, writing the middle can feel like I’m trapped in a pitch black room—or if I’m lucky, maybe a well-lit room, only I’m not wearing my glasses. So I still can’t see. 🤓 What I wrote in my synopsis probably isn’t relevant any longer, or maybe it is, but other than scenery, I have no idea what to share next.
Here are a couple of tricks to surviving your own messy middle.
(1) Make a list of activities ahead of time
Maybe your couple is going to pick apples, or board a flight to travel across the country, or give a TED talk. Or, maybe they’re giving a presentation at work or hosting a girls’ night out. No matter what backdrop scenario you set your hero and heroine in, remember that the scene isn’t about the event, but what you reveal during.
In Return of the Bad Boy I have a rock star in the heat of summer at a lakeside home on my hands. The senes I knew ahead of time were as follows:
Band practice in his soundproof recording studio
A rager of a party on the sandy beach and dock
Scenes on a boat and swimming in the lake
Each of these ideas gave oil-and-water Asher and Gloria opportunities to enter and exit each other’s orbit. Plus…
Band practice was a chance to write fun interactions with said band and get to know them better
The rager of a party revealed Gloria’s lack of confidence when she is upset she wasn’t invited, and Asher’s enormous confidence when he smiles and tells her that her invitation should have been assumed
The boat ride was a chance for Asher to be called out by Gloria’s best friend’s husband, and an great moment where Gloria and Asher witnessed one another with Asher’s son, Hawk
I showcased his leaning toward her and her pulling away in these scenes. Some scenes ultimately ended with sex and others in arguments. Ask yourself what would keep a reader’s attention at this point in the story, and what you’d most like to learn about your characters. Then write that.
(2) Introduce relevant characters… keyword: relevant
While your hero and heroine are the stars of the book, they don’t live in a bubble. Give them a few people in their closest circles to interact with. To do this, consider your own circles. Who do you talk to everyday? Every other day? A best friend, a parent or a sibling? Who do you interact with when you leave the house to shop or run errands? A neighbor, a hair stylist? Are you a regular at a bar or restaurant?
Using Return of the Bad Boy as an example, Asher and Gloria had a LOT of people in their circles. In fact, that was part of Gloria’s character arc. She was used to flying solo and now there were people everywhere. But, this was a book 4 in the series, so I had a lot of characters floating in and out of scenes by now, including Asher’s entire band who was in town to record/write an album.
In another of my books, Once Upon a Billionaire, there are fewer characters, but still plenty going on. Nate has parents and two brothers and a lot of employees. Vivian has fewer ties given her (without spoiling it) circumstance, but her brother shows up and then so does his girlfriend. Plus there’s her surly boss and plucky friend at work, and an appearance by an old friend from her former life whom she calls for advice. Even her father, who’s passed, has a role in the tale.
But, and here’s the clincher, these people are in Vivian’s and Nate’s lives for a reason. These other characters have conversations and feed the conflict. Those scenes give the reader a chance to hang out with both Nate and Vivian during their day-to-day interactions and get to know them better. You can also achieve this by writing the character’s inner thoughts, but keep in mind many readers skim for dialogue. Since banter is a strength of mine, I lean on it.
Tips:
Choose activities relevant to your characters’. You might not want to send them to Napa Valley for a wine tasting if he’s a mechanic and she’s in a biker gang. Consider Sturgis instead.
Write scenes face to face when you can. Even a video chat is more interesting than a phone call.
Unless your characetr’s restaurant order is relevant to the plot or conflict, summarize and fast forward to the meatiest (so to speak) part of the scene.
(3) Let your characters be (a little) comfortable
“When a scene is flowing, [your characters] reveal their secrets.”
Your hero (for example) started out a certain way in chapter one. His life was going swimmingly until the heroine upset his apple cart. Once the apples are all over the place, you let them circle each other like hungry sharks for a few chapters. Then they kissed, or maybe more.
Again: now what?
Allow them to let their guard down some. Allow your tough-as-nails heroine to crack a smile or flirt. Let her enjoy herself and loosen up. She’s thinking, “This isn’t so bad. I can keep my walls up and enjoy great sex with this hunky billionaire. So, why not?”
This is why conflict can be so tricky. And this is also why those additional characters can help you through the middle.
In Temporary to Tempted, Andrea and Gage pretend to be dating for her sister’s wedding. Once her sisters and mom are in the mix, we can see why Andy is the way she is, and so can Gage. So while they’re navigating their fake relationship, there is also additional strain and pressure coming from her family.
(4) If you’re bored, your scene is probably boring
I’ll add the caveat that after you read the book five or six times, it is boring no matter what, in which case, trust Previous You who had fresher eyes.
In general, in the early days of writing or revising, I’ve noticed if a scene is making me yawn or my mind is wandering, there’s probably something wrong with it. Figuring out exactly what can be the tricky part. Is your character underdeveloped? Is your scene about the poker game instead of your hero’s deepest fears? Does the sex scene feel rote, the attraction forced?
Honestly, sometimes I don’t figure it out until an editor tells me what isn’t jibing in a scene. Which means the first draft goes in a little clunky. It happens!
To prevent it, and you should, especially as a new writer, you have to put on your detective hat. Read a book on craft, or read blogs like those in my For Writers section. If you’re still stuck, try writing from the other character’s point of view and see if that livens things up. Or move the backdrop from a restaurant to a carnival. Anything to infuse some life into it. If you’re excited, then your characters will be, too. When a scene is flowing, they reveal their secrets.
Tips:
Continue upping the tension between your couple, even if the first sex scene has been written.
Let them feel comfortable in this new (and unsafe!) world. You’re going to wallop your readers with a dark moment of the soul, so make sure your characters have far to fall.
Allow those additional characters to rile your hero’s or heroine’s feathers in the middle. Just remember to have it be more about revealing their innermost fears and contributing to his/her growth in the process.
Rewrites happen. If a scene isn’t working, it might have to be rewritten or deleted. I’ve deleted an entire character from a book who was gumming up the story.
(5) Don’t quit
Now’s the time most writers give up. Don’t do that.
Push past the discomfort and work to figure out how to make it to the other side. If you can’t figure it out because you’re blind to it, or maybe you don’t know enough about your process yet, leave the scene as-is and just keep going.
You can fix a shitty first draft (I do it all the time), but you can’t edit a blank page.
Once you’re through the middle, it’s time to build up to the ultimate in any romance novel: The Dark Moment of the Soul. All is lost and your characters are devastated. Every risk they’ve taken has bitten them in the backside, and they are now going to attempt to turn back the clock and go back to what worked before the hero/heroine got them into this mess.
Which is the very subject of Part 3… STAY TUNED!
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