Take your Scene Recipe Card into the field with an interactive study of "Crazy for the Storm." Follow along with downloadable materials as we discover how Norman Ollestad brings scenes to vivid life, and learn to spot the essential elements that make memoir memorable.
Hi and welcome:
In my last post, I broke scene into seven basic elements and gave you the assignment of writing the first three into your current work or something new. To recap, they were: location, wider location, and the natural world. Keep going on that. And as you do, I offer up a concrete example that brings the SRC into clearer perspective.
Norman Ollestad’s Crazy for the Storm draws the reader in and holds her close with lovely scene writing.
This is not a scream-memoir (which makes you want to scream and throw the book across the room). Ollestad goes to the heart of a boy who becomes a true hero.
✍️Your turn
Grab your Scene Recipe Card and read (listen) to this opening chapter.
And this chapter:
Instructions:
Listen to the story (which is the audio portion of this post) with your SRC handy. Underline when Ollestad incorporate one of the elements.
Note the number of scenes in this chapter. Not flashback or representative scenes, but the scenes that move the story forward in linear time.
There could be a time when you stop noting the elements of scene in this chapter. If and when this happens, for whatever reason, make a large X on your copy.
Next post, I’ll debrief.
Answering these questions in the comments:
How many of the elements did Ollestad use?
How many actual scenes were there (signaled by change in time or location)?
When did you stop notating?
~ Jennifer, 🐦⬛
Share this post